Free Republic

Link to video of interview on Youtube Ayisha Falaq is a competitive shooter in India.  On the 25th of May, she used her licensed .32 ACP handgun to rescue her brother in law from kidnappers in a village, Bhopra near to the Haryana border.  It was an impressive achievement. Ayisha is being lauded in the Indian and international media. From ndtv.com: New Delhi: A national-level shooter, 33-year-old Ayisha Falaq, has been handling guns for the last six years. But last week, she took up her licensed revolver for the first time to counter crime after her 21-year-old brother-in-law Asif...

According to the demographer's numbers, India is now the world's most populous country, overtaking China five years ahead of forecasts.hina's population may be smaller than the official 1.37 billion figure and closer to around 1.29 billion people - less than India's population - according to an independent Chinese demographer. "China's real population may have been about 1.29 billion last year, 90 million fewer people than the official figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics," the South China Morning Post quoted Yi Fuxian, a scholar and demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as saying at a seminar in Peking University...

“No one really knows what it’s like to be queen.” It’s 1887, and the British Empire is celebrating Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee — 50 years on the throne. Kings and princes are in attendance. So is Abdul Karim, who has traveled from his famine-ravaged India to the event to present the aging monarch with a ceremonial coin. “Whatever you do, you must not look at Her Majesty,” he is admonished. But eye contact is made, followed by a sweet smile, and a most unlikely historical friendship is born.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that failing to act on climate change would be “morally criminal” and voiced strong support for the “vision” of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. His comments came as Merkel is emerging as the world leader most openly at odds with US President Donald Trump, saying days ago that Europe could no longer completely rely on traditional ally the United States and needed to find its own way. Modi, on a Berlin visit kicking off a four-nation Europe tour, pledged India’s commitment to democracy and a strong European Union, and argued that failing to...

Rising protectionism in the US is pushing the EU to look elsewhere in the world for promising trading partners. India is one of those countries. German chancellor Angela Merkel is meeting Indian prime minister Narendra Modi today - and both sides have their feelers out for a potential free trade deal.

In our development agenda for creating employment, we need to change the discourse in at least three different ways. The first is captured in the Hindi phrase “mujhe naukri nahin, kaam chahiye”. Give me some work, if not a job. We can no longer promise the youth of India, secure, nine-to-five, full time permanent jobs. That paradigm of employment creation is changing not just in India but also all over the world. The reasons are many. Firstly, the fast changing technology of producing goods means jobs are getting continuously redefined. Secondly, the intense pressure of competition from globalisation, means jobs...

The Almaz Central Maritime Design Bureau offers an export version of the Project 22800E corvette equipped with Italian-made 76-mm gun mount OTO Melara, diesel engines MTU and radioelectronic weapons Thales, reports Mil.Today referring to the design bureau. Potential buyers are also offered a fully import-substituted version with Russian engines, the gun mount and radars. The export version of the Project 22800E debuted at the Army-2016 defense show. The corvette version fitted with imported components may be more interesting for foreign customers, the design bureau staff told Mil.Today. The question is primarily about the Indian Navy which is going for maximal...

NEW DELHI (AP) -- India has reported three cases of the Zika virus for the first time, including two pregnant women who delivered healthy babies. Health Ministry officials said Sunday that the three patients in western Gujarat state had recovered. "There is no need to panic," Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, a top health ministry official, told reporters. The World Health Organization said in a statement released Friday that the three cases that India reported to the WHO on May 15 were detected through routine blood surveillance in a hospital in Ahmadabad, Gujarat's capital. Two cases were detected in February and November...

An Indian woman who says she was drugged, kidnapped and forced to marry a Pakistani man at gunpoint returned to India on Thursday amid much media fanfare and as tensions between the two South Asian neighbors rise. Uzma, whose family name cannot be given for legal reasons, said she met the Pakistani national in Malaysia and decided to travel to Pakistan on May 1 after he invited her to visit. But when she arrived she said the man forced her to sign a marriage contract at gunpoint and that she suffered physical and emotional violence for five days until she...

Washington mavens have a new parlour game ­ called “impeachment & removal“. The game is all about devising new and innovative ways of putting President Donald Trump out to grass. But Trump has danced with Saudi leaders, eaten chocolate cake with Xi Jinping and burgers with Netanyahu, played golf with Abe and been blessed by the Pope. In a few weeks, it will be his turn to get the Modi hug. India has watched with apprehension as the Trump administration moved from being....

The 10-year-old rape victim whose unborn baby was aborted last week in India is not going home to her mother. The Hindustan Times reports child welfare authorities said they are concerned about the girl’s safety after her mother publicly asked that her husband — the man who allegedly raped the girl — be released from jail. When the girl was discharged from the hospital Monday, she was taken to a children’s home, according to the report. “The victim’s mother is more concerned of her rapist husband who impregnated her daughter than showing any interest in taking care of her,” child...

Father Tom Uzhunnalil, the Salesian priest who was been abducted and help captive by suspected ISIS terrorists, has appealed for help in a new video. A frail looking Father Tom says his health is deteriorating and needs hospitalisation. His captors had contacted the Indian government and the Bishop several times, but their response had been poor. Father Tom is diabetic and is suffering from blood pressure issues as well. In the nearly 90 second video, recorded in April 15 2017, he says neither Indian government nor Bishop made a serious effort to understand what his captors wanted. He appeals to...

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and said it would beef up hiring in the United States, a move that comes amid U.S. President Donald Trump's tough stance on the H-1B visa rules. Cognizant gets more than 75 percent of its revenue from North America and relies heavily on workers on H-1B visas to provide IT services to clients. H-1B visas are non-immigrant visas that allow U.S. companies to temporarily employ foreign workers. The majority of Teaneck, New Jersey-based Cognizant's roughly 260,000 employees are based in India.....

China will build an observation station in the country's northwest Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to improve the ecology of Pamir Plateau, a busy passage once for traders traveling along the ancient Silk Road. The station to be built in Taxkorgan County will be used by researchers concerned with water resources, biodiversity, grassland productivity, climate change and disaster warning and forecasting, said Lei Jiaqiang, director of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Field observation could also help the local community improve agriculture and livestock production efficiency and support the construction of the China-pakistan Economic...

India’s small and mid-sized IT services companies are planning to increase local talent mix in the US like their major peer Infosys. The Bengaluru-based Infosys announced its plans to hire 10,000 US citizens in two years and set up four innovation hubs there. While companies such as Zensar Technologies, Persistent Systems are planning to increase the mix of US citizens at their local delivery centres, Infosys’s cross-town smaller rival Mindtree has partnered with the University of Florida through its Gainesville delivery centre to hire fresh engineering graduates and designed a curriculum for its engineering course too. Apart from the proposed...

Infosys, the Indian IT services company that stands to be one of the biggest losers from a US visa crackdown, plans to hire 10,000 Americans in the next two years, according to the company’s chief executive. News of the hiring spree, due to be announced on Tuesday, is likely to be seen as a win for the White House as it tries to push companies into creating more US jobs. The administration announced a review of the H-1B visa programme a fortnight ago, aimed at stemming the flow of low-cost workers brought in by companies such as Infosys....

Less than a year after Selma’s Sona Precision Forge plant closed, new blood will restart the assembly line. Selma Precision Technologies, the local name and first American plant for Indian manufacturer the Warm Group, plans to reopen the plant by June with 38 workers and eventually return the site to its former glory....

This scale model of the Indo-Russian Brahmos II hypersonic missile design, could also represent the all-Russian Zircon missile. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov). Inset: the latest test-firing of a Brahmos from an Indian warship. (Photo: Indian Navy) Amid growing concern in the West about the vulnerability of large warships to very fast sea-skimming missiles, Russian news agencies have reported a successful firing test of the long-range hypersonic Zircon weapon. Coincidentally, India has recently been test-firing new versions of the medium-range supersonic Brahmos missile, which is a joint venture between India and Russia and is based on the P-800 Onix, one of several...

During the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition held recently near Washington D.C., General Atomics was showcasing its Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) for aircraft carriers. Navy Recognition learned during the show that General Atomics received export approval for EMALS and AAG to the Indian Navy. The Brazilian Navy, French Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force have also shown interest in those technologies according the the company. Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) was fitted first onboard head of class USS Gerald R. Ford. Picture: General Atomics The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is designed to replace...

India's Catholic bishops have strongly condemned a violent police disruption of a Good Friday service at a small parish in the south of the country. The Dhalit Catholic community in the village of Sogandi was holding a liturgy for the Passion of the Lord April 14 when they were disrupted by the Tehsildar – local tax and revenue officers – as well as police during the Veneration of the Cross and distribution of Holy Communion.