The Supreme Court says Muslim men detained after the September 11 attacks can’t sue top US law enforcement officials. The justices by a 4-2 vote today ended a long-running lawsuit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI Director Robert Mueller and other top Bush administration officials. The suit was filed by Muslim men who were detained for months in harsh conditions in a Brooklyn jail after the 2001 attacks […]

Bihar Governor Ramnath Kovind has been decided as NDA’s presidential candidate, Amit Shah announced on Monday. The final decision on the presidential’s nominee was taken today at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, including Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Ananth Kumar, M Venkaiah Naidu and several top leaders. BJP’s Parliamentary Board is the party’s highest decision-making body. While addressing a press conference […]

Does dissent have no space under the current regime of our democracy? It does seem so as three documentaries based on “socially relevant themes” have been denied censor exemption for screening at the upcoming International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. The festival, set to begin on June 16, is organised by the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy. The Academy works under the state government’s Department of Cultural Affairs. One […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not have bad days because he is “not a woman”, and would rather not shower next to a gay man because he wouldn’t want to “provoke him”. The Russian President’s comments came in series of interviews with American film director Oliver Stone on topics ranging from geopolitics to gay rights and Edward Snowden. “The Putin Interviews”, a documentary comprised of conversations with the Russian president […]

A lengthy string of electoral losses will not keep Rahul Gandhi from being promoted to become Congress chief in October, the party has decided today at a meeting of its top leaders held at the home of Mr Gandhi’s mother, Sonia, who is the Congress president. Mr Gandhi, 46, has long been assured by the Congress that the top job is his for the taking. The party is obliged to […]

Donald Trump’s decision for the US to join the elite club — hitherto comprising only Syria and Nicaragua — of countries rejecting the climate agreement has largely drawn negative reactions from all over the world. Not that it mattered to the US president, who delivered a chest-thumping address from the White House, and then took to social media for a bit more thumping of his chest: There’s nothing wrong per […]

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says India’s growth is “reasonable” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday played down the impact on economic growth of the government’s decision last November to scrap most of the cash in circulation, saying the annual rate of growth was “very reasonable”. “Through demonetisation, the government created a new normal, with a big step in removing the earlier scenario of cash economy and shadow economy,” Mr. Jaitley […]

Madras high court on Tuesday stayed the new rules banning the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter, but not before the issue generated a storm across the nation over concerns that it was a backdoor attempt to regulate food habits. But what exactly do the new rules say? Here’s a checklist. 1. The new rules, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017, have been framed […]

Thousands of Dalits (formerly untouchables) converged in the Indian capital, Delhi, at the weekend to protest against recent caste riots in the northern town of Saharanpur. They were led by the Bhim Army – the BBC’s Geeta Pandey profiles its young, charismatic leader, Chandrashekhar. On Sunday afternoon, Delhi’s Jantar Mantar observatory, a popular venue for all sorts of protests, turned into a sea of blue when demonstrators wearing blue cloth […]

Dampening India’s hopes of entering the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at a plenary session meeting likely to be held in Swiss capital Bern next month, China on Monday said it has not changed its stance on non-NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) states entering the NSG. Without China’s support, India’s chances of entering the group look slim. “China’s position on the non-NPT members’ participation in the NSG has not changed,” Chinese Foreign Ministry […]