Fears of full-blown Israeli-Palestinian conflict grow after bloodiest year since 2005

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem Late on Sunday night, like almost every other night in Jenin, the fighting started. The Israeli army said it entered the occupied West Bank city to arrest three suspected Palestinian terrorists and militants responded by throwing firebombs and opening fire. According to two members of her family, 16-year-old Jana Zakaran ventured up… Read More Fears of full-blown Israeli-Palestinian conflict grow after bloodiest year since 2005

Dilip

Lost and found: how a photographer sniffed out the magnolia species not seen for a century

Graeme Green Imagine the privilege of smelling a wonderful perfume that no one else alive on Earth has smelled before,” says the conservation photographer Eladio Fernandez. This year, Fernandez had that pleasure. After a challenging search in the cloud forests of northern Haiti, he located several Magnolia emarginata, a critically endangered tree with white flowers that hadn’t… Read More Lost and found: how a photographer sniffed out the magnolia species not seen for a century

Dilip

The ‘free speech’ advocate suspends accounts of several journalists who had reported on Elon Musk

A number of prominent journalists who have reported on Twitter and its new chief executive Elon Musk appeared to have been suspended or banned from the platform. The Twitter account for a rival social media company, Mastodon, where some Twitter users have migrated after Musk’s takeover of Twitter, also appeared to have been suspended. In a series… Read More The ‘free speech’ advocate suspends accounts of several journalists who had reported on Elon Musk

Dilip

Where is the confrontation with the judiciary possibly headed?

Bharat Bhushan Why did the vice-president (VP) and chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankhar, criticise the Supreme Court in his inaugural speech to the Upper House of Parliament? He claimed that the undoing of the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) by the judiciary was a “severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty” and a “disregard of… Read More Where is the confrontation with the judiciary possibly headed?

Dilip

Evidence Planted On Activist Stan Swamy’s Laptop, Claims US Report

A new report by an American forensic firm shows that multiple incriminating documents were planted in the computer of Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old activist-priest who was arrested for alleged terror links in 2020 and who died in custody a year later. The report blasts a hole in the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s charges against… Read More Evidence Planted On Activist Stan Swamy’s Laptop, Claims US Report

Dilip

Patriotism as a diagnosis

Stanislav Markelov First posted February 21, 2019 When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish: Lao-Tzu, Chinese Philosopher (601-531 BC) This is the last article written by Russian activist lawyer Stanislav Markelov before he was shot dead in central Moscow a decade ago. On 19 January 2009, as Markelov and Baburova walked… Read More Patriotism as a diagnosis

Dilip

On the Salwa Judum (2008)

First posted May 26, 2013 By Dilip Simeon; published in Hindustan Times, 28 April 2008 The Supreme Court’s observations (March 31) regarding the armed group named ‘Salwa Judum’ affect not only the state of Chhatisgarh, where this group operates, but pose questions to major actors across the political spectrum. Admitting  two public interest petitions on… Read More On the Salwa Judum (2008)

Dilip