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Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai inspected the Narela-Singhu border to see the implementation of stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which enforces a ban on the operation of Delhi-registered BS-IV and below diesel-operated medium goods vehicles (MGVs) and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), except for essential services. Speaking to media persons, Gopal Rai highlighted the AAP government's efforts to mitigate air pollution in the city. «The AAP government is continuously working to mitigate the level of pollution in Delhi. Entry has been banned for those vehicles that cause pollution, as Grap 4 is implemented. Today, we have received several complaints that vehicles are being allowed to enter Delhi without proper checking; hence I am here to inspect the same,» Gopal Rai said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have actively campaigned, reflecting the significance of these elections. Of the 288 seats, 234 are in the general category, while 29 and 25 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, respectively. As per the state electoral office, 4,140 candidates remain in the fray after 2,938 withdrawals from 7,078 valid nominations.

Indian American Minorities (AIAM), a newly formed non-governmental organisation, was launched on Friday at Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church, Maryland. The initiative aims to unite and promote the welfare of minority communities within the Indian American diaspora in the United States. During the event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honoured (in absentia) with the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Global Peace Award for Minority Upliftment. The award was jointly presented by Washington Adventist University and AIAM, recognising his efforts towards inclusive development and minority welfare.

Adani Group stocks recouped some of their losses on Friday. The NSE Nifty gained 2.4%, or 557 points, to close at 23,907. The BSE Sensex advanced 2.5%, or 1,961 points, to close at 79,117.

Many large U.S. companies have seen their stocks swell since the presidential election.

Adani Group's ambitious plan to invest more than $100 billion (~₹85,000 crore) in the energy transition business and scale up its renewable energy operations over the next decade could face delays following the indictment of the conglomerate and its founder-chairman Gautam Adani by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to analysts. The majority of the investment is geared towards building facilities to manufacture electrolysers for producing green hydrogen, wind power turbines, and solar panels, besides establishing solar parks. Adani Group's renewable energy arm Adani Green Energy (AGEL), also India's largest renewable energy company, follows a debt-fuelled growth model with a 70:30 debt-equity structure like most peers.

Adani Solar USA and Adani Green Energy Ltd India based on a complaint filed by a Chinese firm about alleged violations of its patents on solar cells, modules, panels, components and products made from such components. The United States International Trade Commission (USITC), earlier this month, said that an «investigation be instituted to determine whether there is a violation… of section 337 in the importation into the US, the sale for importation, or the sale within the US after importation of certain products identified… in infringement of one or more… patent and claims». The complaint, filed by Chinese photovoltaics company Trina Solar in September, claimed that an industry in the US exists or is in the process of being established. Besides the Adani companies, various firms of Chinese solar module maker Runergy will be investigated for the alleged infringement of intellectual property rights.

Episode 9 will mark the beginning of this high-octane return, featuring a gripping two-part thriller that will turn the spotlight on Maddie’s harrowing ordeal when she is taken hostage by a serial killer, as mentioned in a report by Collider.

In addition to text message content, the government can seek any other traffic data for ensuring telecom cybersecurity, according to the rules framed under the new Telecom Act, notified Thursday. The rules define traffic data as any info generated, transmitted, received or stored in telecom networks, including type, routing, duration or time of a communication.

Adani Group's gross assets swelled by ₹75,277 crore in the first half of this fiscal year as the diversified conglomerate accelerated capital spending across projects, said people close to the matter. Gross assets are on track to reach a record ₹1.2 lakh crore by March-end, the people said. The surge in assets sparked a 7% or ₹16,882 crore increase in gross debt in the fiscal first half to ₹2,58,276 crore. The group's liquidity to service debt has fallen to 28 months as of September-end, from more than 30 months at the end of March. The Ahmedabad-based conglomerate has been battling turmoil over the past two days with promoter Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, along with six others indicted by the US Department of Justice. The charges include securities and wire fraud, alleging the group lied to US investors about its anti-bribery practices while engaging in widespread corruption.

bad loan aggregator National Asset Reconstruction Co (NARCL) is set to take over the distressed textile company Sri Govindaraja Mills after its ₹270 crore offer to lenders did not receive competing bids. Chennai-based Sri Govindaraja has been a non-performing asset for five years and owes creditors led by Canara Bank more than ₹750 crore. The ₹270 crore offer from NARCL equates to a 36% recovery for lenders. NARCL will pay banks through a mix of 15% cash upfront and 85% security receipts which can be redeemed later. This is the second asset NARCL has been selected as the winning bidder. Last month its ₹300 crore offer for ₹1,773 crore loans in Bareilly Highways Project received no counterbids during a Swiss challenge auction.

