Author: Priya Saha

India’s government has refused to renew the foreign-funding licence for a charity founded by Mother Teresa. The Missionaries of Charity has thousands of nuns supervising projects like homes for abandoned children, schools, clinics and hospices, reports BBC. On Christmas Day, India’s home ministry announced it had not renewed the registration due to “adverse inputs”. Hindu hardliners have long accused the charity of using its programmes to convert people to Christianity. The charity has denied these allegations. In a statement on Monday, it confirmed that its renewal application had been denied, and that it would not operate any foreign funding accounts…

LONDON, England, Dec. 28 — Christian Aid issued the following news release: A new report by Christian Aid, Counting the cost 2021: a year of climate breakdown identifies 15 of the most destructive climate disasters of the year. Ten of those events cost $1.5 billion or more. Most of these estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial costs are likely to be even higher. Among them is Hurricane Ida which struck the US in August costing $65 billion and killing 95 people. July floods in Europe cost $43 billion and killed 240 while floods in China’s…

India will lock horns with Bangladesh in the semifinals of the U-19 Asia Cup after the group-deciding match involving the latter team and Sri Lanka was called off due to COVID-19 infection of two officials here on Tuesday.The semifinal will be played on Thursday.As many as 32.4 overs were already bowled before the final Group B match of the tournament was cancelled following COVID-19 positive results of two officials.”Asian Cricket Council and Emirates Cricket Board can confirm that the final Group B match of ACC Under 19 Asia Cup scheduled for play today has been called off,” Asian Cricket Council…

It is generally India that regularly protest the treatment of minority Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan. But on Monday the boot was on the other foot, when Pakistan’s foreign office lodged a strong protest against the hate speech by Hindu religious leaders in Haridwar. The dharam sansad has been condemned by right thinking Indians and while police complaints were lodged no arrests have so far been made by the state government. Suresh Kumar, India’s Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad, was summoned by Pakistan’s foreign office and told about Islamabad’s concern at the open call for violence against Indian Muslims. “It was…

Mother Teresa. — AFP file photo India has moved to cut off foreign funding to a charity founded by Mother Teresa, a decision critics described as further evidence of harassment of Christians under the Hindu nationalist government. The Missionaries of Charity was founded in 1950 by the late Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who devoted most of her life to helping the poor in the eastern city of Kolkata. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and was later declared a saint. Her organisation runs shelter homes across India. According to the Hindu daily, it received around $750 million from abroad…

URUMQI, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) — The United States’ signing of the so-called “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act” into law was based on lies and misinformation concocted by certain anti-China forces, said scholars at a symposium in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The attendees said that this so-called act ignored Xinjiang’s tremendous efforts to promote the employment of people of all ethnic groups, and aimed to strip the people of their right to pursue a better life. “Due to harsh natural conditions and a weak industrial foundation, there was a serious surplus of rural labor in southern Xinjiang in the…

A few years ago, I intended to walk into the Christmas season with fresh ambitions, and dreams. However, I was blindsided by how a season I once found comforting, and reassuring brought me fresh wounds with additional pain this year. This calendar year has unwrapped so many horrific atrocities and persecution of Christians in Pakistan because of their faith, yet the perpetrators of such vicious crimes are beyond anyone’s reach. When I urge people that sometimes acceptance is a vital part of the solution to the present calamity, I get a lot of alarming looks in Pakistan. The future of…

Vehicles burned after the attack in the town of Moso, last Friday in the Burmese state of Kayah.AP The United Nations joins the multiple convictions against the Burmese military junta for the latest massacre in Myanmar, the day before Christmas. Martin Griffiths, assistant secretary general for Humanitarian Affairs and coordinator of the UN Emergency Aid, denounced this Sunday the death of at least 35 civilians and the disappearance of two workers from the Save the Childen organization in the small town of Moso, in the municipality of Hpruso, in the east of the country, where a Christian community resides. In…

Depending on which side of the divide one listens to, the narrative of Bangladesh’s independence is enunciated differently. It is a usual sachet of history while it remains fresh and bubbling over. As is the case with the concepts of India’s Partition and the creation of Pakistan, once the sands settled, truisms have appeared.India has divided opinion on whether it was partitioned or whether it gained independence. Indeed, it is more convenient to play the “Independence record” on August 15 and the “Partition CD” on December 16. In both cases, Bangladesh comes as a mention in passing. Bangladesh’s Victory Day…

The New Age file photo taken on September 7, 2021 shows that water inundates a primary school in Tangail as flood situation remains unchanged in the region. — New Age photo. The ten most expensive weather disasters this year caused more than $170 billion (150 billion euros) in damage, $20 billion more than in 2020, a British aid group said Monday. Each year, United Kingdom charity Christian Aid calculates the cost of weather incidents like flooding, fires and heat waves according to insurance claims and reports the results. In 2020, it found the world’s ten costliest weather disasters caused $150…

The Maharashtra government on Monday assured stern action against Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj for allegedly using derogatory words against Mahatma Gandhi. Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik raised the issue in the state Assembly and demanded that the religious leader be booked for treason and arrested. An insult to Mahatma Gandhi ji is an insult to our nation.Strict action should be taken against Kalicharan Maharaj and he should be booked for insulting the Father of our Nation.We are receiving further details from Akola and Maharashtra Home ministry must also take action. — Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp)…

People fleeing due to fighting between the military and the Karen National Union (KNU) cross a river in Karen state, along the Thai Myanmar border. (AFP) A senior U.N. official said he was horrified by the reported killing of at least 35 civilians in Myanmar and called on authorities to investigate the incident that opposition activists blamed on government soldiers. The ruling military has not commented on the incident near Mo So village in Kayah State on Friday and junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun could not be reached for comment. State media reported that soldiers had fired on and killed an unspecified…