Film 'Songs of Paradise' Delightfully Portrays Kashmir’s Nightingale Raj Begum

By Sanjay Kaul 

BOSTON: Kashmir, often celebrated for its breathtaking landscapes, has an equally rich but sometimes overlooked legacy of music and art. At the heart of this tradition stands Raj Begum, fondly remembered as the "Nightingale" or "Melody Queen" of Kashmir. The 2025 film "Songs of Paradise", released on an OTT platform, follows the journey of the Kashmiri woman who dreams of becoming a singer, inspired by the songs of Raj Begum....more

Dharmendra Pradhan, Lindy Cameron Discuss Deepening India-UK Academic Collaboration

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan met the British High Commissioner to India, Ms Lindy Cameron, and had engaging discussion on deepening academic collaboration between the two countries. The High Commissioner shared updates on the upcoming University of Southampton campus in Gurugram, set to open in July 2025. The two also had engaging discussions on deepening academic collaboration encouraging more UK students to Study in India as well as top UK universities to establish campuses in India, and strengthening the India-UK education partnership....more

New UK-India Cultural Agreement To Boost Creative Industries

NEW DELHI: The UK and India have signed a Programme of Cultural Cooperation, enhancing cultural exchange through the arts, heritage and creative industries, helping drive growth and opportunity. India's Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and the UK’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy signed on Friday the India–UK Programme of Cultural Cooperation....more

Scientists Predict 90% Chance Of Black Hole Explosion By 2035 That Could Reveal Universe's Secrets

BOSTON, Sept 14: Scientists have claimed that humanity has a 90 per cent chance of observing an exploding black hole within the next decade. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, believe that such an explosion could revolutionise and rewrite the history of the universe, as unknown particles that make up the universe, such as dark matter, could be studied.

The new study, published in Physical Review Letters, states that the predicted explosion could be strong evidence of a theorised but never observed kind of black hole, called a "primordial black hole" (PBH). Stephen Hawking proposed the existence of PBH in 1970, which may have formed only seconds after the Big Bang.

If PBHs do exist, scientists predict that they might have been the seeds for the supermassive black holes that lurk in the middle of most galaxies. Others may have finally reached the end of their lifespans, with researchers now hopeful of witnessing this 'last-dance' explosion.

"We're not claiming that it's absolutely going to happen this decade, but there could be a 90% chance that it does. Since we already have the technology to observe these explosions, we should be ready," said Michael Baker, co-author and an assistant professor of physics at UMass Amherst.

To observe this explosion, the researchers have proposed a "dark-charge" toy model. The team then reconsidered long-held assumptions about the electrical charge of black holes. Standard black holes have no charge, and it was assumed that PBHs are likewise electrically neutral.

"We make a different assumption. We show that if a primordial black hole is formed with a small dark electric charge, then the toy model predicts that it should be temporarily stabilised before finally exploding," said Mr Baker, which results in a PBH explosion occurring on average once every 10 years rather than once every 100,000 years.

The next step for the researchers is to prepare to make such a detection and take advantage of what they predict is a 90 per cent chance of a PBH exploding.