Latest news with #Hangul
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
‘I'm discharging. The End': BTS leader RM aka Kim Namjoon completes his military service — ARMYs say 'the war is over finally'
BTS leader Kim Namjoon, aka RM, is returning to civilian life, and he shared one final post from his military chapter — a black-and-white photo strip in uniform that had fans jumping with joy. Those who've followed his journey over the past 18 months would know how much he has waited for this day. Namjoon had not been subtle about counting down the days to his discharge, just like ARMYs, and now that day has finally arrived. BTS' RM ends his military service with one last post Just hours before the clock strikes midnight on June 10 (KST), RM officially updated fans about his mandatory military service — and he marked the moment in true Namjoon fashion. Taking to Instagram, RM shared a final Story update that has ARMYs around the world getting emotional. The post featured a black-and-white photo booth strip of him in uniform, striking playful poses — from pointing finger guns and giving salutes to stretching out his arms and bowing his head softly. Right in the middle were the words in Hangul: '전역합니다. 끝.' which translates to 'I'm discharging. The end.' ARMYs celebrate Namjoon's discharge ARMYs celebrated the moment with RM, sharing messages and nostalgic posts across X to welcome him back. One fan wrote, "This pic screams happiness and freedom loudly," while another mentioned, "He's been ready for this day since the day he enlisted tbh." A third added, "The war is over. Finally, you're free from this s**t." The war is over Finally, you're free from this sht "His version of "I'M FREE, WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY F***ING LIFE," one person wrote. his version of "IM FREE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY FUCKING LIFE" "I cannot wait to see you again, Namjoon," one fan lovingly wrote. I cannot wait to see you again, Namjoon 💜😘 BTS reunion inching closer RM isn't the only one discharged on June 10. V, who enlisted on the same day, also officially completes his service today. Jimin and Jungkook will follow tomorrow, on June 11, and SUGA will wrap up his duties later this month. For the first time in over a year, BTS is on the brink of reuniting as seven. Back when he enlisted, Namjoon wrote, 'I'll return after growing stronger and healthier, both in body and mind.' And now, as fans welcome him back, that promise feels fulfilled. For all the latest K-drama, K-pop, and Hallyuwood updates, keep following our coverage here.
News18
29-05-2025
- General
- News18
Saving Kashmir's Iconic Hangul Deer: Govt Notifies Eco-Sensitive Zone Around Tral Wildlife Sanctuary
Last Updated: Once widely distributed across Kashmir and parts of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, the Kashmir Stag (Hangul) is now confined to just 150-200 individuals—with 110-130 in Dachigam alone In a significant effort to protect Jammu and Kashmir's iconic and critically endangered Hangul deer, the Centre has officially designated an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around the Tral Wildlife Sanctuary, a critical biodiversity hotspot. The ministry of environment, forests, and climate change finalised this decision on Tuesday after receiving no objections during the 60-day public consultation period. The initial draft was published on October 3 the previous year. The notification designates nearly 127.1 sq km as an Eco-Sensitive Zone, extending up to 3.36 km from the sanctuary's boundaries and encompassing 26 villages. The Tral Wildlife Sanctuary serves as a vital corridor for the remaining population of Hangul in the country. Following the notification, the government can now regulate activities in the area to create a buffer zone, aiding the survival of this vulnerable species. Once widely distributed across Kashmir and parts of Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district, the Kashmir Red Deer (Hangul)—commonly known as the Kashmir Stag—now has an estimated population of just 150-200 individuals, based on a 2015 estimate. The last remaining population is primarily confined to Dachigam National Park and its immediate surroundings, highlighting the species' critical status. Located about 45 km southeast of Srinagar, the Tral Wildlife Sanctuary in Pulwama district is one of the few areas outside the national park where a small population of Hangul still exists. The Kashmir Red Deer (Hangul) is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and is classified as 'critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Due to rising poaching and habitat threats, its population has drastically declined over the years. The sanctuary is also connected to other important wildlife areas, such as Overa-Aru Wildlife Sanctuary and Khrew Conservation Reserve, which together support various important and endemic species of animals and birds. In addition to the Kashmir Red Deer, the Tral Wildlife Sanctuary is home to endemic species like the Kashmir Musk Deer and Kashmir Gray Langur, as well as threatened species like the Common Leopard, Himalayan Griffon Vulture, Bearded Vulture, and Kashmir Flycatcher. It also harbours numerous plant species with significant medicinal value. Historically, parts of the protected area, namely Shikargah and Khangund, were once designated as conservation reserves, some of the oldest notified protected areas in India, dating back to 1945. In 2019, these reserves, along with adjoining forest areas, were upgraded to a wildlife sanctuary, now covering about 155 sq km of the rugged and undulating terrain of the Greater Himalayan Mountains.
