Bullied at school, gang raped as a prostitute and asked about his genitals in job interviews, Daniel Mendonca - like many intersex people in India - has been mistreated all his life.
Although the country's top court officially recognised intersex and transgender people as a third gender with equal rights under the law in 2014, they are often stigmatised and shunned and many survive through begging or sex work.
"There have been (job) interviews where they say 'We respect what you are ... but what other organs do you have now? Do you enjoy your sex life?'," said Mendonca, an intersex activist, sporting short hair, a white scarf and dangle earrings.
"If I am capable of doing everything a so-called normal human being is, then why do I become different?" he asked at India's second business conference for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) people in the IT hub of Bangalore.
As many as 1.7 per cent of children are born intersex - with reproductive organs, genitals, hormones or chromosomes that do not fit the usual expectations of male and female, according to the United Nations.
They often undergo surgery to bring the appearance and function of their genitalia into line with that expected of males or females, which research suggests can lead to psychological damage later in life.
A 2018 Indian court ruling ending a ban on gay sex is pushing businesses to be more inclusive, with Pride Circle organising India's first LGBT+ job fair last month.
But intersex rights campaigners say their specific needs - such as medical aid for life-saving surgeries - are largely ignored, even among the LGBT+ community, because of their small population and because they are widely misunderstood.
At least 10,000 intersex babies are born every year in India, according to Gopi Shankar Madurai, an intersex activist who sits on the board of the ILGA, an LGBT+ rights group.
But Madurai said the number could be much higher as parents often do not register their baby as intersex, adding that infanticide, abandonment and mutilation were common.
HORRIFYING
Being intersex - born with a body that does not conform to gender norms - is very different from transgender people's profound sense of being assigned the wrong gender at birth, which usually results in a transition to the opposite sex.
Yet the two groups are often confused in India.
The Supreme Court's 2014 ruling and the transgender rights bill - passed by parliament's lower house last week - both describe intersex people as a type of transgender person.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the draft law to be renamed the Rights of Transgender and Intersex Persons Bill and to include explicit protections for intersex people, who are not mentioned beyond the definitions section at the top of the bill.
Every subsequent chapter - outlawing discrimination in education, employment, healthcare and in renting or buying property and recognising the right to identity documents with the preferred gender - only mentions "transgender persons".
"This is not just a horrifying misrepresentation but also an invisibilisation of intersex persons," said Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), a collective of lawyers and activists who provide legal support to vulnerable people.
Intersex activists have called for the bill - which has yet to come before the upper house - to ban medically unnecessary procedures on children and to require intersex people's informed consent before non-emergency surgeries.
"This is of extreme importance," said HRLN.
"There is a range of distinct issues that intersex persons face ranging from forced 'corrective' operations on intersex infants to continuing health issues which the medical system is ... unequipped to handle and is inaccessible to (many)."
Most intersex bodies are healthy, but some people require medical care, such as for congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which can be fatal without daily drugs as the body cannot produce hormones to protect it against stress or regulate sodium levels.
Mendonca required surgery because he was born with female internal organs but not external ones. This triggered severe internal problems when he starting having periods but did not have a vagina to allow the blood to pass out of the body.
SEXUAL FAVOURS
M. Gangabhavani, an intersex activist, said she was almost killed by numerous surgeries that her father made her undergo to conform to a male body.
When she wanted medical help to reverse the damage, doctors refused, calling her body "abnormal".
While job hunting, the mismatch between her appearance and official documents, led to more harassment, including demands for sexual favours.
"They ask, 'you look like a female, do you do sex work?' ... They say, 'you cooperate with me, I'll cooperate with you'," she said at the LGBT+ conference.
"Intersex people are the least visible in our (LGBT+) community. We have no livelihood options, we have no scope for empowerment."
Shubha Chacko, head of Solidarity Foundation, which helps trans and intersex people find work, said companies often fret about how employees may react to people with an unconventional appearance.
"So you are supposed to be invisible. And even if you're not, you're forced to be," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that the dearth of global statistics on intersex people highlighted their "invisibility".
Intersex campaigners called for better awareness about the community, from schools and hospitals to government offices and company boardrooms.
Mendonca urged workplaces to have flexible dress codes, gender neutral bathrooms, interview guidelines and to use inclusive language such as people's preferred pronouns.
"Companies need to start making changes ... to talk more about inclusion that is above the rainbow - that gender is not just LGBT, that it can be from A to Z," he said.
INDIAN AMERICAN lawmaker Zohran Kwame Mamdani last week clinched the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo in what is being described as one of the most unexpected results in recent city political history.
Mamdani, 33, a state assemblyman representing Queens and a self-declared democratic socialist, stands on the brink of becoming New York’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor.
