India and Russia sign over $5 billion deal for S-400 Air defense missiles India and Russia on Friday sealed a deal of $5.43 billion to purchase S-400 missiles which are expected to be delivered by 2022. The signing agreement happened in Hyderabad after the bilateral talks between PM Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin where they discussed several global and key regional issues which include the US sanctions on Iran oil imports. On Thursday morning Putin arrived in India for a two-day visit to attend the 19th India-Russia bilateral summit. Since August, US has imposed Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and the countries engaged in trade can face similar sanctions but India is exempted from it. _______________ RBI maintains repo rate unchanged at 6.50% The Monetary policy committee of RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50% as per the bi-monthly monetary policy conducted on October 5. The Repo rate was hiked twice in this year, th...

Andhra CM lands in controversy involving misuse of temple funds In fresh controversy for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, the retired chief priest of one of India biggest temple, Tirupati's committee- the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has alleged that the leader used the funds of the temple for political use. Head priest AV Ramana Deekshitulu was forced to officially retire ‘after the TTD Trust Board passed a resolution on 16 May that all 'mirasi archakas' (hereditary priests) must be retired on reaching the age of 65.’ According to news reports, the move came after Deekshitulu had accused that the temple administration board of duping people of money and CM Chandrababu Naidu of “choosing the board members and has diverted approximately Rs 100 crores of temple funds for his political use." _________________ SC fines FB, Google over sexually explicit videos The Supreme Court on Monday slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on online and social media g...

Chennai tourist killed in Kashmir after being hit in stone pelting incident A tourist from Chennai who was visiting Jammu and Kashmir, reportedly passed away after sustaining injuries during a stone pelting incident. Deceased Thirumani succumbed to his injuries in late Monday night after a vehicle he was travelling in got caught in the clashes between security forces and stone pelters. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who visited the deceased’s family in the hospital expressed her grief and said "My head hangs in shame,” according to news reports. Slamming the PDP-BJP government, former CM Omar Abdullah on microblogging site Twitter said, “Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone pelters & their methods." _________________ Congress’ Mani Shankar creates new controversy with anti BJP comments in Pak Ousted Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday made controversial remarks again...

Demonetised notes are being shredded & compressed into bricks: RBI The Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that have been counted and checked for genuineness are shredded and further compressed into bricks – and then discarded through a tendering process, the Reserve Bank of India said, PTI reported. In its reply to a Right to Information query, the Reserve Bank stated that it is using the sophisticated Currency Verification and Processing machines to verify the numerical accuracy and genuineness of the demonetized notes. ________________________________________ Vladimir Puting wins re-election for another 6 years term Russians voted on Sunday in an election that re-elected President Vladimir Putin to return for a fourth term in office. With almost all the ballots counted, he had received more than 76% of the vote, the central election commission said. Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin was in second with 13 percent, followed by nationalist Vladimir...

China rules out G20 talks with India over border face-off China on Thursday said the current ‘atmosphere’ was ‘not right’ for a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Germany on Friday. China's statement has come within the third week of the standoff over the construction of a road in Donglam area by Chinese troops. State-run Chinese daily, Global Times too warned that Beijing might support "pro-independence appeals in Sikkim" if India does not stop pursuing "regional hegemony" through the border face-off. Tension escalated earlier this month, between both the countries when the Chinese army reportedly entered the Indian Territory and destroyed a bunker leading to a face-off. ______________________________ SC bans use of fake caste certificate for jobs, degrees The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that anyone found guilty of using a forged caste certificate for their education and employme...