Recently, East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, Asia’s Youngest Democracy, held the second and final round of its presidential election. The territory was colonised by Portugal in the 18th century and remained under its control until 1975. When the Portuguese withdrew, troops from Indonesia invaded and annexed East Timor …

Recently, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has conducted the 8th edition of two-day National Level Pollution Response Exercise, ‘NATPOLREX-VIII’, off Mormugao harbour, Goa. Besides NATPOLREX, ICG is concurrently conducting a capacity building professional training course in Marine Oil Response and Preparedness for 45 international participants from 18 countries including member …

Recently, the Ministry of Civil Aviation released the draft Protection and Enforcement of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2022. The proposed law will help international aircraft leasing companies to repossess and transfer planes out of India in case of a financial dispute with an Indian airline at a time many …

According to a new report, an imbalance in nitrogen availability has been reported across the globe, with some places having an excess and others a shortage of the element. Rising carbon dioxide levels and other global changes have increased demand for nitrogen by plants and microbes. Plants grow quickly when …

Recently, the World Bank published the paper titled ‘Poverty has Declined over the Last Decade But Not As Much As Previously Thought’. The paper came close on the heels of a working paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saying India has almost eradicated extreme poverty and brought down …

Recently, tensions flared up again at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque between the Palestinians and Israeli police. Over the decades, this site in Jerusalem’s Old City has frequently been a flashpoint for violence between Palestinians and Israeli forces and hardline groups and is at the heart of competing for historical claims. These …

With the possibility of a new Covid-19 variant triggering a fresh surge in cases, the Centre has told the states to send sewage samples to all sentinel sites that currently carry out surveillance of Poliovirus. Sentinel surveillance is the “monitoring of rate of occurrence of specific diseases/conditions through a voluntary …

Recently, the Centre announced to stop the purchase of excess parboiled rice after which Telangana Chief Minister and members of his Cabinet staged a dharna demanding a uniform paddy procurement policy. The dictionary meaning of ‘parboil’ is ‘partly cooked by boiling’. Thus, the expression parboiled rice refers to rice that …

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has relaxed various procedures under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme in order to reduce compliance requirements and facilitate ease of doing business. Capital goods are physical assets that a company uses in the production process to manufacture products and services that …

Recently, the groundbreaking ceremony was performed for the first-of-its-kind World Health Organization (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Additionally, the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit will be held later this month in Gandhinagar which is aimed at increasing investments and showcase innovations in the field …