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• Boris Johnson is to meet Emmanuel Macron later, hours after the French president seemed to downplay hopes of solving the Irish backstop problem.


• German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested a solution to the backstop - a key Brexit sticking point - might be achievable within 30 days.


• The PM said he was "more than happy" with that "blistering timetable".

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• China has threatened to impose sanctions on US firms involved with the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan if Washington goes ahead with the deal.


• Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged the US to stop the arms sales and end military contact with Taiwan.


• The US government has approved the possible $8bn (£6.6bn) deal involving 66 aircraft, the biggest in decades.


• The potential sale comes amid ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing, notably over trade.

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• Migrant families who cross the southern border of the US illegally could be detained indefinitely under a new regulation announced by the Trump administration.


• It replaces an agreement that set a limit on how long the government could hold migrant children in custody.


• The move was announced by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and is due to come into effect in 60 days.

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• Nepalese authorities have banned single-use plastics in the Everest region in a bid to cut down on waste left by climbers.


• The ban will take effect in the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu municipality from January 2020.


• A local official told AFP news agency that by starting now, "it will help keep our region, the Everest and the mountains clean long term".

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• U.S. President Donald Trump said Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats display “either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” sparking accusations that he is promoting and politicizing anti-Semitism.


• His comments, which drew fierce rebuke from Jewish groups, came amid his ongoing dispute with Democratic Muslim Congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both of whom support a boycott of the Jewish state for its treatment of the Palestinians.

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• The interactions will lay the ground work for the visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to the U.S.


• Amid increased India-Pakistan tension, the United States will host an inter-sessional meeting of the US-India 2+2 Dialogue in California to discuss ways to advance cooperation on critical diplomatic and security priorities.

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• Weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visited Moscow and held talks with his counterpart Nikolai Patrushev, who is the secretary of the Russian National Security Council.


• Both Mr. Doval and Mr. Patrushev discussed Mr. Modi’s visit to Vladivostok in September for the Eastern Economic Forum.

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• The Prime Minister says engagements will strengthen India’s relations with time-tested friends and help explore new areas of cooperation.


• Ahead of his visit to France, the UAE and Bahrain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the engagements will strengthen India’s relations with time-tested friends and help explore new areas of cooperation.


• Mr. Modi will visit the three countries from August 22 to 26. He will reach France.

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• The CBI is expected to produce former finance and home minister P Chidambaram in a special CBI court.


• After dramatic developments in the INX media case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested former finance and home minister P Chidambaram at around 9.45 pm on Wednesday from his residence in New Delhi’s Jor Bagh.

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• The Narendra Modi government has in principle decided to corporatise the 41 ordnance factories — the oldest government entities — to increase their efficiency, sharpen their competitive edge and expand their export potential.


• “The defence ministry will approach the Union cabinet soon for setting up of the committee,” one of the officials said.

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• BPSSChas issued a notification for recruitment of Sub Inspector, Sergeant, Assistant Superintendent Jail and Assistant Superintendent Jail in Home Department (Police) and Home Department (Jail).


• The Bihar Police recruitment notification can be viewed on the official website of BPSSC at bpssc.bih.nic.in. Interested candidates can apply for the posts from Thursday, August 22. The last date of application is September 25.

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• RRB Allahabad has released the fifth schedule of document verification and medical test for recruitment to the post of the Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP) and Technicians 2019.


• The fifth leg of the document verification and Genuineness of candidature and medical test will be conducted from September 2 to September 14. The process will be conducted in multiple shifts. The morning shift will start at 8.30pm and the afternoon shift will start at 1pm.

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• While all six members of the monetary policy committee (MPC) were on the same page on cutting the policy repo rate to deal with economic slowdown, they differed on the quantum, with four recommending an aggressive 35 basis points (bps) cut and two pushing for a calibrated 25 bps cut.


• Ultimately, the Reserve Bank of India announced a 35 bps cut in the policy repo rate from 5.75 percent to 5.40 percent on August 7 in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review.

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• BookMyForex.com, a marketplace for foreign exchange and remittances, has partnered with YES Bank to launch a co-branded multi-currency forex travel card for Indian overseas travellers.


• Customers will now be able to buy forex travel cards at the click of a button on the BookMyForex platform and get free doorstep delivery across major cities in India.


• BookMyForex will offer zero margin or exact inter-bank rates 24x7 on forex card sales.

Source: Click Here

• Retirement fund manager EPFO approved appointment of UTI AMC and SBI Mutual Fund as its fund managers for three years, according to a source.


• Besides, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) also approved a proposal for early redemption of its investment of around ₹ 700 crores in bonds of troubled Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL), at its trustees’ meeting held in Hyderabad.

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• A win in the opening Test will be the 27th for Kohli as skipper and will put him on even keel with his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni.


• A perfect combination and a winning start will be foremost on skipper Virat Kohli’s mind when India take on West Indies in their inaugural World Test Championship opener here.


• A win in the opening Test will be the 27th for Kohli as skipper and will put him on even keel with his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni. A century in the game (19th as captain) will place him on par with Ricky Ponting.

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• Indian para-swimming team comprising Para swimmer Satendra Singh Lohia from Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) have created history by becoming the 1st Asian swimmer team to cross the Catalina Channel (42 km )of US(United States) in just 11 hours 34 minutes.


• Satendra was the recipient of “ Vikram Award”(2014), the highest sports award from Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh government in recognition of excellence in sports.


• He has crossed the English Channel in 12 hours 26 minutes in 2018 & entered Limca Book of Records with his best effort.

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• Ankita Gulati, founder of Touch Vision which is an Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi(IIT-D) incubated startup, won the 2019 NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award.</li.
  
• The award was given for developing a multisensory kit for the visually impaired people which was developed at Assistive Technologies Lab of IIT-Delhi.


• About the multi-sensory kit: The device explains the content in a picture when a visually impaired person touches it.

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• Ajay Kumar appointed as Secretary Defence; Subhash Chandra is Secretary, Defence Production and Brij Kumar Agarwal is Secretary, Lokpal.


• The Modi government appointed outgoing Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba as Cabinet Secretary for two years. His tenure will be effective from August 30, 2019, as per the official order.

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• NASA has confirmed that it will send a spacecraft to Europa, one of the 79 known moons orbiting gas giant Jupiter.


• NASA is targeting to make the spacecraft launch-ready by as early as 2023, with baseline commitment supporting a launch readiness date by 2025.


• The mission will "investigate whether the icy moon could harbour conditions suitable for life," NASA said.