Indian Sub-continent

Mumbai, Nov 8 (PTI) Devendra Fadnavis on Friday resigned as Maharashtra chief minister, five years and a week after he assumed the state's top job, as an aggressive Shiv Sena rebuffed all attempts to form an alliance government.

Fadnavis, 49, drove to Raj Bhavan and handed over his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who asked him to be the "caretaker CM" till alternate arrangements are made.

The development came a fortnight after results of the October 21 Assembly elections were declared.

New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI) Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is likely to have a meeting with Uttar Pradesh chief secretary and director general of police on Friday to assess the law and order arrangement in the state ahead of the verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute case to be pronounced next week, sources said.

The CJI has called UP Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari and DGP Om Prakash Singh and will have the meeting in his chamber, they said.

New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI) The corporate India is forecasting deteriorating growth for October-December period this year as optimism for new orders and sales prices has hit the lowest level in nearly 18 years, a report said on Friday.

The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index stood at 56.4 for December quarter this year, registering a decline of 19.5 per cent as compared to the year-ago period.

Ballia (UP) Nov 8 (PTI) BJP leaders are not happy with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as he doesn't pay heed to their suggestions, UP's Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary has said.

The senior Samajwadi Party leader said there is immense dissatisfaction within the BJP over Adityanath and party leaders do not want to see him in the post of chief minister.

"BJP workers are not happy with the dictatorial working style of Adityanath and do not want to see him in the post," Chaudhary told reporters on Thursday.

(Reuters) - Wildfires have raged across California for about a month and air problems persist in China, but no other place on Earth is battling the scale and severity of the pollution that chokes large swathes of north India.

(Click here for an animated world map showing the amount of PM 2.5 particulate matter in the air.)

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) The Ministry of Home Affairs has initiated disciplinary proceedings against IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan who had submitted his resignation in August protesting what he alleged was the "denial of freedom of expression" to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

MUMBAI, India (Reuters) - India has increased security a week before the Supreme Court rules on a disputed religious site that has been fiercely contested by majority Hindus and Muslims for decades, police and home ministry officials said on Friday.

More than 5,000 paramilitary force members and police have been deployed in the northern town of Ayodhya, where an ancient mosque was razed in 1992 by hardline Hindus who believe the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram, a physical incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulated Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan on being re-elected as President of the United Arab Emirates.

"I am confident that under his dynamic and visionary leadership, our friendship and our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will continue to further grow and deepen," Modi tweeted.

The UAE Supreme Council re-elected Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the UAE President for a fourth five-year term on Thursday.

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) The Delhi government has demanded more onions from the Centre for distribution in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday after a sudden rise in the vegetable's price.

The retail price of onions has risen by 45 per cent in the past week to Rs 80 per kg in the national capital. The rate stood at Rs 55 per kg on October 1, according to official data.

Bhubaneswar, Nov 7 (PTI) A woman was allegedly raped in a moving car and dumped in a critical condition near a college in Odisha's Khurda district, around 25 km from here, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday night when the woman was on her way to Khurda town from Bhubaneswar. She was found in an unconscious state by the local people and rushed to the district headquarters hospital at Khurda, the police said.