'Real friends in difficult times': India and Poland look at tie-ups in strategic sectors

Aware of Delhi's close ties with Moscow, visiting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday that India and Poland have "no conflict of interest" and their pursuit of "shared goals" in the space industry, digitisation, satellites, state-of-the-art defence systems can deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Following their bilateral talks, Modi said, "Today we have agreed to deepen ties in defence, space and nuclear energy..."

Joshi unveils portal for Kashi Tamil Sangamam 5.0

Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi Thursday launched the registration portal for the fifth edition of the cultural and educational exchange programme Kashi Tamil Sangamam (KTS 5.0). The theme for this year is Thirukkural-a 2,500-year-old ancient Tamil text written by Thiruvalluvar.

Speaking at the launch, Joshi highlighted the country's strong cultural unity. The KTS programme will be held from November 28 to December 12.

Breach of 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature threshold now 'unavoidable', says Emissions Gap Report

The 1.5 degree Celsius temperature target is now completely out of reach and the best that the world can now hope for is to restrict the global rise in temperatures to 1.8 degrees Celsius and try to pull it back after that, a new UN report has said.

The Emissions Gap Report, published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) every year ahead of the annual year-ending climate conference, has said that the breach of 1.5 degree Celsius target, set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, was now "unavoidable".

Fossil fuel in the farm, and food as fuel-a double bind

The West Asia and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, together with El Niño, are testing the limits of both fossilisation of farming systems and the growing fuelisation of food.

Venezuelan oil imports: US push & India's limits

• For Washington, directing Venezuelan oil towards buyers such as India could help establish a market for it after years of sanctions.

• But for New Delhi and its refiners, oil purchases are primarily a commercial decision shaped by price, quality, freight, payment arrangements and supply reliability.

Nepal becomes first beneficiary of global funding for loss & damage

A newly-created international climate fund that seeks to provide financial assistance to countries affected by climate disasters decided on Thursday to earmark US $20 million for Nepal to help it recover from the devastating flash floods in August, making it the first beneficiary of international funding for loss and damage-a long-pending demand of developing countries.

RBI rate-setters split over inflation spreading

On October 7, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to raise the repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.5%. Further, four of the six were in favour of further tightening the screws and changing the stance of monetary policy from 'neutral' to 'calibrated tightening'.

GST reforms to be rolled out in phases, starting November 1

The Process reforms announced by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council earlier this month will be implemented in phases, with authorities focusing on simplified registration for e-commerce sellers, stream-lined registration process and faster refunds in the first phase.