Ani Choying Drolma is one of Nepal’s biggest pop stars. She is also a Buddhist nun and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and runs a girl’s school and a hospital for kidney patients. With more than 12 albums of melodious Nepali tunes and Tibetan hymns that highlight themes of peace and harmony, the songstress in saffron […]
Patna: India has ramped up security at the no-man’s land and the transit points along the Nepal-India border following the southern neighbour’s increasing hostilities with Pakistan, according to reports reaching here Saturday (October 15) Indian authorities have beefed up security at Raxaul-Vishwa, Parsauni-Bhelai, Sirsiya-Raxaul, Janakitol-Inarwa, Thori and Bhiswa-Thori transit points across border with Parsa district. […]
Pakistan has banned 11 Christian television channels, after the country’s TV regulatory body declared them illegal in September. The move has left the country’s 2.8 million Christian residents with no public media presence, according to a report in express.co.uk. Observers have called the move a blow to religious freedom. The Pakistani Media Regulatory Authority had […]
New Delhi: Two men allegedly forced their way into a church in outer Delhi’s Begampur and threatened the priest and worshippers during the mass last Sunday. Police have now arrested them. Some time ago, the church was under police protection after it was vandalised by miscreants. The cover was lifted after the authorities decided that […]
The Society of Jesus has elected its first Latin-American leader since its foundation in 1540, a Rome-based Venezuelan whose past curiously parallels that of Francis, the first Jesuit pope. Like Jorge Mario Bergoglio, (Pope Francis)who steered his divided province through the 1970s Argentine dictatorship, Father Arturo Sosa SJ, 67, was Venezuelan provincial between 1996 and […]
A prominent Pakistani journalist who was banned from leaving the country after infuriating the army with a front page scoop about its clandestine support of jihadi groups has been removed from the “exit control list”. The interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said he had agreed to remove the name of Cyril Almeida, a columnist […]
A MacDonald’s opening at the Vatican and the red caps are certainly NOT lovin’ it! Opponents of what would be the first McDonald’s restaurant to open in a Vatican building within sight of St Peter’s Square has been boosted by a group of cardinals living above the proposed site. While local residents have been aghast […]
A special report in ‘The Charlotte Observer’ investigated the extent of anti-LGBT discrimination in North Carolina (USA) in the wake of the state’s discriminatory House Bill 2 (HB 2), finding that LGBT people have “for years been subjected to bullying, harassment, discrimination and sometimes violence” and that HB 2 “heightens fear in North Carolina.” The […]
A Catholic school in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh is being investigated after three Hindu teachers complained against the school’s authorities for allegedly hurting their religious sentiments. The administration of Dewas district in the state Oct. 7 ordered a probe by an education officer into the allegations against the Holy Trinity School. The teachers — […]
While some politically motivated trolls are flooding social media with ‘demands’ to boycott of Chinese products grow during the festive season, a new rumour has put the locals of the southern Indian State of Kerala in a flurry. Some swear they are finding very unusual goods in their kitchen. There is a noise from Kerala […]
Portugal’s former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been officially appointed as the next UN secretary general. Mr Guterres, 67, will become the world’s top diplomat on 1 January when Ban Ki-moon’s second five-year term ends. The Portuguese, who led the UN refugee agency UNHCR for 10 years, was chosen from among 13 candidates last week.He […]
Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, has died after 70 years as head of state. Thailand had plunged into deep mourning. The 88-year-old king was widely revered but had been in poor health in recent years, making few public appearances. He was seen as a stabilising figure in a country hit by cycles […]
