The United States announced the closure of the Palestinian mission in Washington. The state department, in a statement yesterday, said that PLO leaders had failed to engage with US efforts to bring about peace with Israel and attempted to prompt an investigation of Israel by the International Criminal Court.

The action against the PLO, which serves as the main entity representing the Palestinian people, is the latest in a series of measures by the Trump administration against the Palestinian leadership. Over the past year, Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, has repeatedly questioned Mahmoud Abbas' commitment to peace and the US president's so-called "deal of the century".

A senior Palestinian official called the decision a "dangerous escalation". The PLO, the internationally-recognised representative of the Palestinian people, opened the mission in 1994.

New Delhi: In a move aimed at creating a payments acceptance network for unorganized retail including small merchants and kirana stores where consumers can make payments, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has partnered with Financial Software and Systems (FSS), a payments technology company to ensure that micro-merchants are able to accept payments over any channel – online, unified payments interface (UPI), quick-response (QR) codes, Aadhaar and IPPB accounts.

FSS will also provide merchant management and settlement solutions including on-boarding fee calculation, reconciliation and settlement, it said in a statement on Monday.

In an exclusive interview with Mint, Suresh Sethi, managing director and chief executive officer of IPPB had discussed the plans of creating a QR based payments acceptance network for unorganized retail sector mainly at the rural parts of the country. He had said the bank was also signing up merchants for so.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz passed away Tuesday in London, Pakistan media reported. Sharif and his daughter Maryam Sharif are at present imprisoned in Rawalpindi jail.

According to Pakistan media Geo TV, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif and her son, Hussain Nawaz, confirmed that the former first lady breathed her last at a clinic in London.

Earlier in the day, Begum Kulsoom was placed on life support as her health began to deteriorate after developing a lung problem, reported Dawn, quoting Geo TV.

The 68-year-old had been diagnosed with early-stage lymphoma in August last year and had been London since, the Dawn reported. She further underwent multiple surgeries and around five chemotherapy sessions.

New Delhi, Sep 11 : The Indian Army is planning to cut around 1.5 lakh jobs over the next four to five years so as to divert the funds to be used to purchase modern weapons for fulfilling Narendra Modi’s idea of ‘lean and mean’ force.belying expectations of a significant hike .when the armed forces are facing growing challenge on the borders with both Pakistan and China.

As per media reports, job cuts will help the army in saving around Rs 7,000 crore which will be used to buy weapons.

Indian Army reviewed wide-ranging issues including cutting the personnel strength of the 1.2-million strong Indian Army force and merger of different verticals to optimise its functioning as per the order on Jun21,According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the reduction in the work-force will be done by revamping the verticals.

On September 1, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) approved the acquisition of 6.5 lakh assault rifles, under the “Make in India” program. The Indian Army issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the purchase of 7.62×39 square mm calibre assault r

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has confirmed that Indian Athlete Hima Das will be named as the first sports ambassador of the state.

The announcement came after Hima Das recently became the first Indian woman to win gold at IAAF World U-20 Athletics Championships.

The 18-year-old made the country proud as she scripted history by clinching the top spot in the women’s 400 m final race at the Championships which was held in France.

est-selling author Preeti Shenoy announced the launch of her new book, 'The Rule Breakers'.

The book claims to explore complex themes of women's equality, gender, and inclusion among others.

The novel set in the '90s is the story of Veda, who harbors big dreams, but finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage and realizes that her opinions in real life don't matter.

Om Prakash Mishra, who studied law in India, is set to become Nepal's new Chief Justice after the Parliamentary Hearing Committee Monday unanimously endorsed his name for the top judicial post.

Mishra, the senior-most justice after Justice Deepak Raj Joshee, will assume charge as the Chief Justice after President Bidya Devi Bhandari officially appoints him.

The Parliamentary Hearing Committee (PHC) conducted hearings on complaints filed against Mishra before giving its approval ..

The mid-air re-fuelling of wet contact trial for Light Combat Aircraft, LCA Tejas MK-1 was successfully carried out from an Indian Air Force base.

Defence Ministry in a release said, the trial was a part of the Air-to-Air refuelling flight tests conducted by Indian Air Force. Before this wet contact trial, the dry contact trials were successfully conducted last week.

The Ministry said, Indian Air Force provided all required support to DRDO including the tanker aircraft for the successful test flight.

The Air-to-Air refuelling capability for Tejas is a force multiplier for the Indian Air Force, giving the aircraft the potential to stay airborne for much longer periods of time. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has complimented DRDO, Indian Air Force, HAL and other agencies involved in the mission. (AIR)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, and Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Tripura today jointly inaugurated three projects in Bangladesh via video conferencing.

These include 500 MW additional power supply from India to Bangladesh, Akhaura - Agartala Rail Link and Rehabilitation of the Kulaura-Shahbazpur section of Bangladesh Railways.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi recalled Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vision of restoring connectivity to the way it was before 1965.

He said that he is happy that in the last few years, there has been steady progress towards this goal. He said that today, both countries have increased power connectivity, and started two projects to increase railway connectivity.

Mr Modi recalled that during his visit to Bangladesh in 2015, it had been decided to supply an additional 500 MW power to Bangladesh. He said this is being done using the transmission link between West Bengal and Bangladesh, and thanked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her facilitation in completion of this work. He said that with the completion of this project, 1.16 Gigawatts of power is now being supplied from India to Bangladesh.

The Prime Minister said that Akhaura-Agartala rail connectivity will provide another link in the cross-border connectivity between the two countries. He thanked Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, for his facilitation in completion of this work.

LUCKNOW: As part of the ongoing Indo-US defence cooperation, a joint military training exercise "Yudh Abhyas 2018" will be conducted in the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand's Chaubattia from September 16-29, a spokesman of the Central Command said on Monday.

This will be the 14th edition of the joint military exercise hosted alternately by both the countries.

The two-week exercise will witness participation of about 350 personnel of the US Army and similar strength of ..