The Free Press Journal
TRADE PACTS FUEL JOBS, SAYS PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India’s expanding trade and mobility agreements with multiple countries are opening up fresh employment and career opportunities for the country’s youth, both at home and abroad, as the government pushes...
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AMERICAN ARMADA BEARS DOWN ON IRAN
A day after announcing the creation of what he called a “Board of Peace,” said American military assets were being deployed toward Iran “just in case” he decided to act. The U.S. military has moved more forces into the region, including the aircraft...
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The Eagles’ ‘Greatest Hits’ soars highest
Take it easy… and go quadruple diamond. The Eagles’ 1976 album “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” is the bestselling album of all time in the US. It has officially sold over 40 million units, according to new certification from the Recording Industry...
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Rupee plunges to record low
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on January 20 quashed the 2023 FIR registered by Tiruchi city police against BJP leader Amit Malviya for allegedly “distorting” remarks made by Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sanatana...
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Soon, Rameshwaram Café here
It's official. Bengaluru's hugely iconic quick service restaurant (QSR) Rameshwaram Cafe will open its Mumbai outlet on February 9. A pooja will be performed on February 6 and the following three days there will be a soft launch during which Mumbaikars...
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‘SAVED 10 MILLION LIVES IN INDO-PAK CONFLICT’ Trump offers mediation over River Nile
US President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he stopped fighting between India and Pakistan, saying the move saved millions of lives and describing it as an “honour”. Addressing an event in Florida on Friday, Trump said the United States had...
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25% TRUMP TARIFF ON AI CHIPS
The United States has imposed a fresh round of tariffs on a narrow set of high-end artificial intelligence semiconductors, as President Donald Trump sharpens his push to reduce America’s dependence on foreign chip supplies while generating revenue from...
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Can Iran regime survive protests?
As the protests continue in Iran, the main question being asked in Delhi’s diplomatic circles is whether the Islamic regime will fall. As of now this doesn’t seem imminent. Experts say the protests have by and large been urban-led, and rural people,...
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‘Be alert, united to defeat forces trying to divide us’
PM Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the forces which had opposed the reconstruction of the Somnath temple after Independence are “still active among us”, and that India must remain alert, united and strong to defeat them. Referring to the repeated...
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Jobs scam: Charges against Lalu framed
A Delhi court on Friday framed charges against RJD chief and former railway minister in the alleged land-for-jobs corruption case being probed by CBI, setting the stage for a fullfledged trial in one of the most politically sensitive scandals linked...
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UP draft roll drops 2.89cr
The EC on Tuesday published the draft electoral rolls for Uttar Pradesh following an extensive Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, resulting in the removal of nearly 2.89 crore names from the previous list. Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa...
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Cuba, Greenland, Colombia
US President Donald Trump has once again asserted that the United States needs Greenland for its national security, doubling down on his longstated ambition to bring the vast Arctic island under American control. The remarks came barely a day after a...
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Not at war with Venezuela: US Deep concern: India calls for peace talks
A day after US strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday America is at war "against drug trafficking organisations", not Venezuela. He said the US military will maintain a “quarantine” around Venezuela to prevent the entry and exit of oil...
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US strikes, will ‘run’ Venezuela
The US carried out a largescale military strike on Venezuela early Saturday, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and forcibly removing him from the country, according to US President Donald Trump. CNN reported that Madurao, 63, and his wife were dragged...
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SURVEY SIGNALS EVM TRUST, STIRS CONG-BJP FEUD
Amid allegations of “vote chori” levelled by the ruling Congress against the BJP in two constituencies of Karnataka, a government-backed survey has shown that a large majority of voters in the State continue to repose strong faith in Electronic Voting...
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OVER 40 DEAD IN SWISS RESORT BAR BLAZE
Dozens of people were killed and around 100 injured, most of them seriously, after a devastating fire tore through a packed bar during New Year’s Eve celebrations at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-montana, authorities said on Thursday. Officials said...
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MSMES to power Maha growth
Maharashtra’s new Industries, Investment and Services (II&S) Policy 2025 sets an ambitious target of turning the state into India’s first trillion-dollar economy by 2030, backed by 70.5 lakh crore in investments and the creation of 50 lakh...
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Supreme Court pauses own ruling on Aravalli
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed its recent judgment on the Aravalli Hills, saying that clarifications were necessary on the definitions approved last month and that a fresh, independent expert assessment was required before the directions could be...
