On January 30, 1948, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, was assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu extremist. Born the son of an Indian official in 1869, Gandhi’s Vaishnava mother was deeply religious and early on exposed her son to Jainism, a morally rigorous Indian religion that … Continue reading
Following the death of Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi becomes head of the Congress Party and thus prime minister of India. She was India’s first female head of government and by the time of her assassination in 1984 was one of its most controversial. Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister … Continue reading
A powerful earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, on December 26, 2004 sets off a tsunami that wreaks death and devastation across the Indian Ocean coastline. The quake was the second strongest ever recorded and the estimated 230,000 dead made this disaster one of the 10 worst of all time. It was 7:58 a.m. … Continue reading
The British Empire once stretched into almost every continent on Earth. In 1947, Britain dismantled its Indian empire and partitioned the sub-continent, resulting in an eruption of tensions between India and Pakistan. Pakistan itself was divided by civil war after its 1970 election saw the East Pakistani Awami League party win 167 of 169 seats … Continue reading
An unidentified 40-year-old male has been detained by Delhi police for suspicious behaviour after he was caught following all the traffic rules on the road in the national capital. This is the rarest of the rare behaviours witnessed on Delhi roads, authorities confirm. Addressing a press conference, traffic inspector Mr. Hafta Ram gave a detailed account of … Continue reading
Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest has called on Tony Abbott to insist new global trade agreements have clauses prohibiting forced labour, as he launched a global slave index in London. The chairman of Fortescue Metals Group said slavery was “as common as church mice, and an insistence on an enforced labour-proof supply chain in any … Continue reading
India has become the leading source of permanent migrants to Australia for the first time, ahead of China, a government report showed on Monday. Reflecting the growing prominence of Asia to Australia, seven of the top 10 source countries during 2011-2012 were from the region, Australia’s Migration Trends study showed. “Between 1996 and 2011, Australia’s … Continue reading
Australia does not want to be put in the position where it has to choose between the US and China, the new head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has declared. In his first major public speech since taking over as DFAT secretary, Peter Varghese said: “The challenge for all of us is … Continue reading
On October 31st 1984, Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India, was assassinated in New Delhi by two of her own bodyguards. Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, both Sikhs, emptied their guns into Gandhi as she walked to her office from an adjoining bungalow. Although the two assailants immediately surrendered, they were both shot in … Continue reading
On October 5th 1989, the Dalai Lama, the exiled religious and political leader of Tibet, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet. The 14th Dalai Lama was born as Tenzin Gyatso in Tsinghai Province, China, in 1935. He was of Tibetan parentage, and … Continue reading
On May 28th 1965, methane gas caused a mine explosion near Dharbad, India, that killed 375 people and injured hundreds more. The blast was so powerful that even workers on the surface of the mine were killed. The mine was located 225 miles northwest of Calcutta near the town of Dharbad and employed hundreds of … Continue reading