Shocking tragedy: "Witches" lynched in Assam village
A tribal mob in Assam lynched and decapitated two women accused of practising witchcraft, threw their bodies into a river and paraded their heads as trophies, police said on Tuesday. Eight people have been arrested over the attack. [more]
Hamburg establishes office in India
New Delhi , April 18: "HAMBURG, the richest industrial city in Germany, has set up its representative office in India to boost trade ties between India and Hamburg", reports Business Line.
"The Hamburg Senator and Minister of Economic and Labour Affairs, Mr Gunner Uldall, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dr Dietrich Kebschull, Director, Indo German Export Promotion Project (IGEP), for heading the India representative office at a function organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Mr Uldall is in India on a five-day visit.
"As per the MoU, Hamburg's India office will look for new business opportunities between India and Hamburg, especially in the fields of civil aviation, airport and port development, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
"Mr Uldall is heading a 12-member high-level business delegation from Hamburg. The delegation will be meeting senior officials in the Ministries of Commerce and Shipping. The delegation will also be visiting Mumbai.
"He said that Hamburg has one of the most modern and busiest ports in the world and is considered gateway for Germany and other parts of Europe. It is famous for Airbus Industrie's manufacturing unit, Lufthansa Technic base, Mont Blanc pens, Philips Medical Systems, Olympus, and Beiersdorf (makers of Nivea brand)." [courtsey: Business Line]
The German newspaper Die Welt reports that another north-German State of Schleswig-Holstein is planning to join the Hamburg office in India.
India's pseudo secularism: A bitter joke?
The recent death of Pope John Paul II once more exposed the hypocrisy that mars India's self-styled (pseudo) secularism. The more-loyal-than-the-king government of a secular (!) state declared a three days state mourning for a religious head. It sent Vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat with a large delegation to attend the funeral of the deceased Pope and issued highly exaggerated statements praising the pontiff's alleged love for India and her culture.
All this drama took place despite the fact that no Indian govt. ever bothered to show such an honour to any head of an Indian religion. Worse, never did the Vatican care to declare any state mourning for an Indian religious head or for that matter for an Indian head of the state or head of the government that died in office, for instance Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
This is the sad story of Indian pseudo "secularism". The article is also available in Hindi, as a PDF file. [more]