Karachi : Pakistan may achieve the infamous milestone of becoming one of the world’s top executioners, with almost 300 inmates already put to death this year and thousands more waiting. Pakistan’s independent Human Rights Commission says 295 people have been hanged in the country — a new record — since December last year, while Amnesty […]
Pope Francis is the first Vatican prelate ever to visit conflict zones. He walks the talk of peace in Bangui , the capital of the volatile Central African Republic, a place fraught with sectarian violence and division: Christian versus Muslim. “Allah ho Akbar, God is great” the jubiliant crowds called out in Arabic to Pope […]
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Vatican to drop charges against Italian journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi. The journalists are due to face a trial Tuesday over claims they pressured a source to “obtain and publish confidential information” in their respective books alleging corruption, according to a statement by the Vatican. […]
New Delhi: It’s a first. Nepal appears to have stood up to what it sees as the Modi government’s bullying tactics, and has bought petrol fuel from China after 40 long years. India’s strategic establishment was scrambling this evening to counter Nepal’s biggest diplomatic swerve away from New Delhi in years after Kathmandu inked a […]
For a decade, Orthodox priest Artyom Vechelkovsky taught at a religious seminary in the city of Samara. He says that his colleagues knew that he was gay, but accepted him and valued his work. But in the current climate of rising antigay sentiment in Russia, church officials suddenly decided to dismiss him, according to a […]
Fifty four African countries will participate in the third India-Africa Forum Summit to be held in New Delhi later this month. The IAFS is expected to result in a deeper engagement between India and Africa. Today, India and Africa need each other more than ever before. Out of 189 countries, only 63 are expected to […]
ANKARA: Where’s India? No women? No youth? Strange! India has gone unrepresented in the key engagement groups of G20 on women and youth. The host country Turkey is baffled. The efficient and in-your-face Narendra Modi government failing to provide names of delegates to champion the national cause in such an elite gathering- now isn’t that a telling […]
While China clamps down on logging within its borders, illegal Chinese loggers are merrily felling the world’s forests for the sake of teak floors and fancy chairs, says a report on ‘global post’. In late July, 153 Chinese nationals were handed life sentences for illegal logging in Burma’s northernmost Kachin state, a region abundant with […]
A new study in the Journal of Homosexuality has shown that, of all the world’s religions, Buddhism is the least homonegative. “Homonegativity” is defined as “an aversion to homosexuality as a social practice or way of life.” Although attitudes toward homosexuality have become more liberal, particularly in industrialized Western countries, there is still a great […]
The Uber taxi service is under fire in other places besides India. Uber’s allegedly shady dealings prompted a nation wide violent taxi strike in France just last week. Regular, traditional taxi drivers pay more taxes than Uber, and they accuse Uber of unfair competition. Uber, meanwhile, argues that the French system is outdated and needs […]
A ‘jirga’ or tribal court in southern Pakistan has convicted a 10-year-old boy of having an affair with a married woman in her late 30s and ordered him to pay a fine of $7,000, according to media reports. Jigras, like India’s Khap Panchayats, do not have a legal standing, but are powerful bodies in the […]
Sarajevo: Pope Francis today condemned “the atmosphere of war” around the world as he urged Bosnians to step up reconciliation efforts, 20 years after a conflict that ripped the country apart on ethnic lines. Many conflicts across the planet amount to “a kind of third world war being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global […]
