Free Republic

Republican candidate’s stand on visas, immigration leaves thousands of students in Hyderabad anxious. Hyderabad: US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s recent statement indicating that H-IB visas would be restricted, and his administration, if elected, would revisit the Optional Practical Training programme authorisation for F-1 visa holders, has created apprehensions among engineering graduates who are dreaming of higher education in the the United States. Although Mr Trump seems to have softened his stand since then, students and parents are closely watching as to who, Mr Trump or Ms Hillary Clinton, would become the US President after November 18 polls. Incidents of...

India need not have had to make desperate efforts now to get membership of elite NSG had former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru accepted the then US President John F Kennedy’s offer of helping the country detonate a nuclear device much before China did in 1964, according to former Foreign Secretary Maharajakrishna Rasgotra. He also said that if Nehru had accepted the offer, not only would have India tested the nuclear device first in Asia, before China, but it also “would have deterred China from launching its war of 1962 and even imparted a note of caution to (Pakistan’s) Field Marshal...

American elections rarely make the Indian news. This massive democracy has perennial political changes of its own to worry about. But US presidential candidate Donald Trump has found his way into the hearts of a strident few in India, where his name is starting to grab headlines. The rhetoric of these fans is strikingly similar to some of Trump’s most extreme backers within the US — except that these aren’t American white supremacists who demonize Muslims. They’re far-right Indian Hindus who demonize Muslims. Last month, a group known as the Hindu Sena held a holy fire ritual in New Delhi...

The Republican Hindu Coalition is expected to endorse presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on the day before the Indian Prime Minister speaks to Congress next week. The Republican Hindu Coalition’s founding chairman Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar is scheduled to endorse Trump on Tuesday June 7, the day before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a joint session of Congress. “It is our honor as the Republican Hindu Coalition to announce our endorsement of businessman Donald J. Trump for the Presidency,” Kumar announced. “We believe that Mr. Trump has the best interests of the Hindu-American community in mind when he makes...

Much to the distress of Indian leaders, on January 19 the Bangladesh army announced it had thwarted a coup attempt against the government, conceived and nearly executed by some mid-ranking officers. Five army officers, including a lieutenant colonel and two Majors have already been arrested, while a top army officer is under investigation. The attempted coup was instigated by Islamic radical military personnel, including some Bangladeshis living abroad and retired and serving officers. Ever since the India-friendly government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came into office in December 2008, her arch-rival Begum Khaleda Zia and elements of Pakistan’s military establishment...

Donald Trump is straightforward, direct and brutally honest, a man who weighs up a situation and will give you the facts. Perhaps that is why so many people are afraid. There has been a lot of controversial statements about Trump and his displeasure of immigrants, especially Africans. Not so, Trump has consideration and affection toward other races. In a recent video, Trump said, “look at my African-American over here” and raised decent opinions about the man. Therefore, even though he might appear to have a distinct dislike for Africans, Trump does realize that they too are human. However, I would...

A new report suggests that young educated South Africans plan to leave the country to work abroad, rather than plough their knowledge back into the local economy. The report comes from PPS, an insurance, investment, healthcare and financial planning specialist for graduate professionals. The company’s latest Student Confidence Index (SCI), conducted among over 1,500 South African students, revealed that 54% of the respondents plan to move abroad for work purposes in the next five years following their graduation. It follows a report published by New World Wealth, which showed that white millionaire numbers have decreased dramatically in SA – from...

For someone who is in love and recently married, a wedge of “very odd pain” is lodged in Mpho Tutu van Furth’s heart. It is caused by the South African Anglican church’s refusal to allow the daughter of one of the world’s best known Christian leaders to continue to work as a priest after she married the person with whom she has pledged to share the rest of her life: a woman. “It was hard for me to give up my [priest’s] licence, it felt incredibly sad,” Tutu van Furth – whose father, Desmond Tutu, won the Nobel peace prize...

KARWAR, KARNATAKA: Two people including a sailor of Indian Navy died in an accident on board INS Vikramaditya, the Russian-made aircraft carrier, today evening. Two others were injured. A spokesperson of Indian Navy said that the "incident of gas leakage on board INS Vikramaditya took place at about 5:00 PM." Four people repairing the sewage treatment "inhaled" toxic fumes and were evacuated to hospital, the spokesperson said. The aircraft carrier is undergoing routine repair and refit at the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka. The two who died were identified as Rakesh Kumar Shipwright Artificer Class 4, and Shri Mohandas Kolambkar,...

In an armchair experiment where humans are thought of as no wiser than animals, scientists have found that climate change could empty some nations by 2100. A warming of 2 degrees Celsius would cause 34 percent of the world’s population to migrate more than 300 miles, to places on the fringes of the tropics where the temperatures are milder. Dramatic population declines might occur in Mexico, Central America, Africa and India. The results were published today in Scientific Reports. The scientists are cautious about the predictive power of their thought experiment, particularly as it relates to humans. People, unlike animals,...

