Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
On his 200th birth anniversary, Utkarsh Mishra traces the life, thought, and legacy of Dadabhai Naoroji, the Grand Old Man of India.
Pakistan is "in an active counterterrorism fight right now and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world", the general said.
'The CBI did a wonderful job of tracking down the killers, but at the end of the day, all the hard work went for a toss.' 'If we had caught them alive, the operation would have been successful completely.'
'As one former Indian diplomat put it to me, Delhi has access to the White House, but Islamabad has access to Mar-a-Lago.'
A new book reveals that India and Pakistan discussed a communal division of Jammu & Kashmir along the Chenab river before the Kargil war in 1999.
People along the Line of Control and International Border in the Jammu region continue to live under the shadow of death, with unexploded mortar shells fired by Pakistani troops still embedded in farmlands and residential areas even though hostilities have stopped for nearly a week. IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: / Rediff.com Despite the May 10 understanding between India and Pakistan, locals describe the border areas as a 'death trap'. Sixty-two-year-old Balvinder Singh, who returned to his home in Pargwal sector on May 14, recounted a narrow escape. "Two shells exploded in our compound, damaging our house. Three more landed on our farmland. We were terrified and told our family to stay away from the fields until the Army could help," Singh told PTI. Army engineers later came to the village and safely defused the unexploded shells, bringing a temporary sense of relief. "Fear is writ large on the faces of people to these death traps in border hamlets", he said. Scenes of destruction are evident rooftops torn apart, broken houses, windows punctured by shrapnel, and carcasses of cattle lying in pools of blood. The acrid smell of gunpowder still lingers in the air. Sardar Gurmeet Singh faced a similar ordeal. His family could not re-enter their home as a live mortar shell had sunk into the compound in a village close to the International Border. "The army's bomb disposal squad removed it after four days, allowing us to finally enter, back home," he said. Indian Army engineers have launched a sweeping clearance operation across border districts, defusing over 80 unexploded shells in the past five days -- including 6 in Pargwal, 19 in Rajouri, 42 in Poonch, and 12 along the IB. "These shells, mostly 120 mm calibre, have a range of 15 to 30 km and pose a serious threat to both civilian and military targets," an Army officer said. "Many of them were fired by Pakistan during recent hostilities." On May 7, the Indian Army launched Operation Sindoor, conducting precision strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. The subsequent retaliation by Pakistan pushed the region to the brink of war. From 7 to 10 of May, 27 civilians were killed and over 70 injured in Pakistani shelling in the Jammu region. Farid Din Gujjar, a resident near the border, expressed fear about returning to his fields. "Several shells created deep craters in our paddy land. We cannot resume work until all unexploded ordnance is cleared. It's a death trap," he said. Army units, in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police, have evacuated high-risk zones and issued stern warnings to residents not to touch any suspicious objects or unexploded shells. In one major operation, 42 live shells were safely destroyed in the Poonch villages of Jhullas, Salotri, Dharati and Salani. "All safety protocols were followed. The shells posed a serious danger to local lives," an Army spokesperson said, calling the effort a 'continued commitment to protect civilians and restore normalcy'. Poonch saw the vast majority of deaths due to shelling. Security officials said that Pakistan used a mix of mortar shells, armed drones, and missiles during the shelling spree, specifically targeting civilian habitations and border towns in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch. As clearance operations continue, the border residents are slowly returning to their homes, but with caution, fear, and lingering uncertainty about shelling that may yet happen in the future.
The aircraft crashed into the Milestone School and College campus in Dhaka's Uttara area.
Pakistan's Punjab police have booked former prime minister Imran Khan and 1,500 of his party workers for attacking and setting on fire a top army officer's house in Lahore.
'Trump has personally weighed in to overcome doubts and reservations about Pakistan among his top advisors.'
'The lakes up there were already at the brink due to accumulated rainwater, and then snowmelt occurred.' 'When one lake breached, it triggered a cascading effect -- other lakes breached subsequently.'
Glimpses from around the world that will make you smile and cry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 1,600-crore assistance package for flood-hit Punjab after reviewing the damage. He also announced ex gratia for the deceased and injured. The state is battling its worst deluge since 1988.
