Rashid Khan: The maestro who took classical music to India’s masses
The death of Indian music maestro Rashid Khan earlier this week was followed by an outpouring of grief on and off social media.
Asian news from India
Removal of Netflix Film Shows Advancing Power of India’s Hindu Right Wing
The trailer for “Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food” promised a sunny if melodramatic story of uplift in a south Indian temple town. A priest’s daughter enters a cooking tournament, but social obstacles complicate her inevitable rise to the top. Annapoorani’s father, a Brahmin sitting at the top of Hindu society’s caste ladder, doesn’t want her to cook meat, a taboo in their lineage. There is even the hint of a Hindu-Muslim romantic subplot.
People’s rights are threatened everywhere, from wars to silence about abuses, rights group says
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — People’s rights are being suppressed and threatened everywhere in the world, from wars to selective government outrage about some abuses and silence about others because of “political expediency,” a leading human rights group said Thursday.
Annapoorani: Netflix removes Nayanthara film after backlash from Hindu groups
An Indian film that received backlash for "hurting Hindu religious sentiments" has been removed from Netflix, days after it began streaming.
Bengaluru Kannada protests: Why English is a touchy topic in India's Silicon Valley
In the run-up to the New Year, the southern city of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) - often called India's Silicon Valley for being home to global information-technology (IT) majors - hit the headlines after protesters tore down English billboards, demanding that they be written in the city's local language, Kannada.
Magnitude 6.4 earthquake shakes parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan but no damage is reported
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook parts of Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan on Thursday, sending panicked residents fleeing from their homes and offices and frightening people in remote villages, Pakistani officials and the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Maldives: Maldivians debate India's 'boycott' of their nation
In cafés and restaurants lining the narrow streets of Male, the capital of Maldives, the hot topic of discussion is how the spat with India got out of control - and what would be Delhi's reaction to it.
Renewables grew rapidly in 2023, but must grow faster still to meet climate change target, IEA says
BENGALURU, India (AP) — The world’s renewable energy grew at its fastest rate in the past 25 years in 2023, the International Energy Agency reported Thursday in its first assessment since nations agreed in December on ambitious new targets to slow dangerous climate change.