A Tomb Stone of a Jewish serviceman served in Ceylon

Jewish Footprints and Connections that Shaped Sri Lanka’s History

Today, the Chabad Houses in Colombo and on Sri Lanka's southern coast have attracted considerable attention amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and rhetoric. It is noteworthy that Colombo once had an active synagogue, which served as a regular place of worship for British Jewish servicemen World War II

Repositioning India as the Capital of Buddhist Tourism: A Blueprint for a Global Destination

Buddhist tourism as an important tool of India’s soft power. The shared Buddhist heritage can help develop cultural ties with Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, South Korea, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, and several other Buddhist-majority nations through cooperation in archaeology, monk-to-monk dialogues, youth programs, academic exchanges, and cultural festivals

Mohenjo-daro’s ‘Dancing Girl’: The Silence Surrounding Women in Public History

Mohenjo-daro offers South Asia an opportunity to look backwards without dividing the past into national possessions, and to recognise that the region’s cultural memory is older and more interconnected than its modern inheritors.

How a Film by a Boston-Based Immigrant is Dismantling the Model-Minority Concept

Jam Boy represents a much-needed question for the South Asia diaspora, about why it takes a third aggressor for us to see the common struggles that we share, and why it is only in these situations that we remember that our ideas of home are the same.

More on Soft Power, Culture and Society

Cricket politics: Two former international cricketers accuse Indian Cricket Board of trying to scuttle a tournament in 'Pakistan Occupied Kashmir'

Two former international cricketers have accused the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) of issuing warnings to other cricket boards for allowing their players to take part in a twenty20 tournament in a region governed by Pakistan but claimed by India as its territory

Bollywood remake of old Pakistani song triggers angry Twitter exchanges

A new Bollywood remake of an old Pakistani song is currently being dragged on Twitter for ironically being part of an “anti-Pakistan” film

Covid effect: Shortage of turbans and kirpans leave Pakistani Sikhs frustrated

Sikhs in Pakistan are facing an acute shortage of turbans and kirpans – the cultural symbols of Sikhism – as they are unable to import them from Amritsar, India due to the Covid pandemic related trade restrictions and suspension of religious tourism

Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus inscribes Bangladesh's name in Olympic history

When Nobel Peace Laureate, Professor Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, received the coveted Olympic Laurel award at the opening ceremony of the 32nd Games of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23, organized under the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic with no audience on the ground, his motherland in South Asia incorporated its name in the history of the Olympics

Sri Lanka to host Afghanistan-Pakistan ODI series; venue shifted from UAE

The three-match ODI series between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which was earlier scheduled to be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will now be held in Sri Lanka, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed

"India Is Elated": PM Modi cheers Indian woman weightlifter's Olympic silver

Within minutes of Indian woman weightlifter Mirabai Chanu bagging the country's first medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in celebrating the achievement, the country's first medal on the first day of competition at the Olympic Games

Going against IOC directive, Pakistan’s Tokyo Olympic Games contingent have not followed SOP for biosecure bubble

Virtually violating the instructions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), none of the Pakistani athletes and officials taking part in the Tokyo Olympic Games have fully followed the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set for the bio-secure bubble, though they underwent multiple testing for Covid-19

India-UK naval drill a 'homecoming' for this Royal Navy technician

As the UK's Carrier Strike Group enters the Indian Ocean to conduct maritime exercises with the Indian Navy, Jagjeet Singh Grewal is more excited than the others in the crew

Growing human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka worries government, animal lovers

Sri Lanka is often seen as an elephant country and is home to over 5000 elephants

Maldives to host AFC south group D and playoff matches

The AFC Cup 2021 Playoff and Group Stage-South matches will be held in the Maldives, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed on Monday

Afghan girls bag award at international astronomy competition

Even as the future of their conflict-ridden country hangs in the balance, a group of Afghan girls from the western city of Herat gave their war-weary people something to cheer about when they won an award at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition hosted by Poland which was held online early in July

Cultural sites in Afghanistan threatened by war

Hundreds of ancient sites and artifacts in Afghanistan are vulnerable to damage and trafficking due to the conflict and ongoing instability in various parts of Afganistan, Qasim Wafaeezada Afghanistan acting minister of information and culture said warned, saying the risk in even more in areas held by insurgents

Danish Siddique, Pulitzer winner Indian photojournalist, is killed in Afghanistan

Danish Siddique, an award-winning Indian photojournalist who was Reuters’ chief photographer for India, was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Thursday while on a reporting assignment in the conflict-ridden nation. For the last few days, he had been covering the war in Afghanistan and was embedded with Afghan security forces

Maldives’ Islamic University to sign MOU with India’s Aligarh Muslim University

The Islamic University of Maldives  (IUM) and India’s premium Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will sign a memorandum of understating (MOU) for collaboration in short-term courses and facility and students exchange programs

Chair honoring Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Delhi University

A chair honoring Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also called Bangabandhu in Bangladesh, will be set up at the University of Delhi on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the country's Liberation War and Indo-Bangla diplomatic relations