The retired Indian general whose throat was slashed in an attack in London has been the target of eight assassination attempts by Sikh militants in revenge for his leadership of the 1984 assault on the Golden Temple of Amritsar, he told The Independent in an interview.

Mysterious 'aircraft' were sighted 329 times hovering over a lake on the border between the two countries

India’s telegram service has been withering for decades, to the extent that yesterday the last private messages were sent more than 160 years after the first. Yet for 24 hours it was like the good old days as hundreds of people visited the country’s 75 offices to send their final missives to friends and family, and staff holidays were cancelled to meet the demand.

Protests have been held in various places across the state and on Thursday campaigners gathered close to the Kolkata home of the state’s chief minister

Police in the north of India have arrested three men following the rape of an American female tourist - the latest in a series of sexual assaults on foreign women.

Bowler of the day

Although the temperatures are appetite-suppressing, Kolkata's food scene is legendary

Rye, one of the south coast's historic Cinque Port towns, has a long and colourful history of smuggling. And this week's restaurant is very much in the local tradition. Nothing about The Ambrette is quite what it seems. Chameleon-like, it hides behind splendid Georgian frontage on one of south-east England's prettiest historic high streets, looking as quaint and genteel as any of the area's myriad tea-shoppes. The name bespeaks generic Frenchified refinement.

An engrossing journey through Calcutta delves beneath its poverty and drabness

England take on Wales this weekend in a title decider

England 167 & 234-1 New Zealand 460-9 decl.

1. The British Humanist Association.

'The scenery in the Andes was stunning'

The England bowler took one wicket on the second day against a New Zealand XI