News updates

Puducherry:  The  Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and 22 others have been acquitted in Puducherry in the 2004 murder of a Kancheepuram temple employee. A Sankararaman, the manager of the Varadarajaperumal temple in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, was allegedly murdered on September 3, 2004, in the temple premises.  Sankararaman had allegedly written several letters to publications claiming [...]

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh on Sunday defended the Uttar Pradesh government’s notification providing for a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh only to Muslims affected in the recent Muzzaffarnagar communal riots. “Injustice cannot be done to those Muslim families who have lost not only their members but all possessions and did not want to return [...]

A Christian woman residing in the Hindu-majority island of Bali was sentenced to 14-months in prison for calling Hindu offerings “dirty and disgusting,” the Supreme Court recently announced. “The defendant Rusgiani, who is also known as Yohana, has been proven validly and convincingly guilty of purposefully and publicly expressing herself in a way to ignite [...]

Iftekhar Murtaza of Los Angeles was found guilty of two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy on Friday. Prosecutors said the 29-year-old killed his ex-girlfriend’s Hindu family because they disapproved of her dating a Muslim. A jury found Iftekhar Murtaza, 29, guilty of two counts of murder, one [...]

KATHMANDU: An abandoned puppy rescued from a rubbish dump in India has trekked to Everest Base Camp, becoming what is believed to be the first dog to tackle the peak, his owner said Wednesday. Former professional golfer Joanne Lefson told AFP she adopted the 11-month-old dog, called Rupee, in the mountainous Indian town of Leh [...]

KABUL, Afghanistan — J.K. Sharma, a large Sikh man in a black turban, works out of a small room lined with jars and herbs in the ruined and dusty Shor Bazaar in Kabul. In a war-ravaged country where miracles are in short supply, Mr. Sharma makes a living as a magician, providing advice and talismans [...]

The department of posts (India Post) will release a commemorative stamp on Sathya Sai Baba on the occasion of his 88th birth anniversary celebrations to be held at Puttaparthi of Anantapur district on November 23. Sathya Sai Baba had died at Puttaparthi on April 24, 2011 due to ill-health. As Sathya Sai’s devotees are spread [...]

Chennai: The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal in Chennai on Thursday halted a move to construct an international cricket stadium at the foot of the Tirumala hills, for which  Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had laid the foundation stone on Wednesday. The bench, comprising judicial member Justice M. Chockalingam and expert member R. Nagendran [...]

Tirupati: In a major development, Chittoor District Collector K Ramgopal has ordered demolition of unauthorised constructions by the controversial Heera International Islamic College, coming up near Chandragiri. The Collector in his order dated November 17 directed the Secretary of  Thondavada Grama Panchayat, under which the area where the multi-layer Islamic university is located, to immediately [...]

For many people, the main concern in a yoga class is whether they are breathing correctly or their legs are aligned. But for others, there are lingering doubts about whether they should be there at all, or whether they are betraying their religion.Farida Hamza, a Muslim woman living in the US (pictured above), had been [...]