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In The News

Russia Says Ukrainian Blitz Foiled, India Train Crash Probe, Looted Antiquities

👋 Saqarik!*

Welcome to Monday, where Russia claims to have thwarted a major offensive by Ukrainian forces, India launches a probe into Saturday’s deadly train crash, and Italy gets some 750 looted artifacts back. Meanwhile, Wieland Freund in Berlin daily Die Welt offers a particular German point of view on the human desire for purebred dogs.

[*Kʼicheʼ, Guatemala]

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This Happened — May 26: Modi Becomes India’s Prime Minister

Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India on this day in 2014, after his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won a majority in the Indian general election.

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Goa Postcard: How Draft Dodgers And Pro-Putin Russians Both Landed On India's Scenic Coast

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, many Russians ordered to the front have fled to India’s scenic west coast. They enjoy sandy beaches, sun and a cheap life, but relations with pro-war Russians who have long settled there regularly disturb the peace.

MORJIM — From his terrace, in the shade of the coconut trees, Ivan* contemplates the Chapora river, which flows into the Arabian Sea just 100 or so meters away. Five months ago, this 42-year-old Muscovite set up home in Morjim, in the state of Goa, India.

He arrived in October, a few weeks after the mobilization decreed on Sept. 21 2022 by Vladimir Putin, when 300,000 fighting-age men were summoned to the army.

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Art Or Islamophobia? How A Bollywood Blockbuster Is Stoking Tensions In India

Bollywood film The Kerala Story has done huge numbers at the Indian box office after public support by Hindu nationalist parties. But the film is facing claims it is Islamophobic propaganda that peddles conspiracy theories about Muslims.

-Analysis-

NEW DELHI — India's Supreme Court has ordered the state governments of West Bengal, in the northeast of the country, and Tamil Nadu, in the southeast, to ensure that the Bollywood film TheKeralaStory is screened everywhere.

The movie is based on the true stories of three women from the state of Kerala, in the southwest of India, who were allegedly forcefully converted to Islam and forced to join the terror outfit ISIS. TheKeralaStory has been a box office smash in India, becoming the second highest grossing Hindi film of 2023.

However, it has faced litigation and protests in the states of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, with accusations that it is Islamophobic propaganda that is promoting the agenda of Hindu nationalists.

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Society
Mridula Chari

What Elephant Intelligence Can Teach Humans About Getting Along

Experts say that understanding how the giant mammals weigh risk and reward could help prevent clashes with people.

In 2018, news spread around Saroj Duru’s village that four elephants had gathered at a nearby lake. Such creatures didn’t typically visit her region in central India — they were known to stay further north in more forested habitats — and so, out of curiosity, Duru and her neighbors walked down to see them.

The elephants rested in the water as people jostled at the shore, trying to get a closer look. Others climbed trees for a better view. After an hour of savoring the thrill of seeing such large animals, Duru headed back home. She was not sure when she would see them again.

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Society
Tapati Guha Thakurta

Time To "Move On" From COVID? That's Not An Option For Me

Anger depletes and debilitates; grief, on the other hand, creates a new strength and resolve. What is centrally at stake for me, three years after I lost my husband, is a stubborn refusal to forget the disease that took him away.

-Essay-

NEW DELHI — Three years ago, it was during the last days in April that the season’s first Kalbaishakhi – gusts of thunder, storm and rain – broke into the sultry summer evening in Kolkata, just as it did this year. I remember the rains came late on that Sunday evening at the end of April 2020, stopping what had become our routine walk during that hour.

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This Happened

This Happened — May 8: Gandhi's Fast Begins

Mahatma Gandhi began an iconic fast on this day in 1933 in protest against the British government's decision to separate the electoral system in India based on religion. He believed that the decision would lead to communal division and destroy Hindu-Muslim unity. Gandhi's fast lasted for a total of 21 days.

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Society
Sreemanti Sengupta

Marriage Equality In India Isn't Only About LGBTQ, But Religion And Caste Too

Interfaith and inter-caste relationships have always been difficult in India. As the Supreme Court hears petitioners pleading for marriage equality, the time is ripe to see how laws and hatred have stopped love.

KOLKATA — When 34-year-old Krishna Gopal Chowdhury (he/him), a designer hailing from Kolkata in the eastern region of India fell hopelessly in love over the internet with Anisuzzaman Khan aka Anush (he/him), a fine arts practitioner from Bangladesh, he knew that his love was up against some of the toughest hurdles these countries had to offer.

