While the Pakistan’s former president/military dictator Pervez Musharraf is now in a virtual exile in London, the country’s Supreme Court has asked Musharraf to return and “explain his action of imposing Emergency in 2007 and sacking of 60 judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhary,” who has now been reinstated. (See here…) Meanwhile a British Muslim politician, Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, has announced that he will move a London court against Musharraf...

America has attracted adventurers in droves in the past two centuries. It’s a country that has challenged human limitations of thoughts and actions. At a time when the mainstream media (MSM), by and large, prostrated itself in front of the altar of profit and greed, several alternatives to provide “real” news to the public appeared on the scene. One fascinating example is The Huffington Post , often referred to as HuffPost or HuffPo, that has emerged as “a top destination...

This week’s solar eclipse grabbed major headlines in Asia and the world (pics here). “Solar eclipses are indeed a marvel of Nature, and the media’s excitement was justified,” says Sri Lankan journalist Nalaka Gunawardene, our Guest Columnist. “For once, it was good to see them devoting a great deal of airtime and print/web space for something that was not violent, depressing or life-threatening. “How I wish Asia’s media took as much interest in another kind of...

To those following the health care reform debate raging in the United States of America from outside the borders of the “world’s only hyperpower”, are amused how most of the discussion on public issues gets narrowed down to “good versus evil”, “socialism versus capitalism”, “liberalism versus conservatism”, and so on…Let public good/interest be dammed. In the current US debate, allegations are flowing thick and fast about media manipulation...

Who is the insect world’s greatest traveler? …And the prize goes to Pantala flavescens, a species of dragonfly. A British naturalist has claimed that this 5cm-long dragonfly may hold the record for the longest migration, from southern India to Africa and then back — a distance of 12,000 miles. Andrew Buncombe of The Independent reports: ” ‘It’s an amazing story,’ said the naturalist, Charles Anderson, speaking by telephone from his home in Male, capital...

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, 22, a Pakistani terrorist (the only one to be captured alive during the Mumbai’s deadly 26/11 siege last year) today pleaded guilty to 86 charges, including murder and waging war on India, in a Mumbai court. Admitting his role in the carnage which left more than 160 people dead, Kasab said Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi of the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba had been involved in plotting the attacks, reports the CNN. “Kasab is one of 10 Pakistani nationals who...

“Secular” India and “Islamic” Pakistan try to suppress prostitution but ignore the plight of thousands of people involved in this highly risky but widely practised profession. Some NGOs have done commendable work, such as a recent drive in Karachi to promote health awareness among sex workers. Lahore, Karachi, Calcutta, Bombay and Lucknow were among the traditional urban centers in undivided India that had special streets earmarked for music, dance and “adult activities”....

There is some speculation why the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, now visiting India for five days, is not visiting neighbouring US-ally Pakistan as her predecessors have always done. On the other hand, Hillary declared that Pakistan houses a ‘syndicate of terrorism’. The Indian Express reports that Hillary stated that “her country is watching the actions being taken by Islamabad against the scourge and expected that perpetrators of Mumbai attacks meet their ‘day of reckoning’....

US defense secretary Robert M. Gates has stated an obvious fact: The troops in Afghanistan “are tired…and the American people are pretty tired.” So, what next (or new)? In an ominous use of the word “unwinnable”, once used by the legendary media person the late Walter Cronkite to turn public opinion against the Vietnam war, defense secretary Gates (photo above) says that “after eight years, U.S.-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next summer to avoid...

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Taj Hotel in Mumbai on Saturday was more than a symbolic gesture. She interacted with the staff of the Taj, and the adjoining Trident-Oberoi hotel, who survived last year’s 26/11 terrorist attack. Taj’s general manager, who lost his wife and two children in the attack, introduced the staff, and then arranged breakfast for the visiting dignitary. See here… Now on a five-day India trip, why Clinton won’t stop in Pakistan?...

America’s legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite, who passed away at age 92, would be long remembered among the journalist fraternity in the world for the basic things he upheld/promoted as a professional all his life: Excellence, Integrity, Accuracy, Fairness, Objectivity. Really, the world would be a better place if journalists left aside the frills and returned to these basic values in journalism. He was a typical example of the saying that “journalists are born and not made”....

In his recent visit to Africa, US President Barack Obama said “all the right things about Africa—and left a few ticklish ones unsaid,” says The Economist. “The tone may shift a bit but the policy will be similar to George Bush’s.” While the former UN chief Kofi Annan maintains that the tragedy is “that when millions of Africans believed their countries and continent were finally on the right track, their hopes are being dashed by problems whose roots lie elsewhere....

In recent times, there have been clear indications that male of the human species is on a suicidal path. Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the macho rule of men? Here I am not talking about the mess created by myopic/desperate men (and not just in Iraq and Afghanistan), but the British scientists’ recent claim that they have created human sperm in the lab. If there’s no need for sperm, goes the thought, why do we need men? Imagine a world without all the testosterone, says...

