GS-II

With just six months away for Brexit to become a reality, Ireland is wooing Indian companies, currently having United Kingdom (U.K.) as their EU headquarters, to shift base to the country. “Indian companies in the U.K. and particularly, those using the U.K. as a gateway to the EU face some …

The Maldives Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a petition by outgoing President Abdulla Yameen to annul the September presidential election, clearing the way for transfer of power to joint opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Mr. Yameen’s claim that the poll was rigged was not substantiated with evidence, the five-member bench …

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the U.S. would pull out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, a crucial Cold War-era treaty banning the development, testing and possession of short and medium range ground-launched nuclear missiles with a range of 500-5,000 km. The treaty, signed in 1987, …

The Assam government has said it would not allow a proposed rally of 27 Bengali organisations in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This followed a State-wide shutdown call by a conglomerate of 42 organisations of …

Indians divided over paying homage to the Mahatma on a cremation ground A fortnight after the Indian Embassy in Tehran was forced to cancel a Gandhi Jayanti event on the Indian Community Cremation Ground of the city, the Ambassador has triggered a fresh controversy after he presided over a “tree …

Six civilians, including a teenager, were killed in a blast caused by ammunition in a house, where three Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants were killed in a pre-dawn operation in Kulgam on Sunday. “People as usual didn’t follow appeals to refrain from going to the encounter site. They went inside the house …

Tens of thousands of supporters of the European Union (EU) began marching through London on Saturday as part of what organisers say will be the largest ever demonstration to demand that the British government holds a public vote on the terms of Brexit. The protesters waved the blue and gold …

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost three National Assembly (NA) seats in the October 14 byelections, two of which were won by Mr. Khan in the July general election and vacated later, in what is widely seen as a reality check for the Prime Minister. Byelections took place …

The newly-appointed U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, recently concluded a trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar aimed at setting the stage for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Mr. Khalilzad met with Taliban representatives in Qatar in early October, following several statements made by …

Quietly, the rapidly deteriorating ties between China and the United States — often dubbed a “trade war”— are acquiring a military edge. In the midst of the downslide in the relationship, which first began in the form of rising tariff walls and Washington’s efforts to deny high technology to China, …

An estimated 312 villages in Gujarat and Maharashtra will have to give up land for the Rs. 1.08 lakh crore project. Additionally, 7,974 plots belonging to the forest department and railways will have to be acquired in the two States. Mr. Modi, at a meeting with the Maharashtra Chief Secretary …

What happened? Early this month, migrants working in several districts of Gujarat, and hailing mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, began fleeing, fearing for their lives. What was the trigger? On September 28, a 14-month-old was raped allegedly by a migrant labourer in a small village in Sabarkantha …

Within a year, the Kutupalong camps near the famed unbroken beaches of Cox’s Bazaar have emerged as home for 13 lakh Rohingya refugees who were displaced from Myanmar by its military. The Myanmar military is the enemy back home for the refugees, but they have to remain alert for the …

Mohamed Nasheed is determined to return to the islands on November 1, despite his fear that President Yameen will try to hang on to power It is very likely that power will be transferred in the Maldives, even if outgoing President, Abdulla Yameen, attempts to influence the Supreme Court’s deliberations …

Since Friday night, Vijay Kumar, 44, the inconsolable father of 18-year-old Manish Kumar, has been running from one hospital to another in the hope of finding the remains of his son, who was presumably killed in the Amritsar train mishap. “I saw his severed head lying on the railway track …

Such events should not be organised close to tracks, says Manoj Sinha; Punjab CM orders probe The Railways on Saturday denied any negligence on its part in Friday’s tragedy when a train mowed down 59 Dasara revellers at Joda Phatak near Amritsar, even as Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh …

China’s former internet censor, who once held high-profile meetings with industry leaders such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, was standing trial on Friday on corruption allegations, state media reported. Lu Wei is accused of accepting 32 million yuan ($4.6 million) in bribes and has admitted …

Campaigners seek a referendum on the terms of the final Brexit deal between Britain and EU Tens of thousands of people, including London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan and politicians from across the political spectrum, are expected to attend a march, calling for a second referendum on Brexit in central London on …

India, Japan and the U.S. are set to elevate the bilateral ‘Cope India’ air exercise to a trilateral format. The three countries already conduct naval war games under the expanded Malabar naval exercise. The U.S. had proposed a trilateral air exercise between India, Japan and the U.S. For this, the …

A Class IX student in Bihar’s Lakhisarai was charred badly after she fell on a live high-voltage wire while fleeing from the roof of a three-storied building, where she was gang-raped, police said. The girl, who was admitted to a hospital, was battling for her life. Local police said the …