Introduction
The article Current Affairs One-Liners October 2019 includes One-Liners with an explanation, analysis, and issues of current events, including political or industrial controversy or public policy issues in the month of October.
Oct 2019
1. International News
- Twitter is to ban all political advertising worldwide, saying that the reach of such messages “should be earned, not bought”.
- The US military has published the first footage of the raid in northern Syria in which the leader of the Islamic State (IS) group was killed.
- Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton has been summoned to testify in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
- Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar ruled out the possibility during a cabinet meeting, the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ reports.
- A powerful quake struck in the southern Philippines promoted people to flee homes, schools, and malls, with initial reports of damage to some buildings.
- North Korea fired two projectiles, the South's military said, with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington at a deadlock.
- The Supreme Court in Bangladesh upheld the death sentence to top Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam for committing war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War by siding with Pakistani troops.
- Pakistan violated its obligations under the Vienna Convention in the case of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, International Court of Justice (ICJ) President Judge Abduylqawi Yusuf told the United Nations General Assembly.
- US President Donald Trump declassified the name of the military dog which was involved in the raid that killed the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
- Crisis-hit Boeing faced fresh safety concerns, as the firm admitted cracks were found in up to 50 of its popular 737NG planes following worldwide inspections.
- Pakistan Train Accident: At least 71 people were killed and dozens wounded after a passenger train erupted in flames in central Pakistan, a provincial minister said.
- Facebook announced that it had removed three networks of accounts it says are associated with Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the Kremlin-linked businessman whom U.S. authorities indicted for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
- Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad said the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US raid over the weekend was not enough to compensate for the atrocities committed by his ISIS.
- Mexico's government showed dramatic video footage of the moment when its forces briefly captured a son of kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman this month before they were ordered to release the suspected trafficker to avoid a bloodbath.
- Twelve migrants 11 Syrians and a Sudanese, all men have been found alive in a refrigerated truck in Belgium transporting fruit and vegetables, police said.
- Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan faces the first major challenge to his leadership this week as a grey-bearded, orange-turbaned rival he calls "Maulana Diesel" marches to Islamabad with thousands of Islamists hoping to bring down the government.
- Russia's newest nuclear submarine successfully test-fired a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from the White Sea off Russia's northwestern coast, the defense ministry said.
- Pakistan today issued a commemorative coin to mark Guru Nanak Dev's 550th birth anniversary in November. In a Facebook post, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan shared a picture of the coin.
- From budgeting for rural weddings to dressing appropriately and avoiding online porn, China's Communist Party has issued new guidelines to improve the "moral quality" of its citizens.
- Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist outfit, is a "perfect proxy" for Pakistan's spy agency ISI, a leading American expert on security issues has said.
- Greta Thunberg has declined an environmental prize, saying "the climate movement does not need any more prizes."
- At least 62 people were killed and several others injured as a massive fire broke out on a train in Pakistan's in eastern Punjab province after a gas canister carried by a passenger exploded.
- American officials sounding the alarm about foreign efforts to disrupt the 2020 election include multiple countries in that warning.
- India is planning to open 100 additional airports by 2024, as part of a plan to revive economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah today flagged off a run to commemorate the 144th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the national capital.
- The Indian Air Force (IAF) has recommended gallantry medals for its six personnel who were killed in a chopper crash due to friendly fire over Srinagar on February 27, a day after the force hit a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
- Nearly 1.3 million debit and credit card data of Indian banking customers that can fetch up to $130 million for cybercriminals are available on Dark Web for open sale.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her 35th death anniversary. The then prime minister, Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards here in 1984.
- Controversial BJP MLA Surendra Singh said Mughal and British era history should not be taught at the primary and high school level as it reminded one about the days of slavery.
- The newly-elected Shiv Sena MLAs on Thursday elected senior leader Eknath Shinde as leader of the party's legislative wing. Sunil Prabhu was elected as chief whip of the party in the Maharashtra legislature.
- Mumbai and Hyderabad are among the 66 urban settlements designated as creative cities by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), it said in a press statement.
- Indian Hindus, who make 80 percent of the total population, observe Pitru Paksha or Shraddh, where prayers are offered to the departed souls.
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's birth anniversary is celebrated as "National Unity Day" or Rashtriya Ekta Diwas as a tribute to India's first home minister, who led the task of integrating princely states into the union of India after Independence in 1947.
- Nitish Kumar said there is "no question" of his Janata Dal-United (JDU) joining the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government at the center, contradicting his own party leader KC Tyagi.
- One of the Pratt and Whitney engines of an IndiGo A320neo plane that was heading from Kolkata to Pune stalled mid-air, forcing the pilot to return to the Kolkata airport, making it the fourth such incident involving PW engines at the low-cost carrier in a week, a source said.
- The newly-created Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will have common High Court which shall have all such powers to make rules and orders as it had when Jammu and Kashmir was a state.
- Jammu and Kashmir is no longer a state, is two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh from October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
- Congress chief Sonia Gandhi today accused the government of attempting to "erode or dilute" the landmark Right To Information law. The Narendra Modi government, she said, saw the law as "an obstacle to enforcing their majoritarian agenda".
- The Shiv Sena again indicated that it had not given up its claim on the post of Maharashtra chief minister, saying that equal sharing of power must mean sharing of the top post too.
- Ambulance services were crippled across Rajasthan after the staffers of a company which operates them went on an indefinite strike demanding job assurance, officials said.
- IndiGo A320neo plane that was heading from Kolkata to Pune stalled mid-air, forcing the pilot to return to the Kolkata airport, making it the fourth such incident involving PW engines at the low-cost carrier in a week, a source said.
- Jammu and Kashmir will have political stability and the cycle of governments formed and brought down for vested interests will stop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on his government's decision to end special status to the state under Article 370 and split it into two union territories that come into existence.
- Board of School Education, Haryana (BSEH or HBSE) has released the result for the Open School Class 10th and 12th examination which was conducted recently.
- Ordnance Factory Recruitment Centre (OFRC) of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), which works under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, will release an official notification soon to recruit 4,805 Apprentices in its various facilities.
- The LIC Assistant recruitment exam is a multiple-choice test and each question has 5 options.
- Tamil Nadu Teacher Recruitment Board (TN TRB) has released Certificate of Marks for TN TET 2019 qualified candidates.
- MHRD has requested schools and other educational institutes across the country to celebrate Constitution Day on November 26, 2019.
- TNUSRB has released PET hall ticket for constable, firemen, and jail warder recruitment.
- The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 index rose for fifth day in a row led by gains in State Bank of India, Yes Bank, Infosys, HDFC and Tata Consultancy Services.
- HDFC Bank fixed deposit rates: HDFC Bank offers interest rates of 3.50-6.85% to the general public on FDs up to Rs. 2 crore over maturity periods ranging from seven days to 10 years.
- Yes Bank shares surged as much as 35 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs. 76.65 after it received a binding offer of investment worth $1.2 billion from a global investor.
- The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police will soon seek court approval in relation to handing over of assets in the Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank case.
- The first T20I between India and Bangladesh in Delhi on Sunday will take place as per schedule despite Delhi’s degrading air quality.
- Glenn Maxwell, who impressed in Australia’s 134-run win over Sri Lanka in the first T20 International in Adelaide, has opted for a short break from cricket to deal with some “mental health difficulties”.
- Born on October 30, 1911 at Highbury in London, Eileen made her Test debut for England against Australia on June 12 at Northampton and played her last Test match against the New Zealand 12 years later at Auckland on March 26, 1949.
- Mohammad Ashraful was banned for five years after a match-fixing scandal in the Bangladesh Premier League in 2013.
- Apple announced its financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter of the year. The Cupertino, California-based company posted a quarterly revenue of $64 billon (roughly Rs. 4,53,000 crores), with international sales accounting for 60 percent of it.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Gujarat today to mark National Unity Day, has been presented with a memento honouring the contribution and sacrifice of the police fraternity of India.
- Radha Krishna Mathur is the first Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh, which came into being on the midnight of October 30 following the centre’s decision to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two union territories.
- Veteran Communist Party of India or CPI leader and former MP Gurudas Dasgupta died today following a prolonged illness, party sources said. He was 83. Dasgupta is survived by his wife and daughter.
1. International News
- The UK is set to go to the polls on 12 December after MPs backed Boris Johnson’s call for an election following months of Brexit deadlock.
- An official who heard a call between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s president says he was concerned by Mr. Trump’s “demand” to scrutinize a rival.
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally won lawmakers’ support for an early election, setting up a December 12 ballot that will be dominated by Brexit, Brexit and more Brexit.
- The US House of Representatives took the historic step of passing a resolution officially recognizing the “Armenian genocide,” a move sure to anger Turkey amid already-heightened tensions with Washington.
- Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg refused to accept an environmental award, saying the climate movement needed people in power to start to “listen” to “science” and not awards.
- Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has fired four more officials, two palace announcements said, the latest shakeup after the sacking of the king’s royal consort last week.
- Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's two main backers have agreed to work to remove him from office as protests against his government gained momentum in Baghdad and much of the Shi'ite south only to be met with violence.
- The United States and 22 other countries at the United Nations pushed China to stop detaining ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims, prompting China's U.N. envoy to warn it was not "helpful" for trade talks between Beijing and Washington.
- A Pakistan minister has courted controversy by saying that any country that will support India over the Kashmir issue will be hit by a missile by Pakistan and considered as an "enemy" of Islamabad.
- The family of a motorcyclist killed in a crash involving the wife of an American diplomat has announced they are planning to sue US President Donald Trump's administration over an alleged cover-up.
- The US House of Representatives took the historic step of passing a resolution officially recognizing the "Armenian genocide," a move sure to anger Turkey amid already-heightened tensions with Washington.
- British MPs agreed to hold an early election on December 12, backing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's call to try to break the crippling political deadlock that has seen Brexit delayed three times.
- A Pakistani court suspended the sentence of ailing former PM Nawaz Sharif for eight weeks in a corruption case, as his condition deteriorated after a drastic drop in his blood platelet count.
- Boeing Co-Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg was pressed by US lawmakers at a hearing over what the company knew about its MCAS stall-prevention system linked to two deadly crashes, and about delays in turning over internal 2016 messages that described erratic behavior of the software in a simulator.
- US President Donald Trump said the person likely to be first in line to replace ISIS's slain chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has also been "terminated."
- The United States welcomed China's proposal to host a fresh meeting bringing together Afghan officials and the Taliban after President Donald Trump abruptly ended talks with the insurgents.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
- The state government in Bengal will extend all necessary help to the families of the five laborers from Murshidabad killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said last night, expressing grief over the “brutal killings”.
- A Pakistan minister has courted controversy by saying that any country that will support India over the Kashmir issue will be hit by a missile by Pakistan and considered as an “enemy” of Islamabad.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Saudi Arabia said that he is not from a “political family” but carries a very humble background and selling tea on the railway platform was a part of his life journey.
- India signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to launch the RuPay card in the country, making it the third nation in the West Asia to initiate India’s digital payment system which will benefit not only the 2.6 million Indians in the Gulf Kingdom but also Haj and Umrah pilgrims.
- Former Union minister P Chidambaram moved the Delhi High Court seeking interim bail in the INX Media money laundering case on health grounds.
- Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tej Pratap Yadav has threatened to launch a protest if the government fails to clean the Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh's Braj region.
- As more than 20 European Union MPs visited Jammu and Kashmir - the first international group to do so since the government ended special status to the state - the organizer of the event, a little known NGO, is in the spotlight.
- Maharashtra without the Shiv Sena, said a senior leader of the ruling BJP, which took another step towards it is Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's second term amid Sena's unrelenting demand for rotation of the top post between the two allies.
- The Shiv Sena today took strong objection to the visit by European Union (EU) MPs to Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that Kashmir was not an international issue.
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that all help will be extended to the families of the five workers from West Bengal's Murshidabad district who were killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Union minister Hardeep Puri are among the 575 people who will be part of the inaugural (the group of Sikhs) to Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan through the Kartarpur corridor, central government sources said.
- A new research has found that rising seas could affect three times more population by 2050 than it was previously thought, and India's financial capital, Mumbai, is at the risk of being ''wiped out''.
- Nagaland Governor RN Ravi will hold further negotiations with the NSCN(IM) over the next two days to strive for a final settlement by October 31, the deadline originally set for concluding the Naga peace talks.
- The Chautala families are united, only parties are different, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala said, a day after his father Ajay Chautala met his estranged brother Abhay Chautala at a farmhouse.
- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said nobody has stopped leaders of the Congress and other parties from traveling to Jammu and Kashmir as the situation there has "normalized".
- GATE 2020 application portal is open again to facilitate students from Jammu and Kashmir apply for the exam. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is conducted for admission to M.Tech./M.E. programmes offered at technical institutes in India.
- Nearly 56 lakh students, who would be taking the Uttar Pradesh Board examination, will no longer have to face hurdles in getting any rectification done in their educational certificates as the Board has made online arrangements now.
- The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi, have developed ‘Tamanna’ (which stands for Try And Measure Aptitude And Natural Abilities), an Aptitude Test for senior school students to enable the stakeholders know the aptitude of students of classes 9 and 10.
- The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed the annual convocation of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) in New Delhi.
- Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the notification for Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination (I), 2020.
- The Central Bank of India SO registration process can be done on the official portal of the bank, centralbankofindia.co.in.
- The SSC CGL or Combined Graduate Level Examination 2018 (Tier-II) final answer keys along with question papers have been released on the official website ssc.nic.in.
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Refinery Division, has released recruitment notice for experienced non-executive personnel.
- Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has released the tentative answer key for the Phase-VII/2019 Selection Posts Examination.
- Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) has released the answer key for the 65th Civil Services prelim exam.
- Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the marks of those non-recommended candidates who appeared in Civil Services Examination 2018.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 crore on Bandhan Bank for not bringing down the promoter shareholding to 40 per cent.
- Former BCCI chief curator Daljit Singh said that the dew factor can be countered by leaving more grass on the pitch and lesser than usual on the outfield.
- Shiva Thapa advanced to the final with a hard-fought triumph along with Pooja Rani but two other Indians ended with bronze medals.
- Showing solidarity with Shakib Al Hasan, several Bangladesh players posted heartfelt messages on their social media accounts.
- India will play their first day-night Test in Kolkata's Eden Gardens when they take on Bangladesh in the second Test starting on November 22.
- Lionel Messi made it clear he is fit and back to his scintillating best by tearing apart Real Valladolid in a thumping 5-1 victory for Barcelona.
- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said he would submit his resignation, declaring he had hit a ‘dead end’ in trying to resolve a crisis unleashed by huge protests against Lebanon’s ruling elite.
1. International News
- The US House of Representatives plans to take its first formal vote this week on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
- The prime minister will publish a bill that would only need a simple majority to succeed – not two thirds as required in previous attempts.
- The UK parliament has just rejected Boris Johnson’s bid to call a snap general election – for a third time – despite the prime minister arguing it would help “get Brexit done”. But there remains a chance that the UK could have a pre-Christmas election.
- Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong said he had been barred from standing in an upcoming local election, after months of protests in the city.
- International Association of Chiefs of Police, Trump said Chicago with its high rate of murders compared unfavorably with Afghanistan, where the United States has been at war since an invasion triggered by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
- British MPs defeated yet another attempt by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to force an early election, just hours after the European Union agreed to postpone Brexit for up to three months.
- Saudi Arabia inaugurated a three-day high-profile financial summit, being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other world leaders, aimed at drawing foreign investors to help the Gulf Kingdom diversify its oil-based economy.
- A 6.6-magnitude quake struck the southern Philippines, authorities said, rattling buildings and sending terrified locals fleeing into the streets.
- A fast-moving wildfire destroyed at least five multimillion-dollar homes in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles and forced celebrities to flee in the middle of the night.
- Services Hospital night from the anti-graft body’s custody after his platelets dropped to a critical low level of 2,000.
- US forces found Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, he was not in some forgotten border town or remote patch of the desert but in Syria's Idlib province, a place where Baghdadi surely knew he was surrounded by enemies, and eyes.
- The United States Trade Representative is studying whether to extend tariff suspensions on $34 billion of Chinese goods set to expire on Dec. 28 this year, the agency said.
- Organisers say 300 speakers from 30 countries, including American officials and heads of global banks and major sovereign wealth funds, will attend the annual summit that seeks to project the insular kingdom as a dynamic investment destination.
- Supporting Joe Biden, Indian-Americans and members of other Asian-American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community on October 26 launched “AAPIs for Biden” which seeks to help propel Biden for the presidential elections.
- Google’s privacy controls have drawn criticism in the past and the company has taken steps to centralize and make them more transparent, however, options still remain fragmented across multiple settings.mm
- US Defense Secretary also reiterated that while it was very easy for the US to get drawn into continued conflict if objectives were not clear, acting as a police force out to solve every dispute was not America’s mission.
- Dennis Muilenburg is the first company official to publicly testify on Boeing’s role in the tragedies that killed 346 people and badly dented public confidence in the manufacturer.
- The US service dog is said to have sustained blast injuries while chasing ISIS leader, Abu Bakr-al Baghdadi into a tunnel and was being treated for the same.
- Trump, currently mired in an impeachment inquiry, would expect a bump in approval ratings, from the current low of 41% in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, as did President Barack Obama after the killing.
- Donald Trump said the elusive leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed in a daring raid by US special forces in northwest Syria.
- Boeing Co-Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg will acknowledge that the aircraft manufacturer made mistakes, as he appears at a congressional hearing on two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people, according to written testimony made public.
- Pakistan Army danced along with Punjabi pop singer Humaira Arshad at the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army to observe "Kashmir Black Day".
- Two people, aged 74 and 78, were seriously injured in the shooting at 1420 GMT as they tried to prevent the attacker from setting fire to the mosque.
- Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel who served in Iraq and, later, as a diplomat, is prepared to tell House investigators that he listened to President Donald Trump's call with new Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and reported his concerns to the NSC's lead counsel.
- A medical board suggested hernia surgery for Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is currently incarcerated in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) scandal.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Riyadh for a two-day state visit. The Prime Minister is scheduled to attend the third edition of Saudi Arabia’s high-profile annual financial conference and hold bilateral talks with the top leadership of the Gulf Kingdom.
- The Trump administration’s point person for international religious freedom is on a visit to India and met Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamshala, according to the US State Department.
- The HRD Ministry, which is in the process of giving final shape to the new National Education Policy (NEP), has laid down a six-point roadmap for its implementation and decided to conduct a comprehensive review of the implementation status in 2030.
- Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has hit out at the Modi government for allowing the members of the European Parliament to visit Jammu and Kashmir. She said it would have been better if the government had allowed Indian MPs to go to the Valley.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi met King Abdullah II of Jordan in Riyadh and the two leaders exchanged views on working closely together to strengthen the bilateral ties in different sectors, especially in trade and investment.
- Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath was closed on Tuesday for the winter season. Around 1,200 devotees attended the ceremony as the gates of the Himalayan shrine was closed at 8.30 am, temple committee sources said.
- President Ram Nath Kovind, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur, who was attending the event, were all seen making a beeline to inquire after her.
- President Ram Nath Kovind suggested companies to look at ways to contribute more towards social welfare spending for orphans and persons with disabilities.
- The BJP's Devendra Fadnavis said today that no rotational formula was agreed upon with the Shiv Sena, as it has insisted while demanding an equal share of power in Maharashtra.
- Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Bihar opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav has once again found themselves on the same side - against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
- In the BJP-Shiv Sena power tussle that has stalled government formation in Maharashtra despite a majority for the alliance, a Sena leader today delivered a stinging attack with a reference to Haryana.
- European Union MPs, which met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, arrived in Jammu and Kashmir amid questions raised by the opposition on the visit at a time politicians at home have been barred from the state amid heavy restrictions for over two months.
- The Trump administration's point person for international religious freedom is on a visit to India and met Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala, according to the US State Department.
- The AICTE said sharing of faculty at two places or location simultaneously is not permitted.
- Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) begins three-day celebrations from today to mark its Foundation Day including Annual Convocation.
- CBSE or Central Board of Secondary Education, the national level body which conducts secondary and higher secondary certificate exams, will hold the CBSE Class 10 annual exams next year in March.
- Maharashtra’s State Common Entrance Test cell has released the dates for entrance test to admissions in undergraduate (UG) programmes in engineering, pharmacy in agriculture in colleges of Maharashtra. Candidates can download the datesheet from the official website at cetcell.mahacet.org.
- More details on the CBSE Class 10 sample question papers can be found on the official website, cbseacademic.nic.in.
- The Kerala-based South Indian Bank is going ahead with its capital raising plans for which the Board has given its approval to issue Rs 500 crore Tier II bonds.
- After owners of Goodwin Jewellers allegedly fled with crores of customer money, a customer named Sarita Angre revealed she had invested around ₹2 lakh with jewellery shop in Maharashtra’s Dombivli.
- Australian selectors flagged a number of batting spots still up for grabs in the upcoming Test series against Pakistan, with an A side promising a run-off among a number of contenders.
- Roger Federer withdrew from the Paris Masters in order to “pace” himself for the next year, while Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the second round.
- The US special forces raid targeting ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named for Kayla Mueller, a young aid worker who was one of several Americans killed while being held by the ISIS.
- Nirmal Purja, according to a post on his social media account, completed the climb of the 14 mountains, all over 8,000 metres (26,250 feet) in seven months. The previous record was seven years, 11 months and 14 days.
- An Indian-American interventional gastroenterologist, who is focused on developing novel approaches to fight obesity, is among 15 people appointed to the prestigious 2019-2020 Class of White House Fellows, the White House said.
- Justice Bobde, who succeeds Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, will take oath on November 18. Justice Bobde is a former Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. He is due to retire on 23 April 2021.
1. International News
- Rafael Ortiz Fabrega is the first person in his role to visit Guernsey and discussions with local businesses and industry representatives build on trading links first made 150 years ago.
- Jamal Khashoggi was “absolutely required”, a UN official expressed disappointment that the world body’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not demand a criminal investigation into the matter.
- Turkey said there was “coordination” between Ankara and Washington before the operation which US media reports said targeted and killed Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
- US Senate panel reviewing two catastrophic Boeing 737 MAX crashes told Reuters ahead of hearings this week that the plane would not return to US skies until “99.9% of the American public” and policymakers are convinced it is safe.
- Around 350,000 people rallied in downtown Barcelona, turning the streets into a sea of independence flags in the latest mass protest against Spain’s jailing of nine separatist leaders.
- US President Donald Trump announced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of terror group ISIS died during an overnight raid led by US military forces in Syria.
- The Washington Post, one of the most respected newspapers in the world, woke up to a barrage of posts on Twitter mocking the publication over the headline it chose for an obituary notice for ISIS commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
- U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted with boos and a smattering of chants of "Lock him up!" when he appeared on screen at the World Series in Washington on Sunday, even as he celebrated one of the biggest wins of his administration.
- Police found more than 40 skulls, dozens of bones and a fetus in a glass jar next to an altar in the den of suspected drug traffickers in Mexico City during a raid this week, authorities said.
