Month: April 2025

[ad_1] Mussoorie: Less than 24 hours after the cremation of acclaimed author and longtime Mussoorie resident Bill Aitken, a dispute broke out on Friday morning over his hillside cottage, Oakless, in the Bala Hissar area.Arvind Singh Chauhan, the designated caretaker of the property and Aitken's neighbour, said that the house originally belonged to Prithwi Bir Kaur, the late Maharani of the erstwhile princely state of Jind, who had given its rights to a trust. Aitken, who was Kaur's companion, had been allowed to live in a portion of the house during his lifetime."Two individuals, Pradeep Singh Guman and Geetanjali — who claimed to have possession of the house — and five unidentified men forcibly entered the part of the house where Aitken stayed. They locked it from inside and did not allow me or my family to enter. They also […]

[ad_1] As trade deficit mounts, China says ready to import more premium goods from India; Envoy seeks fair environment for Chinese firms Amid the escalating US-China trade tensions, Beijing has reached out to India saying China is ready to welcome more premium Indian goods and stands ready to help Indian businesses tap into the Chinese market demands to address India’s trade deficit that, according to reports this week, widened to a record $ 99.2 billion. In an exclusive interview to TOI, his first to the Indian media since he assumed charge, Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong, however, also expressed hope that India will provide a transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies.Echoing PM Narendra Modi’s recent remark that competition should not be allowed to tun into conflict, Xu said dialogue is important for a stable and cooperative relationship and added […]

[ad_1] Nehal Wadhera played a handy knock for Punjab Kings against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2025. (AP) In what was an evening for the bowlers, it was a batter whose resolute display made the difference in the end at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. All of Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harpreet Brar took two wickets for Punjab Kings. In the second essay, Josh Hazlewood picked three while Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets.But it was Nehal Wadhera's unbeaten 33 from 19 balls that made the difference as PBKS beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru and inflicted the third home defeat on the Rajat Patidar-led side.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!There were valuable runs in the first innings too. Tim David, the Player of the Match, struck an unbeaten fifty, his first in the IPL, as RCB […]

[ad_1] JAMMU: With the operation to track down terrorists who escaped after an encounter in Lasana in Poonch district of J&K entering the fifth day on Friday, Bhim Sen Tuti, IGP of Jammu zone, visited the district to assess operational readiness of troops.“Troops of counterinsurgency force Romeo, SOG of the police, and CRPF are conducting search operations supported by sniffer dogs and aerial surveillance,” Tuti said.A brief exchange of fire took place between terrorists and security forces in Lasana village on Monday. “Terrorism is a stark reality here. It has resurfaced over the last one-and-a-half to two years. We have enhanced our capacity,” he told reporters, adding that terrorists aim to create fear through targeted killings and destabilize peace and tranquillity in the region. He also visited forward areas along the Sangiote and Bhata Dhurian axis, engaging with jawans and […]

[ad_1] SRINAGAR: A day after a high-powered committee of Union home ministry (MHA) invited Ladakhi political parties for a meeting in New Delhi on May 20, the parties said on Friday that they are optimistic and hopeful about the outcome of the meeting, but held out the prospect of an agitation if the meeting does not yield the desired results.“We are hopeful that all issues related to recruitment, reservations, and domicile will be resolved in the forthcoming meeting,” Asgar Ali Karbalai and Chering Dorjey Lakrook, representatives of the Kargil Democratic Alliance and Leh Apex Body, told reporters at Leh.They said they expect that talks on main issues — statehood and sixth schedule status for Ladakh — would be discussed in the forthcoming meeting.The meeting will be chaired by Union minister of state for home, Nityanand Rai. Representatives of Leh Apex […]

[ad_1] Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s chief cleric and chairman of Hurriyat Conference (Image Credit: X/@MirwaizKashmir) SRINAGAR: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s chief cleric and chairman of Hurriyat Conference, was placed under house arrest and not allowed to offer Friday prayers at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid.“Every Friday, I am put under arbitrary house arrest,” Mirwaiz said. J&K police had not issued any statement on the arrest, although Mirwaiz has been put in such confinement ahead of Friday prayers on several occasions.Mirwaiz alleged that the aim was to put pressure on him not to speak at the prayers. “The ban (on sermons) aims to weaken the centrality of Muslim institutions of the Valley, Jamia Masjid, office of Mirwaiz, and cause collective grief to Muslims and all those who oppose this authoritarian and sectarian outlook,” Mirwaiz added.Since his release in Sept 2023 after prolonged house […]

[ad_1] JAMMU: The Army on Friday ordered an inquiry after an IGNOU professor accused troops of assaulting him without any provocation during a checking of vehicles in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir late Thursday night.Officials said the professor, Liaqat Ali, allegedly suffered head injuries in the assault that took place near the border village of Laam in Nowshera. A purported video showing a bleeding Ali had surfaced online.An Army statement suggested the victim had tried to snatch the weapon of troops, and might have sustained injuries during the scuffle. “An incident has come to light wherein certain individuals were allegedly manhandled by Army personnel in Rajouri district. The Army had input on the likely movement of terrorists in a vehicle in this sensitive area. Accordingly, search operations were being conducted. Preliminary information suggests that on being stopped, the individual […]

[ad_1] Prof MGK Menon (2nd from left), Prof UR Rao (4th from left), K Kasturirangan (extreme right) and a few others from team Aryabhata Jawahar, Maitri. Remember these two names. We’ll orbit back to them soon. For now, let’s travel back to half a century ago:A chill breeze rustled through the vast Russian steppe as countdown “10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0” began post noon at Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome, some 3,200km from New Delhi, where a young team of Indian scientists waited anxiously.They heard ‘Payyakali’ — a Russian expression first uttered by Yuri Gagarin at the time of his historic manned flight, meaning ‘let us go’ — and saw their 358kg dream soaring aboard Kosmos-3M rocket, at 1:28:55pm, Indian time.It was Saturday, April 19, 1975. Everything had been meticulously prepared for this moment, with Indian scientists working tirelessly over the course of 40 days in […]