Sensex zooms 311 pts, Nifty hits 8,900 at mid-session

Mumbai, Sep 6:  The benchmark BSE Sensex jumped over 311 points and the NSE Nifty reclaimed the key 8,900-mark for the first time since March last year at mid-session on Tuesday on across-the-board buying led by banking, auto and consumer durable stocks amid sustained foreign fund inflows.

Besides, a firming trend overseas after a slowdown in the US job creation dimmed expectations of an interest rate rise by the Fed this month, too accelerated buying activity in domestic equities.

The 30-share index after surging nearly 250 points higher in early trade, continued its winning run to trade 311.37 points or 1.09 per cent higher at 28,843.48. The gauge had gained 108.63 points in the previous session on Friday.

Rajnath slams separatists,says their behaviour not Kashmiriyat

Srinagar, Sep 5: A day after Hurriyat leaders snubbed members of the all-party delegation who reached out to them, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said the behaviour of the separatists shows they do not believe in 'Kashmiriyat', 'Insaniyat' and 'Jamhooriyat'.

Addressing a press conference on the second day of the delegation's visit, Singh said he was confident that peace will be restored in the state and the members had interacted with 30 delegations representing various sections of the society.

India ranks 110th on Sustainable Development index

United Nations,India has ranked a low 110 out of 149 nations assessed on where they stand with regard to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, according to a new index which is topped by Sweden and shows all countries face major challenges in achieving these ambitious goals.

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung launched a new Sustainable Development Goal Index and Dashboard to provide a report card for tracking Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) progress and ensuring accountability.

Govt allows oil cos to raise kerosene price by 25p/month

 Government has allowed state-owned oil companies to raise the price of kerosene by 25 paise a litre each month for 10 months to cut the subsidy burden.

On July 1, kerosene price was hiked by 25 paise a litre, the first increase in rate of the highly subsidised cooking and lighting fuel in five years.

"Petroleum Ministry has conveyed to oil marketing companies to raise kerosene price by 25 paise every month till April 2017," a senior official said.

Theresa May set to take charge as Britain's Brexit PM

Home secretary Theresa May is all set to take charge as Britain's second ever woman Prime Minister today and begin the work of taking the country out of the EU.

She succeeds David Cameron, who resigned in the wake of Brexit referendum that ended his six-year-long stint as the prime minister of Britain.

May, 59, will become the UK's second female Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher, also known as Iron Lady, with whom May is often compared. May is also expected to boost the number of women in her frontline Cabinet team.

SC verdict on Arunachal ''very strange'': BJP

BJP today appeared critical of the Supreme Court verdict on Arunachal Pradesh, saying it is a "very strange order" that the leader with the majority support is being asked to sit in the opposition and also wondered if the verdict "weakens" the democratic spirit.

Govt downplays NGO report on air pollution

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) Downplaying Greenpeace India's recent report which said India overtook China's air pollution levels in 2015, the Centre today said the study was based on "extrapolated and constructed" data "without" field validation.

"Greenpeace India published a report titled 'Clean Air Action Plan: The Way Forward' in February 2016. The report...

is on the basis of NASA satellite data which is based on extrapolated and constructed data without field validation," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

Greenpeace's analysis said India had overtaken China's air pollution levels in 2015 and its average particulate matter exposure was higher for the first time in the 21st century.

"China's strong measures to curb pollution have contributed to the biggest year-on-year air quality improvement on record while in contrast, India's pollution levels continued a decade-long increase to reach the highest level on record," it had said.

Javadekar said ambient air quality is monitored regularly in 254 cities and towns by the Central Pollution Control Board, Pollution Control Committees and others.

Analysis of these data indicates fluctuating trends on the basis of indivudual pollutants in ambient air. .
-Source PTI