India

NEW DELHI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Indian President Droupadi Murmu's reference to herself as the "President of Bharat" in a dinner invitation, instead of "President of India", sparked controversy on Tuesday, with critics saying the name of the country is being distorted.

Murmu is hosting a reception for G20 leaders during the group's summit on Saturday and invitations were sent from her office.

India is also called Bharat, Bharata, Hindustan - its pre-colonial names - in Indian languages and these are used interchangeably by the public and officially.

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (NNN-PTI) – Two people were killed, and five others injured, early today after a two-story building collapsed in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, officials said.

The building collapsed on Darga Road in Bhiwandi area of Thane district, about 37 km north-east of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra.

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (NNN-Bernama) — Chinese petroleum company Sinopec will submit a request for proposal (RFP) document to set up a new refinery in Sri Lanka’s south, said Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera on Sunday.

The Sri Lankan minister said this after a meeting with Sinopec officials in Colombo.

“Sinopec Refinery officials assured their commitment to establish a new refinery in Hambantota and that they will submit the RFP before the deadline next week,” Wijesekera said.

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - India switched off its moon rover, the first craft to reach the lunar south pole, after it completed its two-week assignment conducting experiments, the country's space agency said.

The Pragyan rover from the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was "set into Sleep mode" but with batteries charged and receiver on, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, late on Saturday.

NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (NNN-Bernama) — India’s fair competition panel has approved the merger of Vistara airline with Air India.

The merger creates a larger Tata Group airline to take on domestic market leader IndiGo.

Vistara is the brand name of Tata SIA Airlines Limited, which is 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines.

Sept 2 (Reuters) - An Indian court on Saturday decided that Jet Airways (JET.NS) founder Naresh Goyal will remain in India's financial crime agency's custody until Sept. 11, the agency said in a press statement.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates financial crimes in India, arrested Goyal late on Friday.

Jet Airways did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Goyal hasn't commented publicly on the case in the past.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India launched its first space mission to study the sun on Saturday, less than two weeks after a successful uncrewed landing near the south polar region of the moon.

The Aditya-L1 spacecraft took off on board a satellite launch vehicle from the Sriharikota space center in southern India on a quest to study the sun from a point about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth. The point, known as L1, affords an uninterrupted view of the sun.

BENGALURU, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada is expected to hold its key interest rate steady at 5.00% on Sept. 6 and stay at that level through at least the end of March 2024, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll, with a small but growing minority expecting one more rate rise.

Inflation, which the Canadian central bank targets at 2%, rose more than expected to 3.3% in July, and further price rises continue to be the upside risk to expectations the BoC has already reached its terminal rate.

NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Rising air pollution can cut life expectancy by more than five years per person in South Asia, one of the world's most polluted regions, according to a report published on Tuesday which flagged the growing burden of hazardous air on health.

The region, which includes the world's most polluted countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, accounts for more than half of the total life years lost globally to pollution, the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) said in its latest Air Quality Life Index.

NEW DELHI, August 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he will not be able to attend the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi from September 9-10, so the Russian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Indian prime minister’s office said in a statement.

"President Putin conveyed his inability to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023 and informed that Russia would be represented by Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Lavrov," the statement said.