Brandishing a bolt-action rifle, civil servant Sanjeet Kumar is one of 5,000 Kashmir villagers who have joined all-Hindu militia units armed and trained by Indian forces to fight off rebel attacks.

India has more than half a million soldiers permanently stationed in the parts of Muslim-majority Kashmir it controls, as the government presses a bid to crush a decades-long insurgency.

Authorities announced the new militias last year, and a deadly rebel assault in Kumar's frontier village in January prompted him to sign up.

Only one community

Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since both countries achieved independence 75 years ago. Both sides claim the territory in full.

India has fought against rebel groups demanding the territory's independence, or a merger with Pakistan, in an insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The new militia units, known as Village Defence Guards, were unveiled last year in the wake of a string of murders targeting police officers and Hindu residents of Kashmir.

The Pennslyvania Senate, USA, has unanimously passed a bill recognising Diwali as an official holiday.

Senator Greg Rothman who was instrumental in passing this bill said the decision upholds diversity.

The bill was jointly introduced by Senator Rothman and Senator Saval.

Senator Rothman represents Republican Party while Senator Saval is a member of the Democratic Party and the two had been working on the legislation for a few months.

Nearly 200,000 South Asian residents live in Pennsylvania and many of them participate in Diwali. Diwali falls on different dates every year and this year it will be observed on November 12.

However, the legislation does not mandate employers to compulsorily provide paid leave to their employees on Diwali. Senate Bill 402 does not require school or government closings, according to the Pennsylvania Senate Republicans' website.

Longtime US talk show host Jerry Springer, whose program became a symbol of low-brow television with its on-air fights, swearing, and infidelity revelations, has died at the age of 79.

Springer, whose show became an international hit that ran for 27 years, died peacefully at his home in Chicago after "a brief illness".

On Apr 25 evening Panahi's wife, Tahereh Saidi, posted a photo on Instagram of herself and the filmmaker at an airport, with both appearing happy to leave the country after a 14-year ban.

The lawyer said Panahi was travelling to France to visit his daughter.

Panahi was banned from making films and leaving the Islamic republic after supporting mass protests in 2009 and making a series of films that critiqued the state of modern Iran.

That did not stop him from working clandestinely in the country, and his 2015 film "Taxi" won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

Arrested in Tehran in July last year, the director was to serve a six-year prison sentence handed down in 2010 for "propaganda against the system".

As well as scooping the Golden Bear in Berlin, Panahi won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for his film "The Circle". In 2018, he also claimed the best screenplay prize at Cannes for "Three Faces".

Panahi's latest film, "No Bears", which like much of his recent work stars the director himself, was screened at the 2022 Venice Film Festival when the filmmaker was already behind bars. It won the Special Jury Prize.

A powerful Iranian cleric, a member of the Assembly of Experts that selects the country's supreme leader, has been killed in an armed attack.

The attack is believed to be the most significant in years against a cleric in Iran.

The attack took place inside a bank in Babolsar city.

Air India has announced plans to hire more than 1,000 pilots including captains and trainers as it seeks to expand its fleet and network. The airline, which currently has more than 1,800 pilots, has placed orders for 470 aircraft with Boeing and Airbus, including for wide-body planes.

The decision to hire pilots comes at a time when the airline in facing employee unrest over its revised salary structure that came out last week. More than 1,500 pilots of Air India have written to Ratan Tata, the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons alleging that they are not being treated with ‘respect’ and ‘dignity’ by the HR department of the airline.

Private sector lender Axis Bank on  Apr 27 reported a net loss of Rs 57 crore for the March 2023 quarter on account of the acquisition of the retail consumer business of CitiIndia.

The bank earned a net profit of Rs 4,118 crore on a standalone basis in the same quarter the previous year.

During the quarter, the bank's total income increased to Rs 28,865 crore from Rs 22,000 crore a year ago, Axis Bank said in a regulatory filing.

Axis Bank on March 1 announced the acquisition of Citibank's consumer business and non-banking financial company (NBFC) consumer business.

The bank paid Rs 11,603 crore for the acquisition announced last year in March.

Axis Bank is the fourth-largest issuer of credit cards with a total base of 8.6 million cards, and the deal will add about 2.5 million credit cardholders, making it one of the top three card businesses in the country.

IT services company Wipro on Apr 27  posted a 0.4% y-o-y fall in its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2023 at Rs 3,074 crore compared to Rs 3,087 crore in the year-ago period. Its revenue from operations stood at Rs 23,190 crore, an 11% increase y-o-y, for the fourth quarter.

The company has announced Rs 12,000 crore share buyback at buyback price of Rs 445.