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☆ India’s time zone: Why the world’s most populous country has a unique one
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Dhruv Tikekar | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

India’s half-hour zone dates back to colonial rule of India and the era when ever-faster steamships and trains were shrinking the world. The start of the 20th century saw some push from scientific associations to calibrate India’s time to GMT. That recommendation was rejected by the colonial government, which opted for a unified time that sat squarely in the middle: five and a half hours ahead of GMT. In 2015, North Korea moved out of sync with South Korea by creating “Pyongyang Time,” putting the country eight and a half hours ahead of GMT instead of nine. India’s colonial-era time zone decision making, however, reflected a chorus of political, scientific and commercial voices both from within the government and outside of it, Gordon says.

Persons: Hulton, ”, Geoff Gordon, Gordon, “, it’s, Wong Maye, Hugo Chávez, Nicolas Maduro, Terry Gilliam, Rube Goldberg, Maulik Jagnani, Jagnani Organizations: CNN, East India Company, Hulton Deutsch, University of Amsterdam, Madras, Washington D.C, Greenwich Meridian, Greenwich Observatory, Meridian, Royal Society, Prime Meridian, Physical Laboratory, Tufts University, NPL Locations: New York, London, Tokyo, Iran, Myanmar, Australia, India, British, Madras, Chennai, “, Bombay, Kolkata, Washington, London ., Greenwich, North Korea, South Korea, Korea, Pyongyang, Brazil, ”, Greenwich , London, China, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat

☆ Meme stocks are back as Trump Media and Reddit surge upon their debuts
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

What do Reddit , Trump Media & Technology Group and GameStop all have in common? Trump Media made its market debut on Tuesday under the ticker DJT, following its merger with shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp. Reddit, which is not in the S & P 500, also has a market cap of about $9 billion Market capitalization Trump Media & Technology $9.4 b. Reddit $9.2 b. Caesars Entertainment $9.4 b. American Airlines $10 b. Mosaic $10.3 b. This is rather remarkable, considering Trump Media had revenues of roughly $3.3 million. What meme stocks have in common What Trump Media, GameStop and Reddit have in common is a high retail base.

Persons: Reddit, Michael Pachter, Pachter, Arch Crawford Organizations: Trump Media & Technology Group, GameStop, Trump Media, Corp, Caesars Entertainment, American Airlines and, Technology, American Airlines, The New York Times, Trump Media & Technology, JPMorgan, East India Company, Microsoft Locations: Moluccas, Indonesia

☆ Basketball-sized gold coin worth ‘around $23M’ honors late Queen Elizabeth II
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

It was produced by the East India Company, a luxury lifestyle brand with rights to the name of the corporation that once controlled large swathes of Britain’s empire. Businessman Sanjiv Mehta, who acquired the rights to the East India Company in 2005, poses with the diamond-encrusted coin. The East India Company said its multi-million-dollar valuation was partly due to the quality of the materials and crafting processes, which involved artisans and experts from the UK, India, Singapore, Germany and Sri Lanka. The original East India Company operated for almost 300 years before its dissolution in 1874. “The Crown” took over a year to produce, meaning that it was underway before Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland last September.

Persons: Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth’s, Sanjiv Mehta, tiaras, ”, Queen Elizabeth, Mehta Organizations: CNN, East India Company, Sotheby’s, NBA, British Overseas, Government, Royal Household, Royal, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Locations: York, India, Singapore, Germany, Sri Lanka, Scotland, British Overseas Territory, St Helena

☆ Netherlands to return nearly 500 looted objects to Indonesia and Sri Lanka
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Senay Boztas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The Dutch government is returning 478 objects looted during colonial times to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. “It’s the first time we’re following recommendations… to give back objects that should never have been brought to the Netherlands. A collection of jewels, precious stones and silver, the "Lombok treasure" was taken from the Indonesian island of Lombok in 1894. “But what changed is our viewpoint: these objects are to tell the stories of our countries, of our shared history of peoples. A ceremonial handover of objects to the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta will take place at the Museum Volkenkunde Leiden on July 10.

Persons: Gunay Uslu, Cannon, ” Uslu, “, …, We’re, we’re, Lilian Gonçalves, Ho Kang, William V , Prince of Orange, Smeulders, ”, ” Smeulders, Gert, Jan van den Bergh, Bergh, Sanders, Van den Bergh Organizations: The Art, CNN, State for Culture, Dutch Council for Culture, National Museum of, Netherlands ’, East India Company, Nazi, Naturalis Biodiversity, Guardian, Art Newspaper, Museum Volkenkunde Leiden Locations: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Dutch, Lombok, Bali, Kandy, Netherlands, Indonesian, Europe, Leiden, National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta

☆ July 4: Was the last battle of the American Revolution fought in India?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The answer is: The last battle of America’s war of independence was fought on this continent. DuVal and others say two key protagonists of the Revolutionary War – Britain and France – actually fought the final battle of the conflict in Cuddalore, India, in June of 1783. Britain and, to a lesser extent, France were well established with colonies in India when the American Revolution began and had already brought their hostilities from Europe to the subcontinent, according to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. “They brought news that six months before in Paris, the British, French and the Americans – the Dutch were a little later – signed the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution,” he says. “Cuddalore, India, was indeed the last battle of the American Revolution.”

