Mollywood Loses a Musical Stalwart

Veteran music director SP Venkatesh, a towering figure in Malayalam cinema (Mollywood), passed away at the age of 70 following a cardiac arrest. He breathed his last at his residence in Chennai, leaving behind a profound musical legacy that shaped some of the most memorable films of the late 1980s and 1990s.

Gandhi Statue Theft Shocks Indian Community in Australia

A bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been stolen from outside the Australian Indian Community Centre in Melbourne, triggering widespread concern among the Indian diaspora.

Government Examines Uniform Protocol for National Song

The Union government is considering the formulation of a formal protocol for India’s national song, “Vande Mataram,” with the objective of ensuring uniform respect across public and official settings. The proposal was discussed during a recent high-level meeting convened by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), signalling a possible move towards aligning the ceremonial treatment of the national song with that of the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana.”

India Delivers Critical Cancer Medicines to Afghanistan

India has dispatched 7.5 tonnes of life-saving cancer medicines to Kabul, extending urgent humanitarian assistance to patients in Afghanistan. The medical consignment underscores India’s continued commitment to people-centric support, particularly in the healthcare sector, amid Afghanistan’s ongoing humanitarian and medical challenges.

Trump’s Board of Peace and the New Grammar of Power Politics

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke Canada’s invitation to join his proposed “Board of Peace” is more than a personal diplomatic snub. It is a revealing episode in the ongoing transformation of global governance, where multilateral norms are increasingly subordinated to unilateral power, transactional loyalty, and public posturing. The controversy, triggered by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum, underlines the growing tension between middle powers seeking rule-based stability and a superpower leadership that is openly sceptical of it.