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• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cautioned the EU on Saturday that the “anti-democratic” Irish backstop must be ditched if they were to strike a Brexit divorce deal.


• Mr. Johnson, since taking office on Wednesday, has repeatedly said that if the EU continues to refuse to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement agreed by his predecessor Theresa May, then he will take Britain out on October 31 without a deal.

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• President Donald Trump’s special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said that he’s satisfied with the Taliban’s commitment to prevent international terrorist organisations from using Afghanistan as a base to plot global attacks.


• “The world needs to be sure that Afghanistan will not be a threat to the international community,” he said earlier this month. “We are satisfied with the commitment that we have received (from the Taliban) on counterterrorism.”

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• Police fired volleys of tear gas and protesters hurled bricks during clashes in a rural Hong Kong town on Saturday as several thousand activists gathered to protest an attack by suspected triad gang members at a train station last weekend.


• Activists pushed ahead with the march in Yuen Long, scene of the attack by club-wielding men, in spite of a refusal by police to allow the protest on safety grounds.

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• Mr Trump attacked Democratic Rep Elijah Cummings and his Maryland district on Twitter.


• The president described Mr. Cummings' majority-black district in Baltimore as a "rodent-infested mess".


• Mr. Cummings was a "bully", Mr. Trump wrote, for criticizing the treatment of migrants at the US-Mexico border.

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• India is looking to conclude three Military Logistics Support Agreements (MLSA) by the year-end, which will further enhance the operational reach of the military in the region.


• India has already signed such agreements with a few countries beginning with the U.S. The Navy has been the biggest beneficiary of them.

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• A day after 17 political parties jointly wrote to Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu complaining about “hurried legislation” that were being rushed through without due parliamentary procedures, Mr. Naidu said on Saturday that the ruling and Opposition parties needed to function as “joint stakeholders” and not look at each other as “enemies or adversaries”.


• “Members of Rajya Sabha have a special responsibility cast on them of leading by example being the members of the House of Elders,” Mr. Naidu said on Saturday.

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• In the wake of the Congress-led Opposition’s failure to prevent the amendments to the Right to Information Act in Parliament, RTI activists have charted a plan of action looking to the Supreme Court, the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the public arena.


• They hope to launch a mass RTI campaign targeting the government’s vulnerabilities, from corruption in defense spending to the Prime Minister’s educational qualifications and the state of the economy.

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• Last month’s downing of the US Global Hawk drone by Iran in the Persian Gulf has prompted a rethink within the Indian military establishment, led by the air force, over the acquisition of American-made armed drones on account of their cost and questions over their survivability.


• India’s three services had planned to buy 30 drones from the US at a cost of $6 billion. While the tri-services have not yet approached the defense minister for “acceptance of necessity,” or AoN, to procure the drones, the plans were for the air force and the army to acquire 10 Predator-B drones each and the navy to buy long-distance surveillance versions.

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• ICICI Bank’s net profit shot up to Rs 1,908.03 crore for the first quarter of the fiscal, led by a strong growth in its interest income.


• The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 119.55 crore for the first quarter of 2018-19.

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• Two all-outs inflicted by U Mumba sealed Puneri Paltans’ fate in the opening game of the Mumbai leg of ProKabaddi League Season-7.


• Mumba walked away from a comfortable winner at 33-23 in front of roaring fans at the NSCI indoor stadium.


• Catchers called the shots in the first half, raiders came into their own after the break. Abhishek Singh (five raid points) top-scored for the winner. Surjeet Singh (six points) played his heart out for the losing side.

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• Most nominated actor in Academy Award history, Meryl Streep wins inaugural Tribute Actor award in Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The actress has won the Oscar, three times.


• It is an annual fundraiser “to support TIFF’s year-round programs and to celebrate the film industry’s outstanding contributors.”

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• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla appointed Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress floor leader in Lok Sabha as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).


• The other members elected to the committee from Lok Sabha are Jayant Sinha, Ajay (Teni) Misra, Satya Pal Singh, Subhash Chandra Baheria, Sudheer Gupta, Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Vishnu Dayal Ram, Jagadambika Pal and Ram Kripal Yadav (all BJP), T R Baalu (DMK), Rahul Ramesh Shewale (Shiv Sena), Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JD-U) and Balashowry Vallabbhaneni (YSR Congress Party) and Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD).

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• The Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu released book titled ‘New-Age Technology and Industrial Revolution 4.0’ in New Delhi. It is authored by Rajya Sabha Member, Dr Narendra Jadhav.


• The launch was co-hosted by The Dialogue, a Delhi based think-tank which works on the intersection of technology, society and public-policy.

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• Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader S. Jaipal Reddy passed away on Sunday at around 1.30 a.m. in Hyderabad. He was 77.


• Reddy was admitted to the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology in Gachibowli with a high fever a few days back and was undergoing treatment.


• Reddy joined politics as a student leader of Osmania University and went on to become Congress MLA in the 1970s.