INDIA, January 9, 2026 (Indian Express): The probe into the alleged theft of gold from the Sabarimala temple artifacts took a curious turn on Friday after the special investigation team arrested temple tantri (chief priest), Kandararu Rajeevaru. The SIT, which has registered two cases in the scandal, has so far arrested nine persons, all of senior employees of the Travancore…
INDIA, January 9, 2026 (India Today): In this wide-ranging essay, senior journalist T. R. Jawahar examines why Tamil Nadu remains uniquely resistant to national political parties and argues that the answer lies deep in the state’s cultural memory rather than electoral arithmetic. As the 2026 assembly election approaches, Jawahar frames Tamil Nadu as India’s strongest citadel of regionalism, shaped by…
SOMALILAND, December 21, 2025 (BBC): The world’s supply of frankincense is under serious threat as rising global demand collides with ecological stress and economic inequity. Harvested from wild Boswellia trees in the Horn of Africa, especially Somaliland, Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, frankincense has been used for millennia in religious ritual and traditional medicine and is now booming in the global…
INDIA, January 8, 2026 (Religion News Service): The Bnei Menashe are a small community from India’s northeastern states of Mizoram and Manipur who believe they are descendants of the biblical lost tribe of Manasseh and see their migration to Israel as the fulfillment of prophecy. For decades, members of the community have sought to immigrate despite not qualifying under Israel’s…
PENANG, Malaysia, January 1, 2026 (The Star): Thousands of Hindu devotees gathered at the Vinayagar kovil, the Ganesha temple on Waterfall Road in Penang, for a Maha Kumbabishegam consecration ceremony marking the completion of a major restoration. Long regarded as the first point of prayer for pilgrims before ascending to the hilltop Murugan temple, the shrine has for decades been…
KARNALI REGION, Nepal, December 21, 2025 (Nepali Times): An in-depth report warns that the Karnali, Nepal’s last great free-flowing Himalayan river, faces growing threats from proposed hydropower development despite sustaining vast ecosystems and livelihoods from Tibet to India. Flowing from near Manasarovar on the Tibetan Plateau to its confluence with the Ganga, the Karnali still follows natural seasonal rhythms that…
INDIA, December 26, 2025 (Organiser): Surgery is usually seen as a modern science. We associate it with machines, sterile gloves and complex equipment. But long before today’s hospitals existed, people were already cutting, stitching and treating serious injuries in organised ways. In ancient India, surgery was not only practised, it was taught, documented and regulated. One of the clearest records…
UNITED STATES, December 22, 2025 (MSN): What happens when faith collides with uniform? Second Lieutenant Harish Rao’s story exposes a rarely discussed side of military service in the United States. During basic training, India-origin Rao was allegedly threatened with deportation for refusing to remove his Hindu tilak, a core religious symbol. Isolated from fellow trainees and sidelined, his future hung…
INDIA, December 22, 2025 (MSN): In India’s fast-changing youth culture, a new kind of nightlife is quietly taking over, and it has nothing to do with alcohol, loud bars or late-night chaos. Instead, it is driven by devotion, music and an unexpected blend of spirituality and fun. This rising trend, known as bhajan clubbing, is capturing the imagination of Gen…
THAILAND, December 25, 2025 (theweek.in): A day after India expressed concern over the demolition of a Lord Vishnu statue by the Thai Military on the Thailand-Cambodia border, the Thai authorities have issued a clarification on the act, stating the demolished structure was not a “registered religious site”. The Thai-Cambodian border press centre issued a statement on Thursday to alleviate India’s…
