STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN: Sweden released a handbook of its "feminist foreign policy" Thursday for rights groups and foreign governments, showcasing lessons from the Scandinavian nation's flagship approach to promoting women's rights globally.
The manual, published on the government's website in English weeks before a September 9 general election, is derived from four years of work to place gender equality at the heart of the country's international agenda.

Sweden began its feminist foreign policy "in response to the discrimination and systematic subordination that still mark the daily lives of countless women and girls around the world", the handbook said.

After India Men’s Kabaddi team went down 27-24 in the semifinal against Iran on Thursday, India Women’s team suffered another big upset in Kabaddi on Friday as they lost 27-24 in the final match and had to settle for a silver medal. India started off brilliantly, taking a lead of 5 points, 13-8 at one stage in the first half. But Iran defence held their nerves and took three points in the final few minutes of the first half to close the gap to 13-11.

In the second half, Iran’s defence continued to trouble India and did not give leave any space for them get a point. After a nervy final minute, in which Sakshi Kumari earned a super raid to get three points for India, the two-time Asian Games Champions brought the score to one-point difference. But Iran held their nerve to take three more points before the final raid to script another historic win and getting the top medal finish.

Rejecting the petitions filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the CPM challenging the West Bengal Panchayat polls, the Supreme Court Friday said the challenge must be pursued through election petitions instead. The top court also underlined that the charges of obstruction of elections is a serious matter. The pleas have sought cancellation of panchayat polls in over 20,000 uncontested seats.

All these uncontested seats were won unopposed by candidates of the ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition parties had alleged that their candidates were obstructed from filing nomination papers.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud exercised its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution and held that the limitation period of 30 days for filing the election petitions, which has expired, would now commence from the date of notification of panchayat poll results. “Whoever is aggrieved with the election results can file their petitions before the concerned court within 30 days.”

A National Logistics Portal is being developed to ensure ease of trading in the international and domestic markets, as India eyes lowering logistics cost from14 per cent of GDP to less than 10 per cent by 2022, the Commerce Ministry said today.

The portal will link all the stakeholders of export-import, domestic trade and all trade activities on a single platform.

"The portal will be implemented in phases and will fulfil the commitment of the Government of India to enhance trade competitiveness, create jobs, boost India's performance in global rankings and pave the way for India to become a logistics hub," the ministry said in a statement.

In a major upset, seven-time gold medallist India suffered their first ever loss in the Asian Games to South Korea in the men's Kabaddi group A game here on Monday. India lost 23-24 to South Korea, who won the bronze medal in the Incheon Games four years ago, in a match that went down to the wire.

This is the first defeat for India in 28 years at the Asian Games. They will lock horns with Thailand in their final Group A game on Tuesday. The team had dished out a clinical performance on Sunday

Recognizing the uniqueness of the Himalayas and the challenges for sustainable development, NITI Aayog had set up 5 Working Groups (WGs) in June 2017 to prepare a roadmap for actions in 5 thematic areas. The themes include:Inventory and Revival of Springs in Himalayas for Water Security, Sustainable Tourism in Indian Himalayan Region, Transformative Approach to Shifting Cultivation, Strengthening Skill & Entrepreneurship Landscape in Himalayas and Data/Information for Informed Decision Making. While these thematic areas are quite significant for the Himalayas. Mountain specificities require specific solutions for resilience building that address socio-economic and environmental challenges in the mountain setting. The reports from the five working groups discuss the significance, the challenges, the ongoing actions and a future roadmap.The reports lists challenges in all 5 thematic areas. Nearly 30% of springs crucial to water security of people are drying and 50% have reported reduced discharge. Himalayan Tourism growing annually at 6.8% has crated huge challenge related to solid waste, water, traffic, loss of bio-cultural diversity etc.With the projected arrival of tourists in IHR States to more than double by 2025, urgent actions will be needed to address critical issues of waste management and water crisis in addition to other environmental and social issues. In the north eastern States, thousands of the households continue to practice slash and burn (shifting cultivation) that need to be addressed in view of ecological, food and nutritional security. Predominantly unskilled workforce remains a challenge for the mountains as well that need high priority to address migration of youths. 

A four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the death of a newborn baby after the ambulance carrying the child allegedly got stuck in traffic because of a cycle rally by state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar in Haryana’s Sonipat district on Wednesday.

According to ANI, relatives of the infant alleged that the ambulance, which was en-route to the hospital, was stuck in a massive traffic jam due to a cycle rally organised by Tanwar. The rally, Haryana Bachao Pariwartan Lao, was apparently led by Tanwar in Sonipat.

“Our child died en-route in the ambulance as we were stuck in the traffic jam for 45 minutes because of the Congress rally. There was no provision for oxygen in the ambulance,” the father of the infant told the news agency.

US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that if he was impeached the US economy would collapse. In an interview aired today, Trump told Fox and Friends, as quoted by AFP, “I will tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor.”

The US President was responding to a question on his mounting legal woes after his former attorney Michael Cohen said under oath that Trump instructed him to commit a felony by breaking US campaign finance laws.

Shardul Vihan added to India’s medal tally on Day 5 of Asian Games 2018 taking place in Indonesia as he clinched a silver medal in men’s double trap shooting event on Thursday.

The 15-year old boy from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh shot 73 to come second to Korea’s Shin Hyunwoo, 34, who overtook the Indian shooter by a point. Qatar’s Al Marri Hamad Ali settled for bronze with a score of 53 at the Jakabaring shooting range.

In a turnaround, the Central government had on Tuesday decided that private retail chemists would be free to sell Oxytocin from September 1.

Through a notification dated April 27, 2018, the Centre had stated that sale of Oxytocin through private retail chemists would be banned from July 1. However, fearing Oxytocin shortage, the government postponed the date of implementation of this ban to September 1.

Now, in a gazette notification dated August 21, 2018, the Central government announced its decision to delete the provisions of April 27 notification that stated that “Oxytocin in any form or name shall not be allowed to be sold through retail Chemist”. The Centre on Tuesday has also deleted the provisions that stated that the Oxytocin would be sold through government chemists only.