Indian Express
17-05-2025
- Indian Express
From Asiatic lion to pygmy hog, 10 unique Indian animal species found nowhere else on Earth
India's rich biodiversity is, undoubtedly, one of its greatest natural treasures. From majestic big cats to elusive amphibians, the country is home to an array of species, some of which exist nowhere else on Earth. Here are 10 extraordinary species found only in India, and where you can spot them: Gir National Park in Gujarat is home to Asiatic Lions. Different from their African counterparts, these big cats come with a larger tuft tail, folded skin on the abdomen and thinner curls on their head. Found only in Manipur's Keibul Lamjao National Park, they are also known as 'dancing deers' owing to their habit of jumping through floating grassland habitats (phumdi). Also known as Nilgir Sholakilis, this stunning songbird is found in Shola forests of the Western Ghats and the hills of Southern India. It boasts of bright blue plumage, white belly feathers, and a black tail with an orange tip. Spotted in Dachigam National Park in Kashmir and sometimes in the northern Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, this subspecies of red deer is also known as Hangul. A visit to Manas National Park of Assam will get you closer to the world's smallest and rarest wild pig. With a population less than 250, these creatures thrive in wet grasslands and are capable of building their own homes with a roof from scratch. Also known as Nilgir Sholakilis, this stunning songbird found in Shola forests of the Western Ghats and the hills of Southern India, boasts of bright blue plumage, white belly feathers, and a black tail with an orange tip. With a population of 3750 today, they are found in parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar. This animal features a dark coat and sturdy build, thriving in dense forests of the Andaman Islands. Having adapted to the island life, it sustains itself on roots, fruits and small invertebrates found in the tropical region. The Purple Frog has a bloated body, small head, and pointed snout. What makes it stand out from the rest is its retro purple hue. A resident of the Western Ghats, this amphibian spends most of its life underground, surfacing only for a few days during monsoon to breed. Native to the Nicobar Islands, this ground-dwelling bird is known for its unique nesting behaviour. Instead of incubating eggs with body heat, it buries them in warm sand or decomposing vegetation to hatch.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I Was a Black K-pop Fan For 2 Decades—After Endless Cultural Appropriation & Racial Slurs, I'm Letting Go
Getty Images In this op-ed, writer Tabby Kibugi explains why she's stepping away from being a K-pop fan after renewed discussions of idols engaging in cultural appropriation, use of the n-word, and stereotyping Black culture. I often liken my relationship with K-pop to that unforgettable ex — the one who never truly treated you right, yet you kept going back to because they were your first love. My love for the genre began in 2008, when a classmate introduced me to the song 'Nobody' by Wonder Girls. The repetitive Korean lyrics were catchy; the choreography combined with the sparkly gold outfits, goofy concept, and overall retro vibes, a rarity back then, drew my attention. After listening to a few more songs by the girl group, I became so enchanted that around June of 2009, I nearly convinced my parents to fly me out to Washington to attend a Jonas Brothers concert at Tacoma Dome because Wonder Girls were the opening act. Granted, they were not on board with that (I live in Kenya, so yes, it was a pretty absurd idea). But nostalgia only gets you so far. I spent my teen years dancing to Wonder Girls in my bedroom, learning Hangul one lyric at a time, and defending K-pop to anyone who didn't get it. It felt like pure joy, but even then, there was a quiet discomfort — something that twisted in me every time I saw Black culture being played for laughs or used as an aesthetic by idols. Over time, that unease hardened. The cultural appropriation, the stereotypes, and the silence from idols and companies kept piling up, and what once felt like ignorance began to look like a pattern. Loving K-pop has meant balancing joy and erosion — the thrill of the music against the heartbreak of watching the industry exploit Blackness while fans like me carry the weight. After nearly two decades, the joy the music brings me isn't enough to keep me in the fandom anymore. What kept me tethered for so long was how magical it originally felt to be part of the fandom in those early days. Being a fan before the genre became a global behemoth felt like being part of a secret society. Curated playlists didn't exist, and official music videos were rarely uploaded immediately after a song was released. To access full albums, I had to dig through Tumblr or LiveJournal for 4shared links hidden in fan comments, often in zip files labeled something like 'BIGBANG_ALIVE_[HQ]'. LiveJournal, especially communities like Omona They Didn't, was the epicenter for international fans like us because it archived translated content and hosted discussions on comebacks, teasers, and K-pop scandals. It was a chaotic, funny, and deeply nerdy platform. It also felt like a second home. Buying albums was also a hurdle. Being an international fan meant that if I wanted to buy a physical album, I had to rely on group orders because of the expensive shipping costs. Someone on a forum would collect money, place a bulk order on our behalf, and redistribute the albums which thoroughly saved my pockets. Eventually, I got exposed to more second and third-generation groups such as B.A.P, EXO, and 2NE1. By this time, my room was completely plastered with