His win was announced last Tuesday (24) , triggering widespread reactions and placing his progressive agenda in the national spotlight.
“In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done,” Mamdani wrote on social media after the result. “My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.”
Born in Kampala, Uganda, on October 18, 1991, Mamdani moved to New York at seven with his parents, acclaimed Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, who is of Indian descent.
Mamdani’s social and political awareness was shaped by the cultural and intellectual legacy of his parents, and would later influence his entry into grassroots activism and state politics, reports said.
Mamdani is married to Syrian American artist Rama Duwaji and the couple live in Brooklyn.
His strategy combined grassroots mobilisation with radical ideas aimed at transforming the economic structure of New York City. His message, focused on affordability, public infrastructure and working-class empowerment, gained traction with a diverse base across boroughs.
“We have won from Harlem to Bay Ridge,” he declared at a crowded victory party in Queens. “This is your victory.”
Among his most eyecatching proposals are a citywide rent freeze for stabilised tenants, fare-free public buses, universal childcare from six weeks to five years, and the establishment of city-owned grocery stores to counter food inflation.
In a city where a three-bedroom apartment can easily cost $6,000 (£4375) a month, his message struck a chord.
Voter Eamon Harkin, 48, said prices were his “number one issue.”
“What’s at stake is primarily the affordability of New York,” he said.
A revenue plan outlined by Mamdani’s campaign would increase taxes on corporations to match New Jersey’s 11.5 per cent rate and introduce a two per cent flat tax on New Yorkers earning over $1 million (£790,000) annually. Additional revenue would be generated through procurement reform, enhanced tax audits and enforcement against corrupt landlords – potentially raising $6 billion (£4.74bn) in new funds.
“New York is too expensive,” reads a central line from his campaign website. “Zohran will lower costs and make life easier.” Mamdani’s legislative record backs up his activist credentials. He previously joined hunger strikes with taxi drivers to secure $450 million (£356m) in debt relief, helped secure more than $100m (£79m) for improved subway services, and piloted fare-free bus initiatives.
He defended his democratic socialism last Sunday (29) and argued that his focus on economic issues should serve as a model for the party, even though some top Democrats have been reluctant to embrace him.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Mamdani said his agenda of raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and on corporations to pay for ambitious policies such as free buses, a $30 minimum hourly wage and a rent freeze was not only realistic, but tailored to meet the needs of the city’s working residents.
“It’s the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and yet one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty, and the rest are seemingly trapped in a state of anxiety,” he told NBC’s Kristen Welker.
Zohran Kwame Mamdani with his parents, Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani , and his wife, Rama Duwaji
Democrats have struggled to find a coherent message after their resounding loss in the November elections that saw president Donald Trump return to the White House and his Republicans win control of both chambers of Congress.
Mamdani’s campaign, which drew plaudits for its cheery tone and clever viral videos, could help energise young voters, a demographic that Democrats are desperate to reach in 2026 and beyond. His rise from a virtual unknown was fueled by a relentless focus on affordability, an issue Democrats struggled to address during last year’s presidential race.
“Cost of living is the issue of our time,” Neera Tanden, the chief executive of Democratic think tank Center for American Progress wrote on X in response to Mamdani’s win. “It’s the through line animating all politics. Smart political leaders respond to it.”
His history-making candidacy could also drive engagement among Asian and especially Muslim voters, some of whom soured on the Democrats after former president Joe Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
“These elections aren’t about left, right or center, they’re about whether you’re a change to the status quo. People don’t want more of the same, they want someone who plays a different game,” said Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson.
Few expected Mamdani, a relatively young assemblyman, to unseat former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a veteran political heavyweight attempting a comeback.
Senator Bernie Sanders congratulated Mamdani publicly, calling the result a triumph over “the political, economic and media establishment.”
But not all reactions were celebratory. The city’s current mayor, Eric Adams, launched his independent re-election campaign, framing Mamdani’s ideas as unrealistic and irresponsible.
Adams did not name Mamdani during an event held on the steps of New York City Hall last Thursday (26), but he alluded to some of the self-described Democratic socialist’s positions and background.
“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a silver spoon,” Adams said. “A choice between someone who delivered lower crime, the most jobs in history and the most houses built in decades and an assembly member who did not pass a bill.”
Adams won as a Democrat in his first mayoral bid in 2021, but saw his popularity plummet following his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent decision by president Donald Trump’s Justice Department to drop the case.
In April, he announced that he would run for election as an independent, avoiding the Democratic primary that included Mamdani and Cuomo.
Mamdani’s victory in the primary and potential win in the general election has prompted strong reactions from progressives, who have cheered his campaign’s upbeat tone and focus on economic issues, as well as conservatives and some in the business community, who criticised his democratic socialist policies.
