U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin warned on Thursday that Washington would levy more sanctions on the troubled Turkish economy if Ankara does not soon release a jailed American pastor. Mr. Mnuchin on Thursday suggested that the next spiral of tit-for-tat sanctions was coming soon. “We have put sanctions on several …

For nearly 10 years now, the flood of cash from global central banks has financed shopping malls in Istanbul, booming cities in China and 100-year bonds in Argentina. Today, many of the malls are empty, property developers in China are riddled with debt, and Argentina has just submitted to a …

Cabinet Secretary orders supply of drinking water, dry food packets to flood-hit Kerala The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the Union Cabinet Secretary had constituted a committee chaired by the chairman of the Central Water Commission and engineers-in-chiefs of Tamil Nadu and Kerala for “proper reservoir management …

Foreign exchange reserves have declined by $23 billion in the last four months, and stood at $402.7 billion as of the week ended August 3, 2018. The weak trend in the global markets along with the fall in the rupee affected investor sentiment in the equity market as well, with …

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal argued that SC/ST are a “homogeneous group and any action to regroup them based on economic or social advancement would not be apt”. Mr. Venugopal said rigorous modalities were prescribed for inclusion of communities in the list of SCs/STs. “For inclusion of communities in the list of …

The Indian Army will “abide by its commitment” to uphold the ceasefire understanding of 2003 if the Pakistan Army “initiates positive steps to control infiltration and abetment of terrorism” in J&K, Pakistan was told on Thursday. This was conveyed during a conversation between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) …

The Supreme Court on Thursday told Tamil Nadu and Kerala that “an effort has to be made to bring the water level [in the Mullaperiya dam] to 139 feet so that people downstream (of the dam) do not live in constant fear”. The authorities should notify a disaster management plan …

The kind of tension typically felt outside a maternity ward was seen at Byculla zoo on Wednesday. Anxious minutes passed as staffers waited for the baby’s arrival. And at 8.02 p.m., they saw, via CCTV, the sight they had anticipated for 40 days — the first Humboldt penguin to be …

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee stood among the tallest leaders of modern India, his successor as Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said in an interview. Dr. Singh said both he and Mr. Vajpayee carried forward each other’s policies on economic liberalisation and ties with the U.S. and Pakistan. Excerpts: …

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to take the views of political parties on the Centre’s standard operating procedure (SOP) and modalities for filing and disposal of claims/objections leading to the publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam. State NRC Co-ordinator Prateek Hajela informed a Bench …

A high level committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary met on Thursday and decided to scale up relief and rescue operations in flood-hit Kerala by involving the three defence services and other agencies. The Central government has been providing full support to Kerala and has launched massive relief and rescue …

The Madhya Pradesh police have rescued at least 45 people who were stranded in the Sultan Garh Waterfalls in Shivpuri district on Wednesday due to a sudden surge in water. A search operation is under way to locate a few missing persons who were swept away by the gushing water, …

A manifesto signed by 29 leading moderate leaders of Bengal, including Messrs. Surendranath Bannerjee, Prithwis Chandra Ray, Ananda Chandra Roy, Baikunthanath Sen, Ambica Charan Mozumdar, Sir Benode Mitter, Sir Nilratan Sircar and Mr. Provas Chandra Mitter, has just been published [in Calcutta] explaining at length the reason for the abstention …

Major E.H.S. James, Sessions Judge, Civil and Military Station, to-day [August 14, Bangalore] delivered judgment on the Marwari child murder case in which Naga, a Hindu milkman, and Yesoda Bai, an Eurasian woman, were charged, the former with alleged murder and robbery and the latter with alleged murder, abetment of …

What happened to the Turkish lira? The Turkish lira lost a fifth of its value against the U.S. dollar last week, hitting a new low on Monday before some recovery later in the week. The currency has lost over 40% of its value against the dollar this year. What caused …

Bollywood biopics are either adulatory or a whitewash, but there are some exceptions that give hope I saw Sanju on the day of its release and it left me cold. It reaffirmed my view that Bollywood rarely gets biopics right. Bollywood biopics are either adulatory or a complete whitewash because …

India’s stock markets are booming, with the BSE Sensex touching new highs. The regulation of securities markets has evolved over the last two and a half decades since the setting up of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, but it is still a work in progress. Front-running, insider trading, …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on Independence Day that Ayushman Bharat, or the National Health Protection Mission, will be launched formally on September 25 sends out the signal that the government is finally recognising the linkages between health care and economic development. Political parties have not yet made the right …

In the monsoon session, Parliament passed certain amendments to laws on corruption, which could have a far-reaching effect. Among them, the focus here is on two aspects: one requiring prior approval for initiating investigation into allegations of corruption against public servants, and the other requiring prior sanction for prosecution of …

The decision of the Ministry of Health to restrict, from September 1, the manufacture of oxytocin only to the public sector unit, Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (KAPL), has sparked fears of shortages and a disruption of supplies of this drug. Oxytocin — which is considered to be a critical …