News and Views

Some hours ago astrophysicists brought us the real look of a far away black hole for the first time in history. Numerous science fiction writers, artists, and thinkers have dreamt and visualised the image of a black hole before. But, this is the first time we see a real image of a black hole using powerful (wo)man-made telescopes.

The target was a supermassive black hole located at the centre of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy about 500 million trillion km away from Earth. It measures 40 billion km across, roughly 3.3 million times the size of the Earth.

Let that sink in.

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Mainland liberals and progressives were more than okay with former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar as long as he was sloganeering with JNU students, getting beaten up by lawyers, and facing jail time as an “anti-national”.

But their favour eroded quickly as they witnessed his soaring rise to becoming the CPI candidate from Begusarai in Bihar, and how people were gladly putting their money on him.

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A film that was mysteriously pulled out of Bengal theatres after release had become a flashpoint for debate over artistic freedom in West Bengal. Bhobishyoter Bhoot, directed by Anik Dutta, pegged as a political satire, was unofficially ‘banned’ from the screens on 15 February, as buzz swirled about orders received from ‘higher ups’ about a possible ‘law and order’ threat that the film presented.

At one point it seemed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government, that had been officially ‘silent’ on the issue, was about to lose a share of the prestige support she had once commanded among the artistic community.

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