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NEW EQUATIONS FOR BMC TEST
day, December 30, is the last date for filing nominations. The list includes the names of Abdul Rashid alias Kaptan Malik, brother of Nawab Malik; Bushra Malik, the daughter-in-law of Kaptan Malik; and Dr Saeeda Khan, his sister. Sana Malik, who...
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MGNREGA mantra is Congress battle cry
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has launched a blistering attack on the Bjp-led NDA government, likening the replacement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat–guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika...
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Delhi flags false Dhaka version
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday declared Bangladesh’s claims that there was Indian involvement in the ongoing clashes in the country were false. Speaking at a media briefing, Jaiswal said that New Delhi had already issued a number of...
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Navi Mumbai airport goes live
Christmas day marked a historic turning point in Indian aviation as the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) officially commenced commercial flight operations. After nearly three decades of planning and construction, the grand Lotus structure...
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Cousins unite
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Wednesday formally announced an alliance for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, triggering a major political churn in...
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India, NZ conclude FTA talks
India and New Zealand on Monday announced the conclusion of talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) that will provide duty-free access to a wide range of goods and include a foreign direct investment (FDI) commitment of USD 20 billion over 15...
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Mahayuti steamrolls in local body polls
Riding on the momentum of its Assembly election victory, the ruling Mahayuti on Sunday delivered a commanding performance in the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections in Maharashtra, with BJP emerging as the single-largest party by a wide...
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PM Modi in pitch for double engine govt
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday mounted a sharp political offensive against the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) during a packed day of official engagements and rallies across Assam and West Bengal, blending development messaging with...
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BANGLADESH ON THE BRINK
Bangladesh stood on a knifeedge on Friday as grief over the killing of a prominent youth leader spilled into nationwide unrest, exposing deep political fault lines, simmering antiIndia sentiment, anxieties over minority safety and growing fears for...
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India, Oman seal FTA
India and Oman on Thursday signed a free trade agreement that will grant duty-free access to a wide range of Indian labour-intensive sectors, including engineering goods and textiles. The pact is expected to provide a major boost to Indian exporters,...
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Over 21 dead in UP fog mishaps
Dense fog continued to disrupt road traffic across Uttar Pradesh, leading to a series of accidents that killed at least 21 people and injured many others. Accidents were reported from Mathura, Unnao and Basti as visibility dropped to near zero on...
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6 weapons used in the shootings?
Australian authorities say the terror attack that unfolded at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was allegedly carried out by a father and son who used legally owned firearms to open fire on a crowd celebrating Hanukkah. Police believe six guns were used in the...
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Wave of terror strikes Bondi Beach, 11 killed
Two gunmen shot dead at least 11 people on Sunday during a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Australian authorities said, declaring it a terrorist attack. One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second arrested. The suspect was...
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HYPE, HOPE & HAVOC
What was meant to be a oncein-a-lifetime football carnival in Kolkata collapsed into a spectacle of disorder on Saturday, as Lionel Messi’s much-anticipated appearance at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan descended into chaos, vandalism and a...
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NCSC issues notice to school over exclusion
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued a notice to St Joseph’s Convent Girls High School in Pune’s Khadki after a woman alleged that the school refused to take her daughter back to class even after she recovered from a serious...
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Leopards, dogs dominate Legislative Assembly debate
The winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly began on Monday, and for three days, discussions were dominated by debates over the leopard menace in Pune, Ahilyanagar and other districts, along with the statewide stray dog problem....
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PCMC plans BIO-CNG, 27MW project
With the Punawale garbage depot plan cancelled and no alternative yet secured for the Moshi Garbage Depot, PimpriChinchwad continues to face a mounting waste-disposal crisis. The Pimpri-chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Monday announced two...
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Indian origin nurse sentenced for Queensland slaying
Rajwinder Singh, a former nurse who fled Australia and hid in India for years, has been found guilty of the brutal murder of 24-yearold Toyah Cordingley, a case that shocked Queensland and triggered a long and complex international...
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25 KILLED IN GOA NIGHTCLUB BLAZE
A jampacked nightclub in north Goa turned into a death trap after midnight on Sunday as a massive fire tore through it, claiming 25 lives and leaving six injured while raising serious questions about `illegal' operations and flouting of safety...
