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• The United States would withdraw 5,400 troops from Afghanistan within 20 weeks as part of a deal "in principle" with Taliban militants, Washington's top negotiator has said.


• Zalmay Khalilzad revealed details of the long-awaited deal for the first time in a TV interview after briefing Afghan leaders on the agreement.


• But he said final approval still rested with US President Donald Trump. A huge blast rocked Kabul as the interview aired.


• The Taliban said it was behind the attack, which killed at least 16 with another 119 wounded taken to hospital. It said foreign forces were the target.

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• Boris Johnson faces a showdown in Parliament later after No 10 officials warned he would call for a snap general election on 14 October if MPs succeed in seizing control of Commons business.


• Rebel Tories and Labour MPs are planning a bill to stop the UK leaving the EU on 31 October without a deal.


• Mr. Johnson said he did not want an election, but progress with the EU would be "impossible" if the MPs win.

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• Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro will miss a planned summit on the fires ravaging the Amazon rainforest to prepare for surgery, an aide has said.


• The operation will be the far-right leader's fourth after he was stabbed in the stomach during his presidential election campaign in 2018.


• Brazil may send a representative in his place or ask for the summit to be postponed, the spokesman said.

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• Argentina has imposed currency controls in an attempt to stabilise markets as the country faces a deepening financial crisis.


• The government will restrict foreign currency purchases following a sharp drop in the value of the peso.


• Firms will have to seek central bank permission to sell pesos to buy foreign currency and to make transfers abroad.

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• Bangladesh ordered operators to shut down mobile phone services to almost one million Rohingya refugees living in camps in the country's southeast, an official said.


• The move follows an outbreak of violence in recent weeks at the camps, most of whose residents fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar's Rakhine state two years ago following a military crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority.

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• The Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 blacklisted by the United States has been off the coast of Lebanon and Syria for the past 24 hours, maritime monitors said.


• The vessel has been zigzagging in the eastern Mediterranean since it was released from the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on August 18, after being held for six weeks on suspicion it was delivering oil for Tehran's ally Damascus.


• "The Adrian Darya 1 has stopped just 45 nautical miles (83km/52 miles) west of Tripoli, Lebanon, in international waters," TankerTrackers, a maritime traffic monitoring website said.

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• Pakistan will never ever start a war with India, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday, amid tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over Kashmir.


• “We will never ever start the war. Both Pakistan and India are nuclear powers and if tension escalates the world will face danger,” Mr. Khan said while addressing a gathering of the Sikh community at the Governor’s House here.

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• The 14th United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) to combat desertification kicked off in New Delhi on Monday with India taking over the presidency of the COP for two years.


• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the convention next Monday, with senior ministers from nearly 70 countries expected to participate at that session.

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• The fire at a gas processing unit owned by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) at Uran in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday morning killed four people bringing back memories of the devastating fire in the. ONGC-run Mumbai High in 2005.


• Eleven people were killed, 362 people were rescued on July 27, 2005, when a vessel collided with one of the four platforms of the rig, 12 nautical miles off Mumbai. The platform was destroyed within two hours of the fire and property loss was valued at nearly $300 million.

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• Ninety-three percent of J&K and Ladakh regions without any prohibitory orders now as the situation showed gradual improvement in the wake of the August 5 decisions, said the J&K government spokesman.


• “Restriction from 92 police stations out of 105 stands withdrawn. Thereby, 90% of the Kashmir valley has no prohibitory orders.


• Jammu and Ladakh have seen a complete lifting of restrictions and restoration of communications lines, including landlines and mobile phones.


• A total of 92% of J&K and Ladakh have no prohibitory orders now,” J&K government spokesman Rohit Kansal said.

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• Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced a major change for students who would be taking their board examinations next year. The change announced back in January, pertains to mathematics.


• CBSE had announced that class 10 students in the batch ending in March 2020 will be able to opt between two levels of mathematics in their board exams.


• The move was aimed to make board exams less stressful and to optimize the assessment as per the future endeavors of the student, that is their desire to pursue mathematics as a subject after secondary school.

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• The B.Tech paper of JEE Main will have 75 questions this year. The question paper has been abridged by 15 questions and 60 marks this time. However the per question weightage remains the same.


• The question paper which was entirely MCQ (Multiple Choice Question) based, till last year, will now have 15 questions, 5 each from Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics, where candidates "will have an answer to be filled as numerical value" reads the exam notification. Rest of the questions will be MCQ based.

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• Punjab National Bank (PNB) said the board will consider capital infusion of up to ₹ 18,000 crores in its meeting later this week.


• It comes against the backdrop of the government’s announcement on August 30 about merging 10 public sector banks into four entities, as part of which PNB will merge Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India (UBI) with itself.

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• Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary staged a remarkable comeback to claim the mixed 10m air pistol gold, ending India’s campaign on a rousing note in the World Cup.


• Representing the other Indian team in the same event, Yashaswini Deswal and Abhishek Verma won the silver as India picked up the maximum possible medals on the final day of the tournament.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi should reconsider the award to be given to him by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), as it faces "severe allegations" and does business in the "guise of philanthropy", the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) economic wing Swadeshi Jagran Manch said.


• PM Modi will be awarded by the foundation for the Swachh Bharat campaign this month during his visit to the United States.

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• Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has denied ever offering to resign, after audio was leaked of her saying she would if she could.


• Yesterday a recording of a private meeting emerged where she is heard saying: "If I have a choice, the first thing is to quit."


• On Tuesday she said she had "never tendered any resignation", but did not deny the authenticity of the recording.

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• Italian bodybuilder, powerlifter, actor and author, Franco Columbu (Nicknamed, “the Sardinian Strongman”) has died at the age of 78 in his native Sardinia, Italy.


• Franco started his athletic career as a boxer & advanced into Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and then bodybuilding.