It reiterated that pilgrims require a Haj visa and it can be obtained through recognised official channels
Did you know Richard Branson, the British billionaire, who will make his highly anticipated debut spaceflight on Sunday (July 11), traces his lineage to India?
According to the Indian news portal, hindustantimes.com, Branson had revealed two years ago at a press conference in Mumbai, which he was visiting for the launch of his airline Virgin Atlantic’s flight to London, that some of his ancestors had been from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
"I knew that I had past generations living in India, but haven't realised how strong our connections were," Branson had told reporters in December 2019.
He said a few of his ancestors were found to be of Indian descent after conducting a DNA test. Branson traced a part of his ancestry to Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district, dating as far back as 1793.
One of Branson's great grandfathers was married to an Indian named Aria, a 'saliva test' had revealed. "So, it turned out that from 1793, we had four generations living here in Cuddalore and one of my great, great, great grandmothers was an Indian named Aria who was married to one of my great, great, great grandfathers," Branson had said.
"Every time I meet an Indian, I say we might be relatives," he had added.
In a few hours, Branson will be decked aboard his company Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane, the VSS Unity, along with five others to write a new chapter in space history.
Indian-origin aeronautical engineer Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs and research operations at Virgin Galactic, will operate the experiment on the “Unity 22” flight on behalf of co-investigators from the University of Florida.
If Branson succeeds, he will be one up on Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who, too, have shown keen interest in space tourism.
It reiterated that pilgrims require a Haj visa and it can be obtained through recognised official channels
The 18-year-old was taken to hospital in a serious condition
The brothers, who say they are innocent, are accused of having formed an organised criminal network in early 2021 in Romania, as well as in the US and Britain
The left-handed batter scored 3369 runs in 136 one-day internationals and 2893 in 140 Twenty20 internationals — both Pakistan records
Food supplies were distributed to 80 households
On January 31, a heart was airlifted from Delhi to Chennai, paving the way for Ayesha Rashid's life-saving surgery
The online retailer, which is headquartered in Singapore, has said it has around 108 million monthly active users in the 27-nation EU
The baby girl named Rouh, meaning Soul, suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, a doctor at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah said