Daily Highlights

26-10-2018

Interim CBI chief can’t take any policy decisions: CJI on CBI feud (India)
During a Supreme Court hearing on government’s decision to send CBI Director Alok Verma on leave, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday ruled, Interim Director M Nageswara is not authorised to take policy decisions. CJI Gogoi suggested the CVC inquiry into Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana be completed in two weeks under retired SC judge AK Pattnaik.

Android Co-founder denies forcing oral sex on employee (World)
Android Co-founder Andy Rubin has refuted a New York Times report which claimed he pressurised an employee during an extramarital relationship into oral sex in 2013. Google Co-founder Larry Page asked Rubin to resign after the woman’s complaint, the report had added. Rubin denied the allegations saying it’s “a smear campaign to disparage me during a divorce and custody battle.”

Juventus looking to sign De Gea for free (Sports)
What could be very distressing news for Manchester United fans, David De Gea could be a Juventus goalkeeper next season. What’s worse is that the transfer could take place for free. De Gea is out of contract in the summer and it looks like he could reject a new contract offer from the club. Juve are looking for a goalkeeper of high stature after Buffon’s departure.

‘Hichki’ earns over Rs. 100 cr in China (Entertainment)
The Siddharth P Malhotra directed film Hichki that featured Rani Mukherji in the title role playing a teacher affected with Tourette’s syndrome released in China a while back. The film has managed to make it past the much coveted Rs. 100 cr mark in China. Collecting a total of USD 13.96 million, Hichki has managed to achieve this feat by the end of its second week.

Brace yourself for a new PUBG rival from Xiaomi (Technology)
Xiaomi has announced that it will now be joining the multiplayer online battle royal game with the launch of its own game called ‘Survival Game’. The game will also offer flight functions. The company has revealed that the beta testing applications for the game will be open until October 31 for the Android Platform.

Rakesh Asthana moves Supreme Court against Centre’s leave order (India)
Rakesh Asthana, the CBI Special Director, has moved the Supreme Court against his leave order by the Central government. Both he and Director Alok Verma were sent on leave after an FIR was registered against Asthana by CBI itself. Also, Chief Justice Gogoi has directed the CVC to complete probe the allegations under the supervision of the SC in 10 days.

A Dancer Molested On Housefull 4 Sets In Akshay’s Presence (Entertainment)
You will be left red-faced when you will learn about the shocking incident that took place on the sets of Housefull 4. ANI has reported a news that a female dancer has been molested on the sets of Housefull 4, while actors including Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh were present on the sets of the film. The woman has filed a complaint against the molesters.

Relief to consumers as downward trend (India)
Consumers can breathe a sigh of relief as the petrol-diesel prices have been falling for the about a week now. The petrol price today (October 26) in Delhi is Rs 80.85 per litre while diesel price per litre stood at Rs 74.73. Today is the ninth consecutive day that the fuel prices have been reduced.

14 kindergarten children injured in knife attack in China (World)
At least 14 children were injured on Friday in a knife attack at a kindergarten in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing. A 39-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Liu, attacked the children at the gate of the kindergarten with a kitchen knife. The attack took place at around 9.30am local time as the children returned from morning exercises.

Philippines Prez fires customs officials after failure to detect drugs (World)
Rodrigo Duterte, President of Philippines, has fired all top customs officials, after they failed to detect a ton of drugs. According to Reuters, this is the second such case in two years. Ever since he became President in 2016, the Duterte administration has taken a hard stance against drugs. “The commissioners are out, the department heads are out,” Duterte said.

5.6 magnitude earthquake hits Japan (World)
A 5.6 magnitude earthquake on the Richter Scale struck northern Japan’s Hokkaido island on Friday. The quake occurred at 3:04 am (UTC) and its epicenter was situated nearly 370 km north-east of Sapporo city. The temblor originated at a depth of 30 km. There are no reports of damage and casualties so far. No tsunami warning has been issued.

