Washington: On the job Sikh police officers here in the US capital have been allowed to maintain their articles of faith.

This means that Sikh police officers in the American capital will be allowed to wear turbans, beards and other religious items while on the job.

The new uniform policy announced by Washington DC police Chief Cathy Lanier on Wednesday makes it the first major metropolitan police department in the US to do so.

Developed with the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF), the new police policy states that Sikh officers can wear turbans that are the...

Islamabad: Two Pakistani Air Force (PAF) trainer planes collided in the country’s northwest on Thursday killing four pilots.

As per the reports, the accident took place at about 10.20 a.m. when two trainer planes slammed into one another while on a routine training flight over the Rashakai area of Nowshera, a district some 100 km northwest of Pakistan's capital of Islamabad.

According to...

Rome: Italian authorities seized properties owned by the family of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the country on Wednesday.

Among assets seized is a 20-million euro ($25 million) hotel complex and land. The complex is on the picturesque southern island of Pantelleria.

Before his death, Gaddafi was rumoured to be planning to build a holiday village on Pantelleria, located halfway...

New York: Eight-Indian Americans received this year's Ellis Island Medal of Honour which is presented to over 100 immigrants for their community service.

The eight, Peter Bheddah, Ravishankar Bhooplapur, Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, Dr. Leena N Doshi, Dr. Surendra V Jain, Hasu P Shah, Rajendra Singh and Dr. John P Thomas were presented the medal at a ceremony on the island in New York.

Instituted in...

Juba: Newly formed country South Sudan intends to acquire anti-aircraft missiles to defend itself from the North.

The chief of general staff of South Sudan's military has pledged that within a few months the country will acquire the missiles to fend off attacks by neighbouring Sudan.

When the South Sudanese military receives the missiles, it will "not have an issue with air defence", the...

Washington: A top US military commander has warned of the dangers posed by "democratisation" of technology in future warfare by citing the example of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

"Now, in many ways, technology has been democratised," Marine Corps Lt. Gen. George J Flynn said at the sixth annual 2012 Joint Warfighting Conference at Virginia Beach on Tuesday.

Referring to the greater...

Minsk: A batch of 18 Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighter aircrafts will be put up for sale by Russia. The fighter jets are those which were rejected and returned by India back in 2003 on concerns about their engines.

"The 18 Su-30s previously used by India and then returned, are in an aviation repair plant in Belarus and are on sale to potential buyers," said Alexander Fomin, deputy director of...

Islamabad: Virologist Mohammed Khalil Chisty reached Pakistan on a special aircraft sent by President Asif Ali Zardari. He said that it felt great to be back from a point of virtually no return.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday night received 80 year old Chisty, permitted by the Indian Supreme Court on May 10 to visit Pakistan during the pendency of his appeal against his conviction...

Moscow: Pilots who violate work rules and unruly passengers could be blacklisted in Russia under a bill now in parliament, an MP Andrei Andreev, chairman of the Duma Air Transport Committee informed on Tuesday.

The bill was introduced by the Liberal Democratic Party in April. Vitaly Saveliev, the chief executive officer of Russian flag carrier Aeroflot, said that blacklists for pilots fired...

Rome: A 40 year old Italian woman ended her life by jumping from the Leaning Tower of Pisa in front of horrified tourists.

The tower was temporarily closed after the woman jumped from the fourth-level of the 1,000 year old monument on Monday evening.

The reason for the Rome native's suicide was not known. The tower has become a popular place to end one's life, with three suicide cases...