- Texas authorities have no solid information on the shooter who opened fire at a packed college party just after midnight, killing two people and injuring 16 others before vanishing into the fleeing crowd.
- Two Southwest Airlines pilots allegedly hid a camera in a plane's lavatory and live-streamed the video to an iPad mounted on the windshield of the cockpit aboard a flight, according to a lawsuit filed by a fellow flight attendant.
- The biggest wildfire in northern California put 180,000 people under evacuation orders as it spread through the Sonoma wine-growing region, local authorities said.
- Pope Francis said it was time for "predators" to stop plundering the Earth for financial gain, holding up the "scarred face of the Amazon" as a warning.
- Hong Kong citizens have now turned towards getting themselves inked as a way to register their protest and show support to ‘front line’ protestors, who are often seen tangling with the riot police.
- Democratic congresswoman Katie Hill, who has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a staffer in violation of House of Representatives rules, announced her resignation.
- According to a report in Pakistani media, Bilawal reached the Gurdwara Saheb Singh Sabha, here, with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
- The death toll from protests this month has soared to 220, including dozens killed since as they torched government buildings or offices belonging to factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.
- European Council President Donald Tusk said that the 27 countries that will remain in the European Union after Britain leaves agreed to accept London's request for a Brexit extension until 31 January 2020.
- Dubai Municipality inspectors have been cracking down on the illegal sale of fireworks during the festival.
- Delhi and Noida were left reeling under ‘very poor’ pollution levels after Diwali celebrations which saw people bursting crackers to mark the occasion. Post-Diwali air in Delhi plunged to the very poor category, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
- Prince Charles, heir-to-the-British throne, will make an official visit to India next month with a focus on sustainable markets, climate change, and social finance, his office said.
- West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar along with his wife attended the Kali Puja at Mamata Banerjee’s residence and spent more than an hour chatting with the chief minister, members of the cabinet and guests. He also prayed before the idol of Kali and watched the puja.
- The ASI unearthed brick-built structures in varied shapes. The sizes of the bricks were common in the Satavahana/Ikshvaku period of the Krishna valley.
- Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters have successfully evacuated a civilian aircraft, which had recently crashed at the Kedarnath helipad at an altitude of 11,500 feet.
- Air India painted the tail of one of its airplanes with the symbol of "Ik Onkar" as a tribute to the first Sikh Guru Shri Guru Nanak Devji ahead of his birth anniversary on November 12.
- Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala, whose months-old party produced a surprising result in the Haryana Assembly election last week, misspoke a word while taking oath as the deputy chief minister of the state.
- Maharashtra BJP chief and state minister Chandrakant Patil, who won from Kothrud in Pune district in the just concluded Assembly polls, has decided to distribute sarees to women in his constituency as a 'Bhau-beej' gift.
- Jammu and Kashmir is expected to be in the focus of the international community as 27 lawmakers from the European Union is expected to visit the state to get a feel of the ground situation.
- The Shiv Sena made it clear that it would fight for its demand for a 50:50 arrangement on chief ministership in Maharashtra, which the ruling BJP has emphatically disagreed with.
- Pakistan has set up 80 immigration counters at the Kartarpur Corridor to speed up the clearance process of a large number of pilgrims who are expected to visit the holy shrine.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on November 12 to participate in the 'Dev Deepawali' celebrations.
- Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Sengar and his brother Atul Sengar have been granted a 72-hour parole to attend the funeral of their brother Manoj Sengar.
- Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who was recently seen carving corners on a mountainous road on a Royal Enfield Interceptor motorcycle, has cranked his adventure spirit up a notch.
- After Pakistan's move to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi's special flight the use of its airspace, India has complained to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), sources in the government have said.
- Union Minister and Revolutionary Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale said the Shiv Sena should accept the post of Deputy Chief Minister for Aditya Thackeray for five years.
- Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has "disrespected" the mandate given by the people of Haryana and "hurt" the public feeling by allying with the BJP and supporting it in government formation.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who celebrated Diwali with soldiers stationed in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district made a veiled attack on Pakistan, praising the troops for having "foiled a conspiracy to take over Jammu and Kashmir".
- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed deep concern for the safety of the two-year-old boy who fell into an abandoned borewell in a village in Tamil Nadu even as rescue efforts entered into the third day.
- IIM Indore has achieved rank 81 in the FT Rankings in Masters in Management (MiM) 2019. As per the FT Report, this is the 15th edition of the FT ranking of MiM programmes.
- IIT Madras researchers have developed algorithms that enable novel applications for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning to solve engineering problems.
- IIM Calcutta is top among the five Indian institutes that have made their way into Financial Times Master in Management Rankings 2019.
- National Testing Agency or NTA, the national level exam conducting body which organises competitive and eligibility exams, will organise next editions of Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) and Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) on February 3.
- National Testing Agency or NTA, the government agency which conducts competitive and eleigibility exams in the country, will release the UGC NET admit card for the exams scheduled for December first week in two weeks-time.
- Maharashtra state common entrance test cell has released the date sheet for MHT CET 2020 entrance exam for admission to UG programmes in the colleges of Maharashtra.
- Major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Royal Bank of Canada have, as part of regular biannual reviews, cut their estimated values for oil-and-gas companies’ reserves.
- The board of Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. approved a proposal to plow 1.08 trillion rupees ($15 billion) into the fully owned subsidiary, which will, in turn, invest that amount in Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., the conglomerate’s telecommunications venture.
- The RTI application filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an activist based in Madhya Pradesh's Neemuch, revealed that in the first quarter (April-June) of the financial year 2019-20, the railways earned a revenue of Rs 13,398.92 crore from passenger fare.
- The bank has been penalized for "non-compliance with certain provisions of directions issued by RBI on frauds classification and reporting by commercial banks and select FIs directions 2016," the RBI said in a release on October 25.
- "In a holiday-shortened week investors will focus on the next leg of corporate earnings. Auto companies will be in focus as the sector will report a picture of how festive demand has fared in October.
- A three-member NCLAT bench headed by Chairperson Justice S J Mukhopadhaya upheld the order of the NCLT Delhi, which had dismissed the plea of the operational creditor after observing a pre-existence of the dispute over the claims.
- Papua New Guinea will make their first ever appearance at a World Cup after beating Kenya in Dubai to book their place at next year’s T20 World Cup.
- Lewis Hamilton drove to a near-flawless victory, but not yet a sixth drivers’ world championship when he claimed his 10th win of the season for Mercedes at the Mexican Grand Prix.
- Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said that injured midfielder Paul Pogba "needs time to fully recover" and is expected to return not before December.
- The air quality in Delhi dipped to the "very poor" category according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
- Wriddhiman Saha's return to international cricket and the dropping of Rishabh Pant sparked a debate on who should be India's first choice wicketkeeper.
- Former Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has been tapped to become the head of Germany’s car industry lobby, installing a politician from the state that is home to Volkswagen in the influential post, Bild am Sonntag reported.
- Centre-left opposition candidate Alberto Fernández has been elected president of Argentina in a vote dominated by economic concerns.
- US lawmaker Katie Hill has announced her resignation from Congress, following allegations that she had an affair with a Capitol Hill aide.
- The longest-serving black member of the US Congress, John Conyers, has died at home at the age of 90, police in Detroit say.
1. International News
- Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera has dismissed his whole cabinet in order to form a new government and introduce social reforms demanded by protesters.
- Voters in Uruguay are going to the polls to elect a new president, with rising crime a leading concern. Outgoing President Tabaré Vázquez of the left-wing Broad Front coalition will not be running, as presidents are prohibited from serving consecutive terms.
- North Korea said there has been no progress in the North Korea-United States relations, and hostilities that could lead to an exchange of fire have continued, according to North Korea’s state news agency KCNA.
- Belgian Budget Minister Sophie Wilmes has been chosen as the country’s new caretaker prime minister — a first for a woman, the current premier Charles Michel said.
- Hong Kong riot police fired volleys of tear gas to try to disperse thousands of protesters, many wearing now-banned face masks, who converged on the Kowloon harbor front to denounce perceived police brutality over months of unrest.
- In Berlin she posed outside a beer garden, a beaming smile upon her face. In Brussels, she sipped sugary bubble tea and posed on the steps of the old stock exchange. To anyone else, she was another tourist.
- Helicopter gunfire early killed nine people near a northwestern Syrian village where "groups linked to the ISIS group" were present, said a Britain-based war monitor with sources inside Syria.
- US President Donald Trump had directed his former Defence Secretary James Mattis to "screw Amazon' out of Pentagon's $10 billion cloud computing contract, his former speechwriter and communications director claimed in an upcoming book.
- ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was believed to be dead after a US military raid in Syria's Idlib region, US media reported early.
- Donald Trump's airplane for a ride to Palm Beach, Florida, where the two toured Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort before attending the Super Bowl in Miami.
- The White House announced late that President Donald Trump will make a "major statement", amid unconfirmed media reports of a military operation against the ISIS in Syria.
- A quarter-century after grunge's enigmatic rhapsodist took his own life, Kurt Cobain's iconic cigarette-singed cardigan worn during Nirvana's 1993 "Unplugged" performance has sold for $334,000.
- Australia's most notorious serial killer Ivan Milat, whose murder of seven young backpackers in the 1990s terrified the country, has died in hospital, officials said.
- US officials ordered about 50,000 people to evacuate parts of the San Francisco Bay area in California as hot dry winds are forecast to fan raging wildfires.
- More than 60 people have died in renewed anti-government protests across Iraq, officials said, with clashes breaking out as demonstrators turned their fury against the government and paramilitary offices.
- Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif suffered angina pain while undergoing treatment at a Lahore hospital, according to a media report.
- Britain has "paused" production of a commemorative coin to mark its exit from the European Union, which looks set to be delayed next week for the third time.
- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would "clear terrorists" on its border in northern Syria if Syrian Kurdish militia did not withdraw by the end of a deadline agreed with Russia.
- Top US lawmakers, including Indian-origin legislators Kamala Harris, Pramila Jayapal, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna and Ami Bera, celebrated Diwali and underlined that the festival reminds one to welcome positivity in their lives.
- India, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed happiness over her scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the upcoming fifth biennial Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) in New Delhi.
- Isak Muivah faction of the NSCN, keen to push the talks beyond the October 31 deadline to negotiate its demands, sought to put the blame on Nagaland governor and interlocutor RN Ravi over the “failure” to consult civil society organizations.
- The Union government will use Aadhaar-based data generated from key farm-sector programs such as PM-KISAN and soil health cards to build a new farmers’ database.
- Two MLAs from a small party in Maharashtra's Vidarbha today extended support to the Shiv Sena, increasing its bargaining power with ally BJP over power-sharing.
- Congress leader DK Shivakumar said that party president Sonia Gandhi standing by him when he was arrested is a message for the whole country that the party stands by its workers.
- Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters have successfully evacuated a civilian aircraft, which had recently crashed at the Kedarnath helipad at an altitude of 11,500 feet.
- Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has warned allies BJP that it, and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, has the "remote control of power" in Maharashtra, despite having secured far fewer seats in Assembly elections
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Rajouri district to celebrate Diwali with Army troops guarding the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
- The shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir, after the Centre stripped its special status under Article 370, has led to losses to the tune of Rs. 10,000 crore in three months, a trade body has said.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched the idea of "Festival Tourism" and said that we must try to popularise our festivals and invite people from other states and countries to join the festivities.
- Cyclone Kyarr, a tropical storm that formed in the Arabian Sea, is likely to cause heavy rain in coastal Karnataka, the weather office said.
- Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) ate into the votes of the Congress-NCP and ensured the defeat of the opposition alliance in 25 assembly seats in Maharashtra, the Congress alleged.
- The UGC said the HEIs can play a significant role in ensuring the safety of women and providing healthy environment by putting in place foolproof mechanisms and impregnable standards of safety.
- Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Bhilai has invited online applications to fill 296 posts of Operator cum Technician, Attendant, Pharmacist, Fireman cum Fire Engine Driver, Jr Staff Nurse and others.
- IIM Calcutta has again achieved 100% summer placement for its MBA batch. 136 participating firms offered nearly 200 roles to the class of 2021.
- School going children in Madhya Pradesh will soon be educated following the Science Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education model.
- State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra has released update on MHT CET 2020 exam.
- The integration of IT platforms of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), PNB and United Bank of India (UBI) may take at least six months after their merger, OBC CEO Mukesh Jain said.
- The all-important Net Interest Income (NII) increased to Rs 24,600 crore in Q2FY20 from Rs 20,906 crore in Q2FY19, an increase of 17.67 per cent YoY.
- The change in starting a business front in India was registered by the World Bank. Simply put, India is not a place for starting a business.
- After gyrating over 486 points, the 30-share Sensex settled 38.44 points, or 0.10 per cent, lower at 39,020.39. It hit an intra-day low of 38,840.76 and a high of 39,327.15.
- Opener David Warner thumped a maiden Twenty20 international century as Australia kicked off their home summer with a 134-run thrashing of Sri Lanka at Adelaide Oval.
- South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis suggested doing away with the toss in Test cricket as it would help teams compete better when they travel away from home. Faf du Plessis was speaking after his team suffered a 3-0 loss to India where the second and third Test matches followed almost an exact blueprint for the home side India.
- Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka overpowered top seed Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-2 in the final of the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai to lift her third singles title of the year in China.
- Former Ghanaian World Cupper Asamoah Gyan handed NorthEast United FC their first win in the Indian Super League (ISL) Season 6 after netting the winner in a 2-1 victory over Odisha FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium here.
- New Zealand rugby team’s haka, a traditional war-dance, is a menacing sight not just for the opposition but even for those sitting in the stadium or watching it on television.
- Gujarat-born Pranav Mistry, the Global Senior Vice President at South Korean firm Samsung Electronics, has been appointed as the CEO and President of Samsung Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Labs.
- Haryana Chief Minister-elect Manohar Lal Khattar will take oath as Haryana’s new chief minister. Manohar Lal Khattar will be the first non-Congress chief minister in 53 years to form his second successive government.
- Former Punjab BJP president and senior party leader Kamal Sharma passed away after suffering a heart attack in Ferozepur district.
1. International News
- A Russian serviceman has shot dead eight fellow soldiers and seriously injured two more on a military base in the country’s the Far East, officials say.
- The United States will suspend all scheduled flights to Cuba except to its capital Havana, authorities said, as US President Donald Trump pushes to dismantle the rapprochement begun by his predecessor Barack Obama
- U.S. and Chinese officials are “close to finalizing” some parts of a trade agreement after high-level telephone discussions, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said, adding that deputy-level talks would proceed “continuously.”
- A Bangladesh MP was expelled from university after allegedly hiring as many as eight lookalikes to take exams in her place, according to a report.
- Nawaz Sharif had earlier been rushed to the hospital after his personal physician raised an alarm about his deteriorating health.
- Investigators are checking security camera footage that showed a man reaching toward a showcase during the suspected time of theft.
- The fire burned at least 49 buildings and 34 square miles (65 square kilometers) and prompted evacuation orders for some 2,000 people. No serious injuries were reported.
- Tariffs imposed on President Donald Trump’s multi-front trade confrontations brought in USD 30 billion in the year ended September 30, according to the Treasury.
- The tweet appeared to be directed at Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook, who has dined with Trump at least twice and has discussed trade issues with the president on multiple occasions.
- The judge gave the Justice Department until next to provide the blacked-out material from the Mueller report that was subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee.
- The UN secretary-general will engage whenever he can with the two nations on the issue, his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at a press briefing in New York.
- Article 370 of the Constitution that gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir and passed a bill to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories. Several security restrictions were imposed in J&K following the decision.
- The US department of justice has turned an administrative review of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections into a criminal probe.
- While the United States has pushed India on Kashmir, it has also kept in its cross-hairs Pakistan-based terrorist groups that have created violence in the area and have been a “destabilizing” force.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison’s special invite to Indians encouraging them to visit Down Under for the T20 World Cup next year will surely resonate with all the countrymen.
- Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer Baldev Singh today presented the list of 288 MLAs elected in the October 21 state polls to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.
- The Supreme Court agreed to examine the plea which raises questions about the laws on custody and guardianship of children in the country in the absence of shared parentage and entrusting the custody of the child exclusively to one parent in case of separation of spouses.
- The Bahujan Samaj Party has blamed the ruling BJP for its debacle in Uttar Pradesh, saying it helped the Samajwadi Party win some seats.
- The Vice President expressed regret over the “misuse” of the forum of Non-Aligned Movement by Pakistan to justify its long-standing policy of conducting cross border terrorism against its neighbors, including in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
- The victim, a class 5 pass-out, works in a local garment shop and had stepped out of the house on the night of October 14 to attend the engagement function of a friend.
- Andaman man Amrit Kujur had started from the Andaman Islands, approximately 750 nautical miles or 1300 km from Odisha coast, on October 28 with his friend to sell provisions as well as potable water to other ships in the Andaman sea.
- Infiltration has been a matter of intense political controversy in Bengal, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) have locked horns over the former’s threat to drive out infiltrators.
- Nagaland’s Governor RN Ravi indicated last week, after a meeting with civil society groups, tribal outfits, and church bodies, that the talks won’t continue beyond October 31 and the final agreement could be signed even without NSCN-IM.
- NSCN-IM, NNPGs, are in talks with the Centre since 2017 and willing for a final agreement without insisting on a separate flag and constitution. Yeputhomi said it will be done without “compromising” on Naga history and identity.
- Goa CM Pramod Sawant has written to Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar after his ministry exempted Karnataka’s Mahadayi project from green clearance.
- The Assam government’s move follows a controversy over the refusal of a family to accept the body of a declared foreigner who died in a detention center, months after the National Register of Citizens (NRC) published on August 31 left out 1.9 million people.
- The officer-in-charge of Radhakishorepur police station Suman Das wrote a letter to Udaipur’s sub-divisional magistrate, saying that the supposed sadhu was Shankar Chandra Naha, a resident of Fulkumari, a village 6km from Udaipur.
- The six communities – Pallar, Kudumbar, Devendrakulathar, Pannadi, Mopar and Kaalaadi - are sub-sects of the predominantly agrarian Pallar caste, which is mostly concentrated in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
- The Left-affiliated AISA accused the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration of not paying the salaries of contractual staff.
- Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has declared the results of engineering services main exam that was conducted in the month of June 2019.
- The SSC MTS Paper 1 result 2019 will be declared on November 5, 2019. The tentative date for declaration of SSC MTS Paper 1 result 2019 was October 25, but the commission issued a notification saying that the firm date for declaration of SSC MTS paper 1 result is November 5.
- Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Bhilai has invited online applications to fill 296 posts of Operator cum Technician, Attendant, Pharmacist, Fireman cum Fire Engine Driver, Jr Staff Nurse, and others. Application begins today.
- UPSC NDA admit card 2019: UPSC has released the admit card for National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (II) 2019 on its official website.
- IBPS Officer Scale-II and Scale III Result 2019, ibps.in: The IBPS Officer Scale-II and Scale II single exam result was declared on Friday by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection.
- The letter says the delay in filling up vacant positions of faculty members “will be viewed seriously and lead to appropriate actions by the UGC against such institutions.”
- IIM Calcutta repeated its feat of 100% summer placements for the 56th batch of 480 of the MBA programme. 136 participating firms offered nearly 200 roles to the class of 2021
- Public lender State Bank of India (SBI) reported a standalone net profit of Rs 3,012 crore for the September quarter of FY20 (Q2FY20), up 218 per cent YoY, from a profit of Rs 944.87 crore reported in Q2FY19.
- At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 71.06, showing a decline of 4 paise over its previous closing.
- India has jumped 14 places to rank 63rd in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking index and the country aims to be within 50 in the next few years.
- Reigning champions New Zealand and England clash in a heavyweight Rugby World Cup semi-final after a build-up marked by spying claims and a game of tactical cat-and-mouse.
- As per VJD method, Karnataka should have been 86/1 in 23 overs. Karnataka are well ahead with 146/1, 23 overs.
- Hosts South Africa will open their campaign against Afghanistan in next year’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, a tournament that showcases the world’s future cricket stars.
- Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has lost the title as the world’s richest man, paving the way for tenacious Bill Gates to grab the top spot after Amazon’s lacklustre Q3 results resulted in Bezos losing nearly $7 billion in stock value.
- Premier speedster Jasprit Bumrah and batswoman Smriti Mandhana are the two Indian names among the five winners of the prestigious Wisden India Almanack Cricketer of the Year award which was announced.
- Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi (58) the 5 and current President of Botswana (interim), has won a 5-year term in Botswana’s elections for President role which saw his ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) attains the minimum 29 parliamentary seats required to form a government after securing more than 51 % vote.
- Shri Godavarthi Venkata Srinivas, presently Ambassador of India to the Republic of Senegal, has been concurrently accredited as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Gambia, with residence in Dakar.
- The Centre appointed 29 joint secretaries in different government departments as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected by it.
- NASA will send a golf cart-sized robot to the moon in 2022 to search for deposits of water below the surface, an effort to evaluate the vital resource ahead of a planned human return to the moon in 2024 to possibly use it for astronauts to drink and to make rocket fuel, the U.S. space agency said.
- Former Gujarat Chief Minister Dilip Parikh passed away. He was 82 and took his last breath at a private hospital in Ahmedabad following a prolonged illness.
1. International News
- Police have begun the process of moving the bodies of 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lorry in Essex.
- Bolivian President Evo Morales has been declared the winner of the country’s elections, according to the electoral tribunal (TSE).
- Britain and other European countries must accept some responsibility for the deaths of 39 people, believed to be Chinese nationals, found dead in a refrigerated truck near London, the state-backed Global Times said.
- Donald Trump’s lawyers have claimed the president could shoot somebody on New York’s Fifth Avenue and get away with it. The city’s mayor disagrees.
- A design flaw, inadequate pilot training, and poor flight crew performance contributed to a Boeing jet crashing in Indonesia last year, killing all 189 people on board, investigators said.
- US presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard's campaign announced that the Hawaiian Democrat will not seek congressional re-election, so as to focus on her 2020 bid for the highest elected office in the United States.
- The US Coast Guard was searching early for a 26-year-old man who went overboard from a Carnival Cruise ship about 47 miles (76 km) out in the Gulf of Mexico, near the port of Galveston in Texas.
- Berlin's despised Wall went up in 1961, the divided city overnight became an imposing landscape of barbed wire and guards with shoot-to-kill orders.
- The Solomon Islands government says a deal signed by one of its provinces to lease the entire island of Tulagi to a Chinese company is unlawful and should be terminated.
- Japanese police were on the hunt for a stolen diamond worth more than $1.8 million after the pricey piece was discovered missing from a jewelry trade show outside Tokyo.
- Hundreds of tourists flocked to Uluru for one last chance to climb the sacred site ahead of a ban, despite heavy winds preventing early attempts to scale the giant red monolith.
- Expressing concern over the ''detention'' of Pakistani women's rights activist Gulalai Ismail's father in Pakistan and continued harassment faced by her family, US urged Islamabad to uphold the rights of citizens.
