Iran’s government said they shut down the Tehran-based French Institute of Research in response to cartoons from the latest edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Some of the caricatures they published were sexually explicit.

Iran closes French institute to retaliate for Khamenei cartoons https://t.co/8fgTdjcHXO

India, despite having a secular and pluralistic constitution, is still massively majoritarian in its views, according to a recent book by a data journalist. The book also claimed that India’s youth has a weaker commitment to democracy and freedom of speech than what is currently believed.

According to the data, “Age, education and urbanization, and income do not produce the moderating, progressive liberal effects on views that we in our popular imagination in India assume they do. Young people do not hold more progressive values than their parents or even their grandparents.”

Anti-Muslim songs filled with hateful lyrics and a suggestive message are rising in India. Fueled by the increasingly bold Hindutva organizations, these songs are becoming a centerpiece of nationalist rallies and meetings.

Earlier this year, a Hindu priest paraded near a mosque in Uttar Pradesh. He was calling for the assault of Muslim women while blasting anti-Muslim songs from a speaker.

On May 4, a Dalit man was beaten and stabbed to death by a group of individuals in Hyderabad, Telangana.

According to a local news agency, The News Minute, the attack was due to the victim marrying a Muslim woman against their family's wishes. The victim, 26-year-old Billipuram Nagaraju, died due to the blunt attacks, The News Minute reported.

In Punjab, India, a university professor was fired over an alleged offensive comment regarding the Hindu god Ram. In an Instagram post published by the university on April 23, the professor was terminated “effective immediately.”

Gursang Preet Kaur is an assistant professor at the Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, northern Punjab. Kaur allegedly referred to Ram as a “cunning person,” putting the Hindu god in a bad light.