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1:54 AM

Haryana leaving claim on common capital Chandigarh will serve no benefit until Punjab too decides to do that: Dushyant Chautala

1:53 AM

Brexit trade talks to go on in Brussels from Monday

EU and British Brexit negotiators will continue talks in Brussels on Monday and until around mid-week, sources on both sides said on Sunday, in a sign both sides are still pushing to avoid a damaging trade rupture in less than nine weeks.

 

Intensive and secretive, the talks are a final bid to seal a new partnership agreement for when Britain's transition out of the European Union runs its course at the end of this year.

11:56 PM

Georgia's ruling party wins vote; opposition urges protests

Georgia's ruling party won the country's highly contested parliamentary election, according to preliminary results announced Sunday that the opposition refused to recognise as valid and used to call for protests, saying they were manipulated.

 

Georgia's Central election commission said that with 95 per cent of ballots counted, the Georgian Dream party had received 48.1 per cent of the vote in Saturday's election. The biggest opposition alliance led by the United National Movement party, got 26.9 per cent. Several more opposition parties cleared the 1 per cent threshold to get seats in Parliament.

10:45 PM

French churches honour Nice attack victims; 6 detained

Churches around France held Sunday services honouring three people killed in an Islamic extremist attack at Notre Dame Basilica in the city of Nice that pushed the country into high security alert, while police questioned six suspects in the case.

 

Nice Archbishop Andre Marceau was preparing for a special nighttime service in the basilica to purify it following Thursday's fatal knife attack, and then to pay homage to the victims and to mark All Saints' Day, when many Christians around the world honour the dead.

 

Priests in the Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris and elsewhere in France mentioned the attack during their All Saints' services, which were exceptionally allowed to go ahead despite a new monthlong virus lockdown that started Friday in France. Riot police or other security forces were stationed at some prominent religious sites.

10:26 PM

Oli-Prachanda rift resufaces; PM hints splitting ruling party

Rift has resurfaced in Nepal's ruling Communist Party following a meeting between Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and his opponent Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda", with the premier hinting at splitting the ruling party, a senior party leader said on Sunday.

 

Oli and Prachanda resolved their differences in September by agreeing to a power-sharing deal, ending the months-long dispute in the party.

 

The party's internal dispute which had surfaced after the dissident group leaders, including Prachanda and senior leader of the party Madhav Kumar Nepal, demanded Oli's resignation from both as the party's chairman and as Nepal's prime minister after he accused the dissident leaders of conspiring against him to topple his government.

10:21 PM

Congress demands that Centre should immediately act on black marketeers and push sufficient stock in markets to check rising prices of essential commodities

9:53 PM

CM Adityanath only making laws. Reality is that the govt is unable to control crime in UP: SP Leader

9:03 PM

US Paris climate pact exit, vote may dictate how world warms

What happens on election day will to some degree determine how much more hot and nasty the world's climate will likely get, experts say.

 

The day after the presidential election, the United States formally leaves the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change. A year ago, President Donald Trump's administration notified the United Nations that America is exiting the climate agreement.

 

And because of technicalities in the international pact, November 4 is the earliest a country can withdraw.

 

The U.S., the world's second biggest carbon polluter, will be the first country to quit the 189-nation agreement, which has countries make voluntary, ever-tighter goals to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases. The only mandatory parts of the agreement cover tracking and reporting of carbon pollution, say U.S. officials who were part of the Paris negotiations.

8:46 PM

China begins the world's largest census drive to count its population

China on Sunday started the world's biggest exercise of population count, conducted once in a decade, to document demographic changes in the most populous country. About seven million census takers began door-to-door survey for the seventh census in the country to account for China's population stated to be 1.37 billion in the last census exercise ten years ago.

 

Carrying out the census is critical to understand the population size, structure and distribution, Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said during a video conference to promote the national census. Read more

8:34 PM

UK extends 80% wage subsidies as England goes back into lockdown

Britain's government will extend by a month its costly coronavirus wage subsidies to ensure workers who are temporarily laid off receive 80% of their pay, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday as he announced a new England-wide lockdown.

 

Britain introduced the 80% wage subsidy scheme in March and it had been due to expire on Saturday to be replaced with a more targeted and less generous support. The scheme supported 8.9 million jobs at its peak, and had been forecast to cost around 52 billion pounds ($67.28 billion) over its eight-month lifespan.