- Need a fail-proof recipe for instant billionaire Just take the 24-year-old son of pharmaceutical moguls and add $3.8 billion in shares from the family business, gratis.
- President Donald Trump doesn't like what he reads in two of America's biggest newspapers, The New York Times and Washington Post so he won't be getting them any longer.
- The UK parliament narrowly approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson's annual legislative program, delivering his minority government a symbolic win as he pushed for a snap general election.
- Spain exhumed the embalmed body of Francisco Franco from a grandiose state mausoleum ahead of its relocation to a more discreet grave in a country still conflicted over the dictator's decades-long regime.
- Denmark's parliament passed a controversial law allowing the government to strip dual-national suspected jihadists of their citizenship to stop them from returning to Danish soil.
- US President Donald Trump is ready to mediate between India and Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir only if asked by both the countries, a senior administration official said reiterating that the onus for peace talks lies on Islamabad by taking sustained and irreversible actions against terrorist groups.
- The United States sought from India a “roadmap” to political and economic normalcy in Kashmir and immediate release of all political detainees, adding that it has seen “progress” in easing of restrictions.
- Union Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that the government is targeting to become one of the top 25 countries in ease of doing business by the year 2024.
- Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar left for Delhi on October 25 morning to meet senior party leaders and discuss a way forward as the ruling BJP emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats in a hung assembly.
- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said the South American nation will drop its requirement that visiting Chinese and Indian tourists or businesspeople obtain visas.
- The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the disqualification of 17 Karnataka MLAs before the trust vote moved by the previous HD Kumaraswamy government.
- Calling the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) victory in the Bihar Assembly by-polls a win for the "Jinnah ideology", Union Minister and senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh said the verdict posed a "threat to the social integrity" of the state.
- The decision by opposition parties to go solo in the Uttar Pradesh by-polls helped expose the BJP's "darker side" and effectively conveyed the message of their "failure", Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said.
- US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells welcomed the agreement between India and Pakistan on the Kartarpur Corridor.
- The Mizoram government has "rejected" the center's proposal to amend the Indian Forest Act, 1927, as the proposed amendments are in "conflict" with the special provisions the state enjoys under Article 371G of the constitution, an official said.
- Ahmedabad-based HCP Design Planning has been chosen as the architectural consultant for the ambitious redevelopment of the Parliament building.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised the Tamil Nadu government and Chief Minister K Palaniswami for the "excellent arrangements" done for the second Sino-India informal summit held near Chennai recently.
- The exhibition cum e-auctioning of mementos received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew to a close with the highest bid of Rs. 25 lakh for a painting of the PM with Mahatma Gandhi, a statement from the government said.
- PM Modi today congratulated winning candidates from Block Development Council (BDC) polls held in Jammu and Kashmir, declaring that the election marked the "dawn of new and youthful leadership"
- With thousands of workers painstakingly handmaking vast volumes of firecrackers, Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu is usually at full tilt before Diwali. But due to efforts to curb air pollution, the pyrotechnics epicenter is fizzling out.
- All the owners of 343 flats in four illegally constructed high-end buildings in Kochi that have been scheduled for demolition will get a uniform interim compensation of Rs. 25 lakh, the Supreme Court said.
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is known to walk on the treadmill every day. But for the first time, she was seen out on a jog in the hills of Darjeeling.
- Abolishing the no-detention policy, the West Bengal government has decided to bring back the ”pass-fail” system in classes five and eight from the next academic session, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said.
- Himachal Pradesh forest department has invited online applications for recruitment to the posts of Forest guards, October 23, 2019.
- Tamil Nadu board has extended the board exam duration to 3 hours. Board exam for class 10, 11, and 12 students will be held in March-April next year.
- Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) has declared the combined civil services (Group-II services) main examination results 2019 on the official website of the commission.
- The state government approved the recruitment in Mohali Medical College (MMC) in a bid to provide affordable healthcare and diagnostic services to the public and to offer an opportunity for students to pursue a career in medical education.
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) claimed that its researchers have shown a simple route to produce graphene platelets from graphite.
- Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the admit cards for the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (II) 2019.
- Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) will hold Assam Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2019 on November 10.
- The Board also asked the schools and students to go through the Class 10 and Class 12 syllabus uploaded by CBSE on website.
- PNB Housing Finance gained 13 percent intraday on October 25 after the company reported better-than-expected numbers in the September quarter.
- Country's largest lender State Bank of India has reported a more than three-fold increase in Q2 FY20 profit, despite higher provisions, with an improvement in asset quality
- Nicolas Pepe finally lived up to his price tag as he came off the bench to lead Arsenal to a 3-2 comeback victory over Vitūria with perfectly executed free kicks in the Europa League.
- Mumbai City FC’s new big buy Amine Chermiti scored a late goal as the team defeated Kerala Blasters 1-0 in the Hero Indian Super League here.
- Government of India (GoI), Arvind Singh (1988 batch IAS – Indian Administrative Service officer of Maharashtra cadre) has been appointed as the chairman of Airports Authority of India(AAI) in the rank and pay of additional secretary.
- Ndegwa joins Safaricom from alcoholic drinks company Diageo where he was the Managing Director of Diageo Continental Europe, the first African to hold the role.
- BV Krishnan, the CEO of KKR’s lending business in India has stepped down after a decade of heading the business.
- Astronomers dedicated to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) have announced a new collaboration with scientists working on a NASA telescope.
1. International News
- Downing Street has dismissed reports of disagreements within Boris Johnson’s government over how to move forward with the Brexit process.
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the demolition of all hotels and other buildings constructed by South Korea at a famous tourist site.
- More than 100 prisoners of the Islamic State extremist movement have escaped in Syria in the chaos since Turkey’s incursion, a senior US official said.
- Hong Kong might be heading for a recession after months of violent protests but that hasn’t stopped one businessman from forking out almost $1 million for a parking spot.
- Syrian and Russian forces will deploy in northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey under a deal agreed with which both Moscow and Ankara hailed as a triumph.
- Hundreds of journalists called for European officials to take action against Google over its refusal to pay media companies for displaying their content in defiance of a strict new EU copyright law.
- OPEC member is struggling to pay its debts after oil prices collapsed in 2014. The government has piled up arrears of almost 19% of its gross domestic product with construction firms, according to the World Bank.
- British lawmakers blocked Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attempt to fast-track his Brexit bill through Parliament so that the U.K. can leave the bloc as scheduled on Oct. 31.
- The long-planned operation started after Donald Trump announced the exit of the small, but politically significant US military force from Syria which had until then been closely allied with the Kurds.
- The development comes amid reports that many Ukrainian MPs, sitting on a committee responsible for examining draft legislation took bribes to block an anti-corruption law.
- The sanctions were announced by the United States on October 14 after Turkey invaded areas held by Syrian Kurds in northeastern Syria, which had followed Trump’s withdrawal of American troops deployed in the area, for which he was widely criticized at home by both critics and allies.
- A Singapore restaurant suspended a bizarre promotional stunt where customers use an arcade-style machine with a mechanical claw to catch live crabs after it sparked uproar online.
- Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed his resolve not to cave in to pressure from his political rival and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazl who has called for the anti-government "Azadi March" on October 31 in Islamabad.
- Donald Trump has made building a barrier to stop migrants on the US-Mexico border a central plank of his presidency but came up with a puzzling new twist to the initiative: a wall in Colorado.
- Maria Butina, the red-headed gun advocate from Russian who built a network of high-level Republican contacts before being arrested for spying, is expected to return to her country after her Friday release from a Florida prison.
- The American troops withdrawing from Syria will stay in Iraq "temporarily" before returning to the United States, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said.
- Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered the Punjab government to ensure that former premier Nawaz Sharif gets the best possible medical care, media reports said.
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ruled out forming a coalition government despite an election victory that left his Liberals short of a majority.
- The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government reduced fines for traffic offences under the new Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019.
- Supreme Court is set to examine the point of law whether any restrictions other than those permitted in Article 19 (2) of the Constitution, dealing with free speech, can be imposed on lawmakers on the ground that it violates another persons’ right to lead a dignified life.
- Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala has lost the Kaithal constituency in the Haryana Assembly elections.
- Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will get two helicopters on lease to effectively work in remote areas. It has been a long pending demand of the ITBP to have helicopters to reach remote and hilly areas.
- The Income Tax (I-T) Department has unearthed tax evasion of over Rs 1,000 crore also involving hawala transactions and money laundering allegedly by Delhi-based Alankit Group
- Maharashtra, BJP-Shiv Sena is set to return to power, the alliance is currently leading on 178 seats, while Haryana is currently witnessing a close fight. The BJP’s lead has shrunk from 46 to 42, while the Congress’s tally, leading in 33 seats currently, has significantly increased in comparison to 2014.
- In Kerala, the CPM-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front have made some stellar wins in the by-elections. The UDF has won three of the five constituencies, and the LDF two.
- Nearly 100 percent polling was recorded in Jammu district in the maiden Block Development Council (BDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said he had tackled similar issues which his party colleague Praful Patel is facing at present.
- The people of Haryana have given the BJP a fitting reply, Congress leader Kumari Selja told NDTV today, as counting of votes for showed an unexpectedly close race in Assembly elections
- The Congress and its allies had floundered in the run-up to the October 21 elections, with many of their leaders switching to the more powerful BJP in search of greener political pastures.
- MLA and a former minister in Haryana has retained her seat as votes were counted for state elections held four days ago. She is set for her fourth term as MLA in Haryana.
- The ruling Congress won the Chitrakot Assembly by-poll in Chhattisgarh, poll officials said. Congress' Ramjan Benzam won the by-poll from the Naxal-affected constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes, by a margin of 17,862 votes against Lachhuram Kashyap of the BJP.
- The ruling Congress emerged victorious in the by-polls to the Phagwara and Jalalabad assembly segments. Congress candidate Raminder Awla defeated SAD nominee Raj Singh Dibipura by 16,633 votes from Jalalabad, considered an Akali bastion.
- The seat was vacated by former Congress minister Adoor Prakash after he won the Attingal Lok Sabha polls.
- Pankaja Munde, a BJP leader and minister in the Maharashtra government, has accepted defeat in the state elections whose results were announced today, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has partnered with NTT DATA Services, a global technology services firm, to support and encourage entrepreneurship among recent graduates who are working on path-breaking technologies with socioeconomic impact in the fields of agriculture, healthcare, energy, water & sanitation, and education.
- Pondicherry University is ranked 51-55 category among Indian Universities in the QS India University Rankings 2020 released.
- NIT Delhi Recruitment 2019: The National Institute of Technology Delhi has released an official notification inviting all the interested, eligible candidates for Superintendent, Technical Assistant and other posts.
- Pondicherry Engineering College (PMC) students of 2019-2020 batch are attending campus placement drives from July 2019 onwards and 215 students are placed from 23 Companies.
- Anna University ranklist has been released for both Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) students at annauniv.edu.
- Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will observe Vigilance Awareness Week (VAW) from October 28 to November 2, 2019.
- The meritorious students of government schools in Rajasthan would be rewarded with one free air travel, once they topped the class 10 and 12 Board examinations.
- Public sector lender Indian BankNSE 0.00 %’s September quarter profit grew 139 per cent to Rs 359 crore while the total income rose 18 per cent.
- HDFC Life Insurance has registered a 7.56 per cent in net profit to ₹308.69 crore in the second quarter of the fiscal, against ₹286.98 crore a year ago.
- Rita Ramalho, a senior manager in the World Bank’s global indicators group and one of the main authors of the “Doing Business 2020” report.
- The ₹56,000 crore merger and revival plan for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) was approved by the Union cabinet. MTNL operates in Delhi and Mumbai, and BSNL in the rest of India.
- After swinging over 330 points in a choppy session, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 94.99 points, or 0.24 per cent, higher at 39,058.83.
- Defending champions India have been pooled with New Zealand, Sri Lanka and debutant Japan in Group A.
- India vs South Africa Test Series was held in India in which India won the 3 match series by 3-0. It was the first time that India whitewashed South Africa in the history of Test cricket.
- BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal also said that his top priorities would be to increase the Board's revenue and improve the financial position of first-class cricketers.
- The BCCI officials have taken note that lack of proper planning has led to a scenario where teams like Mumbai and Punjab had to miss out on an opportunity to fight it out for ultimate glory.
- Yuvraj Singh has been named Maratha Arabians' Indian icon player for the upcoming Abu Dhabi T10 tournament
- India jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking released, riding high on the government’s flagship ”Make in India” scheme and other reforms attracting foreign investment.
- Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and Indian badminton player PV Sindhu were named the ambassadors for Bharat Ki Laxmi.
- Bengaluru-based home rental startup NestAway’s Co-founder Smruti Parida has exited the startup after he announced his departure as the platform’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
- Saudi Arabia appointed a prince with diplomatic experience in Western capitals as foreign minister in a partial cabinet reshuffle as the kingdom tries to mend its international image and prepares to take over the Group of 20 presidency.
- Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala resigned after election trends showed both the ruling party and the Congress being locked in a tough contest with no one looking set to attain majority on its own in the 90-member assembly.
- Belgian Paralympian Marieke Vervoort has ended her own life through euthanasia at the age of 40. Vervoort, who won gold and silver at the London 2012 Paralympics, and two further medals at Rio 2016, had an incurable degenerative muscle disease.
1. International News
- The PM will push for a general election if the EU proposes to delay Brexit until January, No 10 has indicated.
- Turkey and Russia have agreed what they called a “historic” deal aimed at keeping Kurdish forces away from Syria’s border with Turkey.
- China is drawing up a plan to replace Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam with an “interim” chief executive, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the deliberations, which would bring to a close Lam’s rule after months of often-violent pro-democracy protests.
- Like most college campuses in early 2003, Harvard University was atwitter on one issue in particular: the imminent Iraq invasion.
- All 189 passengers and crew were killed when the Boeing 737 MAX slammed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on October 29 last year.
- The Essex police said they were called by colleagues from the ambulance service shortly before 1.40 am following the discovery of a lorry container with people inside at Waterglade Industrial Park, Eastern Avenue, Grays. The 39 people were pronounced dead at the scene.
- Johnson, who earlier in the day said he would withdraw the bill if he lost the timetable motion and go for a general election, said after losing that he would “pause” it and discuss with EU leaders the next course of action.
- With 24 seats in its kitty, the NDP has lost nearly 50 percent of the seats it had won in 2015. The party, led by Thomas Mulcair, had won 44 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons in 2015.
- The White House rejected damning testimony from a US diplomat in Donald Trump’s impeachment probe as part of a “smear campaign” from the far left of the Democratic Party.
- Trudeau’s Liberal Party took the most seats in parliament but lost its majority in the balloting. That means it will have to rely on an opposition party to pass legislation.
- British lawmakers rejected the government’s proposed timetable for passing legislation to ratify its Brexit deal, leaving Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vow to leave the European Union by the end of the month in doubt.
- MPs will vote on whether they support a new divorce deal struck with the European Union last week ahead of Britain’s October 31 scheduled departure from the bloc
- Terror needs to be eradicated, so rights and freedoms mean something, a top Indian-American attorney has said as several US lawmakers underscored the importance of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir after the revocation of its special status.
- The Supreme Court refused to accept the CBI contention that ”flight risk” of economic offenders be viewed as a “national phenomenon” because several such persons including industrialist Vijay Mallya have fled the country.
- As Tamil Nadu continues to battle heavy rainfall, a flood warning has been issued for 12 districts that are in the downstream sides of the Cauvery River.
- A Delhi court dismissed a complaint against BJP MP Gautam Gambhir by AAP leader Atishi Marlena who accused him of concealing the information that he was enrolled as a voter in two Assembly constituencies of Delhi, an offense punishable under law.
- Relations between India and Turkey strained lately after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the 73rd UN General Assembly session, made statements against abrogation of Article 370 by New Delhi.
- DK Shivakumar had played a key role in a shelter the Congress’s Gujarat lawmakers ahead of a crucial Rajya Sabha election in 2017.
- Chidambaram’s request for bail comes just a day after the SC granted him bail in a related case probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, rejecting the Centre’s argument that he could influence witnesses if set free.
- Chief minister Raghubar Das said leaders from other parties are joining the BJP inspired by the politics of development and nationalism.
- Earlier, the limit for them was Rs 1,500. Group ‘C’ employees will be able to accept gifts of up to Rs 2,000 value instead of Rs 500 without taking government approval.
- ITBP chief SS Deswal said there has not been any major incident of incursion by Chinese troops post Malappuram meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
- Navjot Kaur Sidhu also clarified on her husband’s status in the Congress, insisting that rumors that he was preparing to leave the Congress and headed to the Bharatiya Janata Party weren’t true.
- Attention candidates, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) have released the official notification for the combined graduate level examination (CGL) 2019 tier- 1 for recruitment of Group B’ and Group C’ posts in various Ministries/ Departments/ Organizations in the Government of India.
- The Left-affiliated All India Students’ Association (AISA) on Tuesday accused the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s administration of “curtailing students’ freedom of movement” by closing the gates of School of International Studies as early as 6 pm.
- Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has decided to link payout of a list of additional benefits for staff members with performance against a series of parameters at the end of every month through the remainder of 2019-20.
- US shared office space startup WeWork and SoftBank Group have confirmed an up to $8-billion fund infusion, where SoftBank will commit $5 billion, while a $3-billion tender offer will be issued in buybacks for shareholders.
- Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk is one of the seven Liverpool players on the 30-man shortlist for this year’s Ballon d’Or.
- The Asian Academy Creative Awards 2019 Regional Winners were announced. The awards will be presented over two nights on December 5 and 6, 2019 at the Victoria Theatre, Singapore.
- Sporting goods giant Nike named a new CEO to take over from Mark Parker, who will continue to lead the company’s board of directors.
- Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has been formally elected unopposed as the new Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president. Ganguly formally took over as the new boss at the apex body’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai.
- Ashok Malik, former press secretary to the president, has been appointed as policy advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs with the rank of additional secretary, an order by the Department of Personnel and Training said.
- A senior US official who penned a newspaper column anonymously last year warning of the dangers of President Donald Trump is coming out with a book.
1. International News
- Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has retained power but as a minority government, according to projections by Canada’s national broadcaster, CBC.
- Clashes have broken out in Bolivia as President Evo Morales appeared set to win re-election in controversial circumstances.
- Israel’s long-standing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he cannot form a government, handing the opportunity to his political rival.
- Japan’s Emperor Naruhito will be a tightly choreographed and solemn affair, steeped in ritual, that cements his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
- The deadline for the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from areas in northeastern Syria expires at 1900 GMT, a Turkish military source said, as part of a 120-hour suspension agreed between Ankara and Washington. “It started at 10 pm. so it finishes at 10 pm,” the source said.
- Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners vowed to stage a major march at the weekend despite police ruling the rally illegal, setting the scene for possibly more unrest in the Chinese-ruled city, battered by months of violent protests.
- The Americans are developing a spacecraft (Orion) and a mini space station (Gateway) that will remain in lunar orbit, which will, in theory, be used for a first crewed mission in 2024, Artemis 3.
- Pakistan’s laws and policies continue to discriminate against members because of their faith, said Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice G Wells.
- The 48-year-old Australian is fighting a United States bid to extradite him on charges filed under the US Espionage Act, and sat in the witness box as a London court decided the timetable of his full hearing, due to begin in February.
- Polls indicate Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party could lose to the rival Conservatives, or perhaps win but still fail to get a majority of seats in Parliament and have to rely on an opposition party to remain in power
- In a statement circulated to WTO members, China claimed the penalty was justified given the “United States continued non-compliance” with previous WTO rulings.
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered another setback when the House of Commons speaker refused permission to allow another vote on the Brexit agreement he reached with Brussels on Thursday last, on the ground that it would be repetitive.
- The theme of the conference was “Intelligent Interconnection for Openness and Cooperation Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace,” and brought together more than 1,500 participants from over 80 countries and regions.
- The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the law which criminalizes instant “triple talaq”.
- The current phase of Indo-US ties has its roots in the 1971 Bangladesh crisis as the two nations could develop a parallel approach on key areas of security and economy in spite of opposite views, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said.
- The Assam Cabinet decided that from 2021, it will not give government jobs to people having more than two children.
- Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that trade talks between India and the US are on the “right track” and New Delhi is creating a single window for American investments in India.
- Rajnath Singh, who was addressing the media at the Naval Commanders conference in New Delhi, said that India has never been offensive but the armed forces are capable of giving a befitting reply.
- Army shows the shells, of 120 mm each, being lifted by the engineering columns of the Army into containers and placed in pits for controlled explosions. The mortars can be seen exploding moments after the jawans walk away from the site.
- CPM leader Rakhal Majumder, in a press communiqué, said that the BJP-IPFT government was trying to halt the activities of the ADC administration.
- Prime minister Modi won from Varanasi for the second time in this year’s parliamentary election and have held such interactions with BJP workers from his constituency and other parts of the country in the past as well.
- Assam Assembly had passed the ‘Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam’ that specified that job candidates with two children only would be eligible for government employment and the existing government staff were to strictly.
- Banerjee last week went to sleep for an hour after getting to know that he had got the coveted award in Economics jointly with Esther Duflo - his wife - and Michael Kremer.
- India and Pakistan is based on Pakistan taking sustained and irreversible steps against militants and terrorists in its territory, said the US.
- Uday Bagdi said the shooters wrongly accused him of having an illicit affair with a married woman in the village when in reality he was targeted for quitting the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the BJP.
- Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac), who asked not to be named, a sales target of Rs 385 crore has been for this year, but Tasmac’s managing director Kirlosh Kumar denied that this was true.
- The Congress is hoping to make a comeback even as chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had set a target of 75 out of the 90 seats in the state legislative assembly.
- The Centre announced the Jiyo Parsi Scheme in September 2013 to check the declining Parsi population.
- Lawyers who graduated from recognized universities in 2016 and those who got provisional degree certificates till September 9 this year can now apply for the post of civil judge in Tamil Nadu, with the Madras High Court.
- The Diploma in Elementary education is a two-year diploma program for those who want to pursue their careers as teachers at primary and elementary schools.
- Japan may extend a special recruitment program to the Northeast under which residents of the region will be offered nursing jobs in that country.
- IIT Delhi will lead the project in partnership with DESMI EnviRO-Clean, a technology firm with key expertise in remediation and removal of waste from water bodies and Vertiver Private Ltd, a social enterprise specializing in sustainability-based behavior change communications and knowledge management.
- The super-specialty hospital of IIT Kharagpur, Dr B C Roy Institute of Medical Science & Research, is expected to start the outdoor patient department by the end of this year and according to an official source, once the hospital is operational, the premier technological and engineering institute will roll out its MBBS program from 2021 academic year.
- The CII shared its interest in working with the Delhi government in creating a Knowledge Centre in Delhi, and Kejriwal said he would be happy to support such a program.
- Students of Calicut University who have lost their mark sheet or certificates in the recent flood or landslide can apply for duplicate certificates.
- The Reserve Bank of India is examining the possibility of increasing the insurance cover for bank deposits from Rs 1 lakh currently.
