Indian Sub-continent

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan’s powerful military said it supported the country’s elected government and the constitution, as tens of thousands of opposition protesters gathered in the capital demanding that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s year-old government quits by Sunday.

“We believe in the law and the constitution and our support is with the democratically elected government, not with any party,” military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said in comments to a television news channel late on Friday.

Panaji, Nov 1 (PTI) The economy is headed for serious stagnation which is reflected by the RBI lowering GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal, the Congress said on Friday, while also questioning the government's "data integrity".

Speaking to the media here, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said the government is in a deep sleep "like Rip Van Winkle", the famous fairytale character.

"The Reserve Bank itself has lowered India's GDP growth forecast for 2019-20 to 6.1 percent which will be the lowest in last six years," he said.

New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday pledged to invest 1 billion euros over the next five years on environmentally-friendly urban mobility in India.

Merkel, whose visit to the country coincided with one of the worst spells of air pollution in Delhi/NCR, also emphasised on the need to replace diesel-run public transport with electric vehicles.

"We have agreed to co-operate on climate protection and green urban mobility and have earmarked 1 billion euros towards this," Merkel said at an event here.

Islamabad, Nov 2 (PTI) The Pakistan Army on Saturday warned that no one will be allowed to create instability and chaos in the country, a day after the incalcitrant cleric and politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman set a two-day deadline for Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down.

The hard-line cleric addressed a massive protest rally, dubbed "Azadi March", held here on Friday to topple the incumbent government.

Samastipur (Bihar), Nov 1 (PTI) A police officer has been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing a girl in an inebriated state at a police station in Bihar's Samastipur district.

Confirming the incident, Dalsinghsarai sub-division Deputy Superintendent of Police Kundan Kumar said the accused police officer, Vedanand Choudhary, was forwarded to Samastipur divisional jail on Friday.

Dehradun, Nov 1 (PTI) The social media accounts of an Uttarakhand minister holding key portfolios have been hacked.

The Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts of Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik were hacked at around 2.30 am on Thursday, his Public Relations Officer (PRO) Sumit Bhargav said on Friday.

The hackers also hacked the minister's Gmail account, he added.

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections came in at Rs 95,380 crore in October, down 5.29 per cent from Rs 1,00,710 crore in the same month last year, as per government data released on Friday.

This is the third consecutive month when GST mop-up remained below the Rs 1 lakh crore mark, despite the festival season.

Revenue collection from GST in September stood at Rs 91,916 crore.

Mumbai, Nov 1 (PTI) The NCP on Friday slammed BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar for his comment that Maharashtra may head for President's rule if the new government is not formed by November 7.

The comment sounded like a threat and insulted the state's people, the opposition party said.

With saffron allies BJP and Shiv Sena bickering over chief minister's post after winning majority in the Assembly polls, the new government is yet to be formed in Maharashtra.

Lucknow, Nov 1 (PTI) At least five people were killed after they inhaled toxic gas, which leaked during repairing of a sewer tank in a village in Sultanpur district on Friday, police said.

According to Superintendent of Police of Sultanpur Himanshu Kumar, the incident took place Katghara Patti village under the Dostpur police station area.

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) Manufacturing activity in the country continued to weaken in October, with factory orders and production rising at the weakest rates in two years, a monthly survey said on Friday.

The headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to a two-year low of 50.6 in October from 51.4 in September.

This indicates only a marginal improvement in the health of the manufacturing industry, the survey said.

In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.