New Delhi, May 24: India can count on me 100 per cent, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday night, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “great” friend during an event celebrating the 250th anniversary of American independence.

The event at the Bharat Mandapam here was graced by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Ambassador Sergio Gor.

The highlight of the event was a performance by A R Rahman.

“I just want to say hello to everybody. I love the Prime Minister, (Narendra) Modi is great, he is my friend and I just want to say a very good evening to everybody,” Trump said in a phone conversation with Gor.

“I am a big, big fan of Prime Minister Modi,” he said.

The US ambassador held his phone to a microphone for the audience to hear Trump’s remarks.

“We’ve never been closer to India and India can count on me 100 per cent and our country,” the US president said. “If they ever need help, they know where to call — they call right here.”

Trump also claimed that the US economy was doing well.

“We’re doing well, we’re setting records. We’ve a record economy, a record stock market,” he said.

The highlight of the evening was Rahman’s performance as he sang hits such as “Dil Se”, “Maa Tujhe Salaam” and “Tere Bina”.

In his remarks, Trump also described Rubio as the “greatest secretary of state in the history of the US” and concluded by saying: “Say hello to Prime Minister Modi and let him know I’m a big fan.”

In his brief address, Rubio described India as a key partner of the US.

Jaishankar said the US declaration of independence articulated ideas that shaped the modern world such as individual liberty, rule of law, free speech and accountable governance, and their resonance in India was natural given the country’s history as a pluralistic society with a consultative ethos.

The experiences of the US independence movement were taken into account by the makers of India’s Constitution and the affinities between the two sides have grown with deeper economic and technology ties, Jaishankar said.

The shared traits of being political democracies, market economies and open societies have been strengthened by a convergence of national interests and this has enabled the two sides to overcome the “hesitations of history”, the external affairs minister said.

The Indian diaspora in the US has helped build political understanding between the two countries, he noted.

Jaishankar argues that the world is going through an era of transition and it makes a good case for the India-US relationship to grow stronger.

“Both nations gave a common interest in de-risking the global economy and providing the world with more choices,” he said.

There was also a celebration of Rubio’s birthday and the evening was capped by a performance by the American band Village People.

New Delhi, May 24: Eleven Test Pilots and Six Flight Test Engineers of the 48th Flight Test Course graduated from the Air Force Test Pilots School (AFTPS) in Bengaluru post completion of a rigorous 48 weeks multi-discipline training curriculum.

The officials stated that this year, the graduating course, comprised of a cohort of 17 officers including 14 officers from Indian Air Force, one officer from Indian Army and two officers from Indian Navy. They said the graduates will join the Aviation Wing of the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, which is one of the premier units of the Indian Air Force.

Air Chief Marshal AP Singh PVSM AVSM, Chief of the Air Staff and a distinguished alumnus of the 17th Flight Test Course, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. He presented certificates to all graduating officers and awarded trophies to the meritorious performers. This year, the prestigious “Suranjan Das Trophy” for the best all-round student Test Pilot was awarded to Sqn Ldr KK Singh, VM, while the “Chief of the Air Staff Trophy” for the best student Test Pilot in flight evaluation was awarded to Sqn Ldr Aditya Jamdagni. The “Maharaja Hanumanth Singh Sword” for the best all round student Flight Test Engineer was awarded to Wg Cdr Abhinav Kumar. Wg Cdr Pranav Sharma was awarded the “Dunlop Trophy” for best student Flight Test Engineer in flight evaluation and the” Kapil Bhargava Trophy” for the best student in ground subjects was awarded to Sqn Ldr Paras Sharma.

In his address, the Chief Guest exhorted the graduating officers to continue toiling hard with focus, and reminded them of the crucial role that they would go on to play towards capability building and modernisation of the Indian Armed Forces. Emphasising ‘Atmanirbharta’ as a strategic necessity for developing resilient indigenous defence capabilities, the CAS highlighted the onerous responsibility that the test crew needs to shoulder to proliferate the nation’s indigenisation drive and strengthen the aerospace ecosystem. He emphasized the need to optimize design to delivery’ time cycles while upholding highest standards of safety and quality of equipment. He further stressed the importance of professional competence to ensure that aircraft and systems meet the operational requirements of the services, while urging the officers to uphold the virtues of honesty, integrity, precision and excellence.