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Chowdhury flew to Bangladesh in September 2019 with a surprise proposal, and the couple kissed at Dhaka Airport ignoring startled gazes, in a country where homosexuality is illegal. Thereafter, Anush faced harassment, torture, and shaming at home, and relocated to Kolkata, settling on a work visa.

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Society
Renate Mattar

Which Countries Have The Best Paternity Leave

Leave policies for new fathers differ widely around the world — and some men still worry they'll be perceived as less masculine if they take time off after having a kid. But change iis coming, and in some places where you might not expect.

PARIS — When we think of the countries worldwide which offer the best paternity leave, the Nordic countries immediately come to mind: Finland, Sweden, Norway. There's a good reason for that: after the birth of their child, Finnish fathers can take paternity leave for a maximum of 54 working days — one of the best paternity leave allowances around the world.

But since the beginning of 2023, other countries seem to be catching up — and there are various reasons for it. Of course, paternity can be considered a feminist policy and an improvement for women’s conditions, as women too often are stuck with the majority of a family’s chores and mental workload.

But that is not the only reason why, around the world, some governments are now establishing or extending paternity leave.

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Geopolitics
Pierre Haski

Lula's Return And The Dream Of A BRICS Revival

The Brazilian president, back in power after more than a decade later, has not lost his vision of a post-Western world in which the BRICS would occupy a central place. Lula's visit to Beijing puts such a vision front and center on the global agenda.

-Analysis-

PARIS — In the popular concept of the "global south," which refers to the non-Western world that expresses its distrust of the West, Brazil plays an important role. And its President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who returned to power in January, wasted no time in demonstrating this.

Lula has been in China this week at a time when the balance of power of the new century is being redefined. Brazil and China are both members of the BRICS, a club of emerging countries that also includes South Africa, India, and Russia. (Wrapping up

When the BRICS first emerged in the 2000s, during Lula's first term in office, he believed that he'd found a model for an alternative world. However, the club did not live up to its promises, partly due to China's disproportionate weight compared to its partners and its ambitions as a superpower.

Upon returning to office, Lula quickly booked his path to Beijing, after a first trip to Washington. His statements show that he has not lost his vision of a post-Western world in which the BRICS would occupy a central place.

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Society
Sreemanti Sengupta

Tales From A Blushing Nation: Exploring India's 'Issues' With Love And Sex

Why is it that this nation of a billion-plus has such problems with intimacy and romance?

KOLKATA — To a foreigner, India may seem to be a country obsessed with romance. What with the booming Bollywood film industry which tirelessly churns out tales of love and glory clothed in brilliant dance and action sequences, a history etched with ideal romantics like Laila-Majnu or the fact that the Taj Mahal has immortalised the love between king Shahjahan and queen Mumtaz.

It is difficult to fathom how this country with a billion-plus population routinely gets red in the face at the slightest hint or mention of sex.

It therefore may have come as a shock to many when the ‘couple-friendly’ hospitality brand OYO announced that they are “extremely humbled to share that we observed a record 90.57% increase in Valentine’s Day bookings across India.”

What does that say about India’s romantic culture?

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Economy
Pierre Haski

Globalization Takes A New Turn, Away From China

China is still a manufacturing juggernaut and a growing power, but companies are looking for alternatives as Chinese labor costs continue to rise — as do geopolitical tensions with Beijing.

-Analysis-

PARIS — What were the representatives of dozens of large American companies doing in Vietnam these past few days?

A few days earlier, a delegation of foreign company chiefs currently based in China were being welcomed by business and government leaders in Mexico.

Then there was Foxconn, Apple's Taiwanese subcontractor, which signed an investment deal in the Indian state of Telangana, enabling the creation of 100,000 jobs. You read that right: 100,000 jobs.

What these three examples have in common is the frantic search for production sites — other than China!

For the past quarter century, China has borne the crown of the "world's factory," manufacturing the parts and products that the rest of the planet needs. Billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba.com platform is based on this principle: if you are a manufacturer and you are looking for cheap ball bearings, or if you are looking for the cheapest way to produce socks or computers, Alibaba will provide you with a solution among the jungle of factories in Shenzhen or Dongguan, in southern China.

All of this is still not over, but the ebb is well underway.

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