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Goal! FIFA gifts its 1st, gold plated peace prize to…trump
President Donald Trump was awarded the new FIFA peace prize on Friday at the 2026 World Cup draw, giving the spectacle to set matchups for the quadrennial soccer tournament even more of a Trumpian flair. Trump, who had openly campaigned for the Nobel...
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Modi, Putin eye $100bn bilateral trade by 2030
Economic cooperation was the highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India for the annual India-russia summit meeting. Putin, who arrived in New Delhi on Thursday night for the annual summit leaders meeting between India and Russia,...
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Maha legally validates digital land records
In a sweeping policy shift set to overhaul land record access across Maharashtra, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Thursday announced that digitally signed 7/12 extracts, 8-A records and Property Cards (Ferfar) will now enjoy full legal...
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Centre retreats on Sanchar Saathi
Facing sustained Opposition pressure and allegations that it was paving the way for statesponsored snooping, the Centre on Wednesday rolled back its order mandating the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi safety app on all new mobile phones. The...
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Not compulsory: Scindia
A political storm intensified on Tuesday over the Centre’s move to mandate pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on all new mobile handsets, even as multiple Opposition parties termed the directive unconstitutional, intrusive and a step toward...
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SEC FACES BACKLASH
The State Election Commission’s (SEC) abrupt decision to postpone elections to 24 municipal councils, several nagar panchayats and 154 ward seats until December 20 has drawn sharp criticism and triggered a political storm across Maharashtra. The...
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EC extends SIR deadline
The Election Commission on Sunday extended by one week the entire schedule of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nine states and three Union Territories amid allegations by opposition parties that "tight timelines" were...
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K’taka Cong drama put off
It was a high drama of a sorts when Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar went for a breakfast meeting to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's residence on Saturday morning. Other than the two of them only the Chief Minister's political advisor Ponnanna was...
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SC green lights local body polls
The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra to go ahead as scheduled, but made it clear that the results in all bodies where the reservation limit has crossed 50% will be subject to the final outcome of ongoing...
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‘Can extend SIR draft roll deadline if needed’
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said he will soon write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that IIT Bombay be officially renamed IIT Mumbai. His announcement comes amid a fresh political storm triggered by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh’s...
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SC ties caveat to outcome of case
The SC on Tuesday adjourned the hearing in the Maharashtra local body elections case to Friday after the State sought additional time, saying it was still consulting the State Election Commission (SEC) on the 50% ceiling for reservations. At the...
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Rahen na rahen hum mehka karenge…. Will have a 14 month tenure, till February 9, 2027
Bollywood legend Dharmendra, who was to turn 90 early next month, passed away on Monday due to old age related ailments at his Mumbai residence. Earlier on October 31 too he had been admitted to Breach Candy Hospital for a routine check-up, however, at...
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‘UNSC reforms not an option, a necessity’
PM Narendra Modi on Sunday said the reform of the UN Security Council was no longer an option, but a necessity and asserted that the India-brazil-south Africa troika should send a clear message for changes to institutions of global...
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Cabinet condemns ‘terrorist incident’
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday termed the car explosion near the Red Fort a “terrorist incident”, expressing deep grief over the loss of lives and directing that the investigation be pursued with the utmost urgency to bring the perpetrators,...
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PLOT DETAILS EMERGE, TRAIL LEADS TO JAISH?
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday chaired review meetings into the car bomb blast near Red Fort on Monday, which claimed nine lives and left over a score of people injured. The explosion is suspected to have been caused by the same group of...
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AT LEAST 8 DIE IN DELHI CAR BLAST
Shattering the peace of last 13 years, a powerful car explosion ripped through the Old Delhi area on Monday night killing at least eight people and leaving over a dozen others injured. The powerful explosion, which rattled buildings up to nearly a...
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RSS registration a ‘dharma’ yudh Kerala to probe kids’ train song
In a veiled remark against Congress leaders criticising RSS for operating without registration, Sangh's chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said his organisation is recognised as a body of individuals. "RSS was established in 1925, so do you expect us to...
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Short Winter Session ahead
The Centre on Saturday announced that the Winter Session of Parliament will be held from December 1 to December 19, drawing sharp criticism from the Opposition, which described it as “unusually delayed and truncated.” The Congress said the short...
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Ground shift for stray dogs
Having regard to the “alarming rise of dog-bite incidents,” the Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and Union Territories to ensure that stray dogs are removed from the premises of educational institutions, hospitals, public sports complexes,...
