Modifying its previous order on the timings of bursting firecrackers on Diwali, the Supreme Court Tuesday said states can fix the timings but it should not exceed two hours. “Timing for bursting firecrackers in places like Tamil Nadu, Puducherry will be changed but not exceed 2 hours a day,” the court said.

The direction came after the Tamil Nadu government moved court saying the festival in the state will be celebrated on the morning of November 6. It requested the court to extend the permitted time for bursting of firecrackers on Diwali, arguing that people of the state will be deprived of their right to celebrate the festival by bursting crackers.

The court also said its order on use of green crackers  during Diwali was meant for Delhi-NCR and not pan-India.

On October 23, the top court had fixed 8 pm to 10 pm for bursting firecrackers on Diwali as it ruled out a complete ban. Applying the “precautionary principle” of environmental law, a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan had ordered that only crackers with reduced emission and “green crackers” can be manufactured and sold. They will also have to stick to permissible noise emission standards.

NASA’s historic Parker Solar Probe – enroute to the Sun to unravel its mysteries – has become the closest spacecraft to it. The spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun’s surface on October 29, as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team, NASA said in a statement on Monday. The previous record for closest solar approach was set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976.

As the Parker Solar Probe mission progresses, the spacecraft will repeatedly break its own records, with a final close approach of 3.83 million miles from the Sun’s surface expected in 2024. “It’s been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we’ve now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history,” said Project Manager Andy Driesman from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “It’s a proud moment for the team, though we remain focused on our first solar encounter, which begins on October 31,” Driesman added.

Apple sold only 9 million units of the recently launched iPhone XR, which was one million lower than the 10 million mark predicted by analysts. The iPhone XR is supposed to be the most budget friendly option in the list, and went on sale on October 26. In India, the phone starts at Rs 76,900.

According to a report by Apple Insider, analyst Jun Zhang of Rosenblatt Securities said that Apple’s iPhone XR did not meet analyst expectations terms of sale. The analyst also expects that Apple will reduce iPhone XR and iPhone XS production in November and December.

His prediction is that for iPhone XR this reduction will be around two million units, while iPhone XS will see a drop of one million in the production cycle. The firm has put the prediction estimate for iPhone from at 88 million for this quarter.

Days after RBI Deputy Governor publicly spoke about the tussle between the government and the Reserve Bank of India, the Centre is reportedly upset about the rift being out in open. Senior officials who spoke to news agency Reuters told the government fears it could tarnish the country’s image among investors.

On Friday night, the RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya warned that undermining a central bank’s independence could be “potentially catastrophic”, in an indication that it is pushing back hard against government pressure to relax its policies and reduce its powers. Delivering the A D Shroff Memorial Lecture in Mumbai, Acharya said that “governments that do not respect central bank independence will sooner or later incur the wrath of financial markets, ignite economic fire, and come to rue the day they undermined an important regulatory institution.” He cited the Argentine government’s meddling in its central bank’s affairs in 2010 as an example of what can go wrong. That led to a surge in bond yields that badly hurt the South American economy.

The government officials, who did not wish to be named, said the Centre wanted to keep things confidential. An official, based in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, said it was “very unfortunate” that the RBI took the matters public. “The government is very upset. It was not expected from the RBI,” the official told Reuters. “The government respects the autonomy and independence of the RBI but they must understand their responsibility,” a second official said. An RBI spokesman was not immediately available for comments after business hours.

All 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles need to be impounded in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday as air quality became more dangerous. Politicians, however, continued to do what they do best - play the blame game. The judicial intervention came on a day when pollution in 10 areas in Delhi hit the severe mark - the sixth and the last stage on the air quality index. Overall, air quality was in the second most alarming category: very poor. "If you take a walk in the evening to Old Delhi railway station, you will see poor people on cycle rickshaws. They have no option..." the court said. "Hundreds of people are earning their livelihood like that... Will you tell them to kill themselves by working in this pollution?" it asked Delhi government authorities.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, however, blamed Congress-ruled Punjab and BJP-ruled Haryana, saying crop stubble burning in the two states had triggered the crisis. He also blamed the Centre for "inaction". Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan hit back at the AAP chief and said, "I would like to say to him that there are a few things on which politics should not be played." The BJP leader referred to NASA images to claim fewer crop stubble burning incidences this season.

The joint commission being set up in pursuance of the decision taken by Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar and Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India during the visit of the latter to Doha on 4-5 June 2016.

The joint declaration signed by External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha today highlights the decision to set up the joint commission.

The joint declaration said that the joint commission had been tasked with formulating the basis to strengthen the relations between India and Qatar.

The proposed joint commission will focus on various areas including economic, commercial, cultural, scientific, technological, Information Technology and educational fields.

The proposed joint commission has also been tasked to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise in different areas.

It will be co-chaired by ministers of External Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the two countries or their representatives.

The joint commission will hold a meeting at a time agreed by both countries alternately in each country.

Earlier the External Affairs Minister held delegation-level talks with Deputy Prime Minister of Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.

India vice-captain Rohit Sharma, on Monday, scored his 21st hundred in the 4th ODI against West Indies at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. He reached the milestone in 98 deliveries. He scored 162 in 137 balls with the help of 20 fours and 4 sixes, before he was dismissed by Ashley Nurse in the 44th over.

It was Sharma’s second century in the series, as he scored an unbeaten 152* in the 1st ODI to help India chase down the total of 322 in Guwahati. The right-handed batsman became only the second batsman