Sri Lankan journalist Nalaka Gunawardene notes in his blog how the twin technologies of satellite television and the Internet transformed far-away Michael Jackson into a local icon across Asia. He also mentions about a 2001 documentary named Michael Jackson Comes to Manikganj that probed how far and wide satellite television was influencing and impacting culture, society and even politics of South Asia. See two earlier posts on the subject… Here… And here… While still alive, Michael...

One may hate Michael Jackson, or love him madly, or remain totally indifferent to him, but one just can’t ignore this musical phenomenon and his mass appeal. Jackson’s memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles is expected to be an even bigger global internet video-viewing event than the inauguration of US President Barack Obama, reports ANI. A Michael Jackson page at Facebook has already topped 6.5 million fans, unseating Obama’s “fan page” as the most popular...

In Renaissance Europe, and in the ancient and medieval Hindu and Mughal societies, the young courtesans were much in news and played a vital role. Even in this computer age the tradition continues as exemplified by a Romanian teenager who auctioned off her virginity for $20,000. Alina Percea, 18, has spoken for the first time about her night with the highest bidder, reports LiveNews. Percea (photo above) auctioned her virginity on a website in an effort to “pay for her computing degree.” “The...

Tibet and Xianjiang provinces in China have remained turbulent spots often plagued with ethnic violence. Last weekend 156 persons were killed and hundreds injured in Urumqi, the capital city of the Xianjiang province, in what is being described as” bloodiest clashes in the country since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.” The details remain murky, but the real figure is likely to be far higher — making this not only the most serious violence in China for the past 20 years but...

Britain’s top judge has expressed concern about the use of pilot-less drones as weapons of war. His comments come at a time when there is a growing international concern about the danger these pose to the civilians. Drones have become an important weapon against the Taliban in the remote mountainous borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, reports The Independent. “Last month the US admitted to 26 civilian deaths in a series of drone attacks in May. Afghan officials put the death toll...

The Delhi High Court today declared Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), a relic of the British Raj, “violative of articles 14, 21 and 15 of the (Indian) Constitution in so far as it criminalizes consensual sexual acts of adults in private.” That means, from now on, police will no longer be able to arrest adult homosexuals having consensual sex. Gays have so far been living under terror in India because section 377 IPC empowered police to put behind bars those who committed “unnatural...

1969 was the year I began my career as a journalist with a leading Indian daily. That was also the year when a memorable event called The Woodstock Festival took place in a far-away rural town of Bethel, New York, and caught my fancy. As The Independent recalls: “Performers flying in on helicopters – a portentous sight in the Vietnam era – food and drinks spiked with LSD, acts going on 14 hours or a day late, the myth and legend of Woodstock has remained a potent signifier for baby-boomers...

Tomorrow (that is Tuesday, June 30) would be a shameful day for Boston…. It is disbanding United States of America’s first mounted police unit. The AP report states: “(The Boston Mounted Unit’s) 12 horses would be given new homes — at least until the city can come up with funds to restore the unit.” What a shame that the budget cuts would hurt this 136-year-old historic police unit. The mounted police plays a significant role in crime prevention and does high visibility...

I have no hesitation in admitting that I generally turn to The Economist when I am looking for details regarding any hot world issue, or if I fail to understand its different dimensions. This venerable British magazine has some interesting points to offer regarding the US health-care reforms. “Because health insurance is so expensive, nearly 50 million Americans, an obscene number in such a rich place, have none; those that are insured pay through the nose for their cover, and often find it...

If The Beatles managed to convey the increasing dominance of machine over man — with their voice and script struggling to rise over the clamour and force of musical instruments, Michael Jackson’s songs, accompanied with his unbeatable mechanical body movements, went a step further to deliver a similar message — the human beings gradually turning into robots. Thus, The Beatles and Michael Jackson crafted pop music into an enchanting lyrical philosophy, and a commentary on our present...

My two friends (surely they can’t be described as “socialists” by any stretch of imagination) have come out in full support of the US government’s SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE scheme. However, they are amazed at the misinformation that is being spread regarding the scheme in the US media and the ads. Shyamal Bagchee, PhD, FRSA, Professor of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, has drawn my attention to Bill Mann’s write up in HuffPost:...

It sounds like a routine alarm, but the things are getting serious. The question being asked in this part of the world is: Who would grab Pakistan’s nuclear weapons first…the Al Qaeda or the USA? To this speculation one may add an Aesop’s fable: Would it be the “monkey” India/Israel combo snatching the nukes away from the Al Qaeda/USA “cat” ? Here is a categorical statement from Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (photo above), the leader of al Qaeda’s in Afghanistan,...