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It was in the decade of 1840s, dominated by strikes and struggles and signified by upheavals and uprisings. Among them the most popular but brutally suppressed one that remained alive only for four days – but has kept echoing even after almost two centuries — was the June uprising. It was in Paris. The tensions between bourgeoisie and the workers were most intense here. By February 1848, there was the transition and a new society started emerging, divided in two streams.

His first love was reporting. And while on the job in locations as diverse as Paris and Biafra, Frederick Forsythe who passed away on June 9 dug out the nuggets of lives unknown which would later be the material of his best selling fiction. He was 86. Forsythe did not pen timeless pieces of literature. His works were fiction, pure and simple.

KOLKATA: One of his brothers was a freedom fighter against the British while another sibling was shot to death, Ngugi Wa Thinog'o found his home destroyed when one day he returned from school. The population had been herded to a "protected village" set up by the British to cement control on their colonial subjects.

On May 27, 1964 at 1.44 PM, India's first Prime Minister and one of the best chroniclers of this great nation's history breathed his last at his residence Teen Murti Bhavan. Nehru along with Indira Gandhi came back to Delhi on May 26 afternoon after a three day holiday in Dehradun. Nehru had not been keeping well since his last stroke at the Bhubaneswar session of AICC in January of 1964. After a short rest, the 74 year old Prime Minister, took to his normal schedule despite the requests by his panel of doctors to go slow. For Nehru, work was worship, and when he was not doing official work, he was reading.

LONDON: We are fortunate that the three pillars of Tony Benn’s socialism — the radical democratization of politics, the Alternative Economic Strategy, and antiwar internationalism — were explored in so many of his articles and interviews, and in his speeches to Parliament, demonstrations, conferences, and picket lines. Looking around at the world today and the challenges we face, Benn’s analysis is as relevant as ever and can help guide us through the tasks that lie ahead. So the publication of The Most Dangerous Man in Britain? The Political Writing by Tony Benn (Verso 2025), a new anthology of his political writing, couldn’t be more timely.

Digital technologies and media offer children numerous opportunities to learn, play, connect with friends, and gain gradually independence. However, excessive or problematic use of digital technologies raises concerns about negative impacts on their health, learning ability, and well-being, says the latest OECD report titled “How’s Life for Children in the Digital Age?”

KOLKATA: A deceptively simple tale of four city bred youth leaving behind the concrete jungle and slumming with a vengeance amidst the forests of Palamau in what was then Bihar turned out to be one of the finest films directed by Satyajit Ray — Aranyer Din Ratri. When it was released 56 years ago, people made a beeline for the theatres in Kolkata, while critics were almost at a loss for words in its praise.

Heart Lamp written by Banu Mushtaq and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi has won the International Booker Prize for translated fiction. This heartening news is a tribute to the richness and diversity of the regional Indian literature.

This 184th Birth anniversary of Tagore on May 8-9 (25th Baishakh – Bengali calendar) coincides with the Victory Day-meaning the end of German fascism 80 years back Also this is time when India and Pakistan are engaged in a war once again. It is in fact the perfect moment when one would want to focus on his vision of true internationalism, which has been mired with the jingoistic ultra nationalist feelings that has been whipped up by a part of our political society.

BERLIN: “No inviting Russian and Belarusian representatives to commemorations” — thus reads a nonbinding directive issued to German government officials by the Foreign Office, with regard to the eightieth anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Should the situation escalate, the circular continues, states and municipalities should consider calling the police to have Russian and Belarusian diplomats removed from the premises.