Free Republic

Indian academics at a Texas university conspired to exclude an American job-seeker from a tenured job, even to the point of labelling the Asian-American candidate as “white,” says a lawsuit by the Asian-American candidate named Sean Wang. The lawsuit described the alleged anti-American discrimination against Wang at Southern Methodist University: Since Hemang Desai (Indian-origin) became a full professor at SMU in 2006, its Accounting Department has had a systematic pattern of discrimination in tenure decisions. Among candidates of Indian descent who meet SMU’s stated productivity standard of at least four top-tier publications, 100% (2 of 2) were tenured: Neil Bhattacharya...

The road to working and studying in the United States may soon become much tougher for thousands of skilled professionals and international students. The Trump administration is preparing a fresh set of immigration restrictions that could affect almost every major pathway used by foreign talent, from H-1B work visas to student work permits and even employment-based green cards. While several of the proposed rules are still under review, immigration lawyers, universities, and companies say the impact is already being felt. Employers are becoming more cautious, students are growing anxious and legal experts say visa scrutiny has dramatically increased. For Indian...

Repsol, has confirmed that (his) company and its partners are abandoning drilling offshore Cuba, representing a major blow to the island's ambitions to secure oil self-sufficiency.... The decision follows reports that the Jaguey-1 exploration well drilled by Repsol and partners Statoil (Norway) and ONGC (India) on Block N26, in Cuba's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Gulf of Mexico, had come up dry.

India wants to fence the border with Bangladesh badly – even if it takes venomous snakes or crocodiles. Analysts and activists have expressed alarm at the prospect of dangerous animals such as crocodiles being used to deter refugees and migrants. “This would be hilarious if it weren’t sinister and dangerous,” said Angshuman Choudhury, a researcher with a focus on northeastern and eastern Indian border states. “It’s absurd, right?”

The Times of India reports that researchers led by epigrapher K. Muniratnam Reddy from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have decoded a Sanskrit inscription written in Brahmi characters on a seal discovered in what is now Pakistan. The translation reads, "Devadaruvane Svami Kotesvarah," indicating that the fifth-century a.d. seal belonged to a temple dedicated to Shiva, a principal Hindu deity. Reddy and his colleagues explained that the inscription refers to a pivotal story about Shiva set in the Devandaru forest that is recorded in a sacred text called the Skanda Purana. The seal is thought to be the oldest...

A newly identified species of ancient snake, Vasuki indicus, may rank among the largest snakes to ever exist. The massive reptile lived around 47 million years ago in what is now Gujarat, India, according to research published in Scientific Reports. Scientists estimate it reached an extraordinary length of about 11 to 15 meters (36 to 49 feet). While it belonged to the extinct madtsoiidae family, researchers say it represents a unique lineage that originated on the Indian subcontinent.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Wednesday he encourages Britain's King Charles to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, with his comments ​coming during the British monarch's ongoing U.S. visit. "If I were to ‌speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond," Mamdani, who is Indian American, said when asked at a ​press conference hours before a ceremony that commemorated victims of ​the deadly September 11, 2001, attacks. Later in the day, the ⁠king spoke with Mamdani at the ceremony. Buckingham Palace declined to ​comment. Mamdani's office did not respond to...

the B’nei Menashe can be found in a far corner of India,.. For generations, they have been teaching their children how their ancestors wandered to find refuge in the jungle. “We have faith in the Torah,” said Mr. Ngamthenlal, his face framed by the sidelocks worn by some Orthodox Jewish men. An aliyah, or homecoming, is finally in their sights. “We have good faith in the Israeli government. They promised that all the B'nei Menashe will go to Israel by 2030,” he said. “We all have our passports ready.” Nearly half the community has already moved to Israel, piecemeal, since...

LONDON: More than 2,000 years after they first claimed to have set foot in India, the mystery of the world's most obscure Jewish community - the Marathi-speaking Bene Israel - may finally have been solved with genetic carbon-dating revealing they carry the unusual Moses gene that would make them, literally, the original children of Israel. Four years of DNA tests on the 4,000-strong Bene Israel, now mainly based in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Ahmedabad, indicates they are probable descendants of a small group of hereditary Israelite priests or Cohanim, according to new results exclusively made available to the Sunday Times...

A comely MAGA influencer who racked up millions of followers with patriotic content of her posing in a bikini while ice fishing, drinking Coors Light and shooting guns has been unmasked — as an Indian man who put himself through med school on the proceeds of his trickery. “Sam,” a 22-year-old orthopedic surgeon in training, told Wired that he got the idea to sell AI-generated images of a young woman in a bikini while scrounging for money in school — and trying to save up enough to emigrate to the US after graduation. He turned to Google’s Gemini AI for...