- The complaint dated Sept. 20 is the latest in a series of whistle-blower complaints that wrought havoc at Asia’s second-most valuable IT services firm, triggering the exit of previous CEO Vishal Sikka after a confrontation with co-founder Narayana Murthy.
- The cumulative arrears to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is only till the end of March and have increased since then, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.
- The investor is slowly increasing exposure to select companies as it sees “some signs” of demand revival with a better-than-expected monsoon and lower corporate tax rates supporting sentiment.
- Europe’s top aviation regulator expects to take longer to get Boeing’s 737 Max back into service than the projected timeline being taken by the US, which would likely push the grounded planes to return into next year on the continent.
- India put on a dominating performance in the third Test against South Africa in Ranchi to complete a 3-0 series whitewash.
- Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu presented the ‘Most Eminent Senior Citizen Award’ for the year 2019 to Shri K. Parasaran, former Attorney General of India in New Delhi on the occasion of Elder’s Day celebration of Age Care India(organisation for the welfare of elders.
- Vidya Balan, who will be seen in an upcoming film 'Shakuntala Devi: Human Computer', has received the Youth Icon Award from Imperial College London.
- Prime Minister(PM) of India, Shri Narendra Modi unveiled a book titled “Bridgital Nation” in New Delhi, where the first copy of the book was Shri Ratan Tata.
- Wrestling legend Dadu Chougule died of a heart attack in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, family members said. He was 73.
1. International News
- Five people have died after a garment factory was set ablaze by looters near Chile’s capital Santiago amid a wave of violent protests.
- Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has fitted the entire fleet of Taxis running in the city with surveillance cameras to monitor the conduct of their drivers.
- Hillary Clinton posted a joke letter on Twitter supposedly sent by John F. Kennedy during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, written in the excitable style of US President Donald Trump’s recent letter to Turkey.
- US forces withdrew from their largest base in northern Syria, a monitor said, as Turkey accused Kurdish forces of killing one of its soldiers in fighting that tested a fragile truce.
- Cabin crew at four Lufthansa subsidiary airlines staged a day-long strike, causing dozens of cancellations at German airports in a battle for better pay and conditions.
- Passenger carrier IndiGo inaugurated the first direct flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC or Saigon), Vietnam from Kolkata, making HCMC carrier’s 22nd international and 7th Southeast Asian destination, the company said in a statement.
- Thousands of Rohingya living in Bangladesh refugee camps have agreed to move to an island in the Bay of Bengal, officials said, despite fears the site is prone to flooding.
- Boeing said in a statement it’s unfortunate that messages between co-workers it turned over last week weren’t released in a manner allowing for “meaningful explanation.”
- Qantas flight QF7879 took 19 hours and 16 minutes to fly direct from New York to Sydney in the first of three “ultra-long-haul” journeys planned by the airline this year.
- The final performance of the music maestro Zubin Mehta included Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, known as Resurrection, at the Mediterranean city’s Charles Bronfman Auditorium.
- White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had announced Doral as the official site of the G-7 the US is hosting next summer and the backlash was instantaneous, with even some Republicans jumping in.
- Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas on Sunday as crowds held an illegal march, with hardcore protesters throwing petrol bombs and trashing business, capping a week of anger after the recent stabbing and beating of two pro-democracy protesters.
- The online registration of devotees visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur could not be started as India and Pakistan have not yet agreed upon on a number of issues, including Islamabad’s insistence of charging $20 from pilgrims, officials said.
- Maharashtra pilot Amol Yadav, who had got a Rs. 35,000 crore deal for India’s first plane factory last year, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- As polling is underway in Maharashtra and Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to come out in large numbers to cast vote and enrich the “festival of democracy”.
- The winter session of parliament will be held from November 18 to December 13, the government has told the secretariats of both houses.
- Low-cost carrier Air Asia launched flight services to Kolkata, Delhi, Guwahati, and Imphal from Agartala.
- Kejriwal clarified that this year Delhi government will be organizing the ‘community Diwali’ only at CP and that depending on its success, the same will be planned at multiple locations next year onwards.
- The top court sought a status report with pictures on plantation, transplantation, and felling of trees in Aarey colony area of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
- Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Pakistan “without any prior notice or information has stopped sending postal department’s letter to India”.
- The exit polls are based on responses of the people who have just cast their votes. Pollsters, assuming that the voters have correctly revealed their choice, predict the results much before the actual counting of votes.
- Amol Yadav is an innovator who built a 6-seater experimental aircraft on the terrace of his home in suburban Mumbai over a period of 19 years.
- Tushar Mehta, the government’s second most-senior law officer, told the Supreme Court that witnesses were being threatened in this case. The Supreme Court has also issued a notice to the state government.
- A month after a woman from Goa was allegedly raped and assaulted when she was waiting at a bus stand in the city, the Delhi Police said it has arrested a man, while another suspect is still on the run.
- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking to extend their electoral dominance as Maharashtra and Haryana head into polls.
- The Delhi government will approach the CBSE with a proposal to treat vocational subjects as main subject in schools and not as additional ones, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
- Uttrakhand public service commission has released the admit card for Assistant Conservator of Forest preliminary examination. Candidates who are appearing in the examination can download their admit card online at, ukpsc.net.in.
- CISF constable recruitment to fill 914 vacancies for the post of constable (tradesman), October 22, 2019
- The SVC Co-operative Bank has denied reports of merger with the crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.
- India skipper Virat Kohli is set to skip the T20Is against Bangladesh as he has been playing non-stop since the ODIs against Australia in March.
- Zubayr Hamza and Temba Bavuma put up a fight for South Africa after Umesh Yadav dismissed Faf du Plessis in the first over of the day.
- Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals have appointed Australia cricketer Andrew McDonald as their new head coach for a period of three years.
- Indonesia-based ride-hailing and payments unicorn Gojek’s Co-founder Nadiem Makarim said he has resigned from the CEO position to join Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s Cabinet.
1. International News
- Boris Johnson has sent a request to the EU for a delay to Brexit – but without his signature. The request was accompanied by a second letter, signed by Mr. Johnson, which says he believes that a delay would be a mistake.
- US President Donald Trump said the next G7 summit will not be at one of his own Florida golf clubs, reversing a decision that had sparked corruption accusations.
- Boeing started putting out 30-second videos in which employees tout its planes’ safety, hoping to reassure travelers about the 737 MAX that’s been grounded worldwide since two crashes that killed 346 people.
- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired off a fresh warning Saturday to “crush” Kurdish forces as both sides traded accusations of violating a US-brokered truce deal in northeastern Syria.
- Turkey and Russia will discuss the removal of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia from the northern Syrian towns of Manbij and Kobani during talks in Sochi next week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
- UK PM Boris Johnson’s contradictory letters – the one seeking extension without his signature, and the other arguing against extension signed by him – has been called ‘silly’ by critics.
- Although Russian interest in Gabbard is apparent, Clinton produced no evidence that Moscow is grooming or directly backing the congresswoman.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters that it might be important for the government to move “now and see and meet up with industries and invite them”.
- The Republican president faces criticism and a number of congressional investigations over his finances and potential conflicts of interest stemming from his real estate business, which he still owns, and an impeachment inquiry into accusations that he pursued political interests in his dealings with Ukraine.
- The deal announced late is intended to halt a Turkish-led offensive against Kurdish forces launched on October 9, on condition they pull out of a “safe zone” on the Syrian side of the border.
- Evo Morales grew up as a llama shepherd in the Bolivian highlands and became famous as the fiery leader of a coca growers’ union fighting US-backed attempts to stifle the crop, a mild stimulant deeply rooted in Bolivian culture but which is also the raw material for cocaine.
- Nearly 200 people were hurt in another night of clashes with radical separatists hurling rocks and fireworks at police who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
- The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email
- Before the latest Brexit agreement reached with Brussels could be tabled and voted upon, speaker John Bercow selected an amendment moved by rebel Conservative MP Oliver Letwin, which was passed by 322 to 302 votes.
- As part of its goal to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024, India plans to spend $1.4 trillion on its infrastructure in the next five years, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
- Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced the signing of 17 MoUs promoting and facilitating various business ventures in Goa.
- Passengers who traveled on the newly launched Tejas Express will be paid a compensation of Rs. 250 each as the train was delayed for about two hours in both the directions.
- Piyush Goyal said NGOs and activists were obstructing justice for the poor of India by opposing the government’s developmental work.
- An Army source said the attacks upon the terror launch pads were in retaliation to the support provided by Pakistan Army to push terrorists into Indian territory. Army has used artillery guns to target the terrorist camps.
- Banerjee, who helped the Congress draft the Nyuntam Any Yojana or NYAY, a minimum income guarantee scheme, had said that as a professional he would have given the same number to the BJP if it had sought his opinion.
- The Indian retaliation came after unprovoked firing by the Pakistan military in Tangdhar sector in a bid to push a group of militants into Jammu and Kashmir from the Pakistani side, the sources said.
- This comes after an unprovoked ceasefire violation was started by the Pakistani side to push infiltrators into the Indian side, according to sources.
- Bharti Singh also released a video alleging that her family trying to prove that she was mentally unstable and have gathered fake documents to prove their point.
- A FIR has been registered against Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and six others including Managing Director Uday S Kotak on charges of alleged cheating, conspiracy, and forgery of documents.
- With the final agreement to address the decades-long Naga political issue expected to be signed anytime after October 31, the NSCN (IM) - the largest Naga rebel group - has refused to compromise on its demand for a separate flag and Constitution for Nagaland.
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said negotiations between India and the United States on a trade deal are going on in “full speed” and expressed hope that it will conclude soon.
- All Assam Bengali Youth Students Federation, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also promised a review of cases where genuine Indian citizens have been declared foreigners.
- The Pakistan Army, in the unprovoked ceasefire violation, had targeted civilian areas killing one civilian and injuring three others in the area.
- There is, however, a strong possibility that the final Naga peace deal could be signed without the Isak-Muivah faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), people familiar with the peace process said on condition of anonymity.
- Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has extended the last date to apply for Single Girl Child (SGC) Merit Scholarship. Earlier, the last date to apply online for the scholarship was October 18, but now eligible students can apply for the scholarship till October 31.
- The Delhi University (DU) has set up a 20-member task force in order to curb incidents of snatching and check water-logging, encroachment and illegal parking on campus.
- Jharkhand government has called for walk-in interviews (October 23) at Namkum in Ranchi for direct appointment of 81 doctors (senior residents /tutors) in 17 departments for all five hospitals of medical colleges.
- The recruitment drive is being conducted to fill 386 vacancies out of which 160 are for Senior Commercial cum Ticket Clerk in Level 5 and 226 vacancies are for Commercial cum Ticket Clerks in Level 3.
- The “Safe School Programme” will create awareness regarding child sexual abuse among children and also provide information on legal recourses available to children.
- AIIMS has signed an MoU between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a unique project called MATE (Mind Activation Through Education) which is a school-wellness programme on mental health.
- UPTET 2019: The application for the UPTET-2019 will get under way from November 1 and end on November 20. The exam is scheduled to be held at centres spread across the state on December 22.
- The State Bank of India’s (SBI) earnings are set to revive amid uncertain macros on the back of steady operating performance at pre-provisioning operating level, recoveries from large National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) resolutions and normalisation in credit cost, according to a broking firm.
- The airline has been sitting on a debt pile of around Rs 58,000 crore, besides huge accumulated losses running into thousands of crores.
- Trade tensions with the US have already made some Chinese reluctant to take holidays owing to uncertainty back home, while the Thai baht has risen around 10 percent against the yuan this year.
- The move was part of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s 100-day agenda and a top priority for present Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav.
- The All Blacks overwhelmed Ireland 46-14 and England thumped their old enemy Australia to set up a blockbuster semi-final at the Rugby World Cup.
- Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane put on a massive 267-run partnership to extend India’s control on the match before the latter departed for 115.
- The chairman of State Bank of India(SBI) Shri Rajnish Kumar was appointed as the new chairman of Indian Banks’ Association(IBA).
- The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India notified that Ahmedabad city Police Commissioner Anup Kumar Singh, aged 59, was appointed as the Director General (DG) of the National Security Guard
1. International News
- The US Senate majority leader has attacked President Donald Trump’s policy in Syria. In a Washington Post opinion piece, Mitch McConnell says fellow Republican Mr. Trump’s troop withdrawal order combined with Turkey’s Syria assault was a “strategic nightmare”.
- Tulsi Gabbard slammed Hillary Clinton as “queen of warmongers” after the former US Secretary of State alleged that the Democratic election hopeful was being “groomed” by the Russians as the third-party candidate for the 2020 presidential elections.
- The British parliament may end up forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to request another Brexit delay and give only provisional support to his divorce deal with the EU.
- The deadly Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains an “urgent” global health emergency, The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday at its Emergency Committee meeting.
- The United Nations Headquarters in New York will remain closed in the forthcoming weekend due to the ongoing cash crisis.
- British MPs gathered for a knife-edge vote on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal for a decision that could see the UK leave the EU this month or plunge the country into fresh uncertainty.
- Johnson & Johnson said it is recalling around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after U.S. health regulators found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online.
- A jury in California recommended the death sentence for a man dubbed the "Hollywood Ripper" who was earlier found guilty in the gruesome killings of two women at their homes.
- Text messages between Boeing employees in 2016 indicate that the company was aware of major problems with an automated feature on the 737 Max jet that made the aircraft difficult to control, the messages show.
- Mexico's president faced a firestorm of criticism as his security forces confirmed they arrested kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's son, then released him when his cartel responded with an all-out gun battle.
- A special Pakistani court has sentenced a man to five-year rigorous imprisonment for posting blasphemous content on social media, becoming the first such case under the country's new cybercrime law.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Turkey would restart its operation against Kurdish forces inSyriaonTuesdayeveningifthey do not withdraw from a "safe zone".
- The Navy's "doomsday" plane wasn't supposed to be on the ground in Maryland for long. Instead, the E-6B Mercury - a flying communications and command post designed to play a critical role during a nuclear war - should have briefly touched down before taking off again.
- At least 62 people were killed by a blast inside an Afghan mosque during prayers, according to officials, a day after the United Nations said violence in the country had reached "unacceptable" levels.
- Chinese Ambassador to India, Sun Weidong has said that relations between New Delhi and Beijing “go beyond the bilateral scope, and have important and far-reaching strategic significance.”
- The International Monetary Fund-supported India’s recent decision to reduce corporate income tax, saying it has a positive impact on investment.
- India-US Defence Technologies and Trade Initiative or DTTI group meeting in New Delhi next week, the Pentagon said that the bilateral defence trade between the two countries is expected to reach USD 18 billion by the year-end.
- Expressing grave concerns over parts of the Bihar capital being inundated for over a fortnight now and reports of people suffering from dengue, the Patna High Court on Friday directed the state government to take urgent steps.
- India has called on the member states of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) for taking steps to promote fair and ethical recruitment of migrants as well as safe and legal migration.
- Bangladeshi border guard won't have an impact on bilateral ties, the neighboring country's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said he would talk to his Indian counterpart Amit Shah, if needed, to "defuse the situation".
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought to end speculation over the BJP's alliance with the Janata Dal in Bihar, state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal has demanded the Chief Minister "show big heart by making a similar announcement"
- Maharashtra Election 2019 - The main contesting parties in the state are the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
- Lawyers representing "Ram Lalla Virajman" in the politically sensitive Ram Janmbhoomi - Babri Masjid case filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court today, asking that the disputed land be handed over for the construction of a Ram Temple
- India has slammed Pakistan for raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at a forum of the United Nations, saying Islamabad employs "empty rhetoric" to serve its "distorted agenda" and continues to engage in spreading unsubstantiated allegations.
- To be on the "grey list" of global terror funding watchdog FATF is a "setback for any nation", Army chief General Bipin Rawat said today, a day after the Paris-based agency said the possibility of a formal black-listing of Pakistan on February 2020 is now "highly probable".
- Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited or NPCIL is going for fleet mode construction for future projects, Department of Atomic Energy Secretary KN Vyas said.
- Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath dismissed the impact of economic slowdown on his state and said it was all set to create a "new history of investment".
- President Ram Nath Kovind gifted a statue of goddess Tara to his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte, highlighting the ancient cultural connections between the two countries.
- Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal for admission of girl children in Sainik schools from 2021-22 academic session in a phased manner, according to an official statement.
- The School of Open Learning (SOL) of Delhi University (DU) has released SOL result 2019 for BA Programme today.
- Tamil Nadu Teacher Recruitment Board (TNTRB) has released marks scored by candidates who appeared for the recruitment exam conducted for the posts of Post Graduate Assistant, and Physical Education Director.
- State Bank of India (SBI)’s apprentice recruitment exam will be held on October 23. The admit cards have been released.
- For the multi-tasking staff (MTS) recruitment in the commercial department of Northern Railway, railway recruitment cells (RRC) will announce the exam dates after October 31.
- Uttar Pradesh Board has decided to release high school and intermediate results on its website for past years going as far back as 2003.
- HDFC Bank has started stamping the passbooks of its account holders with information about the deposit insurance cover.
- Private sector ICICI Lombard General Insurance posted a 5 per cent increase in net profit at ₹307.91 crore in the second quarter of the fiscal.
- India vs South Africa third Test will begin with the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi playing host to the final encounter.
- Rohit Sharma brought up his sixth Test century in the ongoing third Test between India vs South Africa in Ranchi.
- Indian Women’s cricket team won the One Day International (ODI) Series 2019 against South Africa by 3-0.The South African women’s cricket team toured India to play against India women’s cricket team from September 20- October 14, 2019.
- The European Union (EU) leaders confirmed the appointment of former 1 women head of the Washington based body , International Monetary Fund(IMF) Christine Lagarde (63) as the new chief of the European Central Bank (ECB)
- Chinese short-form video platform TikTok has appointed Nikhil Gandhi as the Head of TikTok India.
- Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd, who led two Silicon Valley giants, has died at 62. Oracle confirmed his death , but gave no cause. Hurd was on medical leave, which Oracle announced in September.
- Actor Bill Macy, who featured in 1972 American TV series ‘Maude’, passed away at the age of 97 in Los Angeles, his friend Matt Beckoff said.
1. International News
- There has been heavy fighting in northern Mexico between the security forces and members of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel after one of the group’s leaders was discovered.
- Boris Johnson will attempt to persuade MPs to back his Brexit deal later ahead of what is expected to be a knife-edge vote in the Commons.
- Canadians go to the polls on 21 October, four years after Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party swept to power.
- Heavily armed cartel fighters surrounded security forces and made them free one of drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s sons, whose brief apprehension triggered intense gunbattles across the city of Culiacan.
- The United States slapped tariffs on a record $7.5-billion worth of European goods, with Airbus, French wine and Scottish whiskeys among the high-profile targets.
- The Military World Games, known as the Olympic Games for the military, is the top multi-sport event for military personnel from across the globe.
- Emperor Naruhito, 59, who became monarch on May 1 following the abdication of his father, Akihito, will proclaim his enthronement in an Oct. 22 ceremony before foreign and domestic dignitaries.
- Zuckerberg argued that his company should give voice to minority views and said that court protection for free speech stemmed in part from a case involving a partially inaccurate advertisement by King supporters.
- Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, a group of mostly Arab raiding nomads that it recruited and armed to create a militia of gunmen who were often mounted on horses or camels.
- Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari named the highway starting from Kapurthala, connecting Gobindwal Sahib and terminating near Taran Tarana, as Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Marg to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
- In a first, Odisha Government will impanel sign language interpreters at the police stations to assist people with hearing and speaking disabilities.
- The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has banned the use of mobile phones in colleges and universities in the state. A circular to this effect has been issued by the Directorate of Higher Education in Uttar Pradesh.
- Bihar politician Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav was fined on Thursday for driving without a valid license a tractor trolley full of garbage that he threatened to dump in front of a state minister’s residence in Patna, police said.
- A Delhi court remanded former Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Singh and his brother Shivinder to 14-day judicial custody for allegedly misappropriating funds of Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL).
- The Election Commission has sought an explanation from BJP chief in Mumbai Mangal Prabhat Lodha regarding his statements allegedly targeting a particular community and violating the election code of conduct.
- Police said the initial probe suggested that the two assailants were known to Kamlesh Tewari. Chandra said they come to visit Tewari and had tea before committing the crime.
- Chhattisgarh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had registered a case against then state Congress president Baghel and members of his family for alleged irregularities in plot allotment in Durg district. Baghel had denied the allegations
- The CBI charge sheet in the INX Media case includes 14 names including the former finance minister’s son Karti and 12 others.
- National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was called in after police and a rescue team of Eastern Coalfields Ltd failed to go down the hole that was just about four feet wide.
- National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to begin form correction process for UGC NET and CSIR NET examinations.
- Staff Selection Commission (SSC) will conclude the online application process for Stenographer recruitment today, i.e. October 18.
- WBJEE 2020 application process will begin. West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) is conducted for admission to undergraduate courses in Engineering & Technology, Pharmacy and Architecture in Universities,
- Home Credit India (HCIN),a leading consumer durable loan provider has for the first time joined hands with one of the oldest banks in India , Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) for offering joint lending.
- England’s legendary female cricketer Jennifer Louise Gunn (33), who won the England team three times the World Cup, has announced her retirement from international cricket.
- India vs South Africa third Test will begin on Saturday with the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi playing host to the final encounter.
- Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra became the first Asian orchestra to win Orchestra of the Year 2019 award given by the Gramophone Magazine at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2019.
- Arecord number of films have been submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature category for the 92nd Academy Awards.
- The Board of Directors (BoD) of the World Steel Association (world steel) elected new officers for 2019/2020 at the Worldsteel General Assembly in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico for a term of 1 year.
- Sudhaker Shukla appointed as whole-time member of IBBI
1. International News
- Chinese diplomats in the US will have to notify American authorities before holding any meetings with US officials.
- President Donald Trump has said Turkey’s incursion into Syria is “not our border”, and called the former US allies the Kurds “no angels”.
- Two US fighter jets conducted pre-planned airstrikes targeting an American munitions storage bunker in Syria to destroy munitions and other equipment left behind following the withdrawal of its troops from the country, United States defence officials said.
- The twists and turns of Brexit – after more than three years of negotiations – dominate an EU summit, amid signs of an emerging deal.
- An Italian court rejected a last-minute bid to halt the loan of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic Vitruvian Man drawing and other works to France’s Louvre museum, ending a bitter cultural row.
- Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate met a tiny animist tribe in northern Pakistan, after flying by helicopter to a remote Hindu Kush glacier near the Afghan border.
- Negotiators in Brussels and London this week have gone from optimism to dismay and back again, with the pound twitching at every murmur. Now, at last, all those predictions about the costs or benefits of Brexit may be put to the test.
- The internet-based child pornographic network was the world’s largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content, said US Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard Downing.
- Leading officials from the educational ministries of India and China also discussed promoting “educational exchanges” between the two countries.
- The US lawmakers spoke about restrictions on communications — using the word “blockade”, as some have described it — including Internet and prepaid mobile phones and detentions, according to people familiar with the discussions.
- The former US President Barack Obama tweeted that he was proud to work with Trudeau and described him as a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change.
