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Arun Prakash (left) and Shikker Raj Pillai Naval Air Station INS Hansa, Goa, May 11: Blessed are lives like Captain Shikku Raj Pillai's: fighter pilot, naval officer, a hero here this morning, the last on planet earth to land the Sea Harrier. Soon, this afternoon, he would formally hand over command of his squadron, the INAS 300 "White Tigers", to Captain Harshveer Singh. Harshveer is younger and flies the much younger MiG29K. Pillai is moving from Goa to New Delhi. He is delighted to be the hero today but his sunburnt features pale in contemplating the immediate future. As of...

The Hindu Sena, a reactionary Hindu nationalist political organization in India, has endorsed U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump for his strong stance against what the group called “Islamic terror.”

Hindu Sena holds havan for Donald Trump, the ‘saviour of humanity from Islamic terror’ Members of the Sena believe that Trump is the man who will “save humanity from Islam and Islamic terror.” Written by Naveed Iqbal | New Delhi | Published:May 12, 2016 4:00 am Hindu Sena holds havan for Donald Trump, the ‘saviour of humanity from Islamic terror’ Members of the Sena believe that Trump is the man who will “save humanity from Islam and Islamic terror.” Tilak on his forehead, the smell of incense in the air and prayers for his victory in the US presidential elections...

The are praying for his victory — even if he can't get their accents right At a campaign rally in Delaware three weeks ago, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump chose to attack American outsourcing by affecting a cruel caricature of an Indian accent, to the delight of his supporters. Yet his apparent disdain for the people of the world’s second most populous nation doesn’t seem to faze a right-wing Indian group that is now praying — yes, literally praying — for Trump’s victory. A new video released by Reuters captures members of Hindu Sena, a Hindu nationalist political organization, holding...

TAU–Cornell collaboration provides insight into unique community whose history is largely unknown A new study from Tel Aviv University, Cornell University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine reveals genetic proof of the Jewish roots of the Bene Israel community in the western part of India. They have always considered themselves Jewish. "Almost nothing is known about the Bene Israel community before the 18th century, when Cochin Jews and later Christian missionaries first came into contact with it," says first author Yedael Waldman of both TAU's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Cornell's Department of Biological Statistics and Computational Biology. "Beyond...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Donald Trump may find it tough to get Republican leaders behind his campaign, but he's got some faraway fans trying to get the gods on his side. "The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity." Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out in a New Delhi protest park along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman — as well as photos of a smiling Trump....

The head of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party was executed early Wednesday for his role in acts of genocide and war crimes during the country’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971, a senior government official said. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Motiur Rahman Nizami, the 73-year-old leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hung at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday inside Dhaka central jail amid tight security. […] Nizami is the fifth senior official from opposition parties to be executed since 2013 for war crimes carried out during the 1971 war. Three other senior members of Nizami’s Jamaat-e-Islami party and a top leader of...

Uncut diamond weighs in at 404 carats compared with Kohinoor’s 105.602 caratsEven as the governments of India, Pakistan and even Afghanistan have all laid a claim on the world-famous Kohinoor diamond that is set in the front of UK’s Queen Mother’s Crown, it is Dubai that can be called home to one of the world’s rarest and largest rough diamonds even discovered. The astonishing rough diamond in Dubai is characterised not only by its sheer size – an impressive 404 carats – but also uniquely by its colourlessness and flawless clarity. The cut-down Kohinoor, on the other hand, weighs 105.6...

The Indian Navy (IN) will bid farewell to its carrier-borne jump-jet the Sea Harrier on May 11 in Goa. It will be a nostalgic moment for those who were associated with this very distinctive fighter aircraft. When the navy's elegant, first-generation Sea Hawk fighter grew old and weary in the late 1970s, having proved its mettle in the 1971 war for Bangladesh, a search was mounted for a suitable replacement. Since most of the contemporary fighters were either unsuitable or unavailable, the future of naval aviation, and of our sole carrier INS Vikrant, looked bleak. Coincidentally, the Royal Navy (RN)...

The attacks on US targets culminating in the September 11 suicide hijackings were only a fraction of the onslaught planned by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, it emerged yesterday. Over the past three years, US intelligence detected plots against US embassies in 14 countries, mostly in Asia and Africa, and there were over 600 more "credible threats" of attacks. Some were thwarted by arrests or stepped up security. Others appear to have been suspended or may still be pending. The global extent of al-Qaida's terrorist ambitions is revealed in a new book by Peter Bergen, CNN's terrorism analyst, who interviewed ...

