John Oliver took on India's absurd porn ban

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The Last Week Tonight host, who has made a career of attacking draconian governments through humour, picked up India's absurd attempt at upholding decency in society behind the fig leaf of cracking down on child porn and skewered it by pointing out just what kind of websites were being blocked.

Oliver might have had a leg up on Indian publications attempting to make as much fun of the government's actions because his network, HBO, allowed him to actually read some of the hilarious URLs on the list of 857 websites that were banned, including "maturewitch.com" and "oldwomanface.com".

But Oliver also managed to quickly remind us of how ridiculous our nightly television routinely can be: By featuring one panel discussion on the porn ban which included Bharatiya Janata Leader Subramanian Swamy saying anyone who watches porn could become a "sex maniac."

Roger Federer's still got swag

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They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but when you're talking about one of the greatest tennis players in the world, you can bet he will always have something up his sleeve.

Even with 17 Grand Slams under his belt, Roger Federer was as hungry as ever. The current world number two unveiled a new shot to return his opponent’s second serve. Rather than employing the standard tactic of slicing his return and charging towards the net, Federer had been trying out a new technique: returning the serve from the edge of the service line with a half volley.

Predictably, it aroused a lot of curiosity – even Serena Williams admitted that she could not help but sneak a peek at him during practice. “I totally look at him. I mean, he’s Roger. Like,watching his returns: OK, so he is moving forward on that. Interesting.”

Indian airforce is boss

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In times of peace – and may they stay that way – the Indian Air Force primarily makes news either because of inadequate equipment or planes crashing. Once in a while, though, it pulls out surprises. This time it involved beating the old colonial masters at their own game. Sort of.

In a bilateral air combat exercise between India and the United Kingdom held in July, IAF pilots outshone the UK Royal Air Force. Flying Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters, the Indian pilots racked up a 12-0 score line against the UK's Typhoon jets in Within Visual Range dogfighting operations.

The 10-day exercises, which started on July 21, was the fourth edition of the Indo-UK Bilateral exercise called 'Indradhanush'. However, India's claim was later disputed by the UK.

Shashi Tharoor makes a case for Britain paying reparations to India

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There are a few things that still unite (most of) the country, and certainly much of the political class. Criticism of the British Raj is one of them.

Speaking at the Oxford Union Society in July, the Congress's Shashi Tharoor, a Member of Parliament from Kerala, argued for the motion that Britain should pay reparations for all that it wrought upon colonial India. Tharoor attacked the contention that the British actually helped modernise India, saying, "it’s a bit rich to enslave, maim and torture people for 200 years and celebrate that they’re democratic at the end of it."

And though Tharoor doesn't ask for actual reparations, mostly because no amount could be good enough to make up for the exploitation and destruction, he makes it clear that Britain simply cannot whitewash history. Tharoor's speech, a call-back to his time spent at the United Nations, helped win the debate on his side, with the house voting 185 to 56 to uphold the view that Britain owes reparations to its former colonies.

Prime Minister Modi loves the camera and activists ask Zuckerberg to wash his hands

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Among the highest points of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US tour in September this year was his meeting with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. At the end of the mutually congratulatory encounter, Modi wrote a message in Gujarati on the physical wall at the Facebook headquarters: "Ahimsa is the greatest dharma."

Following an explanation of his message to Zuckerberg and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Modi swiftly shoved Zuckerberg aside so that the photographers could have a clear view of him.

Ironically, Modi's alleged refusal to adhere to the precept of ahimsa motivated a group of activists named the Alliance for Justice and Accountability, to start a campaign called Zuck, Wash Your Hands! In response to the Modi-Zuckerberg meet, they aimed to send hundreds of bottles of hand sanitiser to the Facebook founder to help rinse the supposed blood from the Gujarat riots in 2002.