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• Voting is under way in Afghanistan's presidential election, amid heavy security and threats from insurgents.


• Tens of thousands of Afghan forces have been deployed across the country to counter Taliban militants who have vowed to target polling stations.


• The twice-delayed vote is taking place after Taliban-US peace talks collapsed earlier this month.

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• Russia urged the United States not to publish Donald Trump's conversations with Vladimir Putin after a growing scandal led the White House to release a transcript from a call with Ukraine's leader.


• "As for transcripts of phone conversations, my mother when bringing me up said that reading other people's letters is inappropriate," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations.

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• Democrats charged aggressively into an impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump, ordering Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to turn over Ukraine-related documents and scheduling testimony for witnesses to alleged abuse of power by the US leader.


• Three House committees gave Pompeo one week to produce the documents, saying multiple State Department officials have direct knowledge of Trump's efforts to enlist the Ukraine government's help in his US domestic political campaign for reelection.

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• A federal judge in California blocked a bid by the Trump administration that would have allowed for undocumented migrant children to be detained indefinitely.


• The decision by US District Judge Dolly Gee relates to the so-called Flores Agreement which stipulates that the government could not detain migrant children for more than 20 days.


• In the face of a massive influx of migrant families crossing into the United States this year, the White House sought to scrap the 22-year-old agreement, in order to deter migrant expectations that they would be released after being arrested by border agents.

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• U.S. special representative on Ukraine Kurt Volker resigned on September 27 after Congress ordered him to answer questions in an impeachment investigation on President Donald Trump, a source said.


• A person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity confirmed Volker's resignation, which was first reported by the student newspaper at Arizona State University, where he directs an institute.

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• Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan raised the Kashmir issue in his maiden address to the UN General Assembly, and demanded that India lift the “inhuman curfew” in Kashmir and release all “political prisoners”.


• In his speech that went on for about 50 minutes, exceeding the 15-minute limit for UN speeches during the general debate, Mr. Khan devoted half of his address to the Kashmir issue, warning that if there was a face-off between two nuclear-armed neighbors, the consequences would be far beyond their borders.

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• The results for the four Assembly byelections, declared by the Election Commission on Friday, saw an upset win for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala’s Pala, while the BJP retained Badharghat in Tripura and Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, but lost Dantewada to the Congress in Chhattisgarh.


• Considered a bastion of the Congress-led UDF and held by the leader of the Kerala Congress (Mani) [KC(M)] K.M. Mani for 54 years, Pala represents a significant victory for the ruling LDF.

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• In a fortuitous acquisition of great historical value, the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has obtained 30 reels of several hours of unedited footage detailing several key events from Mahatma Gandhi’s life and his death.


• This priceless collection of 35 mm celluloid footage, which is unedited and has stock shots laced with intertitles, is almost six hours in duration and filmed by some of the most renowned studios in the world like Paramount, Pathe, Warner, Universal, and British Movietone.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina reiterated their zero-tolerance approach to terrorism and violent extremism, and agreed that a strong security partnership has built trust and mutual confidence between the neighbours.


• PM Modi met Sheikh Hasina in New York for a bilateral meeting on the margins of the High-Level Segment of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly.

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• Academically weak students in IITs will now get a choice to opt for a three-year B.Sc degree instead of B.Tech without dropping out of the prestigious institutions midway, according to HRD Ministry.


• The council for Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), chaired by Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', approved the proposal. However, it has been left to the individual IITs to work out the modalities.

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• IIT Council approved a fee hike for MTech courses to bring it to the level of BTech courses. The proposal has been made based on the recommendations of a three-member committee on reforms on MTech programme in IITs. The IIT Council was chaired by Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.


• The agenda item ''Reform of the MTech Programs'' stated that "proactively increase the MTech fee and bring it at least to the level of BTech fee (Rs. 2 lakh per year) over the next three years."

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• For promoting IITs as global education destinations, the IIT Council decided to exempt foreign students from taking the JEE mains exam, which is the screening exam for selection to IIT entrance exam known as JEE Advanced. With this foreign students will now appear for the JEE advanced directly.


• This new rule also applies to OCI cardholders who have the Overseas Citizenship of India.


• IIT Council chaired by HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' also approved early exit option for BTech students among other reforms.


• It also decided to increase the fees for MTech courses. The Council meets once a year to discuss the functional and administrative aspects of the IITs.

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• Our Bureau The beleaguered Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank has an exposure of ₹2,500 crore to real estate developer HDIL, which had stopped servicing it for the past three years or so, the bank’s former MD & CEO Joy Thomas admitted.


• “The loans that were granted by us were not reported during the last six-seven years…We ourselves went to the RBI on September 19 and apprised the Executive Director of our situation and asked for some time to regularise the loans,” he added.

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• Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank tumbled 5 per cent after an FIR was registered against directors of the company over allegations of various offences including cheating.


• The scrip dropped 4.94 per cent to Rs 36.55 -- its lowest trading permissible limit for the day -- on the BSE. On the NSE, it fell 4.94 per cent to Rs 36.50 -- its lower price band.</li

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• World Championship silver medallist wrestler Deepak Punia has jumped to world number one position in 86kg but Bajrang Punia lost the top rank in the 65kg category in the latest rankings issued by the international federation (UWW).


• Competing in his maiden senior World Championship, Deepak settled for a silver after an ankle injury forced him to pull out of the final against Iranian great Hasan Yazdani.

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• The army chief general BipinRawattook over as the new Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) by succeeding Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa who retires on September 30, 2019.


• Rawat, could possibly be the last army chief of as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to appoint a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who will replace the present tri-service committee comprising army, air force and naval force.

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• The stylish batsman of yesteryears polled 173 votes while his opponent Prakash Chand Jain got 73 votes.


• Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin was not only elected president of Hyderabad Cricket Association but also led his team to a clean sweep in the elections held at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad.