India needs to open up its dredging market to boost trade by its major ports, which currently cannot handle very large vessels in the absence of proper draft depth, government think tank NITI Aayog has said.More competition, mainly from global players, in dredging activities would help increase and maintain draft …

A steep fall in the price of Robusta coffee during the harvest season and low production owing to climate change are worrying coffee growers in south India, a major coffee cultivating region in the country .Spot price of raw Robusta coffee in Wayanad on Saturday was Rs. 3,618 a bag …

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday criticised U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria, saying that “an ally must be reliable”.Speaking in the Chad capital N’Djamena, Mr. Macron said “I deeply regret the decision” by Trump to pullout U.S. troops. r. Trump last week ordered a …

The volcano that triggered a deadly tsunami in Indonesia late on Saturday emerged from the sea around the legendary Krakatoa 90 years ago and has been on a high-level eruption watch-list for the past decade.Anak Krakatoa (the “Child of Krakatoa”) has been particularly active since June, occasionally sending massive plumes …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the institution of a national unity award on the lines of the Padma awards, an official statement said on Sunday. The annual award would be given to any Indian who has contributed to national unity in any manner, the statement said, adding that the …

India on Sunday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of 4,000 km. The flight was tested from Integrated Test Range at the Dr. Abdul Kalam Island near here. The indigenously developed Agni-IV is a two-stage missile.PTI Source Link : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/nuclear-capable-agni-iv-missile-successfully-test-fired/article25815942.ece

One of the earliest Buddhist settlements in Odisha, Lalitgiri, where excavations have yielded ancient seals and inscriptions, has been converted into a museum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the museum through video conference from Bhubaneswar on Monday.Located in Cuttack district, it will be the third site museum of the …

The effect of the BJP’s loss in three States in the Hindi heartland was visible at the GST Council meeting held on Saturday in New Delhi, with the famous accord of the Council across party lines disrupted by a heated exchange among members.As the meeting got under way, the Ministers …

A rise in literacy levels among women has failed to translate into an increase in the number of working women due to a combination of socio-economic factors such as the importance of education for improving marital prospects as well as higher prestige attached to households which keep women out of …

The first MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) service linking Mysuru with Bengaluru was launched on Sunday. The regular services will commence from December 26 from Bengaluru and from December 27 from Mysuru.This is an extension of the service, which was operating between Bengaluru and Ramangaram. The MEMU service is the …

The cold wave in the Capital continued on Sunday with the minimum temperature dropping to 3.7 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal. Gurugram was even colder with the minimum dipping to 2 degrees Celsius.The cold weather has brought with it unfavourable meteorological conditions for the dispersal of pollutants with the …

Apollo-8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, on their return from a spectacular whirl round the moon, to-night [December 25] sped back into the grasp of earth’s gravity at 23-09 I.S.T., after successfully breaking free of lunar gravity. Their spaceship dashed unerringly “right down the corridor” towards a …

The intimidatory power of the mob made itself felt once again when the Ajmer Literature Festival abruptly cancelled veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah’s keynote address. This followed the torrent of abuse heaped on Mr. Shah by a loose coalition of persons, ranging from anonymous trolls on social media to functionaries of …

The opening of the first office of Indian Ports Global Limited at Iran’s Chabahar and the takeover of operations of the Shahid Beheshti port is a milestone in India’s regional connectivity and trade game plan. Chabahar port opens up a permanent alternative route for trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia, …

The Union Home Secretary, last week, promulgated an order authorising 10 Central agencies to monitor, intercept and decrypt information which is transmitted, generated, stored in or received by any computer. Under the order, an individual who fails to assist these government agencies with technical assistance or extend all facilities can …

Elections in Bangladesh are famously a blood sport. During the campaigns virtually every constituency turns into its own bull ring, as party cadres treat rival banners like a matador’s red cape. With polls slated for December 30, the first two weeks of canvassing have already seen eight deaths and dozens …

Bhupesh Baghel, the new Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, is considered one of the architects of the Congress’s victory in the recent Assembly election. In a free-wheeling interview, he talked about how he rebuilt the Congress after being appointed president of the party State unit in 2014, his agenda for governance, …

Politicians and voters may or may not be making America great again, but they are making American politics young, and young again, if one considers the fact that several of the country’s ‘Founding Fathers’ were in their 20s and 30s. This trend is showing up in at least two ways …

The U.S.’s plans to withdraw about 7,000 troops, nearly half of its current strength, from Afghanistan, has invited strong, shocked reactions from Afghans as well as international stakeholders. The decision followed a three-day long meeting of the U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad with Taliban members in Abu Dhabi earlier last …

The Pentagon is considering using small teams of Special Operations forces to strike the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, one option for continuing a military mission there despite President Donald Trump’s order to withdraw troops.The U.S. commandos would be shifted to neighbouring Iraq, where an estimated 5,000 U.S. forces …