Source: Click Here

• The two candidates who have made it into the run-off having stood for the presidency repeatedly before.


• Ex-first lady Sandra Torres hopes it will be third time lucky for her while ex-prison chief Alejandro Giammattei is running for the fourth time.


• Guatemalans have cited insecurity as their main concern followed by unemployment, high living costs, and corruption.

Source: Click Here

• City leader Carrie Lam has warned that the international financial hub is facing an economic crisis worse than either the 2003 SARS outbreak that paralysed Hong Kong or the 2008 financial crisis.


• Empty hotel rooms, struggling shops, and even disruption at Disneyland: months of protests in Hong Kong have taken a major toll on the city's economy, with no end in sight.

Source: Click Here

• The recent murder of a 15-year-old girl in southern Romania who was found 19 hours after she called emergency number 112 three times has further incensed protesters over authorities slow response times.


• Tens of thousands of protesters rallied peacefully against the ruling Social Democrat government in the capital, Bucharest, on the one-year anniversary of a violent protest where riot police disproportionately used force.

Source: Click Here

• Afghanistan’s president rejected foreign interference as the United States and the Taliban appear to be closing in on a peace deal without the Afghan government at the table.


• President Ashraf Ghani spoke during the Muslim holiday Eid-al-Adha and as U.S. and Taliban negotiators continue their work in the Gulf nation of Qatar, where the insurgents have a political office.

Source: Click Here

• Veteran Congress leader and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose tenure as a Rajya Sabha member ended in June, is likely to return to the Upper House of Parliament from Rajasthan. Dr. Singh, who earlier represented Assam in Rajya Sabha, will file his nomination papers here on August 13.


• According to the Congress sources, the party has decided to nominate Dr. Singh for the Rajya Sabha byelection in Rajasthan. The seat fell vacant on June 24 after the death of BJP State president Madan Lal Saini, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year.

Source: Click Here

• “The day the Central government introduced the J&K Reorganisation Bill, 2019 was the most challenging day of the recently concluded first session of the 17th Lok Sabha,” Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla told The Hindu on the sidelines of his press conference about the various initiatives that he proposes to bring in.


• Elaborating on how he dealt with this “challenging day”, the Speaker said: “The House functioned smoothly that day with the members of the House having confidence in the Chair that adequate time would be given to everyone and that no voice, opinion, argument or discussion on the subject would go unheard.”

Source: Click Here

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that the removal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution will lead to end of terrorism and progress of the region.


• Speaking at the launch of a book on Vice-President M. Venkiah Naidu in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Mr. Shah said he firmly believed that Article 370 that gave the special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be removed as it was not beneficial to the country.

Source: Click Here

• New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) is planning a legal challenge against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for stopping its co-founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy from flying abroad, an executive at the news broadcaster said.


• “We will definitely approach the court,” the executive said, requesting anonymity, without giving further details.


• The Roys were stopped at the Mumbai airport night from catching an overseas flight on a request by the CBI, which had filed a lookout circular against them over a case filed by the agency, CBI spokesperson Nitin Wakankar said the previous day.

Source: Click Here

• Indian Railway Recruitment Board has come up with some more vacancies, this time, for the sports champions.


• Western railways and south eastern railways have invited the sports champions to apply for 42 posts (21 each). The application process will commence from August 14 and will conclude on September 13.

Source: Click Here

• Rourkela Steel Plant is hiring 361 paramedical staff and medical executive for Ispat General Hospital, Rorukela. Candidates can apply for the posts before August 20, 2019.


• There are 234 vacancies for nursing sister (trainee), 12 vacancies for specialist including Radiologist-3, Pathologist-3, Biochemistry-2, Microbiologist-2, Lab Medicine -2, eight vacancies for medical officer and many other.

Source: Click Here

• Cholamandalam MS would sell its range of insurance policies to customers of Indian Bank


• Public sector Indian Bank on Friday signed a corporate agency agreement with Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company for distribution of its insurance products to bank customers.

Source: Click Here

• The Indian Sports Secretary, Radheshyam Jhulaniya stated that the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) has agreed to come under the jurisdiction of the anti-doping watchdog, National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) after years of resisting the move.


• BCCI had raised a number of concerns(quality of the dope testing kits, competence of pathologists and sample collection) but finally agreed to come under NADA after the sports ministry gave assurances about resolving issues of the cricket board.

Source: Click Here

• To mark the 77th anniversary of Quit India movement, Uttar Pradesh(UP) chief minister(CM) Yogi Adityanath has launched the a mega greenery plantation drive called “Vriksharopan Mahakumbh”,which now sets a world record by planting over 22 crore saplings in a day.


• The state also entered the Guinness World Records’ for distributing 76,823 saplings simultaneously in six hours across the state.

Source: Click Here

• Sonia Gandhi was named interim Congress president on Saturday, returning to the helm after almost 20 months.


• The announcement was made late on Saturday night after the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s topmost body, accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation during its second meeting of the day.

Source: Click Here

• Takis(Panayiotis Vassilakis,),a Greek artist known for his kinetic sculptures, known for artworks that made use of technology, motion and light and were displayed in art galleries and museums around the world has passed away in athens, Greece at the age of 93.


• His works adorn the most important museums of the world which include George Pompidou Center for Contemporary Art (Paris), the MOMA and the Guggenheim Museum (New York), the De Menil Collection (Houston), the Tate Modern (London), the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice).