India Narrative

After tabling a no-confidence motion, the opposition, now short of single digit numbers, is closing in to topple Prime Minister Imran Khan. The arithmetic to oust the mercurial Khan is simple. The opposition needs to muster the magic number of 172 lawmakers to oust Khan. After the decision of Shahzain Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party to step out of the ruling coalition on Sunday, treasury members have been slashed to 178 in the 342-member lower house of the parliament. With that the opposition has 163 in the bag, only 9 shorts of the required numbers. Later on, Monday, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), an ally of the ruling Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party announced that it was joining the opposition in the no-confidence motion against the premier. Khalid Magsi's parliamentary leader of BAP made the dramatic announcement of ditching the ruling coalition in the National Assembly at a joint press conference accompanied by heavyweights in the Pakistani political spectrum. The bi

“It is a butcher…do not get deceived by its look,” said my photographer friend. A beautiful bird with a dark black stripe across its eyes, it resembles Zorro, the hero with the black mask.  The bird with the mask of Zorro in front of my tele lens is called the Long-tailed Shrike. It is  also known as Rufous-backed Shrike. This myna or bulbul-sized bird is petite and attractively coloured, with a reddish-brown back, grey neck, white underparts and a black tail with white lining. A closer look, however, would probably diminish the cuteness factor a great deal. For starters the black bandit mask that runs across the shrike’s eyes, giving the little bird a decidedly sinister look. Also, the bird has a strong hooked beak like raptors, with a vicious downward curve. This beak is clearly not meant for nibbling forest berries on a nippy morning. It is designed for tearing flesh, as the Shrike is a complete carnivore. Read more

It is said that the urge for dignity is at the core of each individual. And for a nation-state that dignity is its independence. Unfortunately, victims of crafty geopolitics, the people of Balochistan have been denied rights that would govern their natural existence. Unsurprisingly, the people of Balochistan are mourning today, because their vast resource-rich land remains enslaved, first by the British imperialists and then by Pakistan, which had connived with the fading empire. On 27th March 2022 it will be 74 years since Pakistan occupied Balochistan by force. What is the backstory of the Baloch enslavement? How come unlike many other nations who were breaking the shackles of colonisation, Balochistan did not get its promised independence? The story of Pakistan’s “conquest” of Balochistan begins on 26th March 1948 when troops marched through the coastal town of Pasni and Jiwani. With no help in sight through neighbours and upon contemplating horrific consequences for people of Balo

Heavily-armed terrorists swooped on the village Wandhama, now in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, on Lailatul Qaddr, the holiest night of the holy month of Ramzan, on the eve of the Indian Republic Day, January 25/26, 1998. While all the Muslims were busy with the nightlong prayers at the local community mosque, the resident Pandits and their guests were dragged out on the gun point. Twenty-three of them, including nine women and four children, were mercilessly massacred. It was for the first time after the killing of seven Pandits at Sangrampora, Budgam, on 21 March 1997, that this big number of the members of the minority community was gunned down at one place. A pall of gloom engulfed the whole of Kashmir valley, with nobody daring to publicly condemn the carnage but everybody looking melancholic. There were scenes of mourning across the ripples from Ganderbal where the revered Kheer Bhawani temple shrine stands at Tulmulla. Obviously the bloodshed had an impact on the Republic

  Western commentators are struggling to describe the significance of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Fareed Zakaria has described it as a “seismic event”, the most significant international event since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and believes it marks “the end of an age”. Francis Fukuyama has called it “a critical turning point in world history”. He views it as the latest assault on liberalism that had started well before the war when illiberal authoritarian regimes had emerged in several major countries; he sees the war as a reminder “in the most vivid way possible what the consequences of illiberal dictatorship are”.  Thomas Friedman simply says: “Our world is not going to be the same again.” These cataclysmic prognostications from Western sources have not had the same reverberations in West Asia. Four years of the anarchy wreaked in the region by Donald Trump followed by one year of Joe Biden’s insipid and shaky presidency have already created a diplomatic churn, with regional states

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan continues to receive widespread international condemnation, including from the Islamic world, for reneging on its promise to let Afghan girls return to school. Earlier this week, the Taliban administration had announced the reopening of all schools in the country, including those just for girls, on March 21 - the first day of the Afghan New Year.   However, as thousands of secondary-school girls around the country turned up at their school for the first time in seven months on Wednesday, they were sent back home by the hardcore fundamentalists, thus contradicting their public assurances to the Afghan people and to the international community. Mawlawi Aziz Ahmad Ryan, Director of Publications and spokesman for the Ministry of Education, said that schools for girls from the sixth grade and above will remain closed until further notice. "After compiling a comprehensive plan in this field in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture and tradition

For the West to build pressure on India to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine as some kind of a political and moral obligation for a democracy is a brazenly manipulative exercise. If western democracies genuinely believe that all democratic countries have an obligation to band together against Russia on this issue shows how much they have become prisoners of their own rhetoric and are incapable of seeing the incongruities in their position. If, on the other hand, they are aware that they themselves have not adhered to the principle that they now espouse in the case of Russia, it denotes outright cynicism bred by a sense of unaccountable power. India, which has been a democracy since 1947, has not received any special consideration on the political economic and security fronts from the West. On the contrary, it has been subject to decades of sanctions in the strategic nuclear, space and high technology areas. It was pushed toward a close relationship with the Soviet Union in the

  The US imposed sanctions on five North Korean and Russian organisations as well as one entity in China on Thursday after Pyongyang fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after 2017. Announcing the sanctions, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: "The United States today announced sanctions on five entities and individuals located in Russia and the DPRK, and one entity in the People's Republic of China (PRC) for proliferation activities under the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act". Price said the measures are part of American efforts to prevent  North Korea advance its missile programme and "highlight the negative role Russia plays on the world stage as a proliferator to programs of concern", reported The Korea Times. Meanwhile, the ICBM tested by North Korea flew 1,100 km for around one hour and fell in Japanese waters, increasing distrust among neighbours--Japan, South Korea and North Korea. The missile was report

Right from the inception of life on the Earth, some or the other mighty predator dominated the world, it could be a mighty shark in water or a dinosaur on the land. Likewise, a report in sciencenews,.org talks about a sabre-toothed mammal which was among the first hypercarnivores, that existed 42 million years. This menacing creature whose size was that of a bobcat, stalked in the jungles and forests of those days located in today’s San Diego. As compared to the other animals that existed in that era, this was a hypercarnivore – it evolved to consume meat and probably only meat. What was distinctive about this creature or Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae as it is scientifically known, and which belonged to the now vanished and unusual Machaeroidine family, is its fangs which were sabre-like and its sharp and slicing teeth. Till now a dozen fossils or remains of other Machaeroidine have been discovered, which mostly are from Wyoming but some were found in Asia too. It was with the help of

  Faiz M Baluch is the editor of the online news website Balochwarna and the UK-based treasure of the Free Balochistan Movement (FBM). On a rare sun-filled British day, India Narrative met up with Faiz for a chat at the Trafalgar Square while he was busy organising a demonstration to highlight the kidnappings of Baloch students by the Pakistani government. To sustain his family which has migrated to the UK, Faiz works in a logistics company but as the treasurer of the FBM, Faiz fundraises within the community to print leaflets, posters and banners. His work also includes making arrangements for travel and works with other Baloch volunteers to organise demonstrations against Pakistan in a bid to highlight human rights atrocities against the impoverished Baloch community which resides in south-west of Pakistan. The FBM is a Baloch political party which supports independence of Balochistan from both Pakistan and Iran. It has been active in the UK, Germany and other European nations with t

As pressure builds on New Delhi to take sides and condemn Russia after it invaded Ukraine, the Chinese state owned media, mostly echoing the government's sentiments, has come out in support of India. It said that New Delhi should be allowed to make decisions based on its own national interests.  Amid a surge in global crude prices, India is also looking to buy oil from Russia at a discounted rate, something that will help New Delhi in cushioning its economy. While the US said that India’s purchase of crude oil from Russia will not violate the stringent sanctions imposed against Russia by the West, Washington warned that it may put India “on the wrong side of history.” Global Times in a column titled ‘It is necessary for China, India to mend their fraught relations’ said that it is India's legitimate right to develop economic and trade relations with Russia based on its own national interests. Following the Galwan Valley clash on India-China relations nosedived. The mouthpiece o

An 18-year-old girl, Pooja Kumari, belonging to Hindu minority has been brutally murdered by extremist Muslim youths as she resisted an abduction attempt in Rohri, Sindh province of Pakistan. According to The Friday Times, Pooja was shot in the middle of the street after she put up resistance to the attackers in Rohri, Sukkur. Three persons came to her house on Monday to abduct and forcibly convert Pooja. They shot her dead when she put up resistance. Sharing the picture of Pooja and her murderer, Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat wrote on Twitter:  “In the land of the pure where every day Hindu, Christian daughters are lost to abductions, forced conversions, marriages and Pakistan continues to be a bystander. Pooja Kumari Odh, an 18-year-old shot dead by Wahid Lashari while resisting abduction, conversion in Sukkur, Sindh”.   Read more

India and Australia are taking their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to a new level with extensive collaboration to identify opportunities for strategic investment in Australian critical minerals projects. During the second Virtual Summit between India and Australia on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison welcomed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India's Khanij Bidesh India Limited and Australia's Critical Minerals Facilitation Office on March 10. Through the MoU, Canberra is working with New Delhi to realise the shared ambition of developing robust and commercially viable critical minerals supply chains. "As you can imagine, this is an important area for both our countries and this agreement would give us the opportunities to both invest in Australia's critical mineral sector and get Australian expertise in this area," said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla after the summit. Australia,

The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is angry and frustrated with his “master” the Pakistani military establishment as it has refused to bail him out at a time when he is facing a crucial no-confidence motion against his government, in what is shaping up to be his toughest test since coming to power in 2018. The establishment has also asked Khan to “resign” as he has lost majority in the parliament. "I salute India. India's foreign Policy is better than Pakistan's, they work for their people, the Indian army is not corrupt and they never interfere in civilian govt" Imran Khan said in a public meeting on Sunday without mentioning the name of Pakistani army. Pakistani observers see Khan’s statement  as a dig at the Pakistani military establishment which controls the country’s foreign policy and the civilian government. Three years ago, it was the Pakistani army or military establishment, rigging the elections in favour of Imran Khan, to head the “hybrid” regime. But

  On March 14, Nepalese media widely reported that Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi would visit Kathmandu on March 26 for a two-day visit. He would call on Prime Minister Deuba and hold talks with Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka. The visit could be related to signing documents related to projects that fall under China’s mega-connectivity Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Wang appears to be embarking on a pan-South Asia tour. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed having received a request from China for the visit. If New Delhi concurs, Wang’s visit would be the first high-level visit from China following the massive troops build along the Line of Actual Control after May 2020, followed by unarmed combat between the Indian and PLA troops in the Galwan valley area in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and an unspecified number of Chinese troops lost their lives. But apart from the tensions along the border, especially in Eastern Ladakh, several other bac

It has been a long held belief that sharks don’t sleep and the reason given for this was that some of them needed to keep swimming in order to have a constant and steady supply of oxygen-rich water go through their gills. Now, a report in smithsonianmag.com mentions that Australian scientists have studied and recorded a species of these fishes which live in the bottom and have been observed to sleep. The details of this new study which has been published in Biology Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, points out that sharks can sleep and many prefer keeping their eyes wide open while doing so. Talking to Newsweek, Michael Kelly, an author of this study said: "Until now, sleep in sharks was completely unstudied and unknown. Sharks are a particularly important group as they are the oldest living jawed vertebrates—a trait they share with us.” Kelly is an ecophysiologist at La Trobe University, Melbourne. The subject of this study was the draughtsboard sharks. This native to

  After having been confused with an existing species, the rose-veiled fairy wrasse found off the coast of the scenic Maldives islands, has been recognised as a separate genus. An article in smithsonianmag.com stated this fish which lives in the range from 131 to 229 feet below the surface has a vivid red-orange colour on its face which becomes yellow and violet when nearing the tail. The waters around the islands of Maldives boasts of species in hundreds but what makes the rose-veiled fairy wrasse or Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa, special is the fact that it is the first one to be described by a Maldivian scientist and that it has the singular distinction of having a scientific name derived from Dhivehi, a local language. The species had to wait for a formal description and recognition as in the past it was mistaken for the red velvet fairy wrasse or Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis. The details of this new species have been published in ZooKeys, a journal. Also read:  New genus of tarantula hairy

Breaking the biggest political myth in twin states of UP and Uttarakhand, India’s ruling party-- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  has romped home with a splendid victory in the just ended state assembly elections. What comes next is BJP’s ‘Mission Repeat’ in adjoining hill state of Himachal Pradesh ,which goes to the polls by this year's end, precisely November-December 2022 along with Gujarat –Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. As Modi has already hit the ground running in Gujarat ,seen as a soft start to BJP’s election campaign ,Himachal Pradesh can’t wait anymore to miss the opportunity to cash dividends following its stellar performance ,admits a party strategist in Shimla. Just a day after the election results in five states – UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab , Goa and Manipur--BJP summoned state’s Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to Delhi to discuss the party's ground strategy for the state . The focus was intense for as in UP, the party is determined to win a second term in off

It is generally believed that serious and fatal diseases of Europe like whooping cough, smallpox and the dreaded tuberculosis reached different parts of the world, including South America, due to colonisation. Yet, a report in sciencealert.com mentions that a recent study suggests that tuberculosis strain may have already reached South America coasts and mountains, much before this. Scientists in 2014 discovered in skeletons from 1,000 years ago in South America the DNA of a bacterium which was connected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis which leads to tuberculosis in human beings. It may be noted that this was much before the Spanish, French and Portuguese set foot in the continent as colonisers. Even though it has been known to science that TB moves from one species of mammal to another yet the detection of this ancient strain in South America points to the need for rethinking as to how the bacteria spread originally. The 2014 or the pre-contact strains had the closest resemblance to M

Polarisation between the political Right and Left has grown phenomenal in India particularly after a high-octane demonstrate at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to commemorate the execution of the once JKLF activist and the alleged Jaish-e-Mohammad operative Afzal Guru in February 2016. Notwithstanding the JNU’s in-house inquiry, coupled with an investigation by the Delhi Police, the identities of the participants are still shrouded in a mystery. None of the male or female characters in the choreography, whose faces were clearly captured by scores of the cameras, figures in the Delhi Police charge-sheet. On that occasion, the BJP leadership at the Centre reportedly believed that the identification would lead to the arrest of a number of young men and women from Kashmir. This, as per the BJP’s apprehension, would queer the pitch for continuation of the ruling coalition with the PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti. Mehbooba’s father, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had died a month

Russia's government said on Thursday that it had proposed in draft legislation allowing foreign planes leased by Russian airlines to be registered as the airlines' property. Western aircraft owners are facing a situation where they could lose hundreds of Airbus and Boeing commercial jets that Russian airlines have effectively kept away from seizure Foreign leasing firms have succeeded in repossessing only about two dozen of the more than 500 aircraft rented to Russian carriers, said Dean Gerber, general counsel for Valkyrie BTO Aviation. The planes in limbo have a market value of about $10.3 billion, according to a Bloomberg report that cited estimates from aviation analytics firm Ishka.   Technically, lessors have until March 28 to cancel contracts under European Union sanctions. But state-owned Aeroflot PJSC and other airlines have already flown back most of the planes to Russia where they are out of reach of their owners.  This had followed the ban on Russian flights under w

  It is indeed a proud moment for Thailand as for the first time in 104 years a new genus of tarantula has been discovered in Asia. And it is indeed novel. As per a report in sciencenews.org, this newly found hairy spider is called bambootula. The reason is that it makes its home in bamboo which is stiff and tall and found in northern Thailand. The scientific name of the creature is Taksinus bambus. Talking about this species, Narin Chomphuphuang an arachnologist from Thailand Khon Kaen University said, it “is the world’s first tarantula with a biology tied to bamboo”. The hollow bamboo stems provide the spider with a hole or tunnel and obviously a readymade nest but the bambootula has a problem. It does not have the wherewithal, that is tools, to drill into the culms. For this it depends on animals like borer beetles and rodents or natural forces to make the openings. The creature once inside creates a “retreat tube” made of silk to keep itself secure and enabling it to move around wi

As Russia's special operations in Ukraine entered its 14th day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine will no longer be seeking NATO membership as the alliance is not prepared to accept Ukraine and is afraid to confront Russia. "I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that ... NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine," Zelensky said in an interview, Monday night on ABC News. He has also said that he is open to "compromise" on the status of two breakaway pro-Russian territories that President Vladimir Putin recognised as independent just before unleashing the invasion on February 24. Finally, Zelensky may be getting it right when he said that he does not want to be president of a "country which is begging (for) something on its knees". The West has been eulogizing and lionizing him and the Ukrainian people, while demonizing Russia and its actions in Ukraine. Yet, it has done very little to help

It is amazing to see spiders attack their prey in packs but it has always intrigued scientists as to how the coordinated offensive takes place. This is precisely what a team of researchers decided to study, says a report in sciencealert.com. Among 50,000 known species of spiders there are 20 which, contrary to their usual solitary life, live together in colonies. One of them is Anelosimus eximius, a social spider which lives in a large group of more than 1,000 individuals, who spin webs that span many metres. When a victim is trapped, these creatures harmonise their attack together enabling them to tackle prey much larger than them individually. Also read:  Beware of the snake’s hiss, the reptile means business Till now it was a puzzle as to how such coordinated effort takes place but new research reveals that using vibrations in the giant-sized webs is what helps these creatures to synchronise their attack on the prey. Senior author of this new study, Raphael Jeanson who is researcher

The Ukraine war brings into light once again the irrelevance of the UN charter and all the noble principles and values that powerful states swear by in their conduct of international and state-to-state relations and how they are sacrificed at the altar of their self-perceived national interests and security. Right or wrong, powerful states can present their narratives in a manner that can justify their invasion of a weaker country and can get away. The US has done it in Iraq in the past, and now the Russians are doing it in Ukraine. The US called Sadaam Hussein an abominable dictator with his WMD posing a threat to the regional security and the Russians calling the regime in Kyiv neo-Nazis and drug addicts who must be overthrown even at the cost of pulverizing the country with rockets and missile carpet bombing. The victims are always innocent people including women and children. When two elephants fight with each other, it is the grass that suffers, so the saying goes. Behind the int

  With the arrest of two youths in their mid-20s, the Police in Srinagar have cracked a grenade attack that had left two civilians dead and 36 others injured in the evening on Sunday, 6 March. Of the 38 injured, Mohammad Aslam Makhdoomi (70) and Rafiya Nazir (19) had later died at hospital. Sources associated with the investigation revealed to India Narrative that neither of the two detained youths had a history of involvement with any unlawful, subversive or terrorist activity. As such, they did not figure in the lists of the wanted militants or subversive elements in possession of the Police, security and intelligence agencies. Sources identified the duo as Mohammad Bariq and Fazil Nabi, both 24-25 years of age and both residents of Koolipora, Khanyar, in downtown Srinagar. According to these sources the detainees disclosed during their preliminary interrogation that they had remained in touch with Shahid Shafi Mir of Khanyar and Zahid Farooq Khan of Nowhatta, both before and after t

  The monstrous creature – Otodus megalodon – in 2018’s superhit sci-fi thriller “The Meg” remains etched in the memory of viewers because of its sheer menacing size. Now, a recent study as per a report in scitechdaily.com has disclosed that these extinct creatures also known as megatooth sharks became bigger in size in cooler environments than the warmer ones. In their study, Kenshu Shimada, a professor of paleobiology at DePaul University along with other co-authors looked afresh at the body size patterns of megalodon, the fossil shark which was present between 15 to 3.6 million years ago on Earth, over time and space. The scientists in their new study examined published records of geographic occurrences of the teeth of Meg in tandem with their estimated total body lengths. Whatever is known to science about this species is through teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record. It is scientifically accepted that these creatures were huge in size, and grew to a minimum of 50 feet in length

  Last week Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid a state visit to Pakistan - his first ever visit to the country after taking charge in Tashkent in 2016. He had, however, met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan twice earlier - during the Central Asia-South Asia connectivity conference that Tashkent hosted last year in July and thereafter in August at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September 2021. The two had earlier held a virtual meeting on April 14, 2021where they had supported the construction of the ‘Termez–Mazar-e-Sharif–Kabul–Peshawar’ railway line, calling it an "important initiative" to establish connectivity from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea through Afghanistan and the Pakistani seaports of Karachi, Gwadar and Bin Qasim. Mirziyoyev's visit marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan and is expected to provide a huge fillip to bilateral ties, a wide

  Furious at NATO’s decision to stay out of the conflict, Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, has warned that his country, battling Russian forces, could develop atomic weapons. “All that the alliance (NATO) could do today was to allocate some 50 tons of diesel fuel for Ukraine through its procurement system,” Zelensky said, in a videotaped address. In a veiled nuclear threat, he added: “Probably, it’s for us so that we can burn the Budapest Memorandum. To make it burn better. But for us it has already burned down in the fire of the Russian troops,” Zelensky was referring to the 1994 document, which guided Ukraine’s surrender of its nuclear arsenal inherited from the former Soviet Union. The memorandum gave security assurances to three ex-Soviet countries—Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus—following which, along with other agreements signed between 1993-96, the trio gave up its atomic weapons. The war between Russia and Ukraine has already exposed a nuclear dimension, including

International terror outfit, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack inside Peshawar’s Shia Mosque Imambargah during  Friday prayers. Over 60 worshippers were killed, and over 200 injured in the suicide attack. ISIS-K posted a statement, claiming responsibility, on the group's Amaq News Agency. The statement identified the attacker as an Afghan, and posted his picture. It added that “Islamic State fighters are constantly targeting Shiites living in Pakistan and Afghanistan despite the intense security measures adopted by the Taliban militia and the Pakistani police to secure Shia mosques and centers.” The posting named Julaybib al Kabuli as the suicide bomber . He could be seen wearing a suicide vest and bearing a T56-1 AK rifle. The statement then gave a detailed account of how the suicide bomber  had stormed the Shiite Mosque in Peshawar after shooting two Pakistani police officers. “The assault was clearly intended to target Shia worshipp

India has once again appealed to Russia and Ukraine to have a local ceasefire in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy so that it can evacuate hundreds of its citizens, mainly students, who have been stuck in the region for a long time now. According to the Indian authorities' estimate, there are about 700-plus, or even a little higher, number of Indian students still stuck in a conflict situation in Sumy and another 300 people left in Kharkiv. Reports suggest that Russia has arranged about 103 buses on its side of the border near Kharkiv to help in evacuation of the Indian students. However, the location of buses remains about 50-60 kilometres away from where the Indian students are. "They're frankly, too far away for them to just walk in and take it. This is a conflict zone and we don't see a safe and secure way to reach them. In fact, I would appeal and urge the parties concerned to have a local ceasefire, at least so that we can go to those buses if that is a suggest

The sheer size and magnitude of Stonehenge built between 3000 BC and 2000 BC makes it enigmatic. Yet it was not merely for show, for scientists always believed it to be an ancient calendar because of its alignment with the solstices of summer and winter. Till now how the calendar worked was not known but a recent study shows that it performed like the ones used in ancient Egypt with 365.25 days in a year, as per a report in newscientist.com. Each of the stones present in the large sarsen circle denotes a day of the month. Sharing details about it, Tim Darvill of United Kingdom’s Bournemouth University who did the study said: “It’s a perpetual calendar that recalibrates every winter solstice sunset.” The details of the research were published in the academic journal Antiquity. Also read:  Instead of turning them into chocolate, Mayan people used cacao seeds as money The structure would have enabled the people of ancient times living in the area of what is today Wiltshire, UK, to keep co

Russia’s central bank has decided to allow its domestic payment system to go international as many Russian banks have been disconnected from the SWIFT global payment mechanism following sanctions from the US and European Union. Even as Russia had the second largest number of SWIFT users after the US, the Financial Message Transfer System of the Bank of Russia (SPFS) has been gaining acceptance with already about 399 users. Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina said that this payment system “will continue to operate smoothly.” The payment system, which until now has been catering only to the domestic users, was developed by the Central Bank of Russia since 2014 after the US government threatened to disconnect Moscow from the SWIFT system. Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in a Quad Leaders' virtual meeting later today along with the US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Scott Morrison, and Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida. The meeting takes place against the backdrop of ongoing crisis in Ukraine with India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stating that the four leaders will exchange views and assessments about "important developments in the Indo-Pacific". This will be the first meeting of the Quad grouping since the start of Russia-Ukraine crisis . Last month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had participated in the 4th Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting in Melbourne, along with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the foreign ministers of Japan and Australia. "The Leaders will have an opportunity to continue their dialogue after the September 2021 Summit in Washington DC. They will exchange views and assessments about important developments in the Indo-Pacific,&qu