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Ajit Pawar’s son ‘lands’ in `300 cr scam soup
A land deal involving Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son, Parth Pawar, in which a 40acre land parcel has been sold for mere Rs 300 crores, that too by paying only Rs 500 stamp duty to the state treasury has rocked the state. The exposure of the...
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Rahul drops H bomb
Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made another powerpoint presentation to claim vote theft in the Haryana Assembly election in 2024 in which he said nearly 25 lakh votes were added fraudulently while over 3.5 lakh,...
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DEEPER, BROADER CONVERGENCE
Gideon Sa’ar could not hide his love and admiration for India. The Israeli foreign minister, who is on his maiden visit to the country - two months after Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich’s visit - described India as a “global superpower” in an...
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‘Pak actively testing nuclear weapons’
US President Donald Trump has said that Pakistan is testing nuclear weapons and the United States needs to resume nuclear weapons testing, claiming that several nations, including China, Russia, and North Korea, are already conducting underground...
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‘Sindoor hit Pak, gave Cong sleepless nights’
PM Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that RJD compelled Congress to declare its leader Tejashwi Yadav as chief ministerial face of the INDIA bloc at gunpoint and also claimed that "jungle raj people" were heading towards a record defeat in the Bihar...
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The Editor who stayed late but left too soon
Journalists are prepared for bad news round the clock. But not the kind I got today. Barely had I finished reading the papers in the morning I got a call saying Shailender S Dhawan, my predecessor who had held the post for almost continuously since...
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INDIA RENEWS 10-YEAR DEFENCE PACT WITH US
India and the US on Friday signed a 10-year defence framework pact that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described as a "signal" of growing bilateral strategic ties even as Washington vowed to work closely with New Delhi to ensure a free and an open...
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Cops kill kidnapper, free 19 hostages in Powai Studio
In a dramatic incident, police shot dead a man who had held 17 children and two adults hostage at RA Studio, Powai, on Thursday afternoon. The children, with an average age of 15, had come to the studio apparently for an audition organised by Rohit...
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‘India a beacon of global stability’
Prime Minister Modi on Monday said India is ready to play the role of a steady lighthouse guiding the world through turbulent global waters, asserting that the country’s strength, stability, and strategic autonomy have made it a beacon of confidence...
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UP to create its 76th district, ‘Kalyan Singh Nagar’, honoring former CM
Uttar Pradesh is set to become a 76-district state with the proposed creation of ‘Kalyan Singh Nagar’, a new district named after the late former Chief Minister and veteran leader Kalyan Singh. The district will be formed by merging Atrauli and Gangiri...
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SIR Phase 2 to cover 9 states, 3 UTs
Claiming that the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been “successfully completed” in Bihar with “zero appeals”, the Election Commission on Monday announced the start of SIR second phase from October 28 in 12...
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‘21st century belongs to India and ASEAN’
The India-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is emerging as a powerful foundation for global stability and growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. In a virtual address at the India-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)...
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Goodbye and well played, captain
‘Well played, Captain,’ said the posters at the Shivajipark crematorium. Below the caption was the smiling face of Piyush Pandey, the adguru of the globe. Most present at the funeral of the Global Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy were still trying to...
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20 BURNT ALIVE IN BUS INFERNO
A late-night inferno on National Highway 44 turned a routine journey into horror when a Hyderabad–Bengaluru sleeper bus caught fire near Chinna Tekur village in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district early on Friday, killing 20 people, including two...
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PM to skip ASEAN summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be travelling to Kuala Lumpur to attend the ASEAN summit this weekend and instead will be there virtually. “Had a warm conversation with my dear friend, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia. Congratulated him...
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Trade talks light up Don-Modi Diwali call
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump discussed trade issues during a phone conversation amid efforts by the two sides to repair bilateral ties that remain under strain after Washington slapped a whopping 50 per cent tariff on...
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Woman killing a cockroach sets home afire
South Korean police are seeking an arrest warrant for a woman who set fire to her apartment building while trying to kill a cockroach with an improvised flamethrower, leading to the death of a neighbour. According to the Korea Herald, a woman in her...
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‘Op Sindoor forced Pakistan to its knees’
PM Narendra Modi on Monday declared that India had “forced Pakistan to its knees” during Operation Sindoor through the sheer coordination and combined power of its armed forces — “the fear of the Navy, the precision of the Air Force, and the courage of...
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