- The city’s unelected pro-Beijing leader, who has historic low approval ratings, tried twice to begin her policy address inside the Legislative Council, three months after the building was trashed by masked protesters.
- The last time Theresa May tried to get her Brexit deal through, in March, she had the support of 279 Conservatives. They’re most likely to back a Boris Johnson deal too, but there are some problems.
- Warren got the front-runner treatment for the first time in these debates replacing Biden, who had been the key target in the previous rounds because of his lead in poll.
- Investors can find “no better place” in the world than India, which has a democracy-loving and capitalist-respecting environment, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.
- National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for propping up the name of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar for Bharat Ratna in the BJP’s manifesto for the upcoming Maharashtra elections and said that the party should straightaway confer Nathuram Godse with the highest civilian honor.
- An IIT Kharagpur graduate has invented a device called “PM 2.5” which he claimed when fitted near the silencer pipe in vehicles will curb air pollution.
- The Congress party challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show “courage” and announce the removal of a cap on withdrawal of money by depositors of scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.
- UAE entities are expected to invest up to USD 7 billion in India’s food sector in the next three years as part of the UAE-India food corridor project that aims to secure the UAE’s food security, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told Emirates News Agency, WAM.
- Dr. Manmohan Singh also delivered a sharp comeback to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman who earlier this week said that state-run banks in India had their “worst phase” when Dr. Singh was prime minister and Raghuram Rajan, the RBI Governor.
- Seven years after it first drew plans to renovate the building atop the Observatory Hill, the ministry of human resource development approved the Rs 65 crore to restore the building.
- Metropolitan Magistrate Nishant Garg also sent three others, Sunil Godhwani, Kavi Arora and Anil Saxena to judicial custody till October 31.
- Singaopre-based Elara is full-stack real estate technology platform that owns PropTiger.com, Housing.com and Makaan.com.
- The 48-year-old remains in judicial custody pending a full extradition trial scheduled for May 2020 and must appear for “call-over” hearings until the case management for the trial kicks in from February next year.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing three rallies in Maharashtra -- at Parli, Satara, and Pune -- for the October 21 elections.
- Five assembly seats in Kerala are going to polls on October 21. The by-polls are being billed as the semi-final before the assembly elections next year.
- Indian Air Force’s Central Airmen Selection Board or CASB has released the Intake 02/2020 results.
- Research team from IIT Hyderabad and KIIT School of Architecture, Bhubaneswar, has developed bio-bricks from agricultural waste products.
- Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) has declared the result of the Combined Junior Engineer Exam 2013.
- The exam otherwise referred to as Combined State/ Upper Subordinate Services exam or the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) exam, will be conducted by Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC).
- The S&P BSE Sensex index rose as much as 103.9 points to touch 38,702.89 in the first few minutes of trade, and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark moved to 11,480.90, up 16.9 points from its previous close.
- During the first five-year performance period, Microsoft’s market capitalisation increased $509 billion (from $302 billion to $811 billion).
- PMC needs to be saved because funds of cooperative credit societies are also deposited in the bank, said Vishwas Utagi.
- The Indian tea industry, which has been facing difficulty in getting bank finance, might soon get some respite.
- Nirmala Sitharaman was speaking at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, when she hit out at the former RBI governor for his recent comments regarding the state of India’s economy, which has slowed down to its lowest pace in more than five years.
- All-rounder Mitchell Marsh is set to miss the opening Test against Pakistan after fracturing his right hand punching a wall, with Australian coach Justin Langer branding him “an idiot”.
- Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted midfield star Paul Pogba will miss Premier League clash with bitter rivals Liverpool while goalkeeper David De Gea is also in a major injury doubt.
- Manju Rani’s boxing journey has not been easy. Like a true fighter, she has overcome many obstacles in her life. As a young girl, she used to play kabaddi but Olympic medallists Vijender Singh and Mary Kom’s exploits lured her to boxing.
- Argentine forward Lionel Messi was presented with his sixth Golden Shoe award after scoring 36 league goals for Barcelona last season.
- Government of India has appointed Shri J. P. S. Chawla, 1985-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) Officer as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure with effect from October 2019 on regular basis.
1. International News
- Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam was forced to suspend her annual address after being heckled in the city’s parliament.
- US lawmakers have supported Hong Kong protesters by passing a bill aimed at upholding human rights in the city.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected a US call for an immediate ceasefire in northern Syria, saying Turkey’s offensive will continue.
- EU and UK officials will resume Brexit talks this morning in the hopes of reaching a deal that can be agreed by leaders at a key summit.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict in Syria in a phone call with Recep Tayyip Erdogan and invited the Turkish leader to visit Russia soon, the Kremlin said.
- Thousands of people in Catalonia have rallied in support of the region’s independence from Spain for a second day, leading to clashes with police.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could no longer "keep track" of the tweets by his US counterpart Donald Trump as tensions mount over Ankara's operation against Kurdish militants in Syria, in comments published.
- Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, a Republican, urged a conservative activist to target members of his own party ahead of the 2020 primaries and used explicit language to discuss Democratic lawmakers in the state, according to a secretly recorded audiotape released.
- An Australian woman lost for three days in dense bushland was found after a man remotely monitoring security footage saw an 'SOS' sign scrawled in the earth on his property.
- The United States carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the September 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran, two US officials have told Reuters.
- Rescue workers in Japan searched for the missing as the death toll from one of the worst typhoons to hit the country rose to 74, public broadcaster NHK said, many drowned by flooding after scores of rivers burst their banks.
- The US House of Representatives passed a bill sought by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong that aims to defend civil rights in the semi-autonomous territory, prompting an angry response from China.
- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that the House of Representatives does not plan at this time to hold a full vote to authorize an impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump, while House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff pointed to information gathered in witness testimony despite a 'complete effort by the administration to stonewall' the probe.
- Twelve Democrats square off in a crowded presidential debate overshadowed by an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, who has dragged chief rival Joe Biden into the Ukraine crisis.
- The United States wants to maintain support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against ISIS militants despite US troops withdrawing from northern Syria, a Pentagon official said.
- It is important for India to keep fiscal deficit in check, even though its revenue projections look optimistic, Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund or IMF Gita Gopinath has said.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, targeting the Congress over its stand on Article 370 and the Rafale deal while campaigning for the October 21 Haryana election, accused its leaders of bad-mouthing India and showing “negativity” on everything that brings joy to the people of the country.
- Daily hearings in the politically sensitive Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya are likely to end today after 40 days, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said.
- Headwinds from the US-China trade war sting business deals of Indian software major Wipro, it's Chief Executive Abidali Neemuchwala said.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir denied the women from the state inheritance rights and this was a “serious human rights violation” that no one spoke about but human rights has become a “global buzzword” following the revocation of the temporary constitutional provision.
- The Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh will celebrate “Accession Day” of Jammu & Kashmir with the Union of India on October 26, the party’s state general secretary Ashok Kaul said.
- Madhya Pradesh, Narayan Tripathi - one of the two BJP MLAs who voted along with ruling Congress and allies on an amendment bill on July 24 - announced that he was still part of the saffron party.
- Ex-Congress leader and party's former Haryana president Ashok Tanwar today said that he will support Dushyant Chautala-led Jananayak Janta Party.
- Senior BJP leader Damodar Rout resigned from the primary membership of the party, alleging that he was not being involved in party activities ahead of the Bijepur Assembly by-poll in Odisha on October 21.
- Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan today said that the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government failed in its attempt to pit Hindus and Muslims against each other.
- The sight of ants crawling over the eyes of a dead man at a government hospital in Madhya Pradesh has provoked outrage, after which Chief Minister Kamal Nath ordered an inquiry. Five doctors, including a surgeon, have been suspended.
- Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria today hit out at the BJP for proposing Baharat Ratna for Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in its manifesto for Maharashtra elections.
- The Supreme Court asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration that why it has not filed a reply on a plea by the wife of a Malaysia-based NRI businessman challenging his detention following the abrogation of provisions of Article 370.
- Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has flagged off a motorcycle rally to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the commencement of the World War 2.
- Shiv Sena MP Omraje Nimbalkar was injured when an unidentified man attacked him with a knife in Maharashtra's Osmanabad district on Wednesday, police said.
- Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah's daughter Safia is in judicial custody, the Jammu and Kashmir police said.
- An official order said that Khare, an IAS officer of 1985 batch from Jharkhand cadre, will have additional charge till the appointment of a regular incumbent to the post or till further orders.
- The advisory committee will frame policies for the smooth and transparent functioning of the board, besides the timely and efficient conduct of the entrance tests by it, said an official spokesperson, quoting the GDA order.
- UP Home Guard Minister said that due to budget constraints, the days of duties will be less but the service of home guards won’t be terminated.
- EPFO conducted the Phase-1 recruitment examination on July 31, 2019, to fill 280 vacancies of Assistants (Assistant Section Officer).
- CBSE has mandated schools to become “water-efficient” within the next three years by adopting a policy of water management and conducting regular water audits.
- India Post GDS Recruitment 2019: A total of 2707 vacancies will be filled in Andhra Pradesh circle, 1799 in Chhattisgarh circle and 970 in Telangana circle.
- Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will recruit 327 scientists/engineers. The vacancies are available in Level 10 of Pay Matrix at constituent ISRO Centres (Group ‘A’ Gazetted posts) and in Autonomous Body (Group ‘A’ Non-Gazetted posts).
- India Post has released notification for recruitment of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh circles.
- Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) Assistant exam admit card is now available for download on the official website.
- Bihar legislative council has released the admit card for the recruitment of Assistant, Driver, LDC and Security Guard post, October 14, 2019.
- Domestic bourses opened on a cautious note with benchmark indices Sensex trading 34.64 points down at 38,471.45 and Nifty higher by 8.25 points at 11,436.55.
- Gold prices edged higher after shedding nearly 1% in the previous session, as some optimism about Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union ebbed, while a risk-on sentiment capped the bullion’s gains.
- The September-quarter earnings season has so far seen blue-chip companies such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Wipro Ltd and ACC Ltd beat estimates.
- An IndiGo official said that the airline was in the process of evaluating alternate route options between India and Hong Kong and will start operations as soon as possible.
- SBI Life Insurance reported a 48.17 per cent drop in its net profit for the second quarter of the fiscal year at Rs 129.84 crore.
- Karnataka Bank has registered a net profit of ₹105.91 crore in the second quarter of 2019-20, against a profit of ₹111.86 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, recording a decline of 5.32 per cent.
- The stock opened 101.25% higher above the issue price of Rs 320 at Rs644. It jumped 132% to touch a high of Rs 743.80 and a low ofRs 625 during the day, before closing at Rs 728.60, an increase of 127.68%.
- India beat Bangladesh 5-3 via penalty shoot-out to win SAFF U-15 Women’s Championship title after the summit clash ended goalless in the regulation time in Thimphu.
- India’s tennis association will apply for visas for their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan next month but expects the fixture to be moved away from Islamabad, AITA Secretary General Hironmoy Chatterjee told Reuters.
- It was primed to be a memorable night but was two minutes from ending miserably till Adil Khan headed home Brandon Fernandes’ corner-kick for a face-saver in Tuesday’s group E qualifier for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup.
- Indian nun Mariam Thresia of Kerala and four others (English Cardinal John Henry Newman, Swiss laywoman Marguerite Bays, Brazilian Sister Dulce Lopes and Italian Sister Giuseppina Vannini) declared Saints by Pope Francis (head of the Catholic Church) at a grand ceremony at the Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy.
- Independent candidate Kais Saied won the 2019 presidential election and thus became the 6th President of Tunisia. He succeeds Mohamed Ennaceur(5th president).
- As per the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA), Government of India (GoI), Shri Kishan Dan Dewal (Indian Foreign Service –IFS officer of 2003 batch), has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to Georgia, with residence in Yerevan.
1. International News
- The US has sanctioned two Turkish ministries and three senior government officials in response to the country’s military offensive in northern Syria.
- Ecuador began counting the cost of 12 days of indigenous protests against fuel hikes that left eight demonstrators dead and severely dented President Lenin Moreno’s austerity program.
- Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg confirmed reports that he had hosted a series of dinners with right-wing figures, as the social media platform stands accused of stifling conservative voices.
- The United States slapped sanctions on Turkey as it demanded an end to its deadly incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters, accusing its NATO partner of putting civilians at risk and allowing the release of ISIS extremists.
- As Facebook readies to launch its answer to bitcoin, China is set to introduce its own digital currency one that could allow the government and the central bank to see what people spend their money on, according to analysts.
- Pakistan is on the verge of strong action by the international terror financing watchdog FATF and the country may be put in the ”Dark Grey” list, the last warning to improve.
- Chief Executive Carrie Lam banned face masks after invoking emergency powers last used in 1967, many stations were left in tatters.
- Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said there was no plan to slow typhoon Hagibis rescue operations, with around 110,000 police, coast guard, firefighters, and military troops involved.
- Iran said the ship had been targeted in a missile attack, which has yet to be corroborated. Saudi Arabia denies being involved.
- The Australian Prime Minister’s office sent confidential talking points to the media by mistake, instead of sending the document to its own coalition’s members of parliament (MPs).
- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed not to allow any Islamic State fighters to escape northern Syria, in an editorial published Tuesday, following fears from Western nations over its offensive in the region.
- Switzerland's glaciers have lost a tenth of their volume in the past five years alone -- a melting rate unmatched during observations stretching back more than a century, a study showed.
- Canada's political leaders should address the underlying problems limiting long-term economic growth and not just campaign on pocketbook issues ahead of the federal election this month, business leaders, economists and foreign investors say.
- Russia's opposition said that investigators had launched raids on its offices across the country, in the latest move to put pressure on government critics.
- The White House's alleged effort to pressure Ukraine so alarmed former national security advisor John Bolton that he alerted a lawyer, his former aide said, according to US media.
- "Mr. Zuma would like to exercise the full extent of his constitutional rights, which includes the right to appeal," Zuma's lawyer Thabani Masuku told the High Court in the southern-eastern city of Pietermaritzburg.
- Hong Kong's leader hit back at a US senator who said the city is becoming a police state, a day after a massive rally called on Washington to punish Beijing over sliding freedoms in the international hub.
- Osmanabad Zilla Parishad school postponed its first-term examination paper for Chemistry to apparently due to a public meeting organized by the district unit of Shiv Sena for party chief Uddhav Thackeray.
- Nepal and China have agreed to jointly re-measure the height of Mount Everest, amidst reports that the world’s highest peak may have shrunk after the massive earthquake that shook the Himalayan nation in 2015.
- The Rajasthan government decided to withdraw the allowances being given to those detained under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) during the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, saying they were not freedom fighters.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally in support of Bharatiya Janata Party candidates in Kurukshetra. This will be Modi’s second rally in the poll-bound Haryana in two consecutive days.
- BJP president Amit Shah said that he will make way for a new leader to head the saffron party when its organizational elections are over by the end of this year.
- A Delhi court today extended till October 25 the judicial custody of Congress leader D K Shivakumar, arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
- The Supreme Court today set aside a Delhi High Court order restraining the Income Tax department from taking any action against VVIP chopper scam accused Gautam Khaitan, against whom a separate black money case has been lodged.
- Army Chief General Bipin Rawat today said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has made strides in ensuring that requirement of the country's defense services are met through home-grown solutions
- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Working President JP Nadda and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis released the party's manifesto for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
- Xi Jinping has seen Dangal, a 2016 Hindi movie based on the life of Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning wrestler Babita Phogat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an election rally in Haryana today
- Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra congratulated Indian-origin economist Abhijit Banerjee on winning the Nobel Prize and hoped the party's minimum income guarantee scheme NYAY which he helped conceptualize will become a reality one day.
- Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar whose snark comments on Sonia Gandhi invited the ire of the Congress party, has again criticized her and the opposition party, three months after its massive defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited inputs from the public for the 58th episode of his monthly radio program "Mann ki Baat", which, coincidentally, is falling on the day of Diwali festival on October 27.
- Armies that are better equipped decide the destiny of mankind, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval said at a meeting of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chiefs in Delhi today
- Wayanad Member of Parliament (MP) and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will hold two public meetings ahead of Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
- The Bombay High Court refused bail to civil liberties activists - Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferriera, and Vernon Gonsalves - arrested for allegedly inciting caste-based violence at Koregaon Bhima in Pune and having links with Maoists.
- With its employee unions threatening a day-long hunger strike over delayed salaries during the festival season, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has said that it is hopeful of paying salaries to its 1.76 lakh employees for September before Diwali.
- GATE 2020 form correction process begins today. The form correction window is only for minor corrections like name, father’s name, college name etc.
- NCERT, in its preschool curriculum, advocates teaching in mother tongue for preschoolers. Council cites research which say children who attend preschool programmes in their mother tongue face fewer problems in comprehension.
- The National Eligibility Test (NET) for determining the eligibility for lectureship in state agricultural universities and other agricultural universities under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will be held from December 9 to December 15.
- Online registration process for Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)’s admin and allied cadre recruitment will close today.
- The Department of Business Administration (DBA), Faculty of Management Studies and Research (FMSR), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), organized the inaugural ceremony of MBA- Islamic Banking and Finance last week.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das to try and expedite payments to “genuinely suffering” customers of the crisis-ridden PMC Bank.
- The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1 crore on Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) and ₹75 lakh on Syndicate Bank.
- Public sector banks (PSBs) alone have disbursed Rs 81,781 crore in the first phase of the outreach program between October 1-9, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
- This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act 1949, the central bank said in a statement late.
- Thailand’s private sector is dominated by tycoons at the helm of sprawling conglomerates. The gap between the well-off and the rest in a population of 69 million is among the challenges for the economy, according to the World Bank.
- The stock opened 101.25% higher above the issue price of Rs 320 atRs644. It jumped 132% to touch a high of Rs 743.80 and a low of 625 during the day, before closing at Rs 728.60, an increase of 127.68%.
- France drew 1-1 with Turkey in Euro 2020 qualifying on Monday in a match played against a backdrop of diplomatic and security tensions after Paris condemned Ankara for its military offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria.
- 11th edition of International Boxing Association, originally the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships 2019 was held at FSK Sports Complex, Ulan-Ude, Russia from October 3-13, 2019.
- ICC (International Cricket Council ) men’s test rankings 2019, Indian captain Virat Kohli (936 points) has reached very close to the top Australian batsman Steve Smith (937 points) & took 2nd position in the batting list.
- Kenya’s legendary female runner Brigid Jepscheschir Kosgei(25) has set a new world record in the 2019 Chicago Marathon held in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Kosgei completed the race in 2 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds.
- Ukraine beat Portugal 2-1 to clinch a place at Euro 2020 despite Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his 700th career goal.
- Ahmedabad — Award of Distinction for Vikram Sarabhai Library, Indian Institute of Management (IIM); and three from Mumbai — Award of Merit for Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue and Our Lady of Glory Church; while Honourable Mention for Flora Fountain.
- Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have been named the joint winners of the 2019 Booker Prize after the judges broke their rules by declaring a tie.
- Renowned Malayalam and Hindi film director and producer Priyadarshan was awarded Madhya Pradesh (MP) government’s National Kishore Kumar Samman for 2018-19 at a function in Khandwa, MP.
- According to the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2019 which was released on October 14, 2019 by Hurun India, HCL (Hindustan Computer Limited) Technologies Chairman Shiv Nadar emerged as India’s most generous philanthropists who contributed Rs 826 crore during the financial year 2018-19 (FY19).
1. International News
- The Kurds in Syria say the Syrian government has agreed to send its army to the northern border to try to halt Turkey’s offensive against them.
- More than 110,000 people are taking part in search and rescue operations after Typhoon Hagibis struck Japan.
- Singapore’s central bank eased monetary policy for the first time in three years, as widely expected, with the city-state’s bellwether economy narrowly dodging recession.
- Britain and the European Union said a lot more work would be needed to secure an agreement on Britain’s departure form the bloc.
- French President Emmanuel Macron will hold an emergency defense cabinet meeting to discuss options regarding the Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria, the French presidency said in a statement.
- The American military was unable to carry out a plan to transfer about five dozen “high value” ISIS (Islamic State) detainees out of Kurdish-run wartime prisons, The New York Times (NYT) reported.
- These new arrests and other long-overdue counter-terrorism measures by Pakistan are understood to be linked to the upcoming meeting — from October 13 to 18 — of the Financial Action Task Force in Paris.
- Trudeau wore a suit jacket rather than his usual rolled-up sleeves and loosened the tie and was wearing a vest, which was noticeable in photos taken at the event.
- The New Orleans fire department received reports at 9:12 am a local time that the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown New Orleans had collapsed.
- Protesters marching under the Kurdish green, red and yellow flag waved placards reading “Trump = serial killer” or calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “the true leader of Daesh”.
- Transport disruption was also widespread, with authorities halting suburban trains in Tokyo throughout most of Saturday, suspending several bullet train lines and canceling all flights in and out of the capital’s two main airports.
- The dead included five people who were killed when pro-Turkey rebels opened fire on their car near Ain Issa, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
- The joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ between India and the US (United States) begins at Seattle’s (in Washington, US) Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM).
- The Australian Prime Minister's office has accidentally sent a confidential document to the media, instead of sending it to the government's Liberal-National Party coalition members for Monday's resumption of Parliament.
- Masaru Wasami started working part-time at a vegetable store at age 12, determined to help his ailing mother in her battle with tuberculosis. Just three years later, he walked away from school and a promising future as a long-distance runner to thrust himself into the business full time
- New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced more funding and support on Monday to target violent extremist content online, just months after an alleged white supremacist live-streamed a massacre at two mosques in Christchurch.
- Ahead of the state elections in Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address an election rally in Ballabhgarh.
- Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that giving votes to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “will mean a nuclear bomb has been automatically dropped on Pakistan”.
- Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu termed terrorism as one of the major challenges confronting the world today and said nations which aid and abet terror should be isolated.
- The King of The Netherlands Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima arrived in India on Sunday for a five-day state visit.
- Passengers onboard the Varanasi-Delhi Vande Bharat Express were stranded inside the train for around an hour without the fan, air conditioning, and lights when its auxiliary converter failed, officials said.
- Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya will enter into the crucial final leg when the Supreme Court resumes proceedings on the 38th day after the week-long Dussehra break.
- The members of the panel, led by Anand Sharma, quizzed the police, municipal bodies and Union ministries on their plans to improve Delhi’s messy traffic
- The overall AQI in Delhi touched the 270 mark, which falls in the ‘poor’ category. Several parts of the city reported AQI in the ‘very poor’ zone, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
- According to a letter written by BJP Parliamentary Secretary Balasubrahmanyam Kamarsu to all party MPs and accessed by HT, the instruction for holding such meetings has come from party chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
- Northern Army commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said anger over scrapping Article 370 was subsiding in the Kashmir valley but Pakistan was trying its best to reinvigorate the terror machinery.
- The FATF, in meetings being held in Paris from October 13 to October 18, will scrutinize if Pakistan should be blacklisted, which could entail extensive economic sanctions and impact a $6-billion bailout program by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) now believes that the L1 system may not be the most appropriate and capable method of delivering the results commensurate with the high growth trajectory of development envisioned for the country.
