Some off beats for the weekend:
The World has a Ball (M J Akbar)
Adani’s Coal Mine ate an Indian village (Guardian)
The Islamization of Great Britain (Rair Foundation)
The failed German coup (American Conservative)
Taliban & Liberalism (Dawn)
France, Football, Colonialism (Al Jazeera)
Britain’s Secret War in Arabia (Jacobin)
The CIA plot to kill a Chinese Premier (IE)
What Nativity scenes tell us (Smithsonian)
Thread: Significance of Gayatri Mantra (V Shruddhi)
Travelogue: Seychelles on a budget (Team BHP)
Thread: On the Arab Bisht (Bayt Al Fann)
The hour of the wolf (Fatima Bhutto)
Is Santa Claus buried in Ireland? (BBC Travel)
Thread: Why are perfume ads so weird (Ari Murray)