Washington, United States — AFP The United States offered rare criticism of close partner India in a report on religious freedom published recently, while also voicing alarm over rising bigotry worldwide against both Muslims and Jews. Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled the annual report and said that the United States was also fa...
Saudi Arabia has confirmed that 1,301 pilgrims died during Hajj this year, amid record-breaking temperatures that reached over 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Saudi news agency SPA reports that over three-quarters of the dead lacked official permits and faced direct sunlight without adequate shelter. Approximately 1.8 million people participated in t...
Kochi, India — AFP Grieving families kept a solemn vigil in the terminal of an Indian airport as the bodies of dozens of migrant workers killed in a Kuwait building fire returned home. Wednesday’s dawn blaze in Kuwait had quickly engulfed a housing block home to foreign labourers servicing the oil-rich gulf state’s economy. F...
Kolkata, India — AFP A powerful cyclone that smashed into low-lying Bangladesh and India killed at least 65 people, including in torrential rain storms in its wake, state government officials and media have reported. Cyclone Remal, which made landfall on Sunday evening with fierce gales and crashing waves, moved slowly inland causing flo...
Leh, India – AFP Buddhist monks and Muslims in the Indian Himalayan territory of Ladakh turned out to vote Monday, demanding statehood and that their local culture be protected in the overwhelmingly Hindu nation. Almost half the people in the sparsely populated, cold desert region bordering China and Pakistan are Muslim. Ladakhis’ ...
Ankara (AA) – India on Wednesday began granting citizenship under a contentious citizenship law, which was passed in 2019 and took effect in March this year. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. “First set of citizenship cer...
Police in India have opened a case against senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a social media post that “demonizes Muslims.” The video, which has garnered over 9 million views, portrays opposition Congress leaders prioritizing Muslims over other Hindu marginalized groups. The Election Commission has requested the r...
A Washington Post investigation has found that during last year’s visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to US President Joe Biden, an assassination plot was being hatched on US soil. Indian intelligence officer Vikram Yadav allegedly coordinated a hit on Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Yadav’s involvement indicates a direc...
Malé, Maldives — AFP Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu is a strong advocate of Chinese investment and his party’s landslide parliamentary election victory will help him deliver on a promise to return the atoll nation to Beijing’s orbit. The 45-year-old’s People’s National Congress decimated its pro-Indian rival to...
New Delhi, India — AFP India’s ruling party has pledged to introduce a new common civil code for the country, calling it a crucial step for gender equality, a week before a general election in the world’s most populous nation. Nearly a billion Indians will vote to elect a new government in six-week-long parliamentary polls [&...
