News and Views

On 25 April, the Ministry of External Affairs announced the appointment of former Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next High Commissioner to Seychelles. This appointment is aimed at deepening India-Seychelles military ties, as the latter is a country of strategic importance to India. Although Seychelles – with a fair sized population of Indian descent – has longstanding ties with India...

The revelations continue to trickle in about the Sri Lanka terror attacks. One report indicates that among the suspects who perpetrated the bombings are two women, one of them seeming absurdly young. At least two were from very affluent families. Another brings out a damaging admission by Sri Lankan authorities, that the planning for the attack had been going on for months, a revelation that is li...

Game of Thrones season 8 episode 3 was one of the darkest episodes to date, and quite literally so. The last episode of Game of Thrones set us up emotionally for the bloody Battle of Winterfell in episode 3, which as expected claimed many lives.  We saw the end of some of our beloved characters from the HBO show. From Knight King to Jorah Mormont, here’s looking at all those who died and the signi...

One of the peculiar aspects of this election in Odisha is that the BJP, which hopes to have stamped itself as the BJD’s primary rival come 23 May 2019, needs the votes of erstwhile Congress voters more than anyone else, in order to dent the dominance of Naveen Patnaik and his party. But does Patnaik’s BJD face a stiff challenge from either the BJP or the Congress? Have 19 years of uninterrupted ru...

India, today, is not only the world’s largest democracy but also its most mobile. There’s a constant movement from rural to urban, from city to city and guess how many migrants there are in the country roughly? 400 millions! That makes India has both the largest migrating population and the largest voting population. And chances a good percentage of those who are listening to the podcast are migra...

As per the leaked National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report on jobs data in 2017-18, unemployment in Odisha was at a peak of 7.1 percent, one whole percentage point higher than the national average. Biju Janata Dal’s Naveen Patnaik, who has held on to the chief minister’s chair for the last 19 years, has been unable to resolve the state’s employment divide, with thousands of youngsters continuin...

Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 22nd offering has arrived at our cinemas to put an end to the collective misery. It’s a tentpole to beat all tentpoles, brimming with special effects, and a breathless count of heroes. Director duo Anthony and Joe Russo take 181-minutes to navigate the grief-induced adventure. Listen to the audio read for full story! Learn more about your ad choices....

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “interaction” with the media in Varanasi on Friday, 26 April, turned out to be little more than a short bite. But even in that short statement, he gave a politically significant hint. He said, “Some people are creating the impression that Modi is winning so there’s no point of voting. Please don’t listen to such people. Come out and vote for a stronger India.” This s...

Let’s admit it. You aren’t looking for a review of Avengers Endgame. Because if you are, then this film isn’t for you anyway. Our love affair with the Marvel cinematic universe started in 2008 with Iron Man! Eleven years later, it all comes down to this fantastic finale – a closure we loyalists of the Marvel cinematic universe (MCU) need and deserve. Listen on without fear as this review contains...

A set of photos comparing Rahul Gandhi filing his nomination in Amethi to Narendra Modi filing his nomination from Varanasi is gaining traction on social media. Here's the truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On 26 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed his nomination from his home turf in Varanasi and the real campaigning for the BJP, in a sense has only begun. Three phases down and 242 seats left in the remaining four phases mostly in the Hindi heartland states which favoured the BJP in 2014. In the last general election, the BJP won 190 out of these 242 seats, is the BJP doubling its campaigning...

Arvind Kejriwal would make Delhi an El Dorado if the capital were to get full statehood. That was the main thrust of the Aam Aadmi Party’s election manifesto which was launched on Thursday, 25 April. The 35-page document made an array of promises — and the subtext of almost every promise was that it would come to pass only after Delhi attained full statehood, which the AAP would fight for if voter...

Mahua Moitra is the Trinamool Congress' candidate from the Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal. Mahua's journey from the Vice President of JP Morgan in London to the spokesperson, MLA and now MP-candidate from the Trinamool has written  As has been her Louis Vuitton bag, being anointed as the “Most Charming Woman in Kolkata” by a magazine many years ago, her sarees, her over-sized sunglasses...

The name Utsav Bains has triggered chatter in Supreme Court corridors ever since he claimed that he was “offered bribe to help frame CJI (Chief Justice of India) in the sexual harassment case”. In his affidavit to the SC, he said that he was offered Rs 50 lakh as legal fees to take up the sexual harassment case against the CJI by a former SC staff. But when he refused to defend the victim, he says...

By announcing Ajay Rai as its candidate from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has almost ended speculation that party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this high-profile seat. But the last date for filing nominations in Varanasi, which votes in the last phase of polling, is on 29 April and there could still be a twist in the tale. A Congres...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has suggested his country was preparing for ‘another Wuhan’, a high level summit once again between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Obviously this cannot happen before the Indian parliamentary elections are over – but the Chinese foreign minister seems to be suggesting that Modi will be back in power anyway. The Chinese, for all their other s...

Jack Dorsey, the man who gave us Twitter, a digital conspiracy to keep us distracted from achieving greatness, eats as much in a week as I do in 24 hours. One square meal a day for five days, followed by wild weekends spent OD’ing on water. It’s crazy how much his lifestyle mimics that of a poor farmer, minus his bathing routine, that is more complicated than Cleopatra’s. Jack Dorsey alternates be...

Well into the sixth year of President Xi Jinping’s signature initiative, Beijing is vigorously preparing to host the second Belt and Road (BRI) Forum on 25-27 April 2019. The biennial jamboree is likely to attract 37 heads of states / governments, and representatives of around 150 nations, as per Foreign Minister Wang Yi. For the first time, Italy, a G7 country, will be participating as a benefici...

Times Now, on 24 April, took to Twitter to announce that PM Modi would address his first-ever press conference. But only the news was fake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gujarat recorded an all-time high voter turnout in 52 years on 23 April, with 64.11 per cent voting registered across 26 seats. On Tuesday, Gujarat overtook its 1967 voter turnout of 63.77 per cent and the 2014 voter turnout of 63.5 per cent. The tribal belts led the charge followed by rural voters. Although the urban voters came out in large numbers, the turnout in four out of the six Lok Sabha s...

लोकसभा चुनाव की आधी सीटों पर मतदान हो चुका है. अब बाकी बची सीटों के लिए लड़ाई बाकी है. लेकिन इस लोकसभा चुनाव में कुछ सीटें ऐसी हैं, जहां मुकाबला काफी दिलचस्प हो चुका है Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On 21st April, a series of 7-8 suicide bombers targeted churches and star hotels around Batticaloa, Colombo and Negombo in Sri Lanka, killing 320 and injuring over 500. On the one hand, the Sri Lankan government admits to a security / intelligence lapse. On the other, the serial blasts are also seen as one of the most meticulously planned, precision terrorist attacks in recent years, next only to...

In sharp contrast to 2014, the voter turnout in the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) traditional stronghold in South Kashmir has been marginal, in phase-I of the Lok Sabha elections – and could be worse in the next two phases. For more podcasts from The Quint, check out our Podcasts section. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Liberals Can No Longer Afford to Be Timid About Islamist Terror Audio: The Quint Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices