Free Republic

The North Indian state of Uttarakhand is now the eighth state in the country to pass legislation that is officially named the "Freedom of Religion Act" but has the allegedly hidden intent to punish those who facilitate religious conversions, especially conversions from Hinduism to Christianity. The latest law carries a jail term of up to two years. The Governor of Uttarakhand, Krishna Kant Paul, signed the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Bill of 2018 into law this month, according to local media reports. The law will be in force as soon as the state government, governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya...

Ever since the first Jewish-run studios made cinema what it is today, Hollywood has, for better or for worse, long been associated with the Jews. Bollywood? Not so much. The over-the-top action sequences and large-scale dance numbers of India’s massive Hindustani-language film industry are recognizable across the world, but most Westerners probably don’t know that many of the industry’s early female stars were actually Jewish. Ezekiel NadiraSulochana = Ruby MyersArati Devi = Rachel Sofore

Christian Designs Found in Tomb Stones of Eastern Han Dynasty [2002-08-02] Studies show that as early as 86 A.D., or the third year under the reign of "Yuanhe" of Eastern Han, Dynasty Christianity entered into China, 550 years earlier than the world accepted time. When studying a batch of stone carvings of Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.) stored and exhibited in the Museum of Xuzhou Han Stone Carvings, Christian theology professor Wang Weifan was greatly surprised by some stone engravings demonstrating the Bible stories and designs of early Christian times. Further studies showed that some of these engravings were made...

They have adopted mehendi and haldi ceremonies from Indian weddings, they speak fluent Marathi and many of them have enrolled their children in Marathi medium schools. As fond as they are of their adoptive home, the 250-odd members of the Bene Israel community in the city were pleasantly surprised to open the Sunday Times of India on July 21. An STOI exclusive report highlighted the results of four-year-long DNA tests in London which confirms their genetical link to the "original children of Israel" (literal translation of Bene Israel), who are said to have migrated to this country 2,000 years ago....

The Old Testament answers some of the greatest questions of all time—where did we come from? Why do we desire the good yet do evil? Why do our souls yearn for eternity while our bodies yield to death and decay?Yet, the Hebrew Scriptures leave so many other tantalizing questions unanswered. These mysteries have nagged at the Christian imagination for centuries, inspired epic quests, and stumped some of the greatest minds of the Church.Here are six of the greatest mysteries of the Old Testament. (Note to readers: the focus is on historical questions, not scientific issues, such as the six days...

Large ancient-DNA study uncovers population that moved westwards 4,500 years ago. A mysterious group of humans from the east stormed western Europe 4,500 years ago -- bringing with them technologies such as the wheel, as well as a language that is the forebear of many modern tongues, suggests one of the largest studies of ancient DNA yet conducted. Vestiges of these eastern emigres exist in the genomes of nearly all contemporary Europeans, according to the authors, who analysed genome data from nearly 100 ancient Europeans. ...last year, a study of the genomes of ancient and contemporary Europeans found echoes not...

Chinese archaeologists have discovered an unidentified cluster of tombs on the Pamirs Plateau, unveiling a new mystery on the crossroads of the ancient Silk Road. Eights tombs, each two meters in diameter, were arranged on a 100-meter-long and 50-meter-wide terrace, with lines of black stones and lines of white stones stretching alongside like rays, according to the archaeology team with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences that found the tombs in Xinjiang's Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, a border region neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan, in October. "The tombs are peculiar. No similar ones had been detected before on the Pamirs Plateau,...

span class="dropcap">Last October, Sandeep Chakravorty and Dani Dayan, consuls general in New York of, respectively, India and Israel, introduced the authors of a recently published book about Indian Jewish architecture.Indian Jewish architecture? The existence of such a thing would surely be as much a surprise to many readers as it clearly was to Consul Chakravorty. But in fact some of the most noteworthy sites in IndiaÂ’s major cities bear Jewish names, and a remarkable collection of historic architecture, built by and for an Indian Jewish community dating from pre-Roman times, still survives.Kenneth X. RobbinsÂ’s and Pushkar SohoniÂ’s Jewish Heritage...

The Indian military’s seemingly endless pursuit of new helicopters is a sorry tale of woe for both the armed forces and for foreign OEMs wanting to cash in on this large market. Attempting to make sense of where current requirements are at, Shephard spoke to a number of helicopter companies at DefExpo 2018 earlier this month and was told of five major requirements. First is the Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) project, where 111 aircraft to be built under the ‘Make in India’ policy are needed for the Indian Navy (IN). The NUH is a 4.5-5t intermediate-class helicopter, and an RfI...

Remember a recent stop in India on Hillary Clinton's "Excuse Tour", blaming everyone and everything except the family dog for her surprising (at least to her and her supporters) electoral loss to Donald Trump? Two things stand out from her visit to India – her tumble down the stairs and her latest excuse as to why she lost the election everyone thought she would win in a landslide. Instead of Rush Limbaugh or Fox News brainwashing voters to choose Trump, this time the puppet masters were white men, dripping with privilege and deplorable-ness. Hillary explained, "We do not do well...

The proposal for India and Russia to jointly develop an advanced fighter — the eponymous Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) — has been formally buried. Business Standard has learnt that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval conveyed the decision to a Russian ministerial delegation at a “Defence Acquisition Meeting” in end-February. Doval and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra, who attended the meeting, asked the Russians to proceed alone with developing their fifth-generation fighter. They said India might possibly join the project later, or buy the fully developed fighter outright, after it entered service with the Russian Air Force. New Delhi and Moscow...

You my children are my lightning bolts of boldness, and thunder of my presence as you declare my word for truly I watch over my word to perform it in the glory and majesty of who I AM. Therefore press forward for I have Already conquered the enemy for you by the The Cross. Dissolve the lies of the enemy with my word and declare grace to the mountains for my life is alive in you. • ACTS 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your owr.cn poets have said, 'We are...

[Appears to be sourced from Bloomberg]See article.

The South African Air Force has been offered enhanced capabilities for its Gripen fighter aircraft with a suit of new advanced systems developed by Israeli company Rafael. The Israeli company's offers a concept that it claims can bring fighter aircraft to a an advanced 4.5 generation standard by upgrading the different systems. The concept is being evaluated by the Indian Air Force for its Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) fighter aircraft. The upgrade suit that according to Rafael can enhance the fighter aircraft's capabilities to a 4.5 generation standard includes the Rafael BNET which is an advanced IP Mobile Ad-hoc Network...

UNDERWORLD - Graham Hancock Posted by Greg at 12:09, 30 Apr 2004 Let's get this straight, right from the outset - UNDERWORLD is not FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS. I say this, because I know that fans of Graham Hancock's work like to compare his latest efforts with the monolithic benchmark that is FOTG. And this simply isn't a valid comparison - FOTG smashed its way into our consciousness in the main because it introduced us to (or re-introduced to some) the amazing mysteries that were present in what we thought was a mundane old world. A decade or so on,...

Dwarka is one of the most ancient cities of India. The city, five miles long and two miles wide, is located 120 feet underwater in the Gulf of Cambay off the western coast of India. The discovery was particularly astonishing to scientists as the area predates all other finds in the area by at least 5,000 years, suggesting a much longer history of the civilization than was first assumed (carbon dating estimates the site to be almost 10,000 years old). Marine scientists used sonar images and sum-bottom profiling to locate the lost ruins and it is believed the area was...

U.S. Pacific Command still calls itself PACOM, but it appears INDO-PACOM -- India-Pacific Command -- might be the acronym of the future. Pentagon and State Department studies now routinely refer to the "Indo-Pacific region," as do the defense and foreign policy papers authored by their counterparts in Japan and Australia. "INDO" obviously contracts Indian Ocean, equivalent to "PAC." However, Chinese admirals in Beijing detect another implication: the huge nation that dominates that body of water -- India. To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamlet, aye, there's the rub. For China, India is a very large rub. The subcontinent dominates the Indian Ocean. China,...

Cape Town is in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water. However, the plight of the drought-hit South African city is just one extreme example of a problem that experts have long been warning about - water scarcity. Despite covering about 70% of the Earth's surface, water, especially drinking water, is not as plentiful as one might think. Only 3% of it is fresh. Over one billion people lack access to water and another 2.7 billion find it scarce for at least one month...

The Harappan civilization dominated the Indus River valley beginning about five thousand years ago, many of its massive cities sprawling at the edges of rivers that still flow through Pakistan and India today. But its culture remains a mystery. Why did it leave behind no representations of great leaders, nor of warfare? Archaeologists have long wondered whether the Harappan civilization could actually have thrived for roughly 2,000 years without any major wars or leadership cults. Obviously people had conflicts, sometimes with deadly results — graves reveal ample skull injuries caused by blows to the head. But there is no evidence...

A disaster was narrowly averted in eastern India Saturday after a runaway train carrying up to 1,000 passengers rolled with speed for several miles before being brought to an emergency stop by railway staff. Video on social media shows the train, which was traveling from the western state of Gujarat to Odisha state in the east, speeding past stations as onlookers and passengers scream helplessly. The train was eventually stopped after railway workers placed wooden wedges on the tracks, bringing it to a crunching halt.