Bharat Bhushan If Adani was allegedly just another rogue businessman, a discussion in the Parliament and the institution of a transparent inquiry into allegations of market manipulation should have been the order of the day. However, the demand for an enquiry was stamped down in Parliament by the power of the presiding officers last week.… Read More Censoring debate in Parliament will not help the government
Manuel Paez Terán was protesting a planned Atlanta police training center when officers repeatedly shot and killed him. The activist, who went by the name Tortuguita, was one of dozens trying to protect the South River Forest from a $90m, 85-acre police and fire department training center planned for the site. The project is known… Read More ‘Sadness in the whole forest’: family of Cop City activist killed by US police seeks answers
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV editor who famously interrupted a live news broadcast to protest against the start of the Ukraine war, has described her “chaotic” escape from house arrest in Moscow and how she fled across Europe to seek asylum in France. “I didn’t want to emigrate until the very last moment,” Ovsyannikova said… Read More Marina Ovsyannikova says she still fears for her life after ‘chaotic’ escape to France
Polly Toynbee This is deeply embarrassing. Today the Fire Brigades Union called off its planned strikes after being offered 7% for this year backdated, plus 5% next year, by the National Joint Council that negotiates for local authorities. Its members have yet to agree, but council workers settled for a similar deal because local authorities jointly are free to… Read More UK government is losing face on strikes; and millions of votes
NB: The Iranian theocracy is brutal, mindless and emblematic of the evil of authoritarian regimes the world over. DS An Iranian doctor and rights activist has been released from Tehran’s infamous Evin prison one week after photographs of his severely emaciated condition emerged on social media. Farhad Meysami was released from prison on Friday, according… Read More Kingdom of God: Iran frees dissident Farhad Meysami after photos of his emaciated condition cause outrage online
YOGENDRA YADAV This week the country saw a new Rahul Gandhi. Unlike his solo and strident attack on the Rafale scam before the 2019 Lok sabha election, his interrogation of PM Narendra Modi’s complicity in the Adani affair was at once sharper and calmer. This was not a piece of classical oratory. But he took… Read More You saw a new Rahul Gandhi in Parliament. I saw the change in Kashmir
RAJU RAMACHANDRAN The recent controversy over the appointment of advocate L Victoria Gowri as an additional judge of the Madras High Court has raised the question as to whether people with political allegiances should be made judges. Disclosure: The author led the team of lawyers who challenged Gowri’s appointment before the Supreme Court. The challenge was not… Read More Here are SC, HC judges with political pasts. Gowri’s unconstitutional views were the problem
‘Blank Paper movement’ decrying government policies rekindles dissent after Xi Jinping’s decade of iron-fisted crackdowns. Support the Chinese peoples struggle for democracy! A 25-year-old woman who had been interrogated by police after protesting in south China tells the Guardian that even though she is frightened by police, the protests have radicalised her as she has… Read More ‘We just want to live in a normal world’: China’s young protesters speak out, and disappear
Raksha Kumar Adani Watch is a unique news organisation. Its only goal is keeping tabs on an Indian conglomerate from outside the country. There are three reasons for this. The first one is the crisis in business journalism. “Business journalism in India is not investigative. It is mostly reliant on information leaks,” says Seshu from… Read More Indian business journalism in crisis
It was the first time that the Iranian authorities have admitted to holding tens of thousands of political prisoners. Some 500 persons were shot dead by government security forces in the course of last fall’s demonstrations, and most of those detained were simply protesting peacefully, which should not have been the basis for an arrest… Read More Iran’s Khamenei admits to holding “Tens of Thousands” of Prisoners of Conscience
