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France 24
08-07-2025
- France 24
Indian villagers beat five to death for 'witchcraft'
Three people have been arrested and have confessed to the crime, police in the northern state of Bihar said in a statement. Three women -- including a 75-year-old -- were among those murdered. The main accused believed that his son's recent death was caused by one of those killed, and blamed "him and his family of practising witchcraft", the statement said. "After beating the victims to death, the perpetrators loaded the bodies onto a tractor and dumped them in a pond," police said. The murderers and victims all belonged to India's Oraon tribe in Bihar, India's poorest state and a mainly Hindu region of at least 130 million people. Despite campaigns against superstition, belief in witchcraft remains widespread in rural areas across India, especially in isolated tribal communities. Some states, including Bihar, have introduced laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft and superstition. Women have often been branded witches and targeted, but the killing of the family of five stands out as a particularly heinous recent example. More than 1,500 people -- the overwhelming majority of them women -- were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft between 2010 and 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
The Independent
27-06-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Rock discovery offers fresh insights into planet's earliest history
A new study has identified rocks in Canada's Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt as approximately 4.16 billion years old, potentially making them the oldest rocks on Earth. This research resolves a long-standing scientific debate regarding the precise age of these streaked grey stones, bridging previous estimates of 4.3 billion and 3.8 billion years. Scientists employed two established dating techniques, which measure the decay of radioactive elements, to arrive at the refined age. The discovery significantly contributes to understanding Earth's earliest formation, offering insights into the planet's primordial state and the origins of life. The ancient rock formation is located on tribal Inukjuak lands, and the local Inuit community has restricted sampling due to past damage, seeking to collaborate on establishing a provincial park for protection and research.