8:22 PM

Biden leads Trump in four key US states: NYT poll

Joe Biden holds a clear advantage over President Donald Trump across four of the most important presidential swing states, a new poll shows, backed by the support of voters who did not participate in the 2016 election and who now appear to be turning out in large numbers to cast their ballots on Tuesday, mainly for the Democrat.

 

Biden, 77-year-old the former vice president, is ahead of Trump, a Republican, in the Northern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as in the states of Florida and Arizona, according to a poll of likely voters conducted by The New York Times and Siena College.

 

His strength is most pronounced in Wisconsin, where he has an outright majority of the vote and leads Trump by 11 points, 52 per cent to 41 per cent, the Times reported on Sunday, two days ahead of the November 3 presidential election.

 

But President Trump, 74, appeared confident on Sunday, tweeting that "Our numbers are looking VERY good all over. Sleepy Joe is already beginning to pull out of certain states. The Radical Left is going down!"

8:07 PM

Southern Rly records Rs 1,167 cr freight earnings in April-October period

Southern Railway on Sunday said it clocked several milestones between the April-October period in handling of freight besides earning revenues of Rs 1,167.57 crore.

 

In October alone, Southern Railway carried 2.09 million tonne of freight, generating revenues of Rs 162.42 crore. Between April and October, the figure was 14.78 million tonnes, which fetched a revenue of Rs 1,167.57 crore, a press release said.

 

The highest loading of rice and paddy was recorded in October for the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, totalling 2.61 lakh tonnes.

7:45 PM

GOP tries to save its Senate majority, with or without Donald Trump

Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill.

 

Fuelling the campaigns are the Trump administration's handling of the Covid-19 crisis, shifting regional demographics and, in some areas, simply the chance to turn the page on the divisive political climate Control of the Senate can make or break a presidency. With it, a reelected Trump could confirm his nominees and ensure a backstop against legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Read more

7:37 PM

CIL production rises by 18% to 47 MT in Oct

State-owned CIL on Sunday said that it produced 46.8 million tonnes (MT) of coal last month, registering a growth of 18.4 per cent. Coal India had produced 39.5 MT of coal in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, it said in a statement. The increase in absolute terms was 7.4 MT, it said.

 

With its production impeded by the Covid-19-induced slowdown during the first four months of the present fiscal, CIL started logging positive growth from August onward on monthly basis.

 

For the first time in this fiscal, CIL posted a positive growth of 0.9 per cent in cumulative production till October so far. Production during April-October was 282.9 MT which was 2.5 MT more than that during the same period last year.

7:21 PM

J&K, Ladakh, including Gilgit-Baltistan, integral part of India: MEA

7:15 PM

BCI allows law universities to conduct physical examination

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has allowed law universities to conduct physical examination by giving an option to students, who are unable or unwilling to appear till the Covid-19 pandemic is averted, to take the exam again after physical reopening of the varsities.

 

The BCI, the regulator of law education in the country, on Sunday also clarified that the students who appear but are unable to clear the exam will also get a chance to reappear in the fresh exams.

 

The exams will have to be held with a No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the state government and State Disaster Management Authority, it said.

7:01 PM

Loan moratorium: Banks told to credit 'interest on interest' to borrowers, RBI tells SC

Banks, financial and non-banking financial institutions have been asked to take "necessary actions" to credit into the accounts of eligible borrowers by November 5 the difference between compound and simple interest collected on loans of up to Rs 2 crore during the moratorium scheme, RBI has told the Supreme Court.

 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in an affidavit filed through Assistant General Manager Prasanta Kumar Das, referred to the October 23 additional response of the Ministry of Finance and said the federal bank has also acted in pursuance of that by issuing a notification to banks and FIs recently on refund of extra money to the borrowers.

 

The central government had earlier told the apex court that the lenders have been asked to credit into the accounts of eligible borrowers the difference between compound and simple interest collected on loans of up to Rs 2 crore during the RBI's loan moratorium scheme by November 5.

6:48 PM

UP CM paving 2022 path with Rs 80,000-cr expressway work

“Double the speed, triple the economy” was an oft-repeated cliché of ex-Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav during his media interactions to stress the importance of the big road and expressway projects undertaken during his tenure (2012-17) for speedy socio-economic development.

 

Now with mega expressway projects totalling almost Rs 80,000 crore, his successor and incumbent Yogi Adityanath is treading the same line.

