GS-II

Says announcement regarding this will be made soon Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday welcomed Pakistan’s decision to allow pilgrims to pay obeisance at the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara across the border. However, Pakistan or India is yet to confirm the decision officially. At a press conference here, Mr. …

Rawat terms remarks preposterous Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat on Friday termed caretaker Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s remarks about the schedule of fresh polls preposterous. He said an EC team would visit the State on September 11 to assess poll preparedness to decide the timing. “The Commission …

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 …

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 …

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 …