MNEWS

WASHINGTON: US secretary of state   Mike Pompeo   will meet with a top North Korean general in New York this week, as preparations for a historic summit meeting in Singapore between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in full swing, the   White House   said on Tuesday. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, however, did not confirm if the Singapore summit would be on June 12, as was scheduled earlier. She gave an insight into the preparations that the Trump administration is having with the North Koreans and the other countries in the region - Japan, Singapore and South Korea in particular. "Since the President's May 24th letter to North Korean leader   Kim Jong Un , the North Koreans have been engaging. The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," Sanders said in an update on the "expected" Singapore summit. On Thursday, Trump abruptly cancelled the p...

He is currently the New Delhi’s India’s ambassador to Russia. Bureaucrat Pankaj Saran was on Tuesday appointed deputy national security adviser for a period of two years, PTI reported. Presently, he is the Indian ambassador to Russia. Before his deputation in Moscow, Saran was the Indian envoy to Bangladesh from March 2012 to December 2015. A 1982  batch officer  of the  Indian Foreign Service,  Saran also held the post of the joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Officer from 2007 to 2012. Saran replaced Rajinder Khanna as deputy national security adviser. Khanna was appointed to the post in January. Before Khanna’s appointment, the post had been lying vacant since 2014, reported  Times Now . Support our journalism by subscribing to Scroll+  here . We welcome your comments at  letters@scroll.in .

Bank strike 2018 LIVE updates: Employees of public sector banks have called two-day nationwide strike starting from Wednesday morning. Banking service, ATM transactions may be hit due to this strike. Bank strike 2018 LIVE updates:  Employees of public sector banks have called two-day nationwide strike starting from Wednesday morning. Banking service, ATM transactions may be hit due to this strike called to protest the two percent wage hike. In India, there are as many as 21 public sector banks that control 75 per cent of the total business in the country. Bank employees’ strike kicked off 6 AM this morning. The strike has been called by The United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions has called for a nationwide bank strike against wage hike proposed by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

The fire started around 5 pm on Tuesday in the warehouse at Khirki Extension, a crowded residential part of Delhi's Malviya Nagar. NEW DELHI:   A massive fire has been raging through the night at a warehouse in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar since Tuesday evening, and the Air Force has joined efforts to put it out. This morning, an Mi-17 helicopter was seen making sorties to pour water to contain what has been classified as the  "highest category" blaze  in the national capital in recent times. The fire started around 5 pm on Tuesday in the warehouse at Khirki Extension, a crowded residential part of Malviya Nagar. As many as 80 fire engines were sent and firemen were at work all night to stop the blaze from spreading to neighbouring buildings, including a school. Thick black smoke rising from the fire was visible from much of south Delhi. The police believe a truck loaded with rubber material parked near the godown caught fire, which spread in no time becau...

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today interacted with Ujjwala beneficiaries across the country, through video conference. Three Ujjwala beneficiaries were present at each of over 600 centres across the length and breadth of the country, for this interaction. An estimated 10 lakh people viewed the interaction through various platforms, which included the Narendra Modi App and various television news channels and social media platforms, among others. Expressing happiness at being able to interact with the beneficiaries, and share their experiences, through technology, the Prime Minister said that the Ujjwala scheme has become a symbol of progress. He added that it is driving remarkable social transformation, which is in turn, influencing the holistic development of the country. Approximately 4 crore women in rural areas have received LPG connections so far, through the UjjwalaYojana. In all, nearly 10 crore new LPG connections have been issued in the four years since...

News reports surfacing in the media alleging 'large scale' failure of EVMs and VVPATs in the ongoing bye-elections and interruption of poll in the States of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are an exaggerated projection of reality. The Election Commission of India has said that the Commission allocates sufficient reserve of EVMs and VVPATs for every General/Bye election to the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly. It is pertinent to mention that during commissioning of EVMs and VVPATs, apart from EVMs and VVPATs required for deployment at every polling station, adequate number of reserve EVMs and VVPATs (around 20-25%) are prepared to replace any defective machine on poll day at the polling station. These reserve EVMs/VVPATs are kept with Sector Officers, who replace the defective EVMs/VVPATs, if any report on non-functioning of EVM/VVPAT received from any polling station. Since each sector Officer is entrusted with only 10-12 polling stations, the time taken to replace ...

All women high altitude expedition to Mount Deotibba (6001 Mtrs) which is located in Himachal Pradesh, has been organised by the Indian Navy from 28 May to 15 Jun 2018. The expedition was flagged off by Vice Admiral AK Chawla, AVSM, NM, VSM, Chief of Personnel on 28 May 2018 from New Delhi. Lieutenant Commander Kokila Sajwan will be leading the team which comprises of 15 members including two base camp support staff. Indian Navy had summitted Mt Everest in May 2017. The Service had previously launched the first successful expedition to Everest in 1965 and has been to the South & North poles in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Now, with culmination of Sagar-Parikarma, the circumnavigation around the globe by All Women Navy Team, Indian Navy seeks to achieve a similar feat on land by organising an ‘All Women Expedition to Mt Deotibba as a launch pad for scaling higher peaks including Everest in near future