K-pop paraphernalia, especially posters of my favorite group, BIGBANG. As the genre gained traction outside of Asia and third-generation groups such as BTS and BLACKPINK hit global stardom, I was already a veteran fan and part of many online K-pop spaces, including r/kpopnoir, a subreddit for Black K-pop fans. But as the years progressed, my devotion to the music that shaped my identity as a teenager started to fade as I continuously witnessed a series of racially insensitive incidents by K-pop idols. I was an avid watcher of K-pop variety shows in the early days especially during the second and third-generation K-pop groups. Back then, it was nearly impossible to get through an episode without encountering something blatantly racist — whether it was the idols or hosts mocking Black accents, or playing stereotypes of Black people just for laughs. I remember watching an interview on C-Radio's Idol True Colors in November 2014 with Red Velvet, when Wendy gave an exaggerated impersonation of how she thought Black men speak. It was chock-full of exaggerated stereotypical mannerisms. Of course, it wasn't the worst offense I'd seen by then, but it made me pretty uncomfortable how the idols and the hosts found humor in offensive stereotypes. No acknowledgement or apology was ever made. Each successive instance of cultural insensitivity, appropriation, or blatant anti-Blackness left me feeling more uncomfortable than the previous one. As I weathered them, I convinced myself that most idols didn't fully understand the cultural significance of what they were doing, that their mistakes came from ignorance rather than malice. I held onto the hope that they would eventually learn and improve, or at least, their management companies would educate them. But over time, it became harder to overlook. My first major shock came in 2017 when MAMAMOO ran a parody video of themselves performing Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's 'Uptown Funk,' in which they not only mimicked the original video's attire but also incorporated blackface. The situation left me thinking about how little thought some idols give to the cultural roots of the music they imitate. For me and many other Black fans, the incident was deeply insensitive. It caused a lot of backlash online, and as a result, the group apologized via Facebook the next day, admitting that there was "no excuse" for their "insensitive actions." 'We were extremely ignorant of blackface and did not understand the implications of our actions,' they posted. 'We will be taking time to understand more about our international fans to ensure this never happens again. We hope that you will help to educate us on these and other issues so that we can become better people and better artists.' However, the incident was still not enough to make me walk away from the industry. The years have passed, and with them new groups have repeated the mistakes of their elders. Recently, leaked videos, purportedly of BLACKPINK, seemed to show the members singing along to the n-word in what look like old practice clips (YG Entertainment has yet to confirm their validity or address the criticism; Teen Vogue has reached out for comment). Similar things have happened over the years. In 2021, a member of the K-pop group ENHYPEN was accused of singing the N-word in SZA's "Love Galore" in the background of a video published on the group's official YouTube channel; aespa apologized after member Giselle mouthed the n-word while singing along to the same song. In 2019, J-Hope of BTS was criticized for his hairstyle in the 'Chicken Noodle Soup' video, which some thought resembled dreadlocks. In 2020, ATEEZ apologized after member Hongjoong wore neon blue cornrows. In 2021, Jay Park was accused of cultural appropriation in his video remix of Kendrick Lamar's 'DNA,' where he and other Korean artists wore braided hairstyles and attire reminiscent of African-American culture, yet the video was about celebrating Korean identity. Whether it's singing to the n-word or appropriating hairstyles, it all keeps happening over and over. Kiss of Life is the most recent group to spark backlash after they live streamed a hip-hop-themed party on April 2 where the members wore stereotypical hip-hop attire, including diamond and gold chains, hoop earrings, snapbacks, and even cornrows; fans also called them out for using AAVE and a blaccent. This latest incident from Kiss of Life did not shock me — though it did leave me with a feeling of exhaustion. It felt like yet another entry in a long line of moments where Black K-pop fans are reminded that our culture is simply an aesthetic to borrow. The group addressed the controversy with a hand-written apology posted on their social media account, and that stirred a polarizing conversation, with some defending the group and others feeling the apology was insincere and acknowledging a familiar frustration: We've been here before. And then, like with so many previous incidents, I knew deep down that nothing would really change. Nope — life would continue as usual. Most people would forget and move on, eagerly awaiting their next comeback. And that finally made me realize that I no longer have the energy to rationalize or hope that 'next time' will be different. The emotional labor of being both a fan and a critic has taken its toll on me. I can't do it anymore. I'm not alone. I've seen other Black K-pop fans share similar sentiments online over the past few weeks. One fan, who goes by the X username @hwaffless and had recently tweeted about how exhausting being a Black K-pop fan has been, shared her experience with me via X DM. She got into K-pop in 2017 after stumbling upon a BLACKPINK choreography and listening to music by the girl group, APINK, but after years in the fandom, she can no longer enjoy the music without feeling disrespected. 'Among the countless times of asking to be respected, the request still isn't treated with care,' she tells Teen Vogue. 'I just don't feel heard or seen, and the blatant disrespect is tiring. Even the fandoms are excusing the behavior and telling Black people to be quiet waaay more often and speaking for or over us. People will continue to listen to and stan who they want and for that reason I had to count myself out. It's a constant conversation with the wall. ' While the recent Kiss of Life controversy was just the push she needed, she admitted she'd already been 'out the door,' and now considers herself a casual listener. 'My stan years are well done.' Understandably, it's hard to make a clean break — @hwaffless has continued to post about groups like P1Harmony, for example. P1Harmony's Keeho Speaks Up About Cultural Appropriation in K-pop The P1H leader says the group actively works to avoid cultural appropriation. Vivien Wanjiku, who's been part of the K-pop community since the second-generation days of TVXQ and Miss A, told me via email that she's now completely disillusioned by the K-pop industry. Unlike me though, she's learning to separate the art from the artists. 'You grow up and realize a lot of your faves aren't going to do the work,' she says. 'So I just enjoy what I enjoy and tune out the rest.' Still, she admits the cycle of appropriation and lukewarm apologies has made it harder to feel the same excitement she once did. My choice to completely walk away from K-pop fandom at large, including the groups I love, hasn't been an easy one. It feels like saying goodbye to a huge part of my identity, but I've learned that love without respect or accountability wears you down. K-pop was my first love. It made me feel alive, I've made some great friendships with other fans, and I felt understood in ways nothing else had. Letting it go feels like ending a relationship with someone you once believed would never hurt you. And who knows, maybe I'll find my way back someday. Maybe when OT4 BigBang returns, and like Vivien, I've learned to separate the art from the artists. Even though I'm stepping away, somewhere in me, there will always be the version that K-pop once shaped — that teenage girl in front of a flickering screen at 2 a.m. without a care in the world, eyes bloodshot from too much screen time, learning Wonder Girls' choreography, translating K-pop song lyrics, and swapping K-pop theories with strangers on Omona and K2N. The girl who held onto a world that didn't always love her back. Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue Want more great Culture stories from Teen Vogue? Check these out: Underneath Chappell Roan's Hannah Montana Wig? A Pop Star for the Ages Is Your New Favorite Song Real or AI? Bridgerton Showrunner Clarifies Benedict's Sexuality & Talks Francesca's Queer Plot Twist The Borders of Country Music Are Finally Crumbling
News18
27-04-2025
- Business
- News18
GSDP To Startups: A Look At The Jammu and Kashmir Growth Story
After decades of instability, J&K had been showing promising signs of recovery, marked by economic growth, rising tourism and new opportunities for its youth Amid speculation over India preparing for retaliatory action against Pakistan after the deadly April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, here's a look at how the region's promising statistics point towards a steady growth trajectory, demonstrating faith in India's ability to protect its territory and its commitment to encouraging a flourishing local economy. After decades of instability, several wars and border skirmishes between India and Pakistan, J&K had been showing promising signs of recovery, marked by economic growth, rising tourism and new opportunities for its youth. The region, coveted for its scenic valleys, serene lakes, snow-capped mountains and diverse landscapes, was slowly returning to form. To put this into perspective, consider the recent case of Srinagar's Tulip Garden, which is Asia's largest. It saw over 8 lakh visitors in the first four months of 2025 alone, underlining the region's growing appeal of famous attractions like the Dachigam National Park sheltering the last viable population of the Kashmir stag (the 'Hangul"). The G20 tourism meet in Srinagar in 2023 and subsequent efforts to develop sustainable tourism models further boosted the region's appeal as a tourist destination. Between 2011-12 and 2024-25, J&K's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) rose modestly from 4.81% to 4.89%, reflecting a gradual strengthening of the economy. The unemployment rate also showed improvement, declining from 6.7% in 2019-20 to 6.1% in 2023-24, suggesting better job prospects for the local youth. Investor interest remained strong, with proposals worth Rs 1.63 lakh crore received by December 2024, slated to potentially generate direct employment for over a significant chunk of 5.90 lakh people. The start-up ecosystem scaled up rapidly, with start-ups registered under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) rising by a remarkable 287% since 2019. Tourism flourished, as arrivals grew from 34 lakh in 2020 to 2.36 crore in 2024. The J&K's tourism industry has always experienced cyclical phases of growth and decline, influenced by various factors, including security concerns and economic conditions. While security challenges remain, the underlying momentum across economic and social sectors offers hope that Jammu and Kashmir's path to stability and growth will not be easily derailed, and if the past is any indication, India will come back stronger in its response to the brutal terrorist attack to make sure this is achieved. First Published: April 27, 2025, 19:09 IST
