Pope Invites Nun’s Killer to Rome. Pope Francis wants to meet the infamous killer of an Indian nun. In 1995, Samundar Singh stabbed Sister Rani Maria 54 times on a bus in Madhya Pradesh. He was acting on the orders of local landlords who were opposed to Maria’s social work for poor farmers. The Pope invited Singh, the Indian Catholic priest who counseled him in prison, and the murdered nun’s sister (who has publicly forgiven Singh), to Rome for a special screening of the documentary Heart of a Murderer. [BuzzFeed]
http://vimeo.com/58700483
A Riot in Singapore’s Little India. In Singapore’s first riot in more than four decades, hundreds of South Asian workers took to the streets on Sunday night after a bus hit a man in Little India, which is home to a large number of the island nation’s migrant workers. So far, 27 South Asian men have been arrested in connection with the riots. Here’s one comment on a riot video (warning: video may be inappropriate for some viewers and requires age confirmation):
“Outsiders coming to our country because their own country has not enough work should be greatful [sic]. Singapore has no riots for manys [sic] years, so why should they have the rights to start a riot? Because they help build our country? I DON’T THINK SO!” [Forbes]
http://youtu.be/S-ZK27Me76s
Rules Change Keeps India in Olympic Games. The new rules mean India won’t be kept out of the Winter Olympics, as earlier threatened by IOC President Thomas Bach. It was a close call for India, and the IOC. Bloomberg View’s sports writer Kavitha A. Davidson writes about the recent change to the Indian Olympic Association’s constitution barring officials charged with a crime from running for elections.
India’s concession also benefits the IOC by allowing it to avoid the uncomfortable implications of expelling a country for corruption while allowing others with glaring human rights violations to continue membership — namely Saudi Arabia and Russia, the host country of the 2014 Games. [Bloomberg]
Mandela Saved South Africa from Bloodbath. Imprisoned with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, Mac Maharaj says he learned from Mandela how to take on the enemy of apartheid. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, he also says that Mandela saved South Africa from a bloodbath by negotiating with the apartheid government. Maharaj presently serves as spokesperson in President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet, and back in 1976 he smuggled out of prison a draft of Mandela’s manuscript for his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. [CNN]
Celebrity Football Fan Kunal Nayyar. The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar shares the story of his football fanatic trajectory from New Delhi to green-blooded Philadelphia Eagles fan, from video games and fantasy football to the 2003 season, and eventually a seat in the owner’s box. Read the full story on the team’s site. [PhiladelphiaEagles.com]
Meet the Huffington Post’s Jimmy Soni. The Aerogram’s Hot News Mix contributor Aarti Virani interviewed Jimmy Soni for Vogue India. Read all about the trilingual, swing-dancing, 28-year-old steering one of the world’s largest news web sites as The Huffington Post’s managing editor. Soni is currently focusing on the upcoming 2014 launch of Huffington Post’s India edition.
“Even though I’ve strayed from my roots a bit, the lens through which I think about the world tends to blend the ancient with the modern,” he asserts. “And there are few places where that is done more successfully than India.” [Vogue India]
Surreal Billboard for Toilet Seats. Sure, sex sells, and saris can certainly be sexy. But that still leaves us confused when it comes to this head-scratcher of a billboard for toilet seats in Kaliningrad, Russia, with a sari-clad beauty saying “I’m looking for a white friend.” (Cracked, BBC)
Pavani Yalamanchili is a co-founder and editor of The Aerogram. Email her at editors@theaerogram.com. Find The Aerogram on Twitter @theaerogram.
