Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday released a light-hearted video from a Tel Aviv coffee shop, directly mocking viral social media rumours that he had been killed in an Iranian missile strike and that his previous public address was an AI-generated deepfake. Notably, several Iranian and Pakistani social media users had spread the rumours of […]

Tensions have surfaced in parts of Gujarat’s Kheda district after several Hindu residents from villages in Matar taluka staged a protest and reached the Collector’s office demanding government intervention. The protesters urged the administration to declare their areas as “disturbed zones”, expressing concern over a large residential housing project being developed for members of the Muslim […]

Pakistan is facing a serious economic crisis as the ongoing Iran-US conflict is affecting oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, the route through which Pakistan receives most of its fuel imports. With the reduction of oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz due to the attacks on the ships in the Persian Gulf, near […]

On Friday, 13th March, the Maharashtra government introduced the Dharma Swatantrya or Freedom of Religion Bill, 2026, in the state Legislative Assembly. The proposed law aims to regulate religious conversions and provide strict punishment for conversions carried out through force, fraud, coercion or inducement. The Bill is expected to be discussed during the ongoing Budget Session […]

When the India Today Group hosted the India Today Conclave 2026 this week, one particular name in the speaker lineup instantly set off a firestorm: Laura Loomer. The American commentator, closely associated with the political orbit of Donald Trump and the broader MAGA ecosystem, is hardly an unknown quantity. Loomer has built her reputation on incendiary rhetoric and provocation. What made her invitation particularly controversial, however, was not merely her politics but her long record of racist remarks targeting Indians and Indian-origin individuals. Once Loomer herself posted on X that she was heading to India to speak at the conclave, Indians quickly dug into her past posts. Screenshots began circulating widely. In those posts, Loomer had described Indians as “third-world invaders,” mocked India’s sanitation practices, and questioned the intellectual abilities of Indians. In another notorious episode, she launched a tirade against Indian-American technologist Sriram Krishnan after he was appointed Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House, questioning why immigrants should occupy influential positions in the United States. She had also previously mocked the Indian heritage of Kamala Harris with a crude “curry” jibe that triggered widespread outrage. Beyond anti-India rhetoric, Loomer has also courted controversy for promoting conspiracy theories around the September 11 attacks and spreading misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even Republican Senator Thom Tillis once dismissed her as a “crazy conspiracy theorist.” Given this background, the immediate question that dominated social media was obvious: why would a leading Indian media platform invite someone who had repeatedly insulted India and Indians? The backlash was swift and intense. Social media users circulated screenshots of Loomer’s old posts mocking Indian sanitation practices, calling Indians “third-world invaders,” and ridiculing Indian immigrants as supposedly “high-skilled workers” from a country lacking basic infrastructure. Critics described the invitation as astonishing and self-defeating, arguing that providing a prestigious stage to someone with a documented history of anti-India rhetoric risked legitimising exactly the kind of hate speech Indian media houses frequently claim to oppose. But then came the twist. During the conclave session, senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai confronted Loomer over her past remarks. He cited several of her controversial tweets and asked whether she regretted them. “Your remarks are brazenly racist and Islamophobic,” Rajdeep said during his interaction with Loomer.  “Your remarks are brazenly racist and Islamaphopic”: India Today’s @sardesairajdeep hits out at Trump […]