Priyanka Borpujari

The famous singer’s life encapsulates the various phases Islam has gone through in Ireland. Majority of the converts to Islam combine their Irishness with their Muslim-ness, and O'Connor embodied that generation of Irish Muslims.

Weltweit scheint noch Einigkeit darüber zu herrschen, dass Frauen nicht über ihre eigenen Körper bestimmen sollen. Trotz kleiner Errungenschaften.

[Monthly Fernsicht column: Japan has finally approved the abortion pill, with limitations. But there still seems to be a global consensus that women should not be in control of their own bodies.]

Die indischen Geschichtsbücher werden um Teile der Vergangenheit ärmer. Die Regierung treibt die muslimische Minderheit einmal mehr an den Rand.

[Monthly Fernsicht column: History books in India are editing parts of the past. The government is once again marginalizing the Muslim minority.]

If you know where to look, you can find gateways between worlds: on one side, the Tokyo of endless bustle, while on the other, a pocket of green space that will stun you with its stillness as profoundly as Harajuku will with its dynamism.

Not being allowed to take the Communion while growing up, my first experience was with late Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The world’s third biggest economy seems to have emerged from the pandemic comparatively unscathed. I spoke to health workers who survived the frontlines about how, and at what cost: one doctor attributes Japan’s “success” to the public’s compliance. Another put it more bluntly: “We did not succeed. We merely got lucky.”

Japan’s foreign residents continue to be separated from their families — some for nearly two years — amid new travel bans.

“Within the Olympics village, people were tested almost daily and almost everyone was vaccinated. Outside the bubble, the situation was completely the opposite. So there is a clear double standard here.”
The sound of sirens across Tokyo has increased noticeably during August. After a year of keeping the pandemic in check, Japan’s health system faces its sternest test yet, with record breaking numbers of daily cases.

All across public spaces in Tokyo, one phrase, on a red and brown banner, has become part of the dizzying cityscape: “Tokyo 2020: United by emotion.” The highly-controversial, most-expensive, postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics stirred up mixed emotions among Japanese.

A US navy personnel remembers it as sputtering hot oil on his face. A man faced it for 60 nights of the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland. Churchill was "strongly in favor of using poison gas against uncivilized tribes."

The legality of the use of teargas—from being used in WWI and WWII, and then being partially prohibited—has been long contested, based on its chemical composition, with a dose of political manipulation. So how did a military weapon go from being used in wars to streets?

“I am glad I am not out on the street under the hot sun, holding a placard that reads, ‘beware of heatstroke’ – something that I saw an older man being assigned to do.”
Small joys and many disappointments: the experiences of volunteers of 2020 Tokyo Olympics.