Dear readers,

This week we are looking at consent, the ability to actively say yes to a situation one is in and the various ways to interpret this. A recent judgement from the Supreme Court of India, is an important first step on the road to reproductive justice. How do we view 'climate refugees'? Did the people of Pakistan, now reeling under floods have a say in the kind of industries causing climate change? In Sri Lanka, a generation of children were adopted by parents in Europe. They embarked on a journey to find their birth mothers. Read this story to understand choice, reproduction and family. If you have Truecaller on your phone, you might have consented to giving them a lot more information than you thought. Read to find out.

Rohingya refugee data can be fatal in the hands of Myanmar's military junta. The UN gave them access to it anyway, without proper informed consent from the refugees. In both Nepal and India, laws to protect children from sexual assault leave children vulnerable to punishment. Listen to a podcast discussing gender reaffirming surgery. When can a child decide? Are they too young to know who they are, who gets to decide for them?

Colonial reproductive policies have a long history of ignoring consent, and enforcing genocidal rules on native populations, like the indigenous communities of Arctic Canada. Like trigger warnings, do we now need consent warnings? Read about how video game developers are navigating a changing space. Popular services like Ancestry.com take your DNA and help you trace your origins. On the flipside, the police can use this very DNA, without your consent to connect you, or investigate you for crimes you may have no relationship with. In what we think is an excellent example of consent, think back to the Iphones that woke up to the U2 album automatically downloaded on their devices. The outrage that this harmless act caused, is worth remembering in this issue today!

Dear Readers,

As we slowly continue to transition into a post-COVID world, new and old mental health concerns are cropping up, particularly for students who were deprived of schools and social interaction for two crucial years. This week we are focusing on mental health, anxiety and trauma. The floods in Pakistan continue to be devastating, and climate disasters such as this one, have triggered a mental health crisis. In Myanmar it isn't just COVID but the continued violence and death caused by the military coup that has left young people in a state of constant anxiety and depression. Recurring, debilitating pain can also cause depression and distress. Flip through this comic about a fibroid, a painful period and a young girl.

It has almost become a given that doing a PHD will result in some amount of depression and anxiety, but how does this work when one is overworked and marginalized? Read about the role of caste in higher education and on mental health. Would you find comfort in a crying room? Read about the first one, opened in Surat, Gujarat. In Bangladesh, as in other parts of the subcontinent, native,indigenous languages are disappearing. How does this impact the mental health of the communities that are losing their language, their identity? Listen to the relationship between poverty and mental health, and how some school teachers are trying to mend this gap.

Neurodiveristy has become a word that we throw around quite casually, particularly on social media, but are you using neurodiversity wrong? Climate anxiety isn't limited to Pakistan, it is affecting how young people think about their future in Africa too. In Palestine, children grow up surrounded by bombs and violence. Doctors without Borders takes efforts to provide relief from trauma, PTSD and other anxieties caused by living under occupation. This beautiful podcast by the Korean Vegan, told as she makes herself a snack discusses failure, pressure and family.

As we gear up for a Sri Lanka-Pakistan Asia Cup final this Sunday, enjoy an issue dedicated to everything cricket. Read about Jehangir Khan, an Indian cricketer from the 1930's, who even as a Pakistani citizen decades later, was honoured for the gentlemen he was, in India. If sports history is something you enjoy, and you have time for just one thing from this issue, don't miss the podcast discussing the first Indian to ever play in Australia and the first Australian to ever play for India, way before the IPL. As the row over allowing students to wear hijabs in schools continues in the Supreme Court, read about Insha Mir, a cricketer from Kashmir hoping to make it to the Indian women's team, whether she is wearing her hijab or not. If you remember Henry Olonga as the bowler who gave Sachin Tendulkar sleepless nights, then enjoy this video of Henry Olonga the opera singer.

The Asia Cup clash between Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier this week turned ugly, with both players and fans behaving badly. Why is this rivalry so bitter? The fandom, the love, the boycotting of the making of his biopic, the tainted legacy of Muttaih Murlidharan reveals the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict that underlies Sri Lankan politics and cricket. The world's second largest stadium, newly constructed in Ahmedabad now seems to have a disproportionate number of matches. Sharda Ugra looks at the politics of Indian cricket. Take a break, relax and enjoy a compilation of the funniest run outs in cricket history.

Azim Rafiq's allegations of racism against Yorkshire rocked the cricketing scene in England. It sent shockwaves to Scotland where a report validated former players who had protested racism. It is likely that you have already watched Micheal Holding's powerful speech on racism and black lives matter, but as racism, discrimination and indigenous representation in cricket continues to be a debated subject, his words remain important. The last week saw a remarkable moment in cricket history, for the first time, Zimbabwe beat Australia, in Australia. Listen to this podcast where Ryan Burl talks about this historic win and his fantastic 5/10.