Budget 2018-19

  Missing Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai told Olympic officials in a video call from Beijing that she was safe and well, the  International Olympic Committee  said Missing Chinese  tennis star Peng Shuai  told Olympic officials in a video call from Beijing that she was safe and well, the International Olympic Committee said Sunday after Peng reappeared in public at a youth tournament in Beijing, according to photos released by the organizer. The 30-minute call came amid growing global alarm over Peng after she accused a former leading Communist Party official of sexual assault. China’s ruling Communist Party has tried to quell fears abroad while suppressing information in China about Peng. Sunday’s call with IOC president Thomas Bach, athletes commission chair Emma Terho and IOC member Li Lingwei, a former vice president of the Chinese Tennis Association appears to be Peng’s first direct contact with sports officials outside China since she disappeared from publ...

  More than 20 people were injured when a red SUV drove through a crowded   Christmas parade   in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday More than 20 people were injured when an SUV drove through a crowded Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday, the local police chief said, and at least one person was killed, a local CBS affiliate reporter tweeted. Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said the suspect vehicle had been recovered and there were no further threats after the incident in Waukesha, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Milwaukee. People near downtown Waukesha were being asked, however, to shelter in place, local media reported. The nearby  Carroll University campus  tweeted it was “on lockdown due to an ongoing incident. Please stay safe and in your location until further notice and shelter in place.” “A red SUV drove into our Christmas parade that we were holding downtown. More than 20 individuals were injured as a result of this incident,” Thompson told ...

  Company makes the first move to improve the financial sustainability of the telecom sector. Telecom firm Bharti Airtel has hiked by around 20 per cent its pre-paid plans, making the first move to improve the financial sustainability of the sector.  Vodafone Idea  ( Vi, is expected to follow suit, as its chief executive officer Ravinder Takkar indicated last week that tariff hikes will happen soon. The company however has not yet made an announcement. Airtel and Vi had hiked rates in entry-level pre-paid plans and certain postpaid and family packs a few months back. Airtel’s latest hikes will be for rates across all slabs (Rs 79 to Rs 2,498). It increased rates for data top-ups as well and said the new tariff plan will come into effect from November 26. Pre-paid customers account for 90-95 per cent of customer base for  Airtel  and Vi. “Bharti Airtel has always maintained that the mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) needs to be at Rs 200 and ultimately at Rs...

  New draft retains call for reduced fossil fuel subsidies; poor nations seek funds to tackle climate change UN climate talks ended with a deal that for the first time targeted fossil fuels as the key driver of global warming, even as coal-reliant countries, led by India, lobbed last-minute objections. While the agreement won applause for keeping alive the hope of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, many of the nearly 200 national delegations wished they’d come away with more. The negotiators at the  COP26 summit  here recognised India’s intervention for the world to “phase down” rather than “phase out” fossil fuels. After a huddle between the envoys from India, China, the United States and European Union, the clause was hurriedly amended to ask countries to “phase down” their coal use. “It is so decided,” said Alok Sharma, the president of COP26, as he declared the new pact with a stroke of his gavel after marathon talks which began earlier this month and conc...

  It further said that more than 220,000 people have been internally displaced due to armed clashes as well as overall insecurity since 1 February. Myanmar is facing a humanitarian crisis with about 3 million people requiring assistance, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Monday. OCHA said that Myanmar is facing a humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by the ongoing consequences of COVID-19 and events following February 1. “About 3 million people require humanitarian assistance, including an additional 2 million people identified since 1 February this year. The most vulnerable remain families living in urban and peri-urban areas, mainly in Yangon and Mandalay, as well as people affected by conflict in south-eastern and western Myanmar,” the statement said. It further said that more than 220,000 people have been internally displaced due to armed clashes as well as overall insecurity since 1 February. The areas most affected include Ka...

  Supreme Court on Monday sought an action plan within 24 hours from Centre and state governments, detailing steps taken by task forces to stop air pollution The Supreme Court on Monday sought an action plan within 24 hours from the Centre and state governments, detailing steps taken by task forces to stop air pollution caused by vehicular traffic, construction work, stubble burning, power plants, entry of heavy vehicles, dust, etc. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana told counsel appearing for the Centre and state governments, “Need an action plan by tomorrow evening. Hold a meeting…” The top court also asked the Centre and states to allow the people to work-from-home. The bench, also comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant, noted that the Centre in its affidavit has submitted that stubble burning is not a major factor leading to severe air pollution level in the capital, rather the agricultural burning leads to merely 11 per cent contribution on PM 2.5 and PM ...

  Two women journalists, who came to Tripura to write on the recent communal incidents in Tripura were detained by Assam police at Karimganj’s Neelam Bazar, police officials confirmed Two women journalists, who came to Tripura to write on the recent communal incidents in Tripura were detained by Assam police at Karimganj’s Neelam Bazar, close to Assam-Tripura border on Sunday, police officials in both states confirmed. Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, journalists with HW News Network, were named in a FIR at Fatikroy Police Station of Tripura on Sunday based on a complaint filed by a supporter of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), alleging that they had maligned the image of Tripura government by their reporting, according to a statement issued by their employer. The duo are being kept at a government-run shelter home for women for the night and will be handed over to the Tripura police on Monday morning, an Assam police officer said. The two scribes were held by Assam Police on their wa...