Free Republic

Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations. Haley's parents hail from rural Punjab, in northwestern India. They moved to Amritsar - home to the Golden Temple that is the most holy place of the Sikh religion - before emigrating to North America in the early 1960s. Haley, 44, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina - she was called "Nikki" as a child and took the family name...

NEW DELHI: In a breathtaking spectacle, Goddess Kali was projected on the Empire State Building in New York. Artist Andrew Jones designed the portrait of the goddess to make the point that Mother Nature now more than ever needs a fierce avatar to fight the dangers of pollution and extinction, Firstpost.com reported. Earlier images of endangered species, including Cecil the lion, were also projected on the iconic building...

NEW DELHI: In a breathtaking spectacle, Goddess Kali was projected on the Empire State Building in New York. Artist Andrew Jones designed the portrait of the goddess to make the point that Mother Nature now more than ever needs a fierce avatar to fight the dangers of pollution and extinction, Firstpost.com reported...

Jammu, April 11: A jobless devotee was admitted to hospital after he cut off his tongue and offered it to Goddess Kali, police said on Wednesday. Doctors stitched the wound but said the man, identified as Suresh Kumar, 24, may not be able to speak again. The incident took place on Tuesday evening when Kumar visited a temple dedicated to Hindu goddess Kali on the outskirts of Jammu, the winter capital of Indian Kashmir. Inside the temple, he cut his tongue off with a knife and gave it to the priest to offer it to the deity. He was immediately...

Dhaka hawks want ancient Dhakeswari temple shifted Pramod K Singh | New Delhi In a bid to appease fundamentalist Muslims in the run-up to the 2007 general election in Bangladesh, certain sections of the Begum Khaleda Zia Government are mounting pressure to shift the historic Dhakeswari Kali temple located in the heart of Dhaka to a more nondescript smaller plot. Assault on faith: Khaleda Govt under Jamat pressure Ironically, Dhaka takes its name from this 12th century temple, the oldest surviving Kali shrine. The temple complex is based at Romona Park from where Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman gave his famous...

     July 2 (Bloomberg) -- California is the scariest place in theU.S. municipal bond market.     The state is looking at a $38 billion budget shortfall -- agap bigger than the budgets of all other states except New York --for 2003-2004. The state's lawmakers are deadlocked over what todo about it.     This is the same state that only two years ago surpassedFrance as the world's fifth-largest economy, at $1.33 trillion,and gave Britain (at $1.4 trillion) a run for its money. Now someCalifornians are talking about bankruptcy.     States can't declare bankruptcy. James Spiotto of the lawfirm Chapman & Cutler in Chicago, the...

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have warned. The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy. Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections . Dame Helena Shovelton: The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession would lead to a caution, rather than arrest. The British Lung Foundation is...