Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared victory in the Maldives' presidential election, following a controversial campaign observers said was rigged in favour of strongman President Abdulla Yameen.
Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen and triumphed despite struggling for visibility with the electorate, with local media fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.
Political Prisoners Seek Freedom
A Maldives court released a political prisoner and heard appeals for freedom from several others, including former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, just hours after strongman leader Abdulla Yameen conceded an election defeat.
Mr. Yameen had jailed or exiled most of his rivals during a turbulent five-year term.
The board of state-run Dena Bank approved its merger with Bank of Baroda along with another state-run lender Vijaya Bank.
The consolidation would enable creation of a bank with business scale comparable to global banks and capable of competing effectively in the country and globally.
The combined business of amalgamated entities would make it second largest state-run bank, after State Bank of India.
Hyderabad Metro Rail's Second Phase Becomes Operational
The Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited's much-awaited 16-km long second phase of Corridor-1, one of the city's high traffic density routes has been inaugurated.
Governor ESL Narasimhan flagged off the metro train from Ameerpet in the heart of the city to LB Nagar on the eastern suburbs.
With the commencement of operations between Ameerpet and L B Nagar, the entire 30 km long corridor-1 from L B Nagar to Miyapur, has come into operation now.
OBOPAY Acquires Mubble
OBOPAY, a global financial technology firm, announced it has acquired technology start-up Mubble, which is backed by venture capital firm Accel Partners and tech entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani.
BSNL has signed agreement with Softbank and NTT Communications to roll out 5G and IoT products and services in India. Under the agreement, BSNL will look at solution specially for the smart cities.
As per reports, most of the BSNL competitors are still looking at monetising their 4G services and hence, leading companies have started looking at the state-run firm for 5G services roll out.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Sikkim's first airport at Pakyong and said that it is the development of the 100th airport.
Pakyong Airport is also one of the five highest airports in India.
Pakyong project is one of the tallest reinforced soil structures in the world.
Pension Scheme for Elderly Spinsters
The Madhya Pradesh cabinet approved a pension scheme for elderly women who are unmarried in order to provide them with financial assistance.
The Shivraj Singh Chauhan government cleared the way for an amount of Rs. 300 to be given as pension to unmarried women between the ages of 50 and 79 while those above 80 years of age would be entitled to get Rs. 500 as pension.
Apart from the pension scheme called 'Mukhya Mantri Avivahit Yojna', a number of other proposals were cleared by the state cabinet as well.
Zika Virus in Rajasthan
After the first case of zika virus infection was confirmed in Jaipur and a spurt in seasonal diseases, health minister Kali Charan Saraf called a meeting to review the status of seasonal diseases.
He directed the department officials to keep a watch on seasonal diseases and cancelled leaves of all medical personnel across the state.
There have been 1,539 cases of swine flu and 152 deaths between January 1 and September 23. Also, 2406 cases of dengue cases, 3056 cases of malaria, 147 cases of chikungunya and 832 cases of scrub typhus have been confirmed.