Author: Rahul M

India’s agricultural exports have been growing faster than the country’s overall merchandise exports, showing a strong performance even when many other sectors are slowing down. Government data for April to September 2025 shows that farm exports touched $25.9 billion, which is an increase of 8.8% from the same period last year, with $23.8 billion for the corresponding six months. In comparison, India’s total goods exports rose only 2.9%, from $213.7 billion to $219.9 billion in the same six months. This trend is similar to what happened in the previous financial year. In 2024–25, agricultural exports grew 6.4%, rising from $48.8…

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) victory in Bihar—which comes just months after its win in Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra—has infused renewed confidence into the party, which now sees the upcoming assembly elections, especially in West Bengal, as its next big challenge.“The Haryana and Delhi victories definitely helped smooth over the impact of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the party was reduced to 240. But the Bihar victory has arrived at a crucial juncture as the party was struggling with low morale among workers and delays in key appointments due to the wait for a new national president,” said…

New Delhi: One woman worldwide dies every two minutes due to cervical cancer — a treatable and preventable disease — said the UN on Monday on the first official World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day.  The day — November 17 — was designated by the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly (WHA78.8) to raise awareness of the disease, and to expand access to HPV vaccination, high-performance screening, and treatment services. “Every two minutes, a woman dies from cervical cancer. Access to screening, vaccination, and treatment is key to ending this preventable disease,” the UN shared in a post on the social media platform…

Exercise Garuda: IAF and French fighter jets begin coordinated missions, enhance interoperability Paris, Nov 17 (IANS) Indian Air Force Su-30MKI fighter aircraft and French Air and Space Force Rafale aircraft soared into the skies on Monday, as they began coordinated missions as part of the bilateral air Exercise Garuda. In a statement shared on X, the Indian Air Force stated, “Exercise Garuda takes off. Indian Air Force Su-30MKI and French Air and Space Force Rafale aircraft soared into the skies, commencing coordinated missions as part of the bilateral air exercise. The engagement reinforces strong interoperability and deep defence cooperation between…

Enforced disappearances in Balochistan continue despite 16 years of protest and rallies Islamabad, Nov 17 (IANS) The Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) has highlighted that the issue of enforced disappearances of political workers, students and other residents in Balochistan remains unresolved despite 16 years of protests, sit-ins and rallies. Local media reported on Monday that, while addressing a press conference, VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch urged the state and other institutions to understand that using force, extrajudicial killings and disappearances of Baloch people would not improve the situation in the province. Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported that Nasrullah Baloch demanded…

As Kent Halliburton stood in a bathroom at the Rosewood Hotel in central Amsterdam, thousands of miles from home, running his fingers through an envelope filled with €10,000 in crisp banknotes, he started to wonder what he had gotten himself into.Halliburton is the cofounder and CEO of Sazmining, a company that operates bitcoin mining hardware on behalf of clients—a model known as “mining-as-a-service.” Halliburton is based in Peru, but Sazmining runs mining hardware out of third-party data centers across Norway, Paraguay, Ethiopia, and the United States.As Halliburton tells it, he had flown to Amsterdam the previous day, August 5, to…

TATP trail points to possible ISKP role in Faridabad module’s Delhi blast New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Investigators are not ruling out the possibility of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) assisting the Faridabad module to execute the Delhi Red Fort blasts. This stems from the fact that the explosives that were used are the most preferred choice of the Islamic State which has executed blasts across the world. Forensic experts probing the case have found that Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) was mixed with Ammonium Nitrate. This mix is a preferred choice of the Islamic State and the terror group has…

Sheikh Hasina slams verdict given by ‘rigged tribunal’, calls it ‘biased’ and ‘politically motivated’ Dhaka, Nov 17 (IANS) Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday alleged that the verdict announced against her came from a “rigged tribunal” set up and presided over by the unelected interim government led by Muhammad Yunus which lacks a democratic mandate, calling the ruling “biased” and “politically motivated”. The remarks came after Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) pronounced a death sentence for former Prime Minister after it found her guilty on the charges of crimes against humanity related to the demonstrations in July of…

Two students were arrested Sunday for allegedly stealing gold ornaments and cash from a neighbour’s house near Bengaluru. The police have seized 60 grams of gold from the accused. The accused have been identified as Abhishek and Chethan, both 21. Abhishek is an MBA student, while Chethan is pursuing aerospace engineering at a private college. On September 2, the victim, R Shanthamma, had filed a complaint that a gold chain and Rs 85,000 cash were missing from her residence. According to her complaint, Shanthamma could not find the key to her almirah. Later, she took the assistance of key makers…

Iran offers condolences to India over death of Indian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia bus accident New Delhi/Tehran, Nov 17 (IANS) The Iranian Embassy in New Delhi on Monday expressed deep sorrow over death of Indian pilgrims in a bus accident in Saudi Arabia’s Madina, extending condolences to the people of India. A passenger bus carrying several Indian Umrah pilgrims collided with a diesel tanker early Monday morning near Madina, the Indian mission in Jeddah confirmed. In a statement shared on X, Iran Embassy in India stated, “The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi expresses its deep…