A former US soldier flew to India to have a sex change as part of a growing trend of foreigners traveling out to the country to have operations at budget clinics. Dressed in a bright blue sari and wearing ornate Indian jewellery, Betty Ann Archer, 64, who was born Dale, said she felt trapped in the wrong body. 'I attempted to kill myself twice...I didn't like myself. I didn't like my body at all. I couldn't be myself', she explained. 'I became very ill in 2011 and almost died. While I was recovering I came to the conclusion that I...

With sizzling temperatures claiming more than 300 lives this month in India, officials said they were banning daytime cooking in some parts of the drought-stricken country in a bid to prevent accidental fires that have killed nearly 80 more people. The eastern state of Bihar this week took the unprecedented step of forbidding any cooking between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., after accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather swept through shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages and killed 79 people. They included 10 children and five adults killed in a fire sparked during a Hindu prayer ceremony...

(Inside Science) – In 1914, an unknown Indian man boarded a ship and traveled across the world to Cambridge University in England, where he could finally follow his passion for mathematics. In the few short years between his arrival and untimely death, he filled notebooks with formulas and discovered theorems, some of which still influence the work of mathematicians and scientists today. The new biopic, "The Man Who Knew Infinity," which opens in U.S. theaters beginning Friday, April 29, chronicles the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan. A self-taught Indian mathematician from the city then called Madras (now Chennai), Ramanujan struggled to...

After Kalvari, the subsequent five submarines will be delivered at a gap of nine months each. When it comes to submarines, a usually buoyant Indian Navy (IN) experiences what can be termed as a 'mood swing'. However, this Sunday, there is reason to be upbeat. Its first French-designed conventional, diesel electric submarine in over 15 years, the Kalvari, is going to sea. Credible sources associated with the project (code named Project 75) have confirmed that Harbour Acceptance Trials (HATs) are 'largely complete' and she has been readied for 'Sea Trials', indicating the final stage of checks before she becomes a...

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The leader of the only South Asian Muslim community known to practice female genital mutilation (FGM) came under criticism on Friday by campaigners who accused him of urging followers to continue the centuries-old custom. Little is known about FGM in India, where it is carried out in great secrecy by the close-knit Dawoodi Bohra community, a Shi'ite Muslim sect thought to number over 1 million that considers the practice to be a religious obligation. An audio clip of Syedna Muffadal Saifuddin's speech at a mosque in Mumbai, has been authenticated by several members of the...

Russia, India Strengthen Ties With War Games Russia and India have agreed to hold joint war games involving all military branches this year. The agreement was signed in Vladivostok, with further details scheduled to be discussed next month. Consultations on the biggest of the three drills, Indra-2016, will be held in May, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Eastern Military District’s press service said on Thursday. “A joint protocol was signed in Vladivostok to hold the first planning conference for the Indra-2016 joint exercises,” Captain Roman Martov said, as cited by RIA Novosti. The two sides will set the...

The US-based company has sought approval from the government on setting up single-brand retail stores in the country. A government panel has recommended exempting Apple from mandatory local sourcing norms, a move which would pave the way for Apple to open single-brand retail stores in the country. The company had given a detailed presentation to the committee headed by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek on April 19, on its products, technology, innovations and camera. "The committee has found that the company's products are cutting edge technology and state-of-the-art. It has recommended to exempt them from...

“Allahu Akbar”! The tinny P.A. system tore asunder the pre-dawn peace and quiet. I was jolted in my mind, almost like experiencing a car wreck, suddenly and without any warning. This totally incongruous sound intruded upon and encompassed everything, causing even the birds to rustle in the darkness.

Destruction of the Magazine at Delhi During the Indian Mutiny 1857-58 Gun control, or more properly, the restrictions on the ownership and use of guns by the general population, was not a common or popular phenomena in Europe until after the First World War.  One of the most influential and gun control laws was instituted in England and Wales in 1920.  It has been the basis for a great deal of restrictions on the private ownership of firearms around the world, both in the Commonwealth countries and in Europe.  These restrictions were not designed to protect the public from...

ROME — Just what is it that the Vatican does not get about predator priests? Apparently a lot. Father Joseph Jeyapaul is a priest from India who admitted to raping two adolescent girls in Minnesota when he served the Crookston diocese from 2004 to 2005. After being charged with the abuse, which included rape and forcing at least one of the girls to perform fellatio on him, he fled home to India, where he was eventually arrested on an Interpol warrant. He was then extradited back to Minnesota, where he admitted his heinous crimes and entered a plea bargain in...