 

While Yadav’s gamble of betting big on infrastructure projects failed to propel him back to power in the 2017 UP polls, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident of winning the support of the people in the 2022 elections on the back of mega expressway projects that crisscross the rural and urban landscape of the state, especially the laggard Central UP, Eastern UP, and Bundelkhand regions. Read more

6:31 PM

Freight loading up by 15%, revenue by 9% in Oct '20 as against Oct '19: Rlys

The Railways' freight loading and corresponding earnings in October were higher by 15 per cent and 9 per cent respectively than the numbers recorded during the same month last year, the national transporter said Sunday.

 

In October this year, the Indian Railways' loading was 108.16 million tonnes which is 15 per cent higher than last year's loading for the same period which was 93.75 million tonnes.

 

In this period Indian Railways earned Rs 10,405.12 crore from freight loading which is higher by Rs. 868.90 crore or 9 per cent in comparison to last year's earnings for the same period at Rs 9536.22 crore, it said.

 

In the month of October 2020, the Indian Railways' loading was 108.16 million tonnes which includes 46.97 million tonnes of coal, 14.68 million tonnes of iron ore, 5.03 million tonnes of foodgrains, 5.93 million tonnes of fertilizers and 6.62 million tonnes of cement (excluding clinker), the national transporter said.

6:13 PM

Public buses resume plying with full seating capacity in Delhi

The DTC and Cluster buses resumed plying with full seating capacity on Sunday, with Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot urging travellers to wear masks and observe COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.

 

In a tweet, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) said intra-state movement of buses has been permitted with full seating capacity on a trial basis, subject to condition that no passenger will travel standing and without mask.

 

Owing to closure of offices, the number of passengers who travelled on buses on Sunday was relatively low.

 

However, at some crowded bus stands like ITO and Dhaula Kuan, drivers and conductors had to struggle to manage the commuters who were trying to board the buses.

5:51 PM

Fugitive of law is also fugitive of society: Benagl Guv on Bimal Gurung's reappearance

Taking a dig at GJM supremo Bimal Gurung who had recently made a dramatic public appearance in Kolkata after being on the run for three years following charges of murder and cases under the stringent UAPA, West Bengal Governor on Sunday said a "fugitive of the law is also a fugitive of the society".

 

There will be "problem in the society unless everyone is equal before the law", the governor said while addressing a press conference here during his month-long tour of Darjeeling.

 

"A fugitive of the law is also a fugitive of the society," Dhankhar said while speaking on the reappearance of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader.

 

The governor's tour of Darjeeling comes in the backdrop of Gurung announcing his party's exit from the NDA and pledging support to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the next year's assembly elections.

5:30 PM

GST collection in Oct crosses Rs 1 trillion, first time in 8 months

The goods and services tax (GST) collected in October rose to Rs 1.05 trillion, crossing the Rs 1 trillion mark for the first time since February this year, reflecting a pick-up in economic activity and demand. The finance ministry in a statement said on Sunday that the total number of GSTR-3B returns filed till October 31, 2020 is 8 million.

 

The gross GST revenue collected in October 2020 is Rs 1,05,155 crore, of which CGST is Rs 19,193 crore, SGST is Rs 5,411 crore, IGST is Rs 52,540 crore (including Rs 23,375 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 8,011 crore (including Rs 932 crore collected on import of goods), the ministry said.

 

The revenues for the month are 10 per cent higher than Rs 95,379 crore collected in the same month last year.

 

The GST collections fell from the psychologically important Rs 1 trillion mark as the lockdown imposed to contain the Covid-19 spread dented economic activity.

5:12 PM

Hizbul Mujahideen chief operational commander killed in Srinagar

Hizbul Mujahideen chief operational commander Dr Saifullah has been killed during an encounter with police and security forces at Rangreth in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district on Sunday, officials said.

 

Saifullah had taken over as the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen after the killing of Riyaz Naikoo in May. A top police officer said the operation was based on hard intelligence generated by the police.

 

Earlier, the firefight between terrorists and security forces took place after security forces cordoned off the area and launced a search operation on the basis of a specific information about presence of terrorists. As the security forces zeroed in on the spot where terrorists were hiding they came under a heavy volume of fire that triggered the encounter.

