Daily Bulletin: NCP invited to form govt in Maharashtra, Modi to leave for Brazil to attend BRICS Summit; day's top stories

Governor calls NCP to form govt, meetings to be held in Delhi, Mumbai

Shiv Sena suffered a setback and loss of face as it failed to get letters of support to hand over to the Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari on Monday. The Congress decided to hold back on support to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, even as Raj Bhavan refused an extension of the time limit given to the Sena.

On Tuesday, Congress representatives will meet Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi and the NCP supremo are expected to hold talks.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge along with former CM Prithviraj Chavan and other leaders comes out after a meeting with the party President Sonia Gandhi. PTI

After the Shiv Sena’s failure to form the government, Koshiyari called the NCP to stake claim by 8.30 pm as it is the third largest party in Maharashtra. The Congress will hold an emergency meeting in Delhi at 10 pm.

JNU students call for immediate resolution of fee hike issue

JNU Students’ Union in a statement has called for an immediate resolution on the fee hike issue, which caused clashed between police and students on Monday.

The protesting students said the varsity is facing an "academic emergency" and demanded the removal of Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar "for his inability to carry out the role of a Vice Chancellor in any reasonable and democratic manner". They also reiterated their demand for the withdrawal of draft hostel manual.

On Monday, the protests against the issue escalated with students marching from JNU campus to the AICTE building, breaking barricades, where the third convocation of the varsity was being held. They protested for close to nine hours and the air resonated with slogans of "Humein chahiye Azaadi curfew se, dress code se" to the thumping of dhaplis.

Lawyers to continue protest against clashes with cops

Lawyers in Delhi district courts will continue to abstain from work on Wednesday in protest against their clash with police last week.

In separate incidents on 2 and 4 November, clashes were reported between lawyers and police outside the Tis Hazari and Rohini district courts. The Delhi High Court had ordered that no action would be taken against the lawyers in the case.

The police had protested against the violence its personnel was subjected, but had called off the stir after over 11 hours after assurances that their grievances will be resolved.

Narendra Modi to leave for Brazil to attend BRICS summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for Brazil on Tuesday afternoon to attend the BRICS summit on 13 and 14 November.

This will be the sixth time Modi will be participating in the BRICS summit, his first being at Fortaleza, Brazil in 2014.

A large business delegation from India is also expected to be present during the visit, especially to attend the BRICS Business Forum where the business community of all the five countries are represented.

The prime minister is scheduled to hold separate bilateral meetings with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese premier Xi Jinping. He will also attend the BRICS business forum closing ceremony and the 'closed' and plenary sessions of the 11th BRICS Summit.

Indian devotees to celebrate Kartik Poornima, 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev

Lakhs of devotees are thronging Ayodhya for taking a dip in the River Saryu on Kartik Poornima on Tuesday. People will also be praying at ghat in various cities, including Varanasi and Raipur.

Meanwhile, the 550th birth anniversary of Sikh leader Guru Nanak Dev will be observed as Prakash Utsav.

Three performers stabbed in Riyadh after easing of restrictions on entertainment

A Yemeni man has stabbed three performers during a live play in the Saudi capital, police said, in the first such attack since the ultra-conservative kingdom began easing decades-old restrictions on entertainment.

The assailant was arrested after state television footage showed him stomping onto the stage in Riyadh's King Abdullah Park during a musical performance by what appeared to be a foreign theatre troupe.

The kingdom has faced international scrutiny over its human rights record since last year's murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul. Developing the tourism and leisure sector is one of the foundations of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 plan to prepare the Arab world's largest economy for the post-oil era.

Boeing 737 MAX may return to the skies in January

Boeing on Monday said it expects the 737 MAX airplane, which was grounded after two crashes killed 346 people, to resume flying in January, delaying its return by one month.

In a statement, the group said it still hopes to receive certification next month from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), allowing it to resume MAX deliveries to airline customers before the end of the year.

The planes have been grounded globally since mid-March, following the deadly Lion Air crash of October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March this year.

Rahul Dravid to appear for second time over conflict of interest allegations

Former cricketer Rahul Dravid will appear in person for the second time for "further submissions and clarifications" on the conflict of interest allegations levelled against him.

MPCA life member Sanjiv Gupta had filed the complaint against Dravid, alleging conflict of interest in his current role as National Cricket Academy (NCA) Head and being an India Cements employee.

The 46-year-old former India captain had earlier explained his case in the personal hearing held in Mumbai. Dravid is currently the NCA Director in Bengaluru besides being a vice-president in the India Cements group, which owns the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.

He was also the head coach of the India A and Under-19 teams before being handed the NCA role, which includes monitoring the progress of these two sides as well.

ArcelorMittal to shut down South Africa unit; 1000 workers to be retrenched

The world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal's South Africa unit has said it will retrench nearly 1,000 workers and shut down its Saldanha plant due to severe financial losses, amid a global downturn in the steel industry.

Global steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's ArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 18 countries.

As part of a strategic review of its operations, the steel manufacturer found that its Saldanha operations had lost their competitive cost advantage to compete in the export market, "mainly due to raw material and regulated prices", the company said in a statement.

Apple will reportedly release its first AR headset in 2022

New reports have surfaced claiming that Apple is planning a 2022 release for its first augmented reality headset. Followed by the headset, the report says that it will come out with its AR glasses in the next year itself. Apple's entry into AR hardware products has been rumoured for quite some time now. It was also reported that the company will start reaching out to software developers for the headset starting from 2021.

With inputs from agencies