Two courts in Bangladesh issued warrants for the arrest of the Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
One of the warrants relates to a failure to respond to a court summon in a defamation case and the second was issued by a special anti-graft court after Ms. Zia failed to attend a hearing in a long-running case relating to the alleged embezzlement of funds meant for an orphanage.
Hamas and Fatah Sign a Reconciliation Deal
Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of Gaza, including the key Rafah border crossing, a decade after seizing the enclave in a civil war.
The deal brokered by Egypt bridges a bitter gulf between the Western-backed mainstream Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, an Islamist movement designated as a terrorist group by Western countries and Israel.
Israel to Withdraw from UNESCO
Israel will withdraw from the UN`s cultural and education body after a United States decision to do the same on accusations of bias against the Jewish state.
Israel has long been at loggerheads with UNESCO, particularly over its decision to admit the Palestinians as members in 2011.
An international team of experts has gathered in San Felipe, Mexico at the request of the Mexican government (SEMARNAT) and has begun a bold, compassionate plan known as VaquitaCPR to save the endangered vaquita porpoise from extinction. The vaquita porpoise, also known as the 'panda of the sea,' is the most endangered marine mammal in the world. Latest estimates by scientists who have been monitoring the vaquita for decades show there are fewer than 30 vaquitas left in the wild. The vaquita only lives in the upper Gulf of California.
According to official data released by the Statistics Ministry Factory, output rose to a nine-month high of 4.3% in August on robust performance of mining and electricity sectors as well as capital goods.
TCS Q2 Net Profit Rises
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) reported a 3.2% rise in September quarter revenue to $4.73 billion on a reported basis, its best sequential growth in four quarters.
Net profit for the second quarter, ended September 30, rose 8.3 per cent.
The company experienced robust volume growth in Q2, driven by good demand across multiple industry verticals.
Clearing Bad Loans
As per rating agency Crisil, banks will need to set aside close to Rs. 3.3 lakh crore this fiscal to clean their balance sheets of bad loans. This is 50% more than the Rs. 2.2 lakh crore they provided for last fiscal.
According to the rating agency, operating profitability of banks (before provisioning) will stabilise by the end of this fiscal, mainly driven by improvement in the net interest income. Also, few loans are expected to slip into non-performing and credit growth is expected to pick up even as cost of funds decline.
Gautam Bambawale has been appointed as the next ambassador to China.
He will replace Vijay Gokhale.
He is presently High Commissioner of India to Pakistan.
He has earlier served in Hong Kong and Beijing and was the desk officer for China in the Ministry of External Affairs.
Congress set to Retain NWCMC
The Congress appeared set to retain the Nanded-Waghala City Municipal Corporation (NWCMC), bagging 15 of the 16 results announced so far for the 81-seat civic body.
The Congress has also built strong leads in 33 seats in the NWCMC, which is now one of the last surviving bastions of the party in the state.