News Archive

Late in 386 CE, Libanius, a 72-year-old teacher of rhetoric from the Syrian metropolis of Antioch, penned an oration addressed to the Roman emperor Theodosius I. It offered one of the most powerful criticisms of the process by which Rome became a Christian empire. Libanius described Cynegius – the Roman prefect who governed a vast swath of the eastern Mediterranean – leading troops of soldiers and Christian monks on a rampage through the Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Egyptian countrysides.

SheThePeople is an Indian digital media website purporting itself to be a champion of women empowerment. On its website, the organization says that it is India’s first women’s channel inspired by real stories and seeks to change the discourse on, about, and for women. It provides a platform to women from various walks of life who shatter the glass ceiling in every sphere of life.

If you are active on Twitter you must have heard terms like ‘Trads’ and ‘Raitas’ – the latter not being the Arvind Kejriwal type and is also spelled as Raayta or Rayta – further peppered with other terms like ‘IT celliya’ and ‘RW Fahminists’ and many more such. These are broadly the labels Indian RW (Right Wing) has given to various groups amongst themselves, which may or may not be accurate. But who cares about that, for the label ‘RW’ itself is not that accurate to define the broader bunch.

799 years ago, in the year 1221, the great Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan1 stood victorious at the western bank of the Indus river with 50,000 soldiers, having just defeated Jalal-ad-Din2, the Shah of Khwarazm. Jalal-ad-Din’s army was completely destroyed in this battle3, which took place near the town of Kalabagh in Punjab.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a big announcement on Sunday 9th January 2022, on the occasion of ‘Guru Parv’ that is the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He said that ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ would be celebrated every year on 26th December from this year onwards. It will be a fitting tribute to the courage and pursuit of justice of the Sahibzadas.

Bharatiya Janata Party is observing ‘Surya Namaskar’ Day on January 12 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swamy Vivekananda. It was expected that its allies in Bihar would participate in the celebrations. However, Janta Dal (United)’s Bihar MLC Gulam Rasool Balyawi has created a controversy by refusing to participate in the event, as it is not allowed in Islam. He added that as Allah gave birth to the sun, Muslims can’t pray to the sun.

The Madras High Court has refused to quash the FIR against a Catholic priest who abused Bhuma Devi and Bharat Mata. The court said that offensive words against them attract the offense of hurting Hindu religious sentiments as believing Hindus consider Bharat and its land as deities. It further said that evangelists cannot have freedom of speech and expression to denigrate others’ religious beliefs.

The communist government in China has been left red-faced after some users on the Chinese social media platform Weibo revealed that the Xi Jinping government used Chinese actors to shoot the entire propaganda video on Galwan Valley. It may be recalled that the video was shared by journalist Shen Shiwei and CCP mouthpiece Global Times wherein PLA personnel were seen unfurling the China flag at what they claimed to be the Galwan Valley.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, a former United Kingdom Member of Parliament, was convicted on 5 January 2022 in Sheffield Crown Court in the UK for attempting to rape a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under the age of 11 In the 1970s. Last year, Nazir was forced to retire from the House of Lords after a woman accused him of attempting to gain sexual favors by abusing his position.