New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) India’s ace shuttler Lakshya Sen credited a mid-match change in tactics and a better understanding of the court conditions for turning around his opening-round contest against Austria’s Collins Filimon at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi on Tuesday.After dropping the first game, the Indian regrouped to register a 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 victory in the men’s singles Round of 64 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.Sen admitted that his initial game plan played into…

Mumbai, Aug 18 (IANS) Bond festivals can play an important role in increasing awareness about the bond market and educating investors on how to invest in bonds and benefit from them, Sameer Patil, Chief Business Officer (CBO) at NSDL, said on Tuesday.Speaking at the Great Indian Bond Festival organised by GRIP in Mumbai, Patil described the initiative as a positive step towards expanding investor awareness about bonds. He also thanked GRIP for organising the festival.”This is the first time that…

Abuja, Aug 18 (IANS) About 30 people were killed and others injured after a group of gunmen attacked a community in Nigeria’s central state of Plateau overnight, local media reported Tuesday.The attack reportedly occurred when the heavily armed gunmen carried out a house-to-house raid in Binper, a community in Mangu Local Government Area, attacking residents between Monday night and Tuesday morning, according to Vanguard Newspaper, a national daily, which cited survivors.”The gunmen opened the d…

Brussels, Aug 18 (IANS) A wildfire in Belgium’s High Fens had not spread further by Tuesday morning, but new hotspots were still emerging as firefighters worked to fully encircle the blaze, according to local authorities and media reports.Rain and higher humidity helped slow the fire’s advance but failed to extinguish it, Xinhua News Agency reported.Nicolas Yernaux, spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia (SPW), said the burned area remained at about 3,000 hectares. Firefighters were rei…

Washington, Aug 18 (IANS) India should recognise itself as a stakeholder in Tibet’s future because the Himalayan frontier is directly tied to its national security, a senior International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) official has said, warning that Beijing is placing trusted non-Tibetan officials in border areas. “We believe that India is a stakeholder in the future of Tibet,” Bhuchung Tsering, Head of Research and Monitoring at the International Campaign for Tibet, told IANS in an interview. …

Damascus, Aug 18 (IANS) Syria on Tuesday strongly condemned Israeli airstrikes on the Abu al-Duhur military airport in the northwestern province of Idlib, calling the attack a violation of the country’s sovereignty and a dangerous escalation threatening regional security and stability.In a statement, Syria’s foreign affairs authority said the strikes constituted “an unjustified act of aggression” and a “flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.It said continued Israel…

Islamabad, Aug 18 (IANS) Pakistani authorities have threatened that they would stop taking back illegal immigrants if Britain tries to force Islamabad to take back the notorious grooming gang ringleader, the UK media reported.Leading UK daily ‘The Telegraph’ noted that Pakistani officials are aggrieved at the suggestion by the UK government that it is ready to impose sanctions, which include banning visas for Pakistanis seeking to go to the UK and withholding foreign aid if Islamabad continues t…

Hyderabad, Aug 18 (IANS) Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud on Tuesday criticised the Election Commission of India for deleting more than 73 lakh names from the draft voter list under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). He alleged that, in the name of SIR, the Election Commission arbitrarily deleted the names of so many voters.He claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre has been weakening constitutional institutions since 2014….

Mumbai, Aug 18 (IANS) The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Maharashtra, announced on Tuesday that approximately 2.07 crore voters, representing 21.15 per cent of the state’s total electorate, are set to be excluded from the upcoming Draft Electoral Roll following the completion of the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 on August 17. The extensive house‑to‑house enumeration drive, carried out from June 30 to August 17, 2026, involved Booth Level Officers (B…

Jaipur, Aug 18 (IANS) Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday called for a generational shift in Congress candidate selection for the upcoming urban local body and Panchayati Raj elections, urging that more than half of the tickets be given to Gen Z and younger candidates. Speaking to the media after a meeting at the Congress War Room, Gehlot said the political environment has changed with Gen Z’s growing participation.“I have said that more than 50 per cent of the tickets shou…