Persons: you’ve, Kathleen DuVal, ”, ” DuVal, DuVal, France –, “, Don Glickstein, Frederick the Great, Prussia, Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne, Prince Charles of Lorraine, it’s, Glickstein, ” Glickstein, David Allison, ” Allison, Generals Rochambeau, Marquis de Lafayette, – Organizations: CNN, University of North, British, US, Department, State Department’s Office, Austrian, Hulton, National Park Service, National Museum of, Smithsonian, Yorktown, Washington, Getty, Brits, American Revolution, Museum, American, British East India Company, Britain Locations: North America, Asia, University of North Carolina, United States, Massachusetts, Virginia, Britain, France, Cuddalore, India, British, Spain, Netherlands, American, Seattle, Yorktown, Quebec, Abraham, North Carolina, Pacific, Portugal, Canada, Prague, Yorktown , Virginia, “, Dutch Republic, Washington, Paris, Jamaica, Gibraltar, Europe, Philadelphia, Bengal

☆ Dutch king apologizes for Netherlands’ historic role in slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Saturday apologized for the Netherlands’ historic involvement in slavery and the effects that it still has today. “On this day that we remember the Dutch history of slavery, I ask forgiveness for this crime against humanity,” he said. Spectators react after King Willem-Alexander apologized for the royal house's role in slavery at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands on Saturday. The apology comes amid a wider reconsideration of the Netherlands’ colonial past, including involvement in both the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in its former Asian colonies. Willem-Alexander apologized in Indonesia in 2020 for “excessive violence” during Dutch colonial rule.

Persons: King Willem, Alexander, ”, Koti, Peter Dejong, Willem, Mark Rutte, Rutte, Orange Organizations: CNN, Royal House, Royal Locations: Netherlands, Caribbean, Amsterdam’s Oosterpark, Indonesia, East India

☆ King apologises for Netherlands' historic role in slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Dutch King Willem-Alexander speaks at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Saturday, July 1, 2023. The king apologised for the royal house's role in slavery and asked for forgiveness. Peter Dejong/Pool via REUTERSAMSTERDAM, July 1 (Reuters) - Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Saturday apologised for the Netherlands' historic involvement in slavery and the effects that it still has today. The apology comes amid a wider reconsideration of the Netherlands' colonial past, including involvement in both the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in its former Asian colonies. Willem-Alexander apologised in Indonesia in 2020 for "excessive violence" during Dutch colonial rule.

Persons: King Willem, Alexander, Peter Dejong, Keti, Willem, Mark Rutte, Rutte, Orange, Toby Sterling, Jason Neely, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Dutch State, Royal House, Royal, Thomson Locations: Netherlands, Amsterdam, REUTERS AMSTERDAM, Caribbean, Amsterdam's, Indonesia, Dutch, East India

☆ The Clash of Civilizations That Heralded a Rocky Relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Abhishek Kaicker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Das, a professor of English at Oxford University, is the rare scholar who combines a sensitivity to the literature of Jacobean England with a sympathetic and nuanced understanding of the Mughal empire. In Das’s telling, Roe was not a herald of the Company Raj to come as much as a product of 17th-century England, an island nation whose commercial ambitions were beginning to overshadow its royal court. Conflicts over precedence did nothing to advance his mission of securing trade rights, which was the real reason Roe had been sent across the Indian Ocean. The Mughal emperor Jahangir suffered neither James I’s financial embarrassments nor accorded much privilege to traders. Indeed, the court’s sumptuous ceremonies led “mogul” to become a byword for fantastical wealth and overwhelming power.

☆ Netherlands PM Rutte apologises for role of Dutch state in slavery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Tosterling Ank Kuipers | Ank Kuipers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/8] Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte responds to recommendations from a panel of experts to accept the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery and its current consequences in The Hague, Netherlands December 19, 2022. "Today I apologise," Rutte said in a nationally televised speech at the Dutch National Archives. "For centuries the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it," he added. "It is true that nobody alive today bears any personal guilt for slavery...(however) the Dutch state bears responsibility for the immense suffering that has been done to those that were enslaved and their descendants." The panel said that Dutch participation in slavery had amounted to crimes against humanity and in 2021 recommended an apology and reparations.

☆ Opinion: The British Empire: A legacy of violence?
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Peter Bergen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

A related question is also surfacing now: What is the legacy of the British Empire writ large? Bergen: This reassessment of British Empire: You are leading the charge. Bergen: So, are the British in high school as they learn about British history being told a bunch of fairy tales? Are there similarities between the 1619 Project and what you and other colleagues are doing in your reassessment of the British Empire? And I think that’s what we’re seeing in different kinds of ways with the history of the British Empire.

☆ University of Cambridge says it gained from slave trade
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Cambridge said an investigation it commissioned had found no evidence that the university itself ever owned slaves or plantations directly. Those came from university benefactors who had made their money from the slave trade, the university’s investments in companies that participated in it, and fees from plantation-owning families, according to the investigation’s report. Researchers found that fellows from Cambridge colleges were involved with the East India Company, while investors in the Royal African Company also had links to Cambridge — two companies both active in the slave trade. “Such financial involvement both helped to facilitate the slave trade and brought very significant financial benefits to Cambridge,” the Legacies of Enslavement report said. The university said it had also received a donation to commission a Black British artist to memorialize Black Cambridge scholars, and will install explanatory plaques to contextualize older statues of those associated with the slave trade.

☆ The Kohinoor diamond was obtained by the British Empire. Some argue it should be returned to India.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-12 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

After the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week, online users are calling for the British government to surrender artifacts obtained by the British Empire, including the Kohinoor diamond — one of the most famous diamonds in the world. Conversations about the diamond — also spelled Koh-i-noor — which is part of the British crown jewels, have been trending on social media amid coverage of the queen’s death, with users posting their opinions about the empire — and memes about stealing the diamond back. “The actual histories of British imperialism tell a much different story, one of horrific violence, dispossession, prejudice and significant economic exploitation,” she said. Maharaja Duleep Singh, the son and successor of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, held on to the diamond until the British annexed Punjab in 1849. (The Royal India Company was the royally chartered company formed to exploit trade with East and Southeast Asia and India.)

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