New Delhi, May 24: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the Red Fort area car blast case in Delhi has found that a chargesheeted accused, linked to an offshoot of global terrorist outfit Al-Qaida, allegedly misused an artificial intelligence (AI) platform for “terror engineering”, official sources said on Sunday.

They said the accused persons had also made rocket Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and tested them in the Qazigund forest in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

The glaring findings are part of a voluminous 7,500-page chargesheet filed by the NIA on May 14 in connection with the high-intensity vehicle-borne IED blast that rocked the national capital on November 10 last year.

The chargesheet, submitted before a special NIA court here, details what officials described as a meticulous, “almost laboratory-grade” approach adopted by the accused pin the fabrication and use IEDs.

One of the charge-sheeted accused emerged as the “in-house engineer” of the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) interim terror module, linked to Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

AQIS and all its offshoots have been notified as terrorist organisations by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The accused, Jasir Bilal Wani, had stayed at the Al Falah University campus in Faridabad, Haryana, on two to three occasions during 2024-25 to provide “technical support” for the conspiracy, the chargesheet said.

The University’s role came under the scrutiny of law enforcement agencies after the probe revealed that three doctors employed there were allegedly involved in the blast.

Jasir was introduced to Dr Umer un Nabi, another key accused and the driver of the explosive-laden car, by Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather. The explosion had resulted in the death of 11 people and left several others injured, according to the chargesheet.

The NIA findings state that Adeel was instrumental in supplying IED ingredients, including powdered sugar and potassium nitrate in the form of NPK fertiliser, to Jasir, while Dr Umer is said to have conducted research on improvised rocket IEDs and provided guidance.

The chargesheet brings on records that Jasir had turned to YouTube and ChatGPT, searching for “how to make a rocket and in what proportion should the mixture be”, highlighting the alleged misuse of digital and AI platforms for terror engineering.

Jasir allegedly prepared rocket IEDs and tested them in the Qazigund forest along with Dr Umer, Dr Muzammil Shakeel, and other co-accused, the chargesheet mentions.

Remnants of the devices were recovered from deep inside the forest by NIA teams during extensive field investigations based on disclosures made by Jasir.

According to the chargesheet, Dr Umer, seeing the potential in Jasir, also provided him two drones (UAVs) with instructions to improve their flying range and payload capacity, the NIA probe reveals.

He had planned to weaponise the drones by fitting them with explosives to carry out attacks on security installations in Kashmir and other parts of the country, it said.

In another instance, the group tested a cylinder-based IED in the Youshmurg forest near Mattan in Anantnag, involving Dr Umer, Jasir, Dr Muzammil, and Dr Adeel, the chargesheet states.

The remnants of these tests were later seized by NIA teams from the locations at the instance of Dr Adeel.

In a controlled simulation conducted by the NIA as part of an investigation, Jasir demonstrated his ability to fabricate functional rocket IEDs using commercially available materials before a bomb detection and disposal squad expert team, sources said.

The most chilling forensic finding relates to the trigger mechanism of the vehicle-borne IED used by Dr Umer, they said.

Between December 2023 and January 2024, Jasir allegedly placed orders through his Flipkart account for various components used in trigger mechanisms, including a sensor-inductive proximity switch, a heat gun, a piezo plate, a remote control relay-switch RF (radio frequency) transmitter and receiver kit, a flameless rechargeable pocket lighter, a soldering kit, and an LED electronic kit, according to the NIA chargesheet.

The procurement was funded by Dr Umer, with Jasir receiving the items through cash-on-delivery orders, it said.

These components were later assembled and handed over by Jasir to Dr Umer for use in making IEDs.

Eventually, Dr Umer used the trigger mechanism to detonate the VB-IED, leading to the blast near the Red Fort area, the chargehseet said.

The NIA found that the accused had also fabricated and tested various types of IEDs. The explosive used in the blast was Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), which was clandestinely manufactured after procuring constituent ingredients and conducting experiments to perfect the explosive mixture.

Earlier, the Srinagar police had busted the blast-linked “doctor” or “white-collar” module involving medical professionals.

A wider “jihadi conspiracy” was later exposed through a detailed scientific and forensic investigation as the accused, some of whom were radicalised medical professionals, were found to be inspired by AQIS/AGuH ideology to carry out the deadly attack, the NIA chargesheet said.