South Asia

COVID-19: In all, Pakistan has more than 270,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus including nearly 5,800 deaths. Some observers, however, warn the numbers do not reflect the true extent of cases in Pakistan, with many people reluctant to get tested and overall testing rates still low.

Afghan Peace Talks: The prisoner swap has been a major stumbling block in getting Kabul and the Taliban to start peace talks. Under a deal between the US and the Taliban, the Afghan government is supposed to release 5,000 insurgent prisoners while the Taliban free 1,000 government inmates.

Prior to AMCA, India had decided to work with Russia on joint development of a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). However, this plan was abandoned in 2017 to promote indigenization and reduce dependence on foreign technology.

Dassault Rafale vs Eurofighter Typhoon: Both - Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale actually began as projects among the France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK to build a common European jet fighter in the late 1970s before France decided to develop one on its own in 1985 due to differences in technical requirements.

Ladakh vs Doklam: In China's old package offer, it was believed that China asked Bhutan to give up claim on Doklam in exchange for Beijing ceding territory in the central section. This though has been resisted by Bhutan, apparently at India's behest.