People are spending less time on social media apps, in some cases substantially less, a new study from marketing intelligence firm SimilarWeb found. The company compared Android users' daily time spent on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat from January to March 2016 with the same period in 2015. The firm looked at data from the U.S, UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, India, South Africa, Brazil and Spain. Facebook's Instagram saw the biggest year-over-year drop — usage was down 23.7 percent this year, closely followed by Twitter (down 23.4 percent), Snapchat (down 15.7 percent) and Facebook (down 8 percent), the study found.

OTTAWA — The Liberal government is intent on buying Super Hornet fighter jets, according to multiple sources. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet reportedly discussed the issue last week, and while no formal decision was taken, one top-level official said: “They have made up their minds and are working on the right narrative to support it.” Rather than a full replacement of the air force’s aging CF-18 fighter fleet, it’s believed the purchase will be labelled an interim measure to fill what Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has warned is a pending “gap” in Canada’s military capabilities. The Liberals promised during the...

The Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Amendment Bill eliminates all white people including the disabled. “The definition of black people is now clear and aligned with the Constitution,” Tlhoaele said.... Read more on South Africa Today

The disrupter-in-chief could tilt the global power balance away from China. Last week an enterprising, and unknown, far-right outfit in New Delhi performed a traditional Hindu puja, literally praying for a Donald Trump presidency. The Washington Post took this to mean that Trump has fans in India despite his tasteless rants about outsourcing. Britain’s Guardian quoted the fringe leader behind the religious ceremony describing Trump as “our hero.” The Hindu right’s Islamophobia is one that The Donald surely shares. They too, like Trump, are keen on restoring some putative long-lost national glory. But a far more sophisticated argument, beyond the...

An Afghan national with ties to the Taliban — and a plot to carry out a terror attack somewhere in North America — was caught last fall after being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, an incident sure to further inflame the debate over national security risks at the border. The Afghan national’s alleged terror ties were not initially flagged in a terror database – and as a result, not initially reported – when the incident first came to light last November, according to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who obtained Homeland Security documents on the incident. It was only later...

A smuggling network has managed to sneak illegal immigrants from Middle East terrorism hotbeds straight to the doorstep of the U.S., including helping one Afghan man authorities say was part of an attack plot in North America. Immigration officials have identified at least a dozen Middle Eastern men smuggled into the Western Hemisphere by a Brazilian-based network that connected them with Mexicans who guided them up to the U.S. border, according to internal government documents reviewed by The Washington Times. Those smuggled included Palestinians, Pakistanis and the Afghan man who Homeland Security officials said had family ties to the Taliban...

India is ready to sell the world's fastest anti-ship cruise missile to Vietnam. The BrahMos uses ramjet engine technology to achieve speeds of up to Mach 3, making it a deadly addition to Vietnam's arsenal. BrahMos was developed jointly by India and Russia, its name a mashup of the Brahmaputra and Moscow Rivers. The missile was developed through the 1990s and early 2000s from the Russian P-800 Oniks anti-ship missile. It is in service with the Indian Armed Forces. This is the fastest low-altitude missile in the world. The missile has two stages. The first, consisting of a solid-fuel rocket,...

With its impressive pyramids and complex rules, Ancient Egypt may seem to many the epitome of an advanced early civilisation. But new evidence suggests the Indus Valley Civilisation in India and Pakistan, famed for its well-planned cities and impressive crafts, predates Egypt and Mesopotamia. Already considered one of the oldest civilisations in the world, experts now believe it is 8,000 years old - 2,500 years older than previously thought.

So far, 15 priests and six nuns have donated kidneys to non-related recipients through the organ donation network Kidney Federation of India.HAVING PUT a “condition that the recipient should be deprived person”, Bishop Jacob Murikkan, of Catholic diocese of Pala, is finally ready to donate his kidney to a 30-year-old from Kottakkal, in Malappuram district of Kerala, who has been battling for life for over a year. The donor and the recipient, Sooraj Sudhakaran, have undergone all required medical examinations and have received the final nod from the state government’s authorisation committee for organ transplantation. As per schedule, the...

Pakistan failed to move forward with the purchase of eight U.S.-made F-16C/D Block-52 fighter aircraft following a dispute over financing, Dawn reported on May 28. According to an unidentified source Pakistan failed to provide a so-called Letter of Acceptance for the procurement of the eight fighter jets by May 24 and the offer expired. “Pakistan decided not to fully fund the case with national funds, so the terms of sale have now expired,” the source told Dawn. U.S. lawmakers have been blocking financing for the eight F-16s under the so-called Foreign Military Financing (FMF), with the result that Pakistan would...