Polling now shows Mamdani ahead of Adams and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa for the November general election, though former governor Cuomo is rumoured to be considering an independent run, which could split the Democratic vote. Political analysts predict his November challenge will be formidable.
Besides Adams, Sliwa, and Cuomo, independent candidates including lawyer Jim Walden will crowd the ballot.
But with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans nearly three to one in the city, his base, if energised, could prove decisive.
Mamdani's supporters celebrate his nomination
Earlier last Sunday, Democratic House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents part of the city, told ABC’s This Week that he wasn’t ready to endorse Mamdani yet, saying that he needed to hear more about Mamdani’s vision.
Other prominent New York Democrats, including New York governor Kathy Hochul and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have also thus far declined to endorse Mamdani.
Trump, himself a native New Yorker, told Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo that if Mamdani wins the mayoral race, “he’d better do the right thing” or Trump would withhold federal funds from the city.
“He’s a communist. I think it’s very bad for New York,” Trump said.
Asked about Trump’s claim that he is a communist, Mamdani told NBC it was not true and accused the president of attempting to distract from the fact that “I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower that he has since then betrayed.”
He also voiced no concern that Jeffries and other Democrats have not yet endorsed his candidacy.
“I think that people are catching up to this election,” he said. “What we’re showing is that by putting working people first, by returning to the roots of the Democratic Party, we actually have a path out of this moment where we’re facing authoritarianism in Washington, DC.”
Basil Smikle, a political analyst and professor at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, said heavy-handed attacks on Mamdani could backfire by energising “a lot of the Democratic voters to want to push more against Trump.”
“I don’t think it hurts Democrats in the long run,” he said. “I actually think it helps them.”
For his part, Mamdani seemed ready to embrace his role as a party leader, telling supporters in his victory speech that he would govern the city “as a model for the Democratic Party – a party where we fight for working people with no apology.” He vowed to use his mayoral power to “reject Donald Trump’s fascism.”
Democratic voters say they want a new generation of leaders and a party that concentrates on economic issues, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June. The mayoral election is scheduled to take place on November 4.
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The PAC said the Home Office relies on airline passenger records to track departures but has not reviewed this data since 2020. (Photo: iStock)
THE HOME OFFICE does not know whether foreign workers are leaving the UK or staying on illegally after their visas expire, according to a cross-party group of MPs.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which oversees government spending, said the department has not analysed exit check data since the skilled worker visa was introduced in 2020, the BBC reported.
Between December 2020 and the end of 2024, about 1.18 million people applied through the skilled worker visa route.
The PAC said the Home Office relies on airline passenger records to track departures but has not reviewed this data since 2020.
It said the department must explain how it plans to record whether people have left the UK.
The PAC also highlighted evidence of exploitation, including debt bondage and excessive working hours, and said the department had been “slow and ineffective” in tackling it.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in May that overseas recruitment for care workers would end. Home Office Permanent Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo said overstaying was a “problem” the department was “fixing”.
Dr Madeleine Sumption from the Migration Observatory told BBC Radio 4 that the Home Office’s job-matching process did not seem “hugely effective”.
A Home Office spokesperson said the previous government’s visa policy led to record migration.
A Birmingham educator and author is working to save heritage languages from extinction by creating bilingual children's books that help families pass their mother tongue to the next generation.
Divya Mistry-Patel, known as Dee, has written a Gujarati-English picture book titled Mari Rang Be Range Biladi (My colourful cat) after watching children in her community lose the ability to speak their parents' language.
"I watched cousins who could understand Gujarati but couldn't speak it, and eventually children who couldn't even understand," she said.
According to UNESCO, nearly half of all spoken languages are endangered, with one disappearing every two weeks. In the UK, around 20 per cent of children speak or understand more than one language, yet only 12 per cent of children's books published in 2022 offered any non-English content.
Mistry-Patel's book includes more than just dual-language storytelling. The package contains Gujarati alphabet guides, comprehension exercises for families, and QR codes that link to audiobooks for proper pronunciation. Full English translations help non-Gujarati-speaking parents join in.
"This isn't just about language retention," she explains. "It's about giving children the tools to navigate their multicultural identities with confidence."
Born into a multicultural Gujarati family in the UK, Dee experienced firsthand how heritage languages fade in diaspora communities. Her personal observations led to her creating tools to make language learning accessible for all generations.
Major retailers often put bilingual books in "special interest" sections, while traditional publishers frequently reject bilingual manuscripts, citing "limited market potential."
To overcome these barriers, the British Indian author chose to self-publish while partnering with educational institutions for distribution. She has also developed teacher resources and used social media to build community support.
The strategy has worked, she said, with the book gaining support in both educational circles and Gujarati communities worldwide.
