14+ min ago (714+ words) Published - November 30, 2025 05:07 pm IST - Mumbai Experts have attributed the spike in the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Mumbai and its satellite cities to increase in the construction activities fuelled by various infrastructure projects as well as vehicular pollution. On Sunday (November 30, 2025), the average AQI of Mumbai was 104, which fell in the 'moderate' category. However, the AQI in some parts like the Bandra Kurla Complex was in the 'severe' range. There are six AQI categories, which are good (0-50), satisfactory (51-100), moderately polluted (101-200), poor (201-300), very poor (301-400), and severe (401-500). Angshuman Modak, climate scientist with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, attributed the spike in the AQI level to construction activities and vehicular emission as the main source of pollution. Mumbai and its satellite cities are witnessing an urban transformation --- from multiple Metro rail lines to road works, bridges and other building activities. Slums, chawls,…...

32+ min ago (216+ words) Scientists conducting a field survey in Manipur's Imphal West district have discovered fossil evidence indicating that thorniness in bamboo was already present in Asia during the Ice Age, a government release said. Researchers from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), found a bamboo stem with unusual markings in silt-rich deposits along the Chirang River in Imphal Valley. Their detailed analysis identified these as thorn scars, prompting further investigation into its identity and significance, it said. The team studied the fossil's morphology " including nodes, buds and thorn scars " in the laboratory and assigned it to the genus Chimonobambusa. Comparisons with living thorny bamboos such as Bambusabambos and Chimonobambusa callosa helped reconstruct the plant's defensive traits and ecological role. Meanwhile, geologist N. Herojit Singh of Geological Survey of India, a member…...

35+ min ago (223+ words) Published - November 30, 2025 04:45 pm IST - BELAGAVI If the Congress high command can not resolve the confusion among leaders in Karnataka immediately, it should dissolve the Assembly and face elections, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said in Hubballi on Sunday (November 30, 2025). "I think the instability in state politics continues. Although it seems that there is a ceasefire between Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar, the infighting seems to have intensified, he added. "Political instability unseen anywhere else in the country is now in Karnataka. People are reeling from terrible corruption. The administration is being carried out by some officials without any boundaries. The financial situation of the state is pathetic," he said. "There is an open attempt at buying MLAs and the Congress high command is quiet. We have great respect for AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, but he is helpless before the Gandhi-Nehru family,…...

39+ min ago (141+ words) Published - November 30, 2025 04:41 pm IST - CHENNAI A father-son duo died after an unidentified vehicle hit their two-wheeler on the Alandur Road flyover in Chennai on Saturday (November 29, 2025) night." City traffic police said the deceased Ravi (50) ran a tiffin shop in Guindy. He was travelling to Saidapet market to buy vegetables on a two-wheeler last night, with his son Karthik (15) on pillion." While he was on the Alandur Road flyover proceeding towards Saidapet, an unidentified vehicle hit the two-wheeler. During the accident both the father and his teen son fell down and died on the spot." Guindy Traffic Investigation Police sent the bodies to the Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem. The police are on the lookout for the vehicle using CCTV camera footages." road accident / Chennai...

48+ min ago (123+ words) Left parties and VCK to protest in Puducherry on December 8, 2025, against new labour codes and lack of consultation. Published - November 30, 2025 04:33 pm IST - PUDUCHERRY The Left parties and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi will organise a protest in Puducherry on December 8, 2025 demanding withdrawal of the new labour codes. A meeting of the leaders of the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), VCK and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) held at the CPI office here decided to mobilise workers in Puducherry for holding the protest. The Union government has taken an arbitrary decision to introduce the labour codes without holding proper consultation with trade unions, CPI secretary A.M. Saleem said in a press statement....

49+ min ago (187+ words) Updated - November 30, 2025 11:34 am IST - New Delhi The air quality in the national capital improved to the "poor" category on Sunday (November 30, 2025) morning after remaining "very poor" for several days. Delhi recorded an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of 268, better than the 305 reported a day earlier, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Data from the CPCB's Sameer app showed that five monitoring stations in the city reported air quality in the "very poor" category, while the remaining 33 recorded "poor" levels. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 to 100 "satisfactory", 101 to 200 "moderate", 201 to 300 "poor", 301 to 400 "very poor", and 401 to 500 "severe", according to CPCB standards. The minimum temperature settled at 8.3C, 2 degrees below the season's average, while the humidity was recorded at 97% at 8:30 a.m., according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 25C, with the weather department forecasting…...

1+ hour, 22+ min ago (385+ words) Published - November 30, 2025 10:58 am IST - Manila Thousands massed in the Philippine capital on Sunday (November 30, 2025) demanding accountability over a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure scandal that has seen scores of officials, lawmakers and construction firm owners accused of corruption. Rage over so-called ghost flood-control projects has been mounting for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns have been buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in recent months. President Ferdinand Marcos has seen friend and foe alike, including a congressman cousin, swept up by the spiraling scandal since he first put the issue centre stage in a July national address. "Put them in jail now!" protesters chanted as they marched down the Manila thoroughfare known as EDSA, site of the People Power Movement that helped oust Mr. Marcos's father from power in 1986. Demonstrators in the capital's Luneta Park, a short distance…...

1+ hour, 22+ min ago (476+ words) Published - November 30, 2025 03:58 pm IST - New Delhi Home and furnishings company Wakefit Innovations is set to launch its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on December 8, comprising a fresh issue of shares worth "377 crore. The IPO of the Bengaluru-based company will conclude on December 10, and anchor investors will be allocated shares on December 5, according to the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP). The company's maiden public offering is a combination of a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to "377.1 crore and an Offer-For-Sale (OFS) of 4.67 crore shares by the selling shareholders. As part of the OFS, the promoters " Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda and other selling shareholders " Nitika Goel, Peak XV Partners Investments VI, Redwood Trust, Verlinvest S.A., SAI Global India Fund I LLP, Investcorp Growth Equity Fund, Investcorp Growth Opportunity Fund and Paramark KB Fund I will be offloading shares. Wakefit proposes to utilise…...

1+ hour, 30+ min ago (396+ words) Published - November 30, 2025 10:50 am IST - Pune Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi on Sunday (November 30, 2025) said that technology is changing the speed of thoughts and is "our greatest asset in the future". He was speaking at the Passing Out Parade of cadets of the 149th course of the National Defence Academy (NDA) at the historic Khetrapal Parade Ground at Khadakwasla in Pune. During the convocation ceremony on Saturday (November 29), a total of 328 cadets passed out from the NDA, which provides officers to the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. Of these, 216 cadets were conferred Bachelor's Degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), comprising 72 cadets in Science Stream, 92 cadets in Computer Science Stream, and 52 cadets in Arts Stream. Additionally, 18 cadets from friendly foreign countries were awarded degrees. A total of 112 BTech stream cadets of the Navy and Air Force received their three-year course completion certificates....

1+ hour, 34+ min ago (599+ words) A blame-game is on in Bihar's opposition camp, Mahagathbandhan, which faced a humiliating defeat in the recently held Assembly polls that saw the ruling NDA retain power by winning more than 200 seats in the 243-strong House. Cat was set among the pigeons earlier this week when leaders of the Congress, who were in Delhi to attend a review meeting called by the high command, went public with the view that a section of party leaders was in favour of the party going it alone instead of having a truck with RJD, its old but domineering ally. Prominent among those who disclosed the "sentiment of most of the 61 candidates", of whom, incidentally, only six tasted victory, was Shakeel Ahmed Khan, the Congress legislative party leader in the outgoing Assembly. "It was a sentiment expressed by most of our candidates that we…...