Narayani Gupta gathered where else but at the India International Centre for the release of a Festschrift on her. It is a measure of the calibre of the audience that most of them knew the meaning of that Germanic word so beloved of academics and applauded appreciatively as the book was unveiled. For the uninitiated, a Festschrift, literally 'celebration writing', is a collection of essays published in honour of a scholar and presented to them at a landmark event such as retirement or birthday. As the contributors are usually that scholar's peers and friends, such volumes are also called liber amicorum or 'book of friends'. It inevitably has a virtual avatar nowadays too called Webfestschrift, and if published after a scholar's death the compilation is called a Gedenkschrift. The Germanic overtone notwithstanding, Festschrifts are fairly commonplace in academic circles around the world, although initially there were more of these for luminaries in the field of sciences rather than humanities. Now such epistolary toasts are routinely brought out on poets and legal eagles (in India, Keki Daruwala and Nani Palkhivala come to mind), administrators and conservationists, economists and librarians, diplomats and theologians, even journalists.

Reliance Jio's heavy 4G and 5G user losses following recent tariff hikes triggered a sharp fall in India's mobile broadband user base in September — the first decline after two years of steady growth since the launch of 5G services in October 2022. India's 4G-cum-5G user base plunged by a record 5.6 million in September, shrinking the nation's mobile broadband user base to 901 million, latest subscriber data collated by Trai showed. This user base had earlier risen from 790 million in October 2022 to around 906 million in August 2024. According to Trai data, Jio lost 8 million 4G/5G users in September while Airtel and Vodafone Idea added 0.4 million mobile broadband users each. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which did not raise prices, added 1.5 million such users.

(This story originally appeared in on Nov 22, 2024)

Lioness Season 2 continues its gripping storyline with Episode 6 set to air soon. The show is available to stream on Paramount Plus.

Ikigai, the Japanese way of living that involves finding your life's purpose. It seems like a simple Venn diagram where you constantly seek the intersection of what you are good at, what you enjoy doing, what makes you money and what the world needs. It helps you discover your passion, your mission, your profession and your vocation, and if all these things align, you live the perfect life-or at least that's how it has been presented.

Trump 's team still hasn't signed agreements that are required to formally begin the transition process to the White House — meaning the government can't provide security clearances and briefings to incoming administration officials and the FBI can't screen his rush of picks for the Cabinet and other key posts. The importance of strenuous federal background screenings — and the fact that Trump's team has not been subjecting the president-elect's selections to such vetting — was evident on Thursday, when former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew as Trump's pick for attorney general following continued scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on whether he could be confirmed by the Senate. The continued delay on agreeing to start the formal transition process may eventually force senators to vote on Trump's choices without the benefit of the usual background checks. That process is designed to uncover personal problems, criminal histories and other potential red flags that would raise questions about a nominee's suitability for key jobs.

India Energy Week, which will have its third edition in February, began in 2023 as a novel initiative to leverage India's increasing prominence in the global energy landscape through collaborative dialogue. Startups especially made their presence felt in the first two editions with their inventive solutions. In green hydrogen (GH), some PSUs showcased new electrolyser technologies, even as startups have reached out to GoI to demonstrate their membrane-less electrolyser tech. Other firms have focused on building carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies, including direct air capture and enhanced oil recovery methods. Much progress has been made in advanced battery storage solutions, including solid-state batteries, lithium-ion improvements and flow batteries, which promise better efficiency, longevity and reduced costs. All major oil and gas MNCs have their GCCs in India, where Indian engineers are conducting cutting-edge design, engineering, data processing and decision analytics for major drilling operations, refinery operations and seismic data processing globally. A gradual journey of reforms and schemes to promote the entrepreneurial spirit has resulted in a tech boom, India's reputation as 'IT nation' giving way to that of a 'deeptech hub'.

Cybersecurity experts from NordVPN have developed a straightforward four-step test to determine if your smartphone is eavesdropping on your conversations, reported Daily Mail. The test begins by selecting a unique topic that you have never searched for or discussed near your device. According to Daily Mail, after choosing the topic, you should have multiple conversations about it while avoiding any related searches or interactions on your phone. Over the following days, you will monitor your social media ads to see if any related content appears. In their own experiments, NordVPN found that participants received targeted ads shortly after discussing topics they had never previously searched for which actually suggested that their devices may have been listening, asserted Daily Mail. For instance, one participant who discussed Saudi Arabia began seeing hotel ads for the country just days later.