Rulers everywhere tend to treat trenchant criticism as attempts to excite disaffection and disloyalty. That is perhaps the only reason that Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, enacted under colonial rule, remains on the statute book. There have been repeated instances of its misuse. Regimes at the Centre and …

Emerging market economies continue to be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons as their currencies resume their prolonged slide against the U.S. dollar. The Indian rupee weakened past the 71 mark for the first time ever on Friday, registering a loss of about 10% of its value against the …

In what can only be considered a prophetic coincidence, the online version of the Port Blair-based newspaper Andaman Chronicle , carried, on August 2, two very interesting and instructive news reports related to the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands. A big meet One of the reports was about a development …

Once renowned as an export powerhouse, Kanpur’s tanneries are perceived to be the primary source of industrial pollution in the Ganga. Jacob Koshy reports on the embattled industry’s struggle to stay afloat in the face of rising compliance costs and an increasingly hostile business environment A year into her marriage, …

The first round of the India-U.S. 2+2 talks at the level of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and their counterparts Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis is scheduled for September 6 in Delhi. It is a significant development but one that …

In October 2017, when four kangaroos arrived at the Alipore Zoological Gardens from the Kanazawa Zoo of Japan, officials at the Alipore facility had not thought that the marsupials would start breeding in less than a year. On Friday, a baby kangaroo emerged from its mother’s pouch. This appearance prompted …

A robot submarine able to hunt and kill the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish devastating the Great Barrier Reef was unveiled by Australian researchers on Friday. Scientists at Queensland University of Technology said the robot, named the RangerBot and developed with a grant from Google, would serve as a “robo reef protector” …

China will restrict the number of video games and take steps to curb playing time by minors to address growing rates of childhood visual impairment as the government steps up its crackdown on the world’s biggest online gaming market. A statement posted on the Education Ministry website late on Thursday …

Two Indians, Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk, on Friday received the Ramon Magsaysay award, popularly known as Asia’s Nobel Prize. Cambodian activist Youk Chhang, Filipino Howard Dee, Vietnam’s Vo Thi Hoang Yen and East Timor’s Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz were also honoured for their work at a ceremony in …

In a significant move, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has decided to migrate its cloud servers to India to store data locally. The migration would cover all Indian user data across Xiaomi’s e-commerce platform — (www.mi.com/in/), Mi Community (in.c.mi.com), Mi Cloud, MIUI (Xiaomi Market, feed, Mi Video, advertising, Mi Messaging, push …

Longer duration motor third party insurance cover is all set to become mandatory for new cars and two-wheelers as scheduled from September 1, with the Supreme Court on Friday refusing to extend the deadline. A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and S. Abdul Nazeer dismissed an application filed by …

Idea Cellular has merged Vodafone India with itself to create the country’s largest telco with a subscriber base of 408 million, overtaking Bharti Airtel. The merged entity, Vodafone Idea Ltd., will have Kumar Mangalam Birla as the chairman. However, both Vodafone and Idea that have a strong consumer base across …

The U.S. government has decided to stop all funding it gives to a UN agency that provides assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees, ending a decades-long policy of supporting it, according to a former senior U.S. aid official. The move was pushed hardest by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law …

Canada’s Foreign Minister said on Friday that an agreement had yet to be reached with the U.S. on salvaging the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “We are not there yet,” Chrystia Freeland told reporters during a break in a fourth and final day of negotiations with U.S. Trade Representative …

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, however, pointed out in a tweet, “Happy that the rate of growth has quickened, but…Q1 growth rate is based on the lowest base (5.6) in the last 8 quarters.” “Going forward, the base effect will not be so favourable. And when we reach Q3 and …

Milita Odisha Nisha Nibaran Abhijan (MONNA), an organisation of social activists pressing for complete prohibition in the State, will start a signature campaign in all the Assembly constituencies. The month-long campaign will start on September 2 from the Hinjli Assembly segment in Ganjam district, which is represented by Odisha Chief …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of bilateral meetings, including with his Thai counterpart, Prayut Chan-o-cha and Myanmar President Win Myint, on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit here on Friday. “Mr. Prayut Chan-o-cha and I had a great meeting. Our talks focussed on boosting cooperation between India and …

The first face-to-face engagement between the new Pakistani government and India could come later this month when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi attend the SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) Council of Ministers’ meeting in New York, officials in Delhi and Islamabad …

The Supreme Court on Friday bowed to the Centre’s wish to postpone hearing on the legality of Article 35A, giving special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, till the panchayat elections in the State are over in order to avoid law and order problems. Appearing before a Bench …

The regional grouping’s Kathmandu Declaration focusses on backing of terror by state and non-state actors, apart from connectivity among the member nations Describing terrorism as a “great threat” to international peace and security, India and six other BIMSTEC nations on Friday called for identifying and holding accountable states and non-state …