In the beginning the Prophet Satoshi brought us Bitcoin. And the cryptogeeks and libertarians looked upon it, and said lo, we smile upon this, for it is good, and decentralized, and solves the Byzantine Generals Problem. For a time all was well. But then came wailing and gnashing of teeth and wearing of sackcloth. And […]
The key leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, was killed by an American drone strike, the Afghan intelligence agency said. The fact that yet another ‘most wanted terrorist’ has been bumped off by the US on Pakistani soil hasn’t gone unnoticed in India. There was some uncomfortable silence from Pakistan till […]
Is it a storm in a tea-cup? Or is it an expansion of the Saudi Sultanate? Has Maldives become a Saudi protectorate? The tiny state of Maldives’ decision to sever diplomatic ties with Iran on Tuesday has sent ‘shockwaves across South Asia’ says a Colombo newspaper, but Tehran has chosen to snub the Indian Ocean […]
COLOMBO: Desperation in Sri Lanka’s capital. People scrambling for rubber dinghies and makeshift rafts on Friday (May 20) to escape monster floods in the capital Colombo. Half a million people have fled their homes across the island. The heaviest rains in 25 years have pounded the island since a week now, sparking huge landslides that […]
I am tired of this world created by men, ruined by men. I want a woman now to build the world or mess it up. I also realize that a woman is the Dalit in every case. Even when you look at savarnas [forward castes], the woman is secondary. Even a Dalit man would look […]
Well, well, well, dearies! The international day against homophobia has passed us by without a whimper, except for some overweight desi aunties posting some sentimental stuff on social media. Some in the print media did a couple of stories. The usual stuff, bleeding heart Obama, the Canadian Prime Minister, and all that jazz. First we […]
The easiest way of proving you are patriotic? Toss out your CFLs and other lights snd replace them with LED bulbs! Reember? Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January last year launched the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme, and described the shift to LED (light-emitting diode) as “an act of patriotism” and “social service” to save the […]
In yet another dastardly deed, a girl was stabbed to death by her father and uncle on Friday in a suspected case of “honour killing” in Gwalior in (Madhya Pradesh). Police said the victim, ‘Seema’, was killed at a shelter for women in the Hazira area of the city, more than 400km from capital Bhopal. […]
What’s the way to address the prime minister? Media outlets in Cambodia have been told they must refer to PM Hun Sen as “Lord Prime Minister and Supreme Military Commander”. In a three-hour briefing at the information ministry, reporters were told full titles must be used on first reference from August for the PM, the […]
Why go for huge hydel projects that are destroying the Himalayas? Why not develop smaller’off-grid’ units? Why have bijli projects destabilize Arunachal Pradesh? India would do well to integrate off-grid with grid options in their quest to achieve universal electrification, says a new study. “The governments prefer to extend the grid even to those regions […]
Eighteen years after India and Pakistan tested nuclear devices in Pokhran and Chagai on May 11, 13, and 28, in the year 1998, there remains a wide gap in perception on what this ‘nuclear deterrent’ spells for each other. “When India declared itself a nuclear weapons state in May 1998, Pakistan had to go nuclear […]
It’s a shame that monks and nuns, who normally confine themselves to matters within their monasteries, have to come out on the streets and protest, because their age-old monasteries are in danger of being swallowed up by greed masquerading as ‘national interest’. In a shocking incident six people have lost their lives while scores have […]
