GS-II

The court was hearing a petition filed by five eminent persons — Romila Thapar, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maja Dharuwala. ‘Safety valve’ A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, lashed out at the “sweeping round of arrests,” observing that democracy could not survive …

Global superstars Lady Gaga, Ryan Gosling and Vanessa Redgrave descend on Venice this week as the annual film festival kicks off on Wednesday to controversy over the inclusion of Netflix productions and there being just one female director in competition. Some 21 features will be locking horns for the prized …

Beijing no longer wants the country to be a global trash can and has already started phasing out import of solid waste Her fingers are bent from 20 years of collecting cardboard from Hong Kong’s streets, but Au Fung-lan says she has no desire to give up the gruelling work. …

One of Scotland’s leading universities is set to hand out pronoun badges to freshers so they know whether to refer to each other as “he”, “she” or “they”. The move by the Edinburgh University is intended to avoid any potential “misgendering” of non-binary or transgender students, who may display the …

Emmerson Mnangagwa was officially sworn in as President of Zimbabwe on Sunday after winning a bitterly-contested election which was the country’s first since the ousting of strongman Robert Mugabe. Mr. Mnangagwa, whose victory in the July 30 polls was challenged by the main Opposition, pledged to “protect and promote the …

China has launched a long campaign to win the trade war with the U.S., which is targeting Beijing’s transition to a digitally advanced economy. A hard hitting commentary in the People’s Daily made it plain that the trade war would be a marathon and not a sprint. “The Trump administration …

John S. McCain, the proud naval aviator who climbed from the depths of despair as a prisoner of war in Vietnam to the pinnacles of power as a Republican Congressman and Senator from Arizona and a two-time contender for the presidency, died Saturday at his home in Arizona. He was …

Baby Rani Maurya was on Sunday sworn in as the new Governor of Uttarakhand. The oath of office and secrecy was administered to Ms. Maurya by the acting Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court Rajiv Sharma at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan here. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/maurya-sworn-in-as-new-ukhand-governor/article24788320.ece

The Narendra Modi government is suffering from the “big brother syndrome”, the Congress on Sunday said, criticising the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Bill, 2018, that allows law enforcement agencies to collect DNA samples and create “DNA profiles” and special data banks for forensic-criminal investigations. The Bill was introduced by …

The two Indian military helicopters, gifted to the Maldives, are likely to stay back along with a 48-member crew and support staff for at least the next few months as talks between the two countries on their continued deployment in the island nation were “positive”, diplomatic and military sources said …