Japan Airlines Co Ltd (JAL) and ANA Holdings Inc said they would cancel all flights to and from Europe on Thursday due to safety concerns that have arisen in the wake of Russia's military operation in Ukraine. The two Japanese commercial airlines operate about 60 flights per week through Russian airspace between Tokyo and London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Helsinki, according to a spokesperson for flight tracking website FlightRadar24. The airlines, which normally use Russian airspace for their Europe flights, join a growing number of carriers that have cancelled or rerouted flights between Europe and north Asia due to the Ukraine crisis . "We are continuously monitoring the situation, but given the present situation in Ukraine and the different risks, we have decided to cancel flights," Reuters cited a JAL spokesperson as saying. ANA Cargo's website said the suspension of flights was due to the "high possibility of its operations not being able to overfly Russia due

  Responding to reports of Indian students being held hostage in Ukraine, India on Thursday denied any such "hostage situation", saying it continues to coordinate with several countries in the region to evacuate its citizens at the earliest from the conflict zone. "Our embassy in Ukraine is in continuous touch with Indian nationals in Ukraine. We note that with the cooperation of the Ukrainian authorities, many students have left Kharkiv yesterday. We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student," Arindam Bagchi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson said today. "We have requested support of the Ukrainian authorities in arranging special trains for taking out students from Kharkiv and neighbouring areas to the western part of the country," he added. The Russian defence ministry had said on Wednesday that it has received information about the Ukrainian authorities forcibly keeping a large group of Indian student

While the world is focused on dealing with the crisis in Ukraine, China is trying its best to gain control over the vast minerals of Afghanistan. Beijing has had its eye on the country’s vast mineral resources ever since the Taliban took over last year and Chinese companies are discussing mining rights and research access with the Kabul regime. “Chinese mining companies have been scouting opportunities to access Afghanistan’s  lithium & copper deposits. Chinese mining industry representatives met with Taliban officials to discuss mining rights and research access to such minerals,” says Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in its latest report. According to the report, Afghanistan’s s lithium deposits could be among the largest in the world, rivaling those of Bolivia. Although Afghanistan has vast mineral resources, most projects in extractive activities require a 5 to 10 years lead time, and will require significant improvements in security and a more i

India on Wednesday continued to maintain its neutral stand as it abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly resolution that strongly deplored Russia's aggression against Ukraine. India’s abstention was in accordance with what the government has explained as the country’s consistent position that allows it to reach out to both sides to find a solution to the conflict through diplomacy and dialogue.  The 193-member General Assembly Wednesday voted to reaffirm its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and "deplores in the strongest terms" Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The resolution was adopted with 141 votes in favour, five Member States voting against and 35 abstentions. Read More

  As the voting for the penultimate round of the seven-phase polling in Uttar Pradesh gets underway, Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath contesting from Gorakhpur Urban seat makes his debut in the assembly elections. Yogi Adityanath who has contested Lok Sabha polls from Gorakhpur five times between 1994 to 2014 was elected to the UP Legislative Council after he took over as the Chief Minister of the state in 2017. Even as Yogi Adityanath's victory is being viewed as a foregone conclusion, all eyes are on the performance of the Bahujan Samaj Party in the sixth phase. The majority of the 57 seats going to polls today are dominated by the backwards caste besides Dalits and Muslims. BSP is expected to put up a strong fight in almost all the 10 districts which include Siddharthnagar, Kushinagar, Balrampur, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Ambedkar Nagar, Deoria, Ballia and Gorakhpur. Of the 19 seats, BSP won in the 2017 assembly elections, five were from this belt. The saffron spin d

  Even with Global Position System, elaborate maps and precise calculation of distance and speed, many are still unable to locate their destination or reach on the appointed time. Yet, as per a sciencedaily.com report, this is not the case with pregnant northern female elephant seals or Mirounga angustirostris. Every year, between December and March, these creatures breed on the beaches located on the west coast of Canada, Mexico and the US. On becoming pregnant, the females leave these breeding beaches and migrate. They go on a journey of about 240 days over 10,000 kilometres across the Eastern North Pacific Ocean in search of food, before returning to the breeding beaches and giving birth within five days of arriving. Intriguing as it may sound, now a study that has been published in the journal Current Biology stated that this spectacular ability to navigate without any aid is due to the creature’s internal map sense, which plays the vital role of a built-in GPS. Also read:  Single