Rahul Gandhi leads a protest march to CBI HQ against removal of Alok Verma (India)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi is leading a protest march from Dyal Singh College in Delhi to the CBI headquarters. The protest is against the removal of Director Alok Verma. Both Director Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana were sent on leave after the CBI registered a case against Asthana in connection to the Moin Qureshi case.

2 terrorists killed, 1 soldier martyred in J&K’s Sopore encounter (India)
An encounter between terrorists and security forces in north Kashmir’s Sopore has left a soldier dead on Friday. Two terrorists were also killed in the gunfire. The police chief said that the exchange of firing has stopped and search operation has been launched to recover the bodies. The identity of the slain militants was yet to be ascertained.

Yes Bank slumps 15%, Bharati Airtel falls 3% after Q2 results (Business)
Shares of Yes Bank and Bharati Airtel fell sharply in morning trade before recovering, as investors reacted to their second-quarter (Q2) results reported yesterday. Shares of Yes Bank fell as much as 15 percent, the most in a month, to Rs 168.60 apiece. Shares of Bharati Airtel fell as much as 3.4 percent in early trade today before recovering.

Sensex, Nifty trading in red (Business)
At 10.19 am the Sensex was at 33,513, down 176.44 points. Nifty was at 10,059, down 65.35 points. Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing, JSW Steel, NTPC and Hindalco were top losers among Nifty50 stocks, down 3.5-6 percent whereas Tata Motors and GAIL gained a percent each. Yes Bank shares plunged 15 percent in early trade.

India to have 100% 4G population by 2020: Mukesh Ambani (Business)
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said that India will have 100 percent 4G-enabled phones by 2020. “By 2020…every phone in India will be a 4G-enabled phone and every customer will have access to 4G connectivity,” he said. Speaking at the second edition of the India Mobile Congress, he said India is among the fastest growing economies in the world.

ED attaches Nirav Modi’s assets worth Rs 255 crore in Hong Kong (Business)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had attached assets worth Rs 255 crore belonging to PNB scam accused Nirav Modi in Hong Kong. The agency said it had issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attachment of the assets. With this, the total attachment in the PNB scam case stands at Rs 4,744 crore.

Surat-based businessman to give cars to 600 employees as ‘Diwali gift'(Business)
Surat-based diamond merchant Savji Dholakia will reportedly gift cars to 600 employees of his company as Diwali gift this year. Some media reports also said that Dholakia will give jewelleries and flats to some other employees. In August, Dholakia gifted Mercedes-Benz GLS 350d SUV worth over Rs 3 crore to 3 employees for completing 25 years in the company.

TVS Sport special edition launched In India (Automobiles)
TVS Motor Company has launched a new Special Edition model of the TVS Sport for the festive season. The prices for the TVS Sport Special Edition start at Rs 40,088 ex-showroom (Delhi). The newly launched TVS Sport Special Edition is available in Electric Start and Kick Start Alloy Wheel variants.

New Maruti Ertiga Bookings Open Ahead Of Launch (Automobiles)
Maruti Suzuki is all set to launch the new Ertiga facelift in the Indian market on November 21, 2018. Ahead of that, unofficial bookings are open for the new Ertiga. One of the Maruti Suzuki dealers in Mumbai has confirmed to DriveSpark that the new Ertiga can be booked by making an advanced payment of Rs 11,000. Read full source for more details.

Maruti S-Cross achieves 1 lakh sales milestone (Automobiles)
The Maruti S-Cross has crossed one lakh sales milestone in the Indian market. The cumulative sales figures are of both the old and face-lifted version of the S-Cross premium crossover. The Maruti S-Cross facelift was launched in India in 2017. In September 2018, Maruti Suzuki updated the S-Cross with new features.

NIA court defers framing of charges Malegaon blasts to Oct 30 (India)
Framing of charges in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case has been deferred by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday deferred till October 30 as some of the accused were not present in the court. The court directed all the defence lawyers to make sure that all of them should be present on the stipulated date for framing of charges.

Delhi air quality slips to very poor (India)
Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was rated as ‘Very Poor’ at 343 by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). The AQI between 0 to 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 falls under the category of ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 is marked as ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’ and 500 and beyond is considered as ‘severe’.