Bangladesh football fans

Goals Beyond Borders: Can Bangladesh Leverage its Football Craze as a Soft-power Tool?

Beyond the ambassadors of Brazil, Argentina, and Norway, the ambassadors of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Morocco, and Egypt have also been drawing on their countries' football heritage to deepen cultural engagement with the football-crazy people of Bangladesh. 

Name Change and Memory Archives: Striking Divergence Between India and Pakistan

Ironically, while India continues to rename roads and institutions associated with its medieval and colonial past, Pakistan’s Punjab province has begun moving in the opposite direction.

Protective Parenting: Raising Safe Children or Fragile Adults?

Unfortunately, a growing number of parents appear apprehensive about their children becoming proficient in their mother tongue, believing that greater exposure to local languages may somehow hinder their command of English or other global languages. This perception is both unfortunate and unfounded. A strong foundation in one's mother tongue strengthens cognitive development, improves learning outcomes, and facilitates the acquisition of additional languages.

When Poison Enters the System: Impunity, Vigilantism and South Asia’s Internal Security Failure

Across South Asia, the difference between prejudice and collapse is not the existence of hate. Every society has it in varying shades.  The difference is whether the majoritarian state internalizes hate against the ‘other’,  whether FIRs get diluted, trials get delayed, mobs get garlanded  and impunity driven violence against minorities becomes low-cost. When that happens, the poison is not outside the system. It becomes the system.

More on Soft Power, Culture and Society

Bhutan aims to become free of stray dogs by 2030

Last year, authorities launched the Accelerated Dog Population Management and Rabies Control Programme (NADPM and RCP) with the twin aims of achieving 100 percent sterilization of stray dogs, register, and vaccinate all pet dogs, and control feral dogs.

One in four Bangladesh's health workers who treated Covid patients suffered from stress disorder

Even nurses and technologists, often working for abnormally long hours, were affected during the pandemic. The risk and fear of contracting Covid and lack of protecting gears compounded the impact.

African swine fever outbreak in Nepal; over 900 pigs have reportedly died

The virus, however, is “not a danger” to human health, but it could have a devastating impact on the pig population, according to the World Health Organization. The spread, if remains unchecked, could wipe out the entire population of pigs in the affected areas.

Separated at Partition, Sikh woman in Pakistan has emotional reunion with brothers at Kartarpur

Iqbal and his wife did not tell Mumtaz that she was not their daughter. Two years ago, when Iqbal's health suddenly turned bad he told Mumtaz that she was not his real daughter and she actually belonged to a Sikh family.

India offers seamless possibilities to filmmakers, says Modi as India is 'Country of Honor' at Cannes

Top personalities from India's entertainment business including A R Rahman, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Nayanthara Pooja Hegde, Prasoon Joshi, R Madhavan, Ricky Kej, Shekhar Kapur, Tamannaah Bhatia, Vani Tripathi and folk singer Mame Khan are part of the delegation at Cannes led by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur

Pakistan’s ex-ambassador to Italy dismissed from service for sexually harassing a colleague

The penalized diplomat retired from the service last year and is now the president of the Institute of Regional Studies, a think tank of the Pakistan Foreign Ministry

Wildlife in Pakistan under threat from climate change and government apathy

“Natural pastures are depleting which has led to many species of animals, birds, and moths becoming extinct,” Ashiq Ahmed, a Pakistani wildlife expert, was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune. “Butterflies used to be common but they are rarely seen now.”

Music has no barriers: Coke Studio’s ‘Pasoori’ by Pakistani artists is much loved in India too

Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty was seen endorsing a designer outfit with a song from Pakistan playing in the background. Other actors who have shared posts with the song on the photo and video sharing site are Rhea Chakraborty, Bhumi Padnekar and Tejaswi Prakash

Of barefoot priest-footballers and girls training under nonagenarians: Indian state’s passion for football goes global in FIFA+ documentary

Delhi based director Misha Kumar brings six gripping stories from Kerala in FIFA’s first Indian sports documentary

Barred from schools, Afghan girls face psychological problems as career dreams crash

Tragically, the trend of early and forced marriages is growing across Afghanistan, aided by the ongoing ban on girls' education and escalating humanitarian crisis. There are several reports indicating the selling of children, particularly girls, by desperate parents.

Failure to cover PM visit cost jobs to 17 employees of Pakistan’s state broadcaster

Usually, the visits of the prime minister are covered by a specialized crew equipped with high-end gadgets and computers. However, during the Lahore visit, the local team was asked to cover it. The headquarters failed to provide them with the necessary equipment in time.

Women short-changed in Nepal local body elections

Nepal, among the newest countries adopting parliamentary democracy, has laws requiring political parties to ensure a certain share of women among their candidates for local elections. However, most political parties have exploited a loophole in the country’s Local Level Election Act 2017 to undermine their representation

We need to break out of community mafias, says Mis Trans Pakistan Shryaa Roy

“I feel beautiful, I feel special and I get more respect,” she said. “There was a time when we used to get eyed as if we were aliens but now we are beauty queens and I have [procured] the title for the first time in the history [of Pakistan] so I couldn't resist flaunting it and celebrating more.”

WHO facility in India to have global traditional medicine database

Modi noted the rising demand for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani formulations globally as many countries are relying on traditional medicine systems for dealing with the pandemic

Indian Army's new video on Kashmir propagates message of unity and harmony

The video shows the visuals of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, rescue operations, and stone-throwing incidents, and highlights how terrorists, through the decades, have misguided the youth of the valley and instigated enmity between different communities. It particularly underlines the importance of maintaining communal harmony.