4:56 PM

Next one year to be observed as Kannada Action Year: Karnataka CM

A framework will be announced to observe the next one year as 'Kannada Kaayaka Varsha' (Kannada Action Year) as part of efforts to promote Kannada in the state, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Sunday. Addressing a gathering on the occasion of 65th Kannada Rajyotsava here, the CM said, "Kannada Kaayaka Varsha will be celebrated from now on till October 31, 2021."

 

In the age of technology, various creative programmes will be organised in the next one year to preserve and promote Kannada, he said.

 

"The details of the event to be taken up under the 'Kannada Kaayaka Varsha' programme is in the final stage, which will be made public for implementation," he told the gathering.

 

4:44 PM

At 40%, stubble burning contribution in Delhi's pollution soars to season's high

The share of stubble burning in Delhi's pollution rose to 40 per cent on Sunday, the maximum so far this season, according to a central government air quality monitoring agency. The Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, said 3,216 farm fires were spotted over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Saturday.

 

The share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution was 40 per cent on Sunday, the maximum so far this season. It was 32 per cent on Saturday, 19 per cent on Friday and 36 per cent on Thursday, the second highest this season so far. Last year, the stubble contribution to Delhi's pollution had peaked to 44 per cent on November 1, according to SAFAR data.
 

4:23 PM

Over 1 cr waitlisted passengers denied train travel in 2019-20: RTI

More than one crore passengers could not travel by trains despite buying tickets in 2019-2020 because of being waitlisted, a query filed under the RTI has found, indicating a shortage of trains on busy routes in the country.

 

The RTI reply has said in 2019-2020, a total of 84,61,204 Passenger Name Record (PNR) numbers, against which 1.25 crore passengers were scheduled to travel, were automatically cancelled due to being waitlisted.

 

The Railway Ministry has for the first time taken measures to reduce waitlisting for train travel with the introduction of private trains.

 

The Railways has also introduced special 'clone trains' on the routes which generally have high passenger traffic. These trains have limited stoppages/halts and faster transit time. They primarily have 3-tier AC coaches and will run ahead of the already operating special trains on the same route. The Advance Reservation Period (ARP) of these 'clone trains' is 10 days.

4:08 PM

Himachal's Lahaul Spiti receives fresh snowfall

3:52 PM

PM to launch Ghogha-Hazira 'Ropax' ferry service on Nov 8 in Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the 'Ropax' ferry service between Ghogha in Bhavnagar and Hazira in Surat November 8, which will reduce the 370-km road distance between the two places to 60-km by sea route, Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday.

 

Modi will flag off the service, to carry both passengers and heavy vehicles between the two places located in Saurashtra and south Gujarat, through virtual mode at 11 am on November 8, Mandaviya told reporters.

 

The prime minister will flag off similar services in other parts of the country also, the Union Minister of State for Shipping said.

 

"A terminal has been constructed at Hazira, and all preparations are completed. The service will begin on November 8, and booking of tickets will start from tomorrow," he said.

3:38 PM

Mamata likely to meet GJM faction leader Tamang next week

Amid growing discontent in the GJM faction led by Binoy Tamang, after his bete noire Bimal Gurung resurfaced and pledged support to the TMC, sources in Bengal's ruling party said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has invited the splinter group leader for a meeting next week.

 

Tamang, along with Gorkha Territorial Administration chairman Anit Thapa, are scheduled to meet Banerjee at the secretariat to discuss matters of concern, the sources said.

 

Making a dramatic appearance in Kolkata on October 21, Gurung quit the BJP-led NDA and aligned with TMC, underscoring that the saffron party has "failed to find a permanent solution" for the Hills -- which had witnessed major unrest over demand for a separate state in 2017.

3:18 PM

New farms laws will weaken nation's foundation: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the three new farm laws enacted by the Centre will "weaken" the foundation of the nation, and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the laws in the interest of farmers.

 

Virtually addressing the Chhattisgarh statehood day celebrations, Gandhi hailed a scheme launched by the state government to set English medium schools in all districts, saying the language provides a global opportunity to youth.

 

The function to celebrate the statehood of Chhattisgarh, which came into existence on November 1, 2000 after being carved out of Madhya Pradesh, was held at Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghels official residence here.

 

Gandhi said the country has been witnessing a tough phase due to Covid-19 outbreak. In such a situation, the weakest sections like farmers, labourers, small businessmen, mothers, sisters and youth are the worst-affected.