- Even if Sharad Pawar and Narendra Modi or Devendra Fadnavis had the same level of popularity in the state, the BJP’s organizational push would clearly pull it ahead of its opposition.
- Prakash Singh Sarwara, the editor of the Dera mouthpiece Sach Kaho, said that they have a political wing and a proper process to endorse “the right party and the candidates”.
- Modi also praised the Devendra Fadnavis-led state government for its five-year performance, which, he said, was “corruption-free” and inspired confidence among all, including farmers and industries.
- The train’s AC stopped working 10 minutes before reaching Allahabad station at 4:50 pm. The defect was rectified, cooling ensured and it left at around 6.00 pm, officials said.
- MBA-Islamic Banking and Finance has been introduced in the Department of Business Administration as a full-time two-year course.
- IIT Madras and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) will collaborate for research on Energy and Biofuels.
- Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has released fresh date sheet for the upcoming Term End examination in December.
- JEE Main appliction form correction procedure can be done through the official website hosted by National Testing Agency or NTA, at jeemain.nta.nic.in.
- Data compiled by the DST shows that females comprised 24 per cent of the total pas-out students in STEM subjects in engineering, 22 per cent at the post graduate level, 28 per cent at M Phil and 35 per cent at the PhD level.
- The selected candidates will be offered admission to Ph.D. programme in select institutes with a fellowship of Rs.70,000 per month for the first two years.
- The start-up policy notified by the AICTE has been developed to facilitate the HRD Ministry's efforts to bring uniformity across higher education institutes.
- Magadh University has declared the result for undergraduate, postgraduate and B.Ed. programmes.
- In 2019, over 800 Indian students enrolled at the University of Queensland, comprising the fifth largest international cohort, Deputy Director International Marketing and Recruitment, University of Queensland, Alison Campbell, said.
- Took an average 1,425 days in 2018-19 between de-registration of a bank and claim settlement
- With three state-run lenders Punjab National Bank (PNB), United Bank of India (UBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) heading for an amalgamation, an outside expert may be engaged to decide the logo of the merged entity, an official said.
- World Bank in its report, “South Asia Economic Focus, Fall 2019 : Making (De)centralization Work”, has lowered India’s growth forecast to 6 % for 2019 (down from 7.5 %) for the second consecutive year ,after a wide decline in the initial quarters.
- The IPO, which was open for subscription between September 30 and October 4, was subscribed 112 times at a price band of Rs 315-320 per share.
- The PMO and the North Block have been conducting a series of meetings with central and state government officials to boost revenue generation.
- Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen won the first BWF World Tour Super 100 title of his career by winning the Dutch Open.
- American teenager Coco Gauff won her first WTA title by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to capture the Upper Austria Ladies.
- A post-graduate student from Mangaluru, Apeksha Kottary, has entered the India Book of Records for making the longest gift item, an explosion box, designed on the theme ”Incredible India”.
- ‘Spirit of Kerala’, a short film based on a boat race from Kerala directed by Arun Joseph, won the People’s Choice Award 2019 at My Rode Reel Film Competition 2019 which is the world’s largest short film competition. The winners shared in a prize money worth over $1,000,000.
- The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas: India and China’s Quest for Strategic Dominance”, published by Penguin Random House India, describes the several unknown insights into the India-China, India-Tibet and China-Tibet relationships.
1. International News
- Typhoon Hagibis triggered floods and landslides as it battered the country with wind speeds of 225km/h (140mph).
- Negotiators from the UK and EU are having what has been described as “intense technical discussions” in an attempt to agree a new Brexit deal.
- President Donald Trump touted his partial, unsigned trade deal with China as a major achievement and the best deal US farmers have ever secured.
- The gloves have come off as Justin Trudeau struggles to hold onto his parliamentary majority heading into the last week of a tight campaign before Canada’s October 21 general election.
- The dead included five people who were killed when pro-Turkey rebels opened fire on their car near Ain Issa, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
- Protesters marching under the Kurdish green, red and yellow flag waved placards reading “Trump = serial killer” or calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “the true leader of Daesh”.
- The shooting took place in a part of Brooklyn that has struggled with gang violence. The building where the shooting happened is two blocks from a police station.
- The tanker Sabiti was targeted, Iranian media reported earlier, an incident that if confirmed will stoke friction in a region rattled by attacks on tankers and oil installations since May.
- Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary and his enduring legacy.
- Those who left included Edwin Bernard, who said he never saw the flames arrive so quickly or come so close to his home at this time.
- Turkey will not stop its operation against Kurdish militants in northern Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, dismissing what he called “threats” from other countries.
- General Antonio Guterres laid out the looming cutbacks he said would mean fewer flights and receptions, limits on hiring, fewer documents, reports and translations and even an end to water coolers.
- In an interaction with reporters, Special US Envoy for Iran Brian Hook said Saudi Arabia was a long-standing security partner of the US and had requested additional support to supplement their defenses and defend the rules-based international order.
- Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate a leading rival seeking to face Trump in the 2020 presidential election, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s businessman son Hunter Biden.
- MoMA, which moved to its current location in 1939, has undergone remodeling in 1950, 1962, 1980 and 2001 to cope with a growing collection and increased footfall.
- Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) intensify protests over a list of 26 demands, including a merger with the government, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has ruled out softening his administration’s stand on the issue.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address public rallies in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon and Sakoli today as he campaigns for the second consecutive term for the BJP-led government in the state.
- After a broad-based deceleration in the initial quarters of this fiscal year, India’s growth rate is projected to fall to 6 percent, the World Bank said.
- The King Of Netherlands Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will reach New Delhi today for a five-day visit during which they will hold meetings with the top Indian leadership to boost bilateral economic and political cooperation.
- Jangid and his wife were invited to New Delhi on October 1 as one of the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat, the centrally-sponsored health insurance scheme.
- The Union minister impressed upon Pakistan to bring about a change in its way of thinking and warned of dire consequences in case the request was ignored. He said he was making the plea with “utter politeness”.
- Congress leader Malikarjun Kharge had criticized Rajnath Singh for performing Shastra puja on the Rafale aircraft after he took delivery of the first of the 36 warplanes in France on October 8.
- The nun from Kerala was canonized along with English Cardinal John Henry Newman, Swiss laywoman Marguerite Bays, Brazilian Sister Dulce Lopes, and Italian Sister Giuseppina Vannini.
- Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s statement amid gloomy economy numbers drew sharp criticism from the opposition. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at the government and said it was the “Pra-sad index”.
- The Prime Minister was in the historic coastal town for a two-day informal summit with Chinese President, where Modi and Xi Jinping visited the beachside temple complex, witnessed cultural shows and held several rounds of talks.
- The epicenter of the earthquake was recorded at a depth of 16 km, India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said.
- The forest department, which is issuing warning continuously for the past three days, issued a fresh warning that more elephants are coming from the Chhattisgarh.
- Ahead of the upcoming election on October 21, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address poll rallies in Maharashtra. Follow live update here
- The BJP is contesting on 150 seats and its ally Shiv Sena on 124 constituencies in the 288-member assembly in Maharashtra. The BJP’s alliance partners have fielded 14 candidates on the party’s lotus symbol.
- GATE 2020 form correction process will begin from October 15, 2019. The application process for GATE 2020 with late fee concluded on October 5, 2019.
- Magadh University has declared the result for undergraduate, postgraduate and B.Ed. programmes. The result is available on the official website of the university magadhuniversity.ac.in.
- The former Guna MP wrote two separate letters to Nath, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said.
- The monument has become famous internationally. A cactus garden is being prepared here for which we are designing a variety of iron cacti. The government has invited faculty of fine arts to portray our art pieces there.
- Credit growth in the first half of FY2020 lagged deposit growth, probably indicating risk aversion among banks.
- Life Insurance Council, which is the face of life insurance industry in India, plans to launch life insurance industry’s first joint mass media campaign with the slogan ‘Sabse Pehle Life Insurance’.
- In a circular addressed to chief executives of all cooperative banks, the RBI has asked them to replace the existing system of email-based reporting at the branches to a web-based central system.
- Throughout this fiscal so far, credit growth has been in the low-double-digit. This reflected severe economic crisis arising from both structural and cyclical issues and a massive fall in consumption demand.
- Despatches of passenger cars fell a massive 33.4% to 131,281 units during the month, but utility vehicles bucked the trend and rose 5.5% year-on-year to 816,25 units, helped by new launches.
- Ex-Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder, Shivinder Singh and three other arrested persons are accused of causing a loss of Rs 2,397 crores to Religare Enterprises.
- India vs South Africa: Wriddhiman Saha grabbed a stunning one-handed diving catch off Umesh Yadav’s delivery to dismiss Theunis De Bruyn on the penultimate day of the second Test in Pune.
- Italy punched their ticket to Euro 2020 with a 2-0 win over Greece in Rome on Saturday to turn the page on their failure to qualify for the last World Cup.
- Indian boxer Mary Kom has become the first boxer in history across male and female categories to win eight World Championships medals.
- Fourteen-year-old R Praggnanandhaa has won the gold in the under-18 open category in the World Youth Chess Championship. He achieved the feat in Mumbai.
- American competition swimmer and 2-time Olympic gold medalist, Conor James Dwyer (30) has announced his retirement after being handed 20-month doping ban for having testosterone in the form of pellets, surgically inserted into his body.
- Sara Danius, literature critic,author and the first female head of the prestigious Swedish Nobel’s literature award body, has passed away after having suffered from breast cancer for several years.
1. International News
- Pressure is building in the US to stop Turkey continuing its offensive against Kurdish-held areas in Syria.
- Boeing unveiled a shift to its leadership structure as it manages the 737 MAX crisis, announcing that Dennis Muilenburg will remain chief executive but step down as chairman.
- The Pentagon announced it was bolstering US forces in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh asked for reinforcements following the September 14 drone-and-missile attack on Saudi oil plants which Washington blames on Iran.
- The partial accord, covering agriculture, currency and some aspects of intellectual property protections, represented the biggest step toward resolution of a 15-month tariff war between the world’s two largest economies.
- Typhoon Hagibis, which means “speed” in the Philippine language Tagalog, is due to make landfall on Japan’s main island of Honshu late, a month after one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in recent years destroyed or damaged 30,000 houses and caused extensive power outages.
- The co-deployment of the troops to a territory on the border area between Israel and Syria is unrelated to “current events in north-eastern Syria,” the Australian defence ministry said in a statement.
- The tanker Sabiti was targeted, Iranian media reported earlier, an incident that if confirmed will stoke friction in a region rattled by attacks on tankers and oil installations since May.
- Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary and his enduring legacy.
- Turkey will not stop its operation against Kurdish militants in northern Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, dismissing what he called “threats” from other countries.
- Special US Envoy for Iran Brian Hook said Saudi Arabia was a long-standing security partner of the US and had requested an additional support to supplement their defences and defend the rules-based international order.
- Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate a leading rival seeking to face Trump in the 2020 presidential election, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s businessman son Hunter Biden.
- MoMA, which moved to its current location in 1939, has undergone remodeling in 1950, 1962, 1980 and 2001 to cope with a growing collection and increased footfall.
- Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold their second round of informal talks this morning as they meet at Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort and Spa near Chennai.
- Uttar Pradesh has not published a single report mandatory under the RTI Act since the transparency law came into being in 2005 while Chhattisgarh is the only state which has brought out all its yearly reports, a voluntary group said.
- Over 1,300 vehicles were left stranded as the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was closed for traffic since last night due to a landslide in Ramban district, officials said.
- The navies of India and Bangladesh will participate for the first time in a bilateral exercise at Visakhapatnam from October 12 to 16, the Navy said.
- The pilot of the helicopter carrying Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reportedly faced trouble while landing on the muddy ground in neighboring Raigad district.
- Haryana has got 10 additional companies of Central Paramilitary Forces to better maintain law and order during the forthcoming assembly election, a senior police officer said.
- The militants lobbed a grenade in a market in Hari Singh High Street, a few hundred meters away from the city’s center Lal Chowk, police said in a tweet.
- A symbol of “made in China”, Hongqi is like Chinese prestige on wheels – a luxury brand that can – or at least that was the initial plan – rival famous foreign brands like Audi and BMW.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a special thank you message to Tamil Nadu, which played host to his two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
- Among the key decisions taken at the summit was the setting up of a high-level trade mechanism between the two nations to discuss trade, investment, and services, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters.
- The Delhi government is introducing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education for girl students in its schools to ensure majority of them opt for the stream and stereotypes like boys for science and girls for humanities are broken.
- Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), in March this year, revised its evaluation scheme for class 12 students and proposed practical/internal component for subjects like Mathematics, Political Science, and Legal Studies.
- Maharashtra Board has begun the registration process for the class 12 board examination. The registration process started on October 3 and will conclude on October 23, 2019.
- AIIMS has extended the last date to complete the final registration process for the AIIMS PG entrance exam which will be conducted in January 2020.
- Union Bank of India reduced the External Benchmark Lending Rate (EBLR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 8 per cent on the back of the recent 25 bps cut in the Repo Rate by the Reserve Bank of India.
- The Reserve Bank of India has introduced a new reporting system – the Central Information System for Banking Infrastructure (CISBI) – for all co-operative banks.
- India Women defeated South Africa by five wickets to register their highest successful ODI chase to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match series.
- Dutee Chand broke her own 100-metre national record after clocking 11.22 seconds in the semi-finals of the National Open Athletics Championships in Ranchi.
- International body named Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), presented the Health Council Award 2019 during the GOPIO health summit in New Jersey, United States(US), for people who have contributed in the health sector.
- The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.
- Bengaluru(Karnataka)-headquartered health and wellness start-up company curefit announced the appointment of Indian cricket player Jasprit Bumrah as the brand ambassador for its sportswear brand “cultsport”.
- The acting head of US Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, has resigned after six months in the post.
- The Russian cosmonaut staked his place in space history on March 18, 1965, when he exited his Voskhod 2 space capsule.
1. International News
- Republicans in the US House of Representatives have announced plans to introduce a sanctions bill against Turkey for its offensive in Syria.
- Google removed from its online marketplace a mobile game that let people play as a Hong Kong protester, saying it violated a policy against cashing in on conflicts.
- Waving flags and snapping selfies, thousands of Iranian women attended a football match freely for the first time in decades, after FIFA threatened to suspend the country over its controversial stadium restrictions.
- Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Brazilian indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have dominated the Nobel Peace Prize lists, the awards for which will be announced here.
- A suspected ISIS radical stabbed Indonesia’s chief security minister as he was exiting a vehicle, leaving two deep wounds in his stomach and injuring three others in an assassination attempt on one of the country’s most powerful political figures.
- Zhu Pingping a 71-year-old sprightly woman from eastern China’s Jiangsu province has a more modest appeal to the two leaders – an appeal for help to find her long-lost Indian half-brother and his family.
- The spectacular lights switch-on ceremony will be held along Belgrave Road, UK, the hub of Asian business and culture dotted with several Indian banks, jewelry shops, restaurants as well as shops offering merchandise sourced from India, UK and elsewhere.
- Enviornmental protesters transported a green boat on a trailer into Times Square, New York, and then sat down and refused police orders to move.
- The Muslim member of Bosnia’s joint presidency Sefik Dzaferovic labeled the decision to award Peter Handke with Nobel literature prize as scandalous and shameful.
- Democrats are investigating Donald Trump for possible impeachment over his alleged bid to pressure Ukraine into digging up dirt on election rival Joe Biden, who currently sits near the top of the Democratic pack.
- Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg made global headlines in late September when she lambasted world leaders at the UN climate summit in New York.
- Iran’s hard-line Islamic theocracy is not willing to go as far some women would like. Authorities announced they will allow women to attend only international soccer matches.
- In Pakistan, New England Senator Maggie Hasan met Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss joint counter-terrorism work and regional stability.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping left for India this morning for the second informal meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
- Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal highlighted the measures taken by his government to curb air pollution, including the introduction of the odd-even vehicle rationing plan and shutting down thermal power plants in the city in the C40 summit.
- The CBI says the Bihar man, was overage to apply for the UPSC’s 2007 civil services examination, commonly known as IAS exam and got himself a new identity to beat the system.
- The coastal town of Mamallapuram spruced and fortified for the summit, will host the two leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping for their second informal summit.
- President Xi’s informal summit with PM Modi at a seaside resort of Mamallapuram is expected to rebalance ties strained by Beijing’s stand on changes made to the status of Jammu and Kashmir and its support to Pakistan.
- The Indian Overseas Congress claimed it had met Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to condemn the Kashmir resolution passed by his party pm September 26 at its annual party conference in Brighton, and reiterate that J&K is an internal matter.
- The Congress has promised cash incentives to educated jobless youths, the elderly and housewives apart from farm loan waiver within 24 hours of coming to power in Haryana.
- The five students, who breached a police cordon and shouted slogans demanding independence for Tibet while holding “Free Tibet” flags, were taken away by the police hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet.
- Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has managed to emerge as a strong leader despite not belonging to one of the dominant castes of the western state. Here are the reasons for the rise in his stature.
- Universities and public research institutions are among the direct contributors towards innovation and research, particularly in emerging economies.
- Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) has declared the result of its provincial civil service (PCS) exam 2017. Check merit list here
- Microsoft India said it has partnered IIT Delhi to host the second edition of Empower conference that brings together researchers, technologists and policymakers to discuss actionable steps in creating and making available assistive technologies.
- SEBA or Board of Secondary Education, Assam, will release the Assam TET admit card soon. According to reports, the TET admit card for the Assam Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which is scheduled to be held in November, will be released in the second week of October.
- The Delhi University Teachers’ Association condemned the signing of the tripartite agreement between the HRD Ministry, DU and UGC, calling it a step towards privatization.
- The Railway Recruitment Board has released the final answer key of second stage computer-based test (CBT) to recruit junior engineers (JE) (CEN 03/2018).
- A Japanese student aced an assignment on ninja culture by making her own invisible ink from soybeans in a stealthy move that impressed her professor.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said she is “not sitting back” after the recent spate of measures, and will take more steps if required for non-banking finance companies and other sectors.
- Private sector lender IndusInd Bank ’s net profit jumped by more than 50 per cent in the second quarter of the fiscal with steady growth in interest income. However, the bank’s asset quality weakened.
- Virat Kohli has become the first Indian player and second overall to smash 40 international hundreds as captain.
- World number one Novak Djokovic was stunned in the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals by young Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets.
- Divij Sharan has become not only India’s number one but also the top-ranked Asian in the ATP doubles list with a recent three-place jump that took him to number 42 in the world.
- The UK government has decided to issue a commemorative coin to mark the 150th birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, said Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid.
- Mastercard India, payment technology major, elevated Mr Vikas Varma as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the firm.
- Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) has appointed Chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited, K Satish Reddy as its President of the for 2019-2021. He succeeds Glenn Saldanha.
- Renowned saxophonist and Padma Shri awardee Kadri Gopalnath passed away. The 70-year-old is survived by his wife and three children. He was suffering from age-related issues.
1. International News
- U.S. President Donald Trump rejected criticism from fellow Republicans over his decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria and dismissed worries that captured Islamic State fighters might escape in the chaos of a Turkish attack.
- Southwest Airlines Co said it found cracks on two Boeing 737 NG airplanes and removed them from service after US regulators last week ordered urgent inspections.
- Tunisia’s established Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha came out on top in legislative polls, winning 52 of the 217 seats, preliminary results showed.
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told President Donald Trump in a phone call of his “disappointment” at US tariffs recently announced against EU exports and pressed for them to be scrapped, his office said.
- Democrats say that Donald Trump tried to coerce Volodymyr Zelensky by holding back US military aid to Ukraine. Trump says there was no quid pro quo and that his only desire is to combat corruption.
- Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, has approved a handful of reforms aimed at widening women’s rights, including allowing them to drive and to travel abroad without consent from a male “guardian”.
- The live streaming of shooting in Germany comes after the New Zealand mosque shooting live-streamed on Facebook in March, which prompted governments to press social networks to prevent the airing of violent acts on their platforms.
- Mayor and his colleague Didier Queloz were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their research refining techniques to detect so-called exoplanets.
- The United States is estimated to have between 60,000 and 80,000 troops across the area covered by US Central Command, which includes Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
- Turkish’s ‘Operation Peace Spring’ against Kurdish militants in northern Syria has begun, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter.
- It was the second attempt by the lower house to overturn the law after MPs voted to repeal it last year only for the opposition-controlled upper chamber to block it.
- The two leaders will meet to prepare a joint Franco-German cabinet meeting on Wednesday, a traditional gathering between their governments that will take place this year in the southwest French city of Toulouse.
- Xi told Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during a meeting in Beijing that the right and wrong of the situation was clear, the report said. Xi added that the parties should resolve the dispute via peaceful dialogue.
- Jammu and Kashmir reopens to tourists from, more than two months after the government had asked tourists and pilgrims to leave the state before it made the big announcement of ending the special status for Jammu and Kashmir.
- The presence of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray’s son Tejas at an election rally on Wednesday prompted speculation of his political moves but was promptly dismissed by his father.
- Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said he was happy that Rafale jets will finally come to India but he still wanted to know why just 36 instead of 126 were being bought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
- Jammu and Kashmir was once again raised by Pakistan during a discussion with its all-weather ally China.
- A BJP MLA Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint against Gandhi under section 499/500 of the CrPC for allegedly saying “why all thieves share the Modi surname” during Lok Sabha elections campaign in May this year.
- Under a seat-sharing agreement, BJP’s Ganpat Gaikwad is the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate in Kalyan (East). Gaikwad is a two-time MLA.
- The SJM’s announcement comes even as a crucial ministerial meeting on RCEP begins in Bangkok today. Even as negotiations are underway on whether India should join the 16 countries Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the RSS is vehemently opposed to the trade pact.
- Haryana is in the throes of hectic campaigns by various parties with top leaders scheduled to address rallies, prominent among them being Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
- The BJP lawmaker also demanded a censoring mechanism for content being aired on television in order to prevent such incidents in the future.
- The biggest challenges of the Jammu and Kashmir railway project are geographical. The alignment passes through major geological thrust zones in the region Reasi and Muree, and one major fault Sangaldan.
- A pipeline carrying water to the Kopili hydel project burst on Monday morning, flooding the powerhouse and trapping four workers inside.
- Top news, analysis, and opinion of the day curated for you. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.
- More than a thousand people, including politicians, separatists, activists, and lawyers, were detained after the August 5 decision of the Central government to abrogate the special status. The detainees include three former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
- The renowned B-School Indian Institute of Management (IIM-Bangalore) in this tech hub will impart skills to officials for implementing various government schemes at district, state and national levels, a top official said.
- Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main) for admission to undergraduate engineering courses at NITs, IIITs, other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTI), Institutions funded by participating State Governments and others.
- Candidates domiciled in the state of Jammu & Kashmir from January 1, 1980, to December 31, 1989, will be allowed 5 years relaxation in upper age limit.
- ISRO Chairman Dr. K Sivan, Wing Cdr Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to enter space and Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Prof K Vijay Raghavan will be the guests of honor at the launch of the program.
- In a statement Indian Institute of Technology, Madras said its students have developed an ‘Eye in the Sky’ disaster management and humanitarian aid services.
- The Haryana TET 2019 examination will be conducted on November 16 and 17, 2019. The Admit card, as per the schedule will be released on November 8, 2019.
- Lakshmi Vilas Bank, which is under the prompt corrective action (PCA) norms of the Reserve Bank of India, would have received a boost if the proposed merger with Indiabulls Housing Finance would have gone through.
- The RBI rejected the proposed amalgamation of lndiabulls Housing Finance Ltd and lndiabulls Commercial Credit Ltd with Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB).
- Alleging a scam in the sale of public sector Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), the Congress claimed the BJP government was evading parliamentary oversight to sell navratna companies in the garb of strategic disinvestment.
- The Centre would now release an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to employees and dearness relief to pensioners from July 2019 representing an increase of 5% over the existing rate of 12%.
- The 30-share Sensex was trading at 38,149.31 at 3.10 pm, up by 617 points. The broad-based Nifty touched 11,313.10 , up by 186 points.
- Market experts believe that gold imports have plunged to a multi-year low after the Central government increased the import duty on precious metals from 10 % to 12.5% in the Union Budget.
- Sprinter Nirmala Sheoran has been banned for four years for doping and stripped of two titles from 2017 Asian Championships.
- Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said he has communicated to his commerce counterpart to protect the farmers’ interest in the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement whose negotiations are in the final stages.
- The Swedish Academy will crown two Nobel literature laureates, after postponing last year’s prize over a sexual harassment scandal.
- University of Salford in Greater Manchester, England honored Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle (86) with an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree in recognition of her to the field of music & her role in inspiring future generations to participate in the arts and media.
- Sampat Shivangi, an influential Indian-American community leader, has been invited to serve on the national advisory committee of a key health body in the US, which deals with mental health.
- Book titled “Carpenters and Kings: Western Christianity and the Idea of India” written by Siddhartha Sarma was released.
1. International News
- The United States said it would curb visas for Chinese officials until Beijing ends its “repression” of Uighurs and other Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang, a day after imposing commercial restrictions.
- It will be “very difficult” for the UK and the EU to reach a Brexit agreement before the 31 October deadline, Irish leader Leo Varadkar has said.
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned deadly violence during protests in Iraq and called on the country’s government to “exercise maximum restraint,” the State Department said.
- The United Nations has an overall annual operating budget of several billion dollars, covering everything from humanitarian work to disarmament, but right now, it’s just trying to make sure its employees get paid after this month.
- A defiant White House declared war against the impeachment investigation of Donald Trump, blasting the process as partisan, illegitimate and unconstitutional and saying neither the president nor his administration will cooperate.
- A complete US pullout would remove Russia’s only military equal from the contest to shape Syria’s future for combating the so-called Islamic State.
- The Chinese firms blacklisted by the US included video surveillance company Hikvision, as well as artificial intelligence companies Megvii Technology and SenseTime.
- Trump declared U.S. troops would step aside for an expected Turkish attack on the Kurds, who have fought alongside Americans for years, but he then threatened to destroy the Turks’ economy if they went too far.
- Trump’s extraordinary warning by Twitter against NATO ally Turkey came just after the White House announced a US military drawdown in Turkish-Syrian border areas.
- The report comes days ahead of a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that will consider whether to blacklist Pakistan, which was placed in the grey list last year.
- The 76-year-old All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Chairman made the remarks while addressing party workers on the APML’s founding day in Islamabad via telephone from Dubai.
- Haryana Assembly polls, a number of top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will be campaigning in the state over the next few days.
- Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over its treatment of farmers, alleging that the Yogi Adityanath government remembers them only in advertisements.
- A suspected Pakistani drone was spotted flying in two villages in the Indian territory along the India-Pakistan border in the Hussainiwala area in Punjab late, security officials said. This was the second incident in two days. Villagers captured pictures of a drone on their mobiles.
- As the grieving relatives announced to block rail traffic at the accident site, the police beefed up security on both sides of the tracks.
- According to surveys by UBS, approximately 5,000 trucks ferry out coal from the Dipka mine – adding toxic fumes and kicking up more dust from the broken roads.
- Coal mines have a heavy water demand, using millions of liters each day to wash off impurities – the effluents are invariably diverted back downstream.
- The Dera, a sect that counted many Dalits, farmers and migrant laborers among its followers, has hemorrhaged followers after Singh’s 2017 conviction.
- Munde, the daughter of the late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, also invited Shah to see a recently constructed 25-ft statue of Bhagwanbaba, the saint revered by the Vanjari community and whose birthplace is Sawargaon.
- The Defence Minister was speaking after he completed a sortie on a Rafale jet. The plane was flown by a French pilot as Indian pilots have just begun training on the India-specific Rafale aircraft.
- Congress had announced that Gaurav Gogoi will be the party’s in-charge of Tripura and Manipur. A day later he was given Sikkim while incumbent Luizinho Faleiro will continue to be in charge of Tripura.
- The written test for the entrance exam to the country’s 15 AIIMS Medical Colleges was held on May 25 and 26. The results for the 1,205 seats in these colleges were declared on June 12 and were followed by the counselling and mop-up rounds on August 26.
- The entrance examination will be held on January 18, 2020. The schedule date for downloading the admit card for the examination is January 1, 2020.
- The NCERT has advised schools to play “age-appropriate” songs when students are being served mid-day meals or during lunch breaks to create a positive and joyful environment.
- Through joint PhDs, it is possible to carry out high quality collaborative research work by taking advantage of expertise and excellent infrastructure available at both institutions.
- IIM-A has issued 378 doctorates so far. Of these 378, how many were from constitutionally protected categories? We don’t know yet.
- State Bank of India (SBI) announced reduction in its marginal cost of funds-based lending (MCLR) rate by 10 basis points across all tenors, effective October 10.
- The Donald Trump administration placed eight Chinese technology companies on a US blacklist. The blacklisted firms include two video surveillance companies -- Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co.
- Japanese banks Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. are bankrolling Agarwal’s share acquisition, according to people familiar with the deal.
- The cut in repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India also did not inspire confidence in investors, given the sharp downgrade in economic growth forecast.
- Deutsche Bank plans to cut about half its planned 18,000 jobs in Germany as it relies on savings at the retail units to lower costs, according to people familiar with the matter.
- As per the recently released MRF (Madras Rubber Factory) Tyres International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Test Player Rankings” as of October 7, 2019.
- Indian-origin Arjun Bansal (35) and Ankiti Bose (27) have made it to Fortune’s 2019 “40 Under 40 Global List”.
- Former First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama‘s second book titled “Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice” is set to release on November 19, 2019.
1. International News
- The US has blacklisted 28 Chinese organizations for their alleged involvement in abuses against ethnic Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province.
- Congressional Democrats slapped subpoenas on the Pentagon and White House budget office as part of their advancing impeachment probe, demanding documents tied to President Donald Trump’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine.
- US production company CBS Studios said on Monday it is to make a miniseries based on the memoir of former FBI director James Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump as the Russia election interference scandal erupted in 2017.
- For the past five years, Syrian Kurds have stood alongside the United States in its effort to vanquish the Islamic State, in the process securing control over a vast area of Syria they hoped would form the nucleus of an autonomous Kurdish region.
- Donald Trump demanded that chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, who is initiating the proceedings against him, be investigated.
- Southwest is the largest operator of the MAX with 34 jetliners in its fleet when the aircraft was grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes that together killed 346 people.
- The report comes days ahead of a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that will consider whether to blacklist Pakistan, which was placed in the grey list last year.
- The 76-year-old All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Chairman made the remarks while addressing party workers on the APML’s founding day in Islamabad via telephone from Dubai
- With Congress out for another week and many Republicans reticent to speak out, a text from attorney Mark Zaid that a second individual had emerged and could corroborate the original whistleblower’s complaint gripped Washington and potentially heightened the stakes for Trump.
- Kuruvilla and his colleague Najeeb Nazeer were preparing to close their convenience store in December 2017 when a teenager entered the shop brandishing what they believed to be a firearm demanding money from the till.
- Nobel Committee said scientists are focused on developing drugs that can treat diseases by either activating or blocking the body’s oxygen-sensing machinery.
- Passengers onboard the Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express, the country’s first private semi-high speed train, were being given biodegradable packaged drinking water bottles.
- Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria today referred to the suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in February as a reminder that defense installations need to be on alert at all times.
- Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat performed ‘shastra puja’ (Ritual for weapons) at the Dussehra annual Vijayadashmi festival in Maharashtra’s Nagpur.
- The Gurgaon Police said it has arrested 28 proclaimed offenders and eight bail jumpers from different places here in the last 10 days and seized illegal drugs and liquor as the model code of conduct remains in force for the October 21 Haryana Assembly polls.
- The Aarey Milk Colony is a 1,287-hectare area housing roughly 500,000 trees abutting the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the Mithi river.
- The Congress, in a statement, said the meeting took place owing to a “special bond of friendship” between the party and the Awami League, the party Hasina leads.
- According to Villupuram district police department, TN police was alerted by the Union Home Ministry that Tsundue, a “Free Tibet” movement supporter, may protest at the venue during the summit.
- The employees have been demanding, among other things, a merger of the RTC with the state government as was done in the neighboring Andhra Pradesh, where they are being treated as government employees with their retirement age being enhanced to 60 years.
- Koderma’s sub-divisional police officer, Rajendra Prasad, cited the investigation and said it suggested it was not a case of lynching over child lifting rumors as the family of the laborer, Sunil Yadav, has claimed.
- IIT Kanpur, the organizing institute for IIT JAM 2020, will conclude the application process for the entrance exam today.
- National Testing Agency (NTA) will conclude JEE Main January 2020 application process in two days. Students who have not completed the application process yet should complete the process by October 10.
- National Testing Agency (NTA) will conclude the application process for UGC NET exam tomorrow. The last date to submit application fee is October 10, 2019.
- U GRO Capital (formerly known as Chokhani securities), a technology-enabled lender to small businesses has signed its first co-origination of loan agreement with public sector bank, Bank of Baroda (BOB)
- The cut in repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India also did not inspire confidence in investors, given the sharp downgrade in economic growth forecast.
- This is the first time that India has received details from Switzerland under the AEOI framework, which provides for exchange of information on financial accounts that currently active as well as those accounts that were closed during 2018.
- Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has appealed to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, seeking his help in processing her and her trainer’s visa a week ahead of the Denmark Open.
- William G Kaelin Jr, Peter J Ratcliffe, and Gregg L Semenza are jointly awarded 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.
- The Socialist Party of Goa-origin Portuguese Prime Minister (PM) Antonio Costa has won re-election of Prime Minister but failed to secure an absolute majority in parliament. It will have to form a minority government.
- English drummer Peter Edward Ginger Baker is familiarly known as Ginger Baker and co-founder of the rock band “Cream” passed away at the age of 80 in England due to old age ailments.
1. International News
- Anti-government marches in Hong Kong have ended in rioting, with attacks on government offices, a metro station and businesses with ties to mainland China.
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the European Union he will not delay Brexit beyond October 31, underlining that his latest proposals are the last chance to reach a deal.
- Iran’s oil minister said that China’s CNPC has withdrawn from the development of an offshore gas field and that state-owned Petropars will take over the entire project.
- Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf is set to return to the politics by reviving his party after remaining inactive for over a year due to his deteriorating health, according to media reports on.
- US President Donald Trump and Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan discussed the planed ‘safe zone’ in northeastern Syria.
- ABC News said lawyer Mark Zaid said the second whistleblower was an intelligence official who “has first-hand knowledge of some of the allegations outlined in the original complaint.
- Senior aides have said that Boris Johnson was prepared to “squat” in Downing Street even if MPs declare no confidence in his government and agree with a caretaker prime minister to replace him.
- The Austrian news agency APA reported that the 25-year-old turned himself into police in the town east of Innsbruck and admitted to the five slayings early.
- Exchanging congratulatory messages with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in the past 70 years, the “traditional friendship” between the two countries stood the “test of time and changes in the international landscape”.
- Randy Santos was arraigned on charges of murder and attempted murder for the bloody rampage that happened early in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
- US researchers William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza and Britain's Peter Ratcliffe on Monday shared the Nobel Medicine Prize for discoveries on how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability, the Nobel Assembly said.
- The United Nations said it was "preparing for the worst" in northeast Syria after the United States said it would step aside to allow for Turkish military operations in the area.
- North Korea said there was no way the United States would bring alternative plans for their stalled nuclear talks to a meeting proposed by Stockholm in two weeks after weekend negotiations in Sweden broke down.
- U.S. businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether she had an intimate relationship with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London.
- Here are top news, analysis and opinion curated for you. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.
- The PDP has deferred a scheduled meeting of its delegation with party president Mefbooba Mufti, who is currently under detention in Srinagar, hours after announcing that a team of leaders would see her.
- Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot questioned the liquor ban in Gujarat. He said the state has the maximum consumption of liquor among all states.
- The Congress party has been “wiped out” from the landscape and can’t be revived even if it was administered a “calcium injection”, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said while addressing a public meeting for the October 21 Maharashtra assembly elections.
- The Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC) 2019 was held at Hotel Taj Fort Aguada in Goa under the theme “Common Maritime Priorities in IOR and need for Regional Maritime Strategy” from October 2019.
- The Union Health Ministry’s data showed that in its first year of the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), the treatment of 90,000 cancer patients was funded through 1.8 lakh hospital admissions.
- A 3-day event of 5th World Parliament of Science, Religion and Philosophy 2019 with the theme of ‘Role of Science, Religion and Philosophy for World Peace and well-being of Mankind’ organized by MIT
- The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the Global Conference-cum- expo on ‘Spirituality for Unity, Peace and Prosperity’ organized by Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya at the Shantivan Campus in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
- The first e-waste clinic of India will be set up in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have tied up to set up the clinic.
- India’s 1st plant to produce diesel from plastic waste in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh has been soft-launched by Mathura MP (Member of Parliament) Hema Malini with the aim to fulfill Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi’s dream of a Swachh Bharat Mission.
- Information and Broadcasting Minister Mr. Prakash Javadekar notified that the 50th, the Golden Jubilee edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019 will be held in Goa from November 20-28, 2019 with Russia as the partner country.
- The 20th annual national conference on health informatics Medrecon 2020 will be held in Kochi, Kerala on February 7- 8, 2020 under the theme ‘Value of Data in Health Care Ecosystem’.
- Last date for submitting online applications for All India Sainik Schools Entrance Examination (AISSEE) for admission in class sixth and ninth in Sainik School of Sujanpur Tira in Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur district has been extended to October 10.
- Odisha Higher Education Minister, Arun Kumar Sahoo, suggested a “give back to roots” programme for generating funding for educational institutes in the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting held on September 21 at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
- National Institute of Management Solutions, New Delhi, is not authorized to admit students in any Bachelor/Master degree programmes on behalf of any other University, UGC said.
- Since 2018, Sainik Schools have switched to OMR-based format for conducting the entrance exam. More details on the examination will be released later.
- A top executive of Karnataka Bank Ltd has stressed the need to increase the CASA (current account savings account) ratio and to improve the health of advances portfolio.
- Doors remain open in India for further policy easing in December and likelihood of more into 2020, possibility of which was flagged recently, according to Singapore-based DBS Bank.
- Himachal Pradesh (HP) Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur flagged off a one-month program ‘Pragati Rath’ of HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation) bank in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh (HP) to make people aware of financial and digital literacy.
- India’s rising tennis sensation Sumit Nagal, who reached the semifinals of the ATP Challenger Campinas, has moved up by six places to the 129 spot in the latest men’s singles rankings.
- A specialized agency of the United Nations, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has appointed Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio as its goodwill ambassador for indigenous people.
- American actress, singer, and model, Diahann Carroll, who won a Golden Globe and Tony awards and was nominated for an Oscar, has passed away in Los Angeles, US (United States) due to cancer.
1. International News
- All train services in Hong Kong including the line to the airport were suspended, the city’s rail operator said after violent clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters saw subway stations vandalized.
- North Korea and the United States walked away with opposing assessments of nuclear talks in Sweden, which Pyongyang said broke down but Washington called “good discussions.”
- The Trump administration complained of harassment by Democratic lawmakers who issued subpoenas for White House documents regarding President Donald Trump’s alleged pressuring of Ukraine for political favors.
- US Senator Elizabeth Warren became the second presidential candidate of the Democratic party to voice concerns over the communications lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir, in force since the centre revoked the state’s special status on August 5.
- Saturday’s talks were the first between the U.S. and North Korea since the February breakdown of the second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in Vietnam.
- The Trump administration, which was a major concern for New Delhi after the president offered to mediate the Kashmir dispute between India and Kashmir, has since reverted to the default US position of letting India and Pakistan resolve it bilaterally.
- Nepal Police on Saturday registered a case against the former Parliament Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who has been accused of raping a parliamentary woman staff, according to a media report.
- The president previously said that Turkey’s patience was wearing thin after Turkish and American officials agreed in August to establish a buffer zone in northern Syria.
- North Korea’s Kim Myong Gil and Stephen Biegun, the special envoy of US President Donald Trump, are part of the teams at an island off Stockholm.
- Hong Kong city the financial hub has been rocked by unprecedented protests for four months, with demonstrators angered by what they see as Beijing’s tightening grip on the semi-autonomous city.
- According to the tour itinerary released, immediately on his arrival at Mysuru on October 10, President will visit the palace and inaugurate the centenary celebrations of Maharaja of Mysuru late Jayachamaraja Wadiyar.
- A lavish vegetarian spread is on the menu for Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is on a four-day visit to India at a lunch hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
- The Congress demanded rejection of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ nomination paper affidavit for the state assembly polls claiming the date of the notary seal on it “expired” last December.
- Local residents, activists, and opposition parties have slammed the government after hundreds of trees were chopped off in Aarey under heavy security since Friday night to clear the land for construction of the car shed.
- Rukamani Devi Nishad left a little-known party called Pragatisheel Manav Party to join the Samajwadi Party while party hopper and four-time MP Ramakant Yadav returned to the SP.
- The Naga peace talks, which aims to resolve the demand by various Naga rebel outfits seeking greater autonomy including a separate constitution and flag, have been going for over two decades.
- The Lucknow-Anand Vihar Double Decker AC Express derailed between Katghar and Moradabad stations, according to officials.
- “I had sent the division education officer to the school to confirm the identity of the teacher. After his face matched with the person in the video, I suspended him,” district basic education officer Ajay Kumar said on Saturday, according to ANI.
- The Deputy Commissioner of Tamenglong has ordered that air guns deposited with 36 village authorities “until the last flock leave their roosting or till November 30, 2019” and report of collection of air guns be submitted to his office by October 25.
- The weather forecast agency further predicted that Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura are also likely to witness heavy downpour throughout the day.
- Bombay High court has invited online applications for the recruitment of Senior System Officers and System Officers at the District and Taluka Courts in the State of Maharashtra on contract basis under the provisions of 14th Finance Commission for a period of twelve months.
- O P Jindal Global University (JGU) Vice-Chancellor C Raj Kumar has been conferred the “Bicentennial Medal” by US-based Indiana University Bloomington for his distinguished service in interdisciplinary and global collaboration of educational institutions.
- Candidates can raise objections against the answer key by providing appropriate representations till October 10, 2019, through the official website.
- The directive has been issued in the interests of Indian academic publishing and credibility of the research and the knowledge production, according to UGC officials.
- Primary and secondary school students of Madho Longra Basti in Jaarigim village of Shankargarh development block are facing this hardship, which has further intensified due to relentless rains.
- “The banking sector, which has moved from MCLR to an external benchmark loan rate, will pass on the 25 bps reduction to the ultimate consumers faster than in the past.”
- Placing Lakshmi Vilas Bank under the prompt corrective action framework cannot be construed as RBI having made up its mind on the proposal to merge the lender with Indiabulls Housing, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.
- It’s a Diwali bonanza for public sector bank (PSB) employees. Their accounts are being credited with part wage arrears even before the final agreement on the wage revision between the unions and the management.
- The RBI monetary policy committee, which has reduced the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks to 5.15 percent, said recent measures announced by the government were likely to help strengthen private consumption and spur private investment activity.
- In the fourth bi-monthly review of the policy, RBI reduced its benchmark lending rate by 0.25 percent to revive growth that has hit a six-year low of 5 percent.
- Driven by Rohit Sharma’s second successive century and overall fifth in Tests, India declared their second innings in the first Test in Visakhapatnam at 323/4, setting South Africa a target of 395.
- Pakistan pacer Mohammad Hasnain on Saturday became the youngest player to take a T20 hat-trick.
- The second largest hydrocarbon exploration and production Indian public sector company , Oil India Limited (OIL) has appointed Sushil Chandra Mishra as its new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) and of the company.
- Lieutenant (Lt)- General Iqroop Singh Ghuman, Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), took over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Central Command of Indian Army succeeding Lieutenant-General Abhay Krishna who retired on September 30, 2019.
1. International News
- US Democratic lawmakers have demanded documents from the White House as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
- Hackers that appear to be linked to Iran’s government have targeted the 2020 US presidential election, according to tech company Microsoft.
- The UK has indicated it could “clarify” its new Brexit offer after the EU called for “fundamental changes”.
- Democratic lawmakers demanded that the White House turn over documents related to allegations that President Donald Trump pressured Ukraine for political favors, as the explosive impeachment investigation against the US leader intensified.
- Neither the government nor demonstrators appear to be willing to back down from unrest that has presented the most serious challenge for Iraq since the defeat of the Islamic State group two years ago.
- The water comes from several different sources: some is used for cooling at the plant, which suffered a meltdown after it was hit by a tsunami triggered by a massive earthquake in March 2011.
- News of the arrests last month came after Canberra announced it would contribute a frigate and surveillance aircraft to a US-led mission to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with tensions high in the Gulf region.
- Khalilzad has been in Islamabad for much of the week meeting with senior government officials in what the U.S. State Department described as follow-up meetings he held in New York during last month’s U.N. General Assembly session.
- The ban was aimed at quelling nearly four months of unrest but instead sparked widespread clashes and vows of defiance, with a 14-year-old boy, reportedly shot and wounded.
- Hong Kong police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the New Territories district of Sha Tin on Friday, hours after the government imposed emergency laws designed to quell violent unrest that has roiled the city for four months.
- Japan’s PM said he wants to meet Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, even though he keeps testing missiles. North Korea has resumed missile tests ahead of a resumption of nuclear negotiations with the US this weekend.
- Since Cold War times, only the United States and Russia have had such systems, which involve an array of ground-based radars and space satellites.
- The Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina said that India’s sudden decision to stop onion exports has to lead to a bit of difficulty for her countrymen.
- Singh, 87, who has been a regular figure on the Thought for the Day on Radio 4, accused the BBC of “prejudice and intolerance”.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 4 shared the speech of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi who applauded his commitment to tackling climate change.