The point to note for India is that we must not panic. The United States may be our largest export destination, but high tariffs will not exactly mean gloom and doom. Sure, we can throw some morsels as we continue negotiating, but we must be firm that some red lines cannot be crossed, no matter what, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
'Due to orographic rainfall, localised areas are experiencing intense downpours.' 'In a very heavy downpour, the burst of water has to find its way and therefore whatever comes in its path gets washed away.'
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged torture of an Army officer and the sexual assault of his fiance at a police station in Bhubaneswar.
A special court, in its acquittal order in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has highlighted a running battle between the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), pointing out stark contradictions in their probe.
The worst-hit in the Pakistani shelling was Poonch district which accounted for all the civilian deaths, the officials said, adding 28 persons were also injured and the condition of some of them was stated to be critical.
Parts of Rahul Gandhi's speech during the Operation Sindoor discussion in the Lok Sabha were expunged from the record after he criticised the government for trying to protect Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image.
The logo for India's Operation Sindoor, which has captured the imagination of millions, was designed by two Armymen. The operation, a decisive military action against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir, was launched in response to the Pahalgam massacre. The logo, featuring a bowl of vermilion, has become a powerful symbol of India's resolve against terrorism.
"I mentioned to sir (Ratan Tata) that the son of a fellow army officer was handicapped below the waist and needed a job," he told PTI from Pune where he now lives. "Vijay Bisht, son of my then colleague in M&G area HQ Lt Col B S Bisht, had sustained severe leg injuries after falling from a horse and I came to know he was looking for a job," he added. Tata said the needful would be done. And it was.
Pakistan's record on terrorism is "very clear" and the Pahalgam attack is only the recent example of cross-border terrorism, the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday.
The highlight of Tuesday's debate on Operation Sindoor was the speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the rebuttal by Congress's Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi coming a close second.
The first national flag in Independent India was hoisted at Fort St George in Madras, not at Delhi's Red Fort.
With respect and gratitude we honour the memory of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Operation Sindoor.
Rescue operations continue in Kishtwar, J&K, following a devastating cloudburst. Anxious relatives cling to fading hope as the search for the missing enters its third day.
Trump's method are more destabilising than his policy. So, a good idea these couple of years is to sip Kool-Aid, and savour the joys of Trumplomacy, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Heavy rains in Maharashtra have caused floods, road blockages, and widespread damage, resulting in casualties and displacement. The state government is monitoring the situation and coordinating rescue efforts.
The rain and flood situation in northeastern states remained grim on Tuesday, with lakhs people affected in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, even as the meteorological department predicted more rain in several parts of the region.
The Pakistan Army continued shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in four sectors of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting a befitting response by the Indian Army, officials said on Thursday. The intensity of cross-border firing was less than Wednesday, when Pakistan Army carried out one of the most intense artillery and mortar shelling in years targeting the forward villages in J-K following missile strikes by India as part of 'Operation Sindoor'.
BLA fighters reportedly took positions across the city, seizing control of the Levies and police stations, the deputy commissioner's office, a government guest house, and local bank branches.
Major Padmapani Acharya was awarded the Mahavir Chakra for his courage in the Kargil War.
Trump's new rules for how countries should treat him have led to the current breakdown in India-US relations, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Father of martyred Army captain Brijesh Thapa on Tuesday said he was proud of his son who was killed in action while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda.
Trump said he had a series of phone calls on trade with both India and Pakistan.
'Trump's sons, and the son of Trump's Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff, are in the crypto business and recently signed deals with Pakistan's crypto council.' 'It may not be coincidental that not long before the Trump-Munir meeting, the head of Pakistan's crypto council met with Trump's White House crypto policy czar.'
The tragic incident saw 241 of the 242 lives on board the London-bound Boeing 787-8 perish, along with 29 people on the ground as the aircraft plunged into a medical college campus shortly after takeoff.
The officials said dozens of unexploded explosives were destroyed by the experts along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch districts and along the International Border in Jammu and Samba which witnessed intense cross-border shelling and drone attacks from May 7 to May 10.
The empty cartridges found at Pahalgam and those after test firing by the recovered guns were matched by the forensic lab, Shah said. The ballistic report is with him, he added.
According to officials, Naik Kuldeep Singh of Punjab was on guard duty when he was hit by a bullet in the head at Sunjawan Military Station on the outskirts of Jammu and was evacuated to a hospital where he succumbed to injuries.
