In 2011, a celebrated New York-based art dealer, Subhash Kapoor, was detained in Germany for art theft, particularly of idols from temples in Suthamalli and Sripuranthan in Tamil Nadu. He was extradited the next year to India and now awaits trial in Chennai. After his arrest, the American authorities recovered …
Read More »Monthly Archives: August 2018
Article 35A and the basic structure
Can Article 35A of the Constitution be struck down? If yes, should it be? These questions — raised in a petition filed in the Supreme Court by a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, “We the Citizens” — have already attracted widespread attention. The case, there’s little doubt, is freighted with political meaning. …
Read More »In memory of a 200-year-old massacre
On August 16, 1819, tens of thousands of people gathered at St. Peter’s Field in the northern English city of Manchester to demand parliamentary reform, and the extension of the vote to working men. “Despite the seriousness of the cause, there was a party atmosphere as groups of men, women …
Read More »China’s big ‘Belt and Road’ push in Africa
In another era, White colonisers had landed on Africa’s coast in search of resources and slaves. The traumatic epoch of slave trade and European colonisation, with its horrific human consequences, formally ended in the 1960s and 1970s. But arguably, the basic equation of Africa’s resource-rich periphery serving the metropolitan industrial …
Read More »It’s Turkish rule in Syrian border towns
In 2016, Turkey launched its first military operation in Syria to prevent both the Islamic State (IS) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia, from advancing on the town of Azaz. Though the stated objective was to push the IS further away from the border, what concerned Ankara …
Read More »No-poaching pacts under scrutiny
The State of Washington announced last month that seven fast food chains would end the practice of ‘no-poaching’ clauses in contracts with their franchisees across the U.S. ‘No-poaching’ agreements are typically between two companies that agree not to hire each other’s employees; in this case, they stipulate that franchises of …
Read More »No country for Rohingya people
Sorat Alam, a Rohingya leader, yearns for home, but the trauma of being brutalised in Myanmar deters him from going back to the Rakhine State. Mr. Alam and his parents fled to safety in Bangladesh after Myanmar’s Army launched widespread assaults on the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, in August …
Read More »China slams Trump’s remarks on N. Korea
China on Saturday called U.S. President Donald Trump “irresponsible” after the U.S. President cancelled his top diplomat’s trip to North Korea and suggested that Beijing was stalling efforts to disarm Pyongyang. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was due to make his fourth visit to the reclusive state next week …
Read More »Rohingya seek justice, one year on
Around 40,000 refugees protest in refugee camps to mark the first anniversary of crackdown Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees staged angry protests for “justice” on Saturday on the first anniversary of a Myanmar military crackdown that sparked a mass exodus to camps in Bangladesh. Many wept as they recalled …
Read More »Solanki takes oath as Tripura Governor
Kaptan Singh Solanki on Saturday took oath as the Governor of Tripura. He replaced Tathagata Roy, who had been shifted to Meghalaya. Chief Justice of High Court of Tripura Ajay Rastogi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Solanki. He became the 17th Governor of Tripura. Chief Minister …
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