Research from the University of Chicago revealed that bilingual children develop stronger thinking skills, showing 20 per cent greater cognitive flexibility than children who speak only one language. Despite these proven benefits, the publishing industry has been slow to respond to the demand for multilingual education materials, Dee pointed out.
Her work is gaining recognition. She holds nominations for the Kent Women in Business Awards 2025, where she is a runner-up in the Innovation Award and finalist in the Women In Education Award. She is also shortlisted for The Tutors' Association Awards in two categories.
Through her company Academic Achievements Ltd, she is now developing versions in Punjabi, Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil, potentially reaching over 500 million native speakers globally.
A recent partnership with local schools and Kent libraries has made the book freely available to local families, with plans for similar programmes nationwide.
As linguist Dr Ananya Sharma notes: "When we lose a language, we don't just lose words - we lose entire ways of seeing the world."
According to Dee, preserving linguistic diversity requires community effort. She encourages people to request bilingual books at local bookstores and libraries, share experiences using #MotherTongueMatters, and gift bilingual books for birthdays and holidays.
The book is available on Amazon, with more books planned in both South Asian languages and English. All are designed with neurodivergent students in mind, drawing on her experience in the education sector.
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Shree Charani of India (2R) celebrates the wicket of Amy Jones during the 2nd women's T20 match between England and India in Bristol on July 1, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)
INDIA will look to secure their first women’s T20I series win over England when they play the third match of the five-game series on Friday. India currently lead the series 2-0.
England will be without their captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, who has been ruled out of the match due to a left groin injury.
“Results of the scan will determine whether Sciver-Brunt is required to miss any more games in the series, with the fourth match due to take place on July 9 at Old Trafford,” the ECB said in a statement on Thursday.
“Tammy Beaumont will captain the side in her absence, with Hampshire batter Maia Bouchier called up as cover,” it added.
India began the series with a record 97-run win at Nottingham, followed by a 24-run victory at Bristol – England women’s first-ever T20I loss at that venue.
India have never won a T20I series against England, either at home or away. Their only win came in a one-off match in Derby in 2006.
The ongoing series is an opportunity for the Indian team to adjust to English conditions ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in England next year.
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and Harleen Deol played key roles with the bat in the first match. In the second game, Amanjot Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues hit crucial half-centuries to help India post a strong total.
Opener Shafali Verma, who returned to the squad, will look to find form after scoring 20 and 3 in the first two matches. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who missed the opener after a head injury in a warm-up match, will also aim to spend more time at the crease following her two-ball stay in the second game.
India’s bowling has performed well despite the absence of Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar. Left-arm spinner Sree Charani has led the attack, taking six wickets so far and recording the best economy rate in the series at 5.11.
For England, openers Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt-Hodge have struggled to provide solid starts. Dunkley has had some good starts, but Wyatt-Hodge has scored 18 runs in five innings this summer, including three ducks. England’s bowling has also not been effective.
Helldivers 2 launches on Xbox Series X|S on 26 August 2025.
Sony is publishing the title on Xbox, an unusual move for the company.
Crossplay confirmed between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
The announcement coincides with Gears of War: Reloaded’s PS5 debut.
Helldivers 2 to launch on Xbox Series X|S this August
Sony has confirmed that Helldivers 2 will launch on Xbox Series X and S on 26 August 2025, marking a rare move by the company to release one of its games on a rival console. The announcement was made during a livestream and comes on the same day Microsoft’s Gears of War: Reloaded is set to arrive on PlayStation 5.
Developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Helldivers 2 is a co-op third-person shooter that has already achieved major success on PlayStation 5 and PC, where it launched in February 2024. The title has since sold over 12 million copies in just 12 weeks, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time.
Cross-platform play confirmed
Helldivers 2 will support full crossplay between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, allowing players across all platforms to team up in their missions to defend Super Earth. The game’s director, Mikael Eriksson, addressed the new platform launch in a post on Xbox Wire.
“We know gamers have been asking for this for some time and we are so excited to bring more Helldivers into our game,” Eriksson said. “We have so much more in store for the future months and years – and the more players we have the more stories we can tell! The fight for Super Earth has only just begun.”
- YouTube YouTube/ IGN
Breaking from tradition
The release of Helldivers 2 on Xbox marks a significant shift in strategy for Sony, which traditionally limits PlayStation Studios titles to its own consoles and, increasingly, to PC. Until now, MLB The Show has been one of the few exceptions, launching on Xbox under the MLB brand.
This announcement is part of a broader trend across the gaming industry. Microsoft is also expanding its reach beyond Xbox, with several former exclusives heading to PlayStation. These include Gears of War: Reloaded, Hellblade 2 (arriving in August), and The Outer Worlds 2 (set for an October release on PS5).
The launch of Helldivers 2 on Xbox is expected to grow its player base further and signals a continued move toward cross-platform gaming and reduced console exclusivity.