- In an effort to bring in fresh faces the CPI (M) is planning to introduce an age ceiling for the members in its decision making bodies from state committees to central committees and eventually Polit Bureau too.
- India’s capacities in information sharing, submarine safety and deep submergence rescue vessels and disaster management and mitigation to neighboring countries.
- The letter has been signed by retired civil servants like former cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon, former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh and former DGP of Punjab Julio Riberio.
- The police have imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Aarey Colony and surrounding areas on Saturday, banning unlawful assembly, following spirited protests by activists against the felling of trees in the green zone.
- Vyas, 35, who lost legal bids in India to block his extradition, is the fourth individual and third Indian citizen to be extradited from India to the UK since the 1992 India-UK extradition treaty.
- The All India Chakma Students Union claimed that the students at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Thenzawl in Serchhip district fled over threats from the majority Mizos.
- Ashwani Kumar alias ‘Jonny Dada’had already murdered local BJP leader BS Kashyap’s son Chandra Bhushan alias Rahul, 24, and his cousin Krishna alias Lala, 25 and also murdered former air hostess Nikita Sharma, 27, after barging into her house on September 30.
- Police said that there were around 100 to 200 people protesting and some of them scuffled with them following which 29 were arrested. Six of the arrested are women.
- Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh doesn’t foresee any problems with India over the NRC following an assurance from Modi.
- The children from St. Xavier’s Senior Secondary School of Jaipur were on an educational tour to the district, when the accident happened near the Pokhran area.
- A police official said the grenade missed the intended target and exploded on the roadside, causing splinter injuries to 10 pedestrians who were evacuated to hospital.
- Indians need not venture abroad for jobs in the space domain, as state-run Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) offers great career opportunities in the new scientific frontier, an American expert said here.
- The government is making concerted efforts to constitute the National Medical Commission (NMC) at the earliest so that some of the major reforms like a common entrance test and regulation of fees can be implemented from the coming academic year 2020-21.
- Primary and secondary school students of Madho Longra Basti in Jaarigim village of Shankargarh development block are facing this hardship, which has further intensified due to relentless rains.
- The tool is built by a team comprising Ph.D. and Masters students, Rajendra Kumar, Bikash Sah, Ankit Vishway and Rajendra Kumar, by leveraging the IBM Watson AI Platform and IBM Cloud.
- The RBI monetary policy committee, which has reduced the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks to 5.15 percent, said recent measures announced by the government were likely to help strengthen private consumption and spur private investment activity.
- The repo rate was cut by 135bps so far in CY19. The last time the repo rate saw such a large cumulative cut in a year, was in 2009.
- In the fourth bi-monthly review of the policy, RBI reduced its benchmark lending rate by 0.25 percent to revive growth that has hit a six-year low of 5 percent.
- Tadashi Yanai, UNIQLO Founder, and CEO said he wished to launch UNIQLO stores in India since a long time and looks forward towards the tremendous potential Indian markets have to offer.
- Maj AQ Khan of the Indian Army Corps of Signals, won silver medal in the 53rd Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship 2019 that held in Batam, Indonesia in his maiden event.
- Chawrasi finally ended his miserable run of seven missed cuts as he added an even par 71 to his first round 70 to get to one-under 141 to be placed tied-44th.
- India had a successful tour in Belgium with five wins in five games. But coach Graham Reid tells Hindustan Times that he is not taking the Olympic qualifiers against Russia next month lightly.
- Avinash Sable clocked 8 minute 21.37 seconds to breach the Olympics qualifying standard of 8:22.00 seconds while finishing 13th in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final.
- The president of India Shri Ram NathKovind presented “VayoshreshthaSamman – 2019” in New Delhi, as an honour to senior citizens and institutions for their services towards the cause of the elderly persons to mark the October 1 annual commemoration of ‘International Day
- Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (IC) of Civil Aviation, Housing and Urban Affairs and Minister of State of Commerce and Industry of India presented the 10th Edition of India Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2019.
- Well-known philatelist and coin collector Krishna Gopalkrishna Kadekodi passed away at his residence in Sadashiv Nagar in Belagavi, Karnataka.
1. International News
- US President Donald Trump, already facing an impeachment inquiry after urging Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, has now urged China to do likewise.
- Israel’s parliament will be sworn without a new government formed as a deadlocked general election leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambling to find a path to extend his long tenure in power.
- A Banksy painting depicting the British parliament populated by chimpanzees smashed the record for the mysterious British street artist on Thursday, fetching nearly 9.9 million pounds, Sotheby’s auction house said.
- Russia is helping China to build a missile attack warning system, something which only Russia itself and the United States possess at the moment, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
- Saudi Arabia has fully restored oil output after attacks on its facilities last month and is now focused on the listing of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, its energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said.
- Donald Trump has suggested the whistleblower committed treason, prompting concerns among Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee that testifying could raise the risk of exposure.
- The prime minister said protesters’ calls to end corruption was “correct” but said the government must be helped to carry out its duties. Ministerial amendments must be approved by parliament.
- Demonstrations are planned against any potential anti-mask law, with multiple protests also expected over the weekend as activists denounce the police shooting of a teenaged secondary school student.
- Senators Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Robert Menendez, a Democrat, moved the Senate bill. And Representative Raja Krishnamurthy, a Democrat, introduced the House bill joined by 14 co-sponsors from both parties.
- The speaker spoke at length about Gandhi’s influence on Dr. King and the relevance of his ideas to the present world and one of the gravest of all challenges facing it now, climate change.
- Police union official Loic Travers told reporters the attack appears to have begun in an office and continued elsewhere in the large police compound across the street from Notre Dame Cathedral.
- The premises of the police headquarters were cordoned off after the lunch time attack in the historic center of Paris, usually thronged with tourists, and dozens of police and emergency vehicles had converged at the scene.
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to travel to Paris on October 7 on a three-day visit, primarily to receive the first of 36 Rafale fighter jets.
- Issue witnesses strong demand from all categories of investors; offering part of govt. divestment plan.
- Marathi actress Deepali Sayed joined Shiv Sena in the presence of party chief Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray.
- Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao left for Delhi, where he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 4.
- Just having Gandhi surname does not make one a follower of Mahatama Gandhi, said Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy in Hyderabad, in a scathing attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
- Bombay HC refuses to declare Mumbai’s Aarey Colony forest area, also declines to quash approval to cut trees for a metro car shed
- Union home minister Amit Shah said Jammu and Kashmir will lead the country in terms of development over the next decade.
- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case in Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank scam naming the promoters of HDIL (Housing Development Infrastructure ltd).
- The Indian Railways, as part of the ministry of railways’ 100 days action plan approved in June, has decided to hand over certain rakes for private operations as the national transporter seeks to increase its revenue.
- Intelligence reports have revealed that terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba have been kept in waiting along the LoC to be pushed into Indian territory, whenever they sense a chance.
- Hyderabad Traffic Police said, “In Hyderabad city, we are conducting special (drive) against drunken driving and everyone knows that driving under the influence of alcohol is very dangerous to not only the person driving but to others also.”
- Delhi Cabinet, approved the Delhi Sports University Bill. The Delhi Sports University will be set up in Mundka.
- Candidates are advised to take a copy of their hall ticket to exam center or else they won’t be entertained. Candidates should also carry a valid id proof.
- NMAT by GMAC 2019 registration will end today. The NMAT by GMAC is a computer-based exam and has three sections – Language Skills, Quantitative Skills and Logical Reasoning.
- GATE 2020 application with late fee will close in two days. The last date to register and apply for Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2020 is October 5, 2019.
- After on-boarding MSMEs across verticals through YES Scale, YES Bank has started to look at connecting with MSME associations with the launch of YES Scale Bizconnect.
- With a cut in interest rates a matter of how much not if, traders say the nascent recovery in the country’s bond market will gather pace only if the central bank gives a clear indication of further easing when it meets.
- Swiss private banks have seen a sharp rise in British clients who are moving assets offshore to escape a chaotic Brexit, several sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
- Indian women’s team produced another authoritative performance to comfortably defeat South Africa by five wickets in the fifth T20 International, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the six-match series.
- Kyrgyzstan Azizbek Ashurov was awarded the 2019 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) prestigious Nansen Award.
- Indian telecommunications company, Tata Communications has named Amur Swaminathan Lakshminarayanan as Managing Director (MD) and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO).He succeeds Vinod Kumar, who has resigned from the company on July 8th, 2019.
- SS Mallikarjuna Rao assumed charge as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Punjab National Bank, the country’s second-largest public sector bank.
- Former India cricketer Roger Binny and his team swept the Karnataka State Cricket Association election held in Bengaluru.
- Padma Shri awardee Dr. Hargovind Laxmishanker Trivedi passed away at the age of 87 due to age-related illness.
1. International News
- The government has delivered its new Brexit proposals to the EU, including plans to replace the Irish backstop.
- Prince William and Kate Middleton, who is getting ready to kick off their royal tour to Pakistan, recently revealed that they are looking forward to trying out different dishes in the country.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed environmental activist Greta Thunberg as a kind but poorly informed teenager manipulated into making unrealistic demands in her United Nations speech last month.
- Spontaneous rallies have broken out in Hong Kong as anger mounts over police shooting a teenage protester and later defending it as “lawful and reasonable”.
- North Korea has said that its test-firing of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile in the waters off its east coast was successful.
- Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces even longer odds this time, and as a result has been seeking to form a unity government that would include his main opponent Benny Gantz and his centrist Blue and White alliance.
- South Korea expressed strong concern and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launch, saying it was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions
- The announcement came after the World Trade Organization gave Washington a green light to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion (6.1 billion pounds) worth of EU goods annually in the long-running case, a move that threatens to ignite a tit-for-tat transatlantic trade war.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described Nancy Pelosi as a political figure who embodies the strength of convictions that is so relevant even today.
- The South Asian nation owes $6.7 billion in commercial loans to China over the three years through June 2022, according to the IMF, which this year approved a new program to bail out Pakistan from a crisis. Islamabad needs to pay the multilateral lender $2.8 billion in the same period.
- The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has proposed to split and merge 25 battalions of the Assam Rifles with ITBP and rest of the 21 with the army.
- Pro-European lawmakers were outraged and saw the move as an attempt to stifle democratic debate on Britain’s pending departure from the European Union on October 31.
- At 78, the leftist senator from Vermont is the oldest candidate vying to take on President Donald Trump in 2020 and one of the leading contenders behind favorites Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
- Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit India on a four-day official visit during which she would hold talks with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and the two sides are likely to sign nearly a dozen agreements.
- “India’s has been a dramatic rise, deserving of the global attention that it has commanded. The stage is set for India to realize its vision of becoming a USD 5-trillion economy in the next half-decade,” Borge Brenda said.
- Senior Indian lawyer Harish Salve endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s decision to revoke the special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 as a means of correcting a “mistake”.
- The National Basketball Association brought to India the first-ever Floating Basketball Court in the Arabian Sea near Bandra Worli Sealink.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah flagged off the Vande Bharat Express at the New Delhi Railway Station.
- India’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has built an alternative road through which its troops can enter the Doklam valley — the site of a 73-day military standoff between India and China in 2017 — where the Chumbi valley of China, Bhutan, and India converge, a development that has the potential to alter the military dynamics in the region.
- Former finance minister P Chidambaram’s judicial custody in CBI’s INX media case was extended till October 17 by a Delhi court.
- The earthquake struck at 11:54 am and was measured at 4.2 on the Richter magnitude scale. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Manipur’s Imphal (East) district, the IMD report said.
- Three days after the Delhi High Court dismissed his bail plea, P. Chidambaram approached the Supreme Court seeking an early hearing of his bail plea in the INX media case.
- Ex-PM Manmohan Singh has accepted the invitation to join an all-party team to visit Kartarpur Sahib next month, the Punjab government said.
- As state power minister Nilesh Cabral drives home the message that no one is exempt from dues, a municipality market complex in the state capital Panaji, a police station and a waterworks plant saw their power supply turned off in over the last four weeks, sending officials scurrying to have the power restored.
- Several other BJP leaders from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Tripura have demanded the exercise across the country after Amit Shah’s repeated call for a nationwide NRC.
- As the officers and jawans were dusting their shoes from floods, another catastrophe hit Bihar, leaving several cities, including it is capital Patna, completely submerged in a deluge for at least four days
- Professional Examination Board, Madhya Pradesh, has released the MP TET answer key for the High School Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) held for English paper.
- In a clarification regarding certain announcement is being circulated on social media platforms that the CA exams will be held in December instead of November 2019, the ICAI, the Chartered Accountant (CA) exam regulator.
- Newly appointed Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) KS Dhatwalia called on Union minister Jitendra Singh and discussed with him the possibility of introducing additional courses, as well as those in different languages, in the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Jammu.
- The HRD Ministry has conveyed that in addition to other clearances, prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs must be taken by all the academic institutions.
- Candidates interested and eligible for the exam can apply online at, admissions.nid.edu on or before November 7, 2019, till 2 pm.
- The recruitment rally is being held at the JKLI Centre at Rangath in Srinagar. Total vacancies for the recruitment are 2780 and saw participation in large numbers by youth from Jammu and Kashmir.
- The recent drop in private sector lender YES Bank’s stock price does not reflect the bank’s performance and it remains on solid financial footing, said Chief Executive (CEO) Ravneet Gill.
- Punjab National Bank (PNB) has convened an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of its shareholders on November 4 to consider approval of the amalgamation of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India (UBI) with itself.
- The jobs data showed manufacturing activity in the United States tumbled to a more than 10-year low in September.
- Luis Suarez scored two classy goals to inspire Barcelona to a 2-1 comeback win over Inter Milan in the Champions League and inflict a first defeat on Antonio Conte since he took charge of the Italians.
- Opener Mayank Agarwal notched-up his maiden Test century in his first innings at home during the Test series opener against South Africa, 3 October.
- Pune-based singer Manjushree Oak will perform non-stop for 13 hours in 122 Indian languages, in an attempt to set a Guinness Record.
- P K Gupta has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of NBCC(National Buildings Construction Corporation) Limited till September 30, 2023. He succeeds Shri Shiv Das Meena.
- The government has appointed economist Surjit S Bhalla as the Executive Director(ED) for India on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- India’s 1983 World Cup-winning captain , Kapil Dev has resigned as the chairman of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) days after Shanta Rangaswamy stepped down from the 3-member committee.
- American-Austrian film producer Eric Pleskow, the Hollywood tycoon, passed away at the age of 95 in United States(US) due to old age ailments.
1. International News
- The 70th anniversary of Communist Party rule in China was “one of Hong Kong’s most violent and chaotic days”, the city’s police chief has said.
- One of the projectiles fired by North Korea early appears to have fallen into Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the top government spokesman said.
- Dozens of cadets and youngsters from Russia’s Youth Army have been getting up close and personal with perhaps the world’s most iconic firearm as their country prepares to mark the centenary of the birth of Mikhail Kalashnikov, maker of the legendary rifle.
- Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Tom Cruise to Kyiv to discuss locations for one of the Hollywood superstar’s new film projects, the presidency said.
- Negotiations have been at a standstill for months following a February summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam.
- President Reuven Rivlin selected Benjamin Netanyahu last week as the candidate with the best chance of forming a government.
- An US official said that Pakistani militants may launch attacks in India after it nullified articles 370 and 35A of its the Constitution that gave special privileges to Jammu and Kashmir.
- The court has allowed affirmative action in several decisions, including its landmark 1978 ruling in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which allowed a race to be considered in college admissions.
- US President Donald Trump faces the possibility of becoming only the third president ever impeached by Congress, which could lead to his going on trial in the Senate.
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a self-styled modernizer, was feted by global leaders and business titans before the gruesome murder on October 2 last year.
- “Congratulations to President Xi and the Chinese people on the 70th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China!” President Donald Trump tweeted.
- The military parade of China comprising 15,000 personnel drawn from across the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and a display of weapons, including the unveiling of the DF-41 intercontinental nuclear missile with a range of 12,000 km to 14,000 km, and hypersonic drones.
- Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was attending a dual ceremony to commission the new Turkish naval ship TCG Kinaliada and the MILGEM (Turkish national warship program)-class ship for Pakistan.
- Some 15,000 troops along with tanks, missiles and high-tech drones paraded down the Avenue of Eternal Peace as president Xi Jinping and other Communist Party leaders watched from a rostrum overlooking Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the grit and determination of Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 115th birth anniversary.
- The U.S. has removed Turkey, a NATO ally, from its F-35 fighter jet programme after Turkey received parts for the S-400 from Russia.
- The government of Uzbekistan has issued a special postage stamp to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
- The BJP said that no major Muslim country came out in support of Pakistan after the Modi government ended the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.
- The £35 million fund was locked in September 1948 in the account of the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK Rahimtoola.
- In two Odisha temples - one in Sambalpur district and another in Ganjam district - the idols of Mahatma Gandhi are worshipped everyday by the locals.
- The Supreme Court recalled its direction in the March 20, 2018 verdict which had virtually diluted provisions of arrest under the SC/ST Act.
- Here are today’s top news, analysis and opinion at 2 pm curated for you. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.
- Sitting MLA Subhash Patil from Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP) alleged that it was a dirty game being played by his opponents.
- Chidambaram traced how world has evolved from enslavement to the flowering of democracy in the 20th century which brought hope of liberty and equality to millions of people around the world.
- The Indian Railways is also celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation by painting his picture on its diesel locomotives.
- The minister said the emerging order will be “multipolar” and “intensely competitive and driven by balance of power” instead of one based on “shared endeavours” and “collective security”.
- NIA has used Hurriyat’s emails as well as videos, TV interviews, public speeches etc obtained from open source as evidence.
- IIM Udaipur has been featured in the QS 2020 Masters in Management (MIM) ranking and is the youngest management institutes in India to be on the list.
- Central Library of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), popularly known as Maulana Azad Library reached another milestone as it is has been awarded the ISO-9001:2015 certification.
- Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) has once again brought the role of auditors to the forefront – an area where the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a tough stance and could once again do so.
- PMC is one of some 97,000 cooperative lenders in India, which hold a combined $130 billion of deposits according to CLSA Ltd. -- nearly a tenth of the wider industry’s total.
- The gross GST collections comprised of Rs 16,630 crore collection through Central-GST (CGST), Rs 22,598 crore in State-GST and Rs 45,069 crore through Integrated-GST (IGST).
- India, competitive abroad and ruthless at home, should start the three-Test series against South Africa as the overwhelming favourite.
- The 51-run victory in the fourth match at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium, in front of another big crowd, gave the host an unassailable 2-0 lead.
- “India’s Most Powerful Women in Media” award at famed Confluence Excellence Awards at the British Parliament in London, United Kingdom.
- S S Mallikarjuna Rao has been appointed the new Managing Director of Punjab National Bank, the country’s second largest public sector bank.
- Peru’s vice-president has resigned from her post after declining the opposition’s nomination to be interim leader, saying she hoped it would pave the way for a new general election.
1. International News
- Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a parade marking 70 years of Communist rule in China, as pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong planned to upset the celebrations with a series of potentially violent protests.
- President Xi Jinping declared that “no force” can shake the Chinese nation as he oversaw a massive military celebration of 70 years of Communist Party rule, shadowed by a day of protest in seething Hong Kong that threatened to steal the spotlight.
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that US President Donald Trump asked him to help gather information for an inquiry into Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
- Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson was trying mightily to showcase his shiny new agenda for the people, but his Conservative Party’s annual conference has been overshadowed by accusations about how he treats women.
- The United States slapped fresh sanctions on a businessman tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as to a disinformation operation accused of conspiring to manipulate the 2018 midterm elections.
- The military parade of China comprising 15,000 personnel drawn from across the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and a display of weapons, including the unveiling of the DF-41 intercontinental nuclear missile with a range of 12,000 km to 14,000 km, and hyper sonic drones.
- Turkish president Recap Tayyip Erdogan was attending a dual ceremony to commission the new Turkish naval ship TCG Kinaliada and the MILGEM (Turkish national warship program)-class ship for Pakistan.
- The event marks the anniversary of the Oct. 1, 1949, announcement of the founding of the People’s Republic of China by then-leader Mao Zedong following a civil war.
- A US Congressional sub-committee said it will hold a hearing on the human rights situation in South Asia with focus on Kashmir on October 22.
- Questioning bids to “hyphenate” India with Pakistan following the scrapping of Article 370, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said it is being done by those who are obsessed with the post-August 5 developments in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Jammu and Kashmir, and they are in five-star facilities, BJP leader Ram Madhav said, speaking at an event on the government’s decision to end special status to the state under Article 370 and the security restrictions that followed.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought to calm down a Twitter user who said “people are bound to consume poison” as the aftershocks of the severe funds' crunch at Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank hit them.
- The office of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released a video clip of him in which he is seen singing the anthem of INS Vikramaditya onboard the aircraft carrier along with the crew of the ship.
- Shiv Sena has retained most of its sitting MLAs, while it has also given tickets to a legislator who switched over in the last few months. Aaditya Thackeray will contest from Worli seat in south Mumbai.
- Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar sent Shivakumar to further 14-day judicial custody after the ED sought an extension of his judicial custody.
- The relatives of Ratan Kumar’s family claimed that they had not eaten anything for the last few days. One of them also alleged that the family has no ration card to avail monthly ration at cheap rates and some villagers were helping them with the food.
- “I would like to ask scientists to do research to ascertain whether there is ‘mangal’ (well-being) in life instead of searching for life on ‘Mangal’ (Mars),” Union minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi said.
- Kerala and Tamil Nadu have retained their places as the best states in terms of school education in the country.
- There should be degree or diploma courses in skill development as mere certification would not work, said Union Power Minister R.K. Singh.
- M.Tech programmer‘ fees at Indian Institutes of Technology, a former top government official said their courses need to be attuned continuously with new and emerging technologies and with industry needs.
- Yes Bank said it has received the go-ahead from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its capital raising plans, even as its share price touched a 10-year low amidst concerns about its exposure to a large housing finance company.
- Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm donned a Viking-style horned helmet accessorised with an Arab man’s headband to celebrate winning in 47.42 seconds.
- Mixed relay team finishes seventh; Anjali, Archana disappoint. She had been promising a big one for the last few years. Javelin thrower Annu Rani finally got her act together on the big stage, with a 62.43m
- The University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman said the Centre is in talks with global agencies to modify their parameters so that efforts of Indian universities in providing education to marginalised classes do not go unnoticed when they prepare their annual rankings for education institutions.
- Scientist Thanu Padmanabhan (Physicist) received 2019 M P Birla Memorial Award for his contributions in the field of cosmology.
- Odisha Governor and Chancellor of Universities, Ganeshi Lal appointed Govind J Chakrapani and Hari Hara Hota as Vice Chancellors of Berhampur University and Shri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya, Puri respectively.
- The Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) has sought a meeting with Jai Bhagwan Bhoria, the Administrator in-charge of the crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank Ltd
- Book titled “Lal Bahadur Shastri: Politics and Beyond” authored by political analyst Sandeep Shastri commemorating Late Shashtri’s 113th birth anniversary on October 2, 2019 is set to be released.