A patriotic poster girl of the MAGA movement, now famous for her love of Coors Light, firearms and sub-zero bikini shoots, has been revealed as a total digital fabrication. This viral influencer babe is not an American patriot at all, but rather a 22-year-old male medical student from India. The aspiring orthopedic surgeon admitted that the blonde bombshell was nothing more than his AI-generated goldmine designed to fund his way through med school and, ironically, finance his eventual move to the United States. Leveraging demographic data from Google's Gemini AI, the creator engineered Emily Hart, a digital persona tailored to...

A comely MAGA influencer who racked up millions of fans on Instagram who posted patriotic content and often posed in a bikini while ice fishing, drinking Coors Light, and shooting guns has been unmasked — as an Indian man who put himself through med school on the proceeds. Sam,” a 22-year-old orthopedic surgeon in training, told WIRED that he got the idea to sell AI-generated images of a young woman in a bikini while scrounging for money in school — and trying to save up enough to emigrate to the US after graduation. … Sam told the magazine, “Every day...

ATHENS – Fraudulent messages promising safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for cryptocurrency have been sent to some shipping firms with vessels stranded west of the waterway, said Greek maritime risk management firm Marisks. The US has maintained its blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran has lifted and then reimposed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed before war broke out in the Middle East. Amid ceasefire talks, Tehran, which controls the choke point, has proposed tolls on vessels to safely transit. Marisks on...

51 years ago, India marked a historic milestone with the launch of Aryabhata, its first step into space. But long before the satellite lifted off aboard a Soviet rocket, its story had already begun in an unlikely place: a small church by the Arabian Sea. In the early 1960s, India’s fledgling space programme, what would later become the Indian Space Research Organisation, was operating with limited resources but boundless ambition. Under the leadership of Vikram Sarabhai, scientists were searching for a location close to the magnetic equator to study the upper atmosphere. They found it in Thumba, a quiet fishing...

CLOVERDALE, Ind. (WISH) — Police arrested a 27-year-old man from California in Putnam County Monday morning after police found 392 pounds of cocaine in his trailer. Indiana State Police say a trooper conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that was speeding eastbound on I-70 near Cloverdale. During the stop the trooper “observed multiple criminal indicators” from the driver, Harmandeep Singh.

They’re holed up in a bank demanding three large pizzas, a helicopter, and a personal phone call from Sydney Sweeney. . . ."— Greg Gutfeld on Iran’s negotiating position. The Russians have a phrase for it: negotiation-incapable (ne peregovorosposobny). That is what the Iran delegation demonstrated during a long day of talks with the US team over the weekend in Islamabad. What part of “no nukes” didn’t they understand? All of it, apparently. The corollary question on the table — arguably more pressing for Iran — was: how much more punishment are you willing to suffer to sustain your dream...

IRGC has announced their blocking the Strait is back on, until Trump lifts his blockade. They attacked two Indian tankers that they had given previously clearance to pass. IRGC has gone nuts, no agreed-upon central authority. Repudiated cease fire agreement reached with Foreign Minister. Lots of in-fighting. Foreign Minister has not spoken since his tweet announcing the cease fire agreement that the rest of IRGC repudiated.

Mike Steger@stegerMGWe’re watching the world reset in real time.This isn’t chaos.It’s strategy.Iran. China. India. The Middle East.All moving at once.Most people can’t see it yet. ransomnote: Below are a few of my notes and some images from the video.At the start of the video, Steger said that Trump's vision exceeds that of others and his strategies work because people can't even imagine what he intends so they can't fight its implementation. Trump thinks bigger than anyone else dares, he outflanks any effort to sabotage the deal. They can't sabotage a deal they can't even imagine exists.I found the entire video...

Iran’s ambassador to India said Tehran is open to talks with the United States if Washington refrains from making “unlawful demands.” Mohammad Fathali was referring to talks held in Islamabad and said the main sticking points were Iran’s nuclear program, war reparations and sanctions relief. Asked about the prospects for future negotiations, Fathali told reporters in New Delhi, “If they (the U.S.) accept our conditions, it is possible.”

The first group of migrants deported from the US to third countries has arrived in Costa Rica. About 25 migrants — including citizens of Albania, Cameroon, China, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Kenya and Morocco — touched down in the island nation’s capital of San Jose on Saturday. “Upon entering the country, the migrants will receive primary care from the Professional Migration Police, with ⁠the cooperation of the International Organization for Migration (IOM),” Costa Rica’s General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners said in a statement. The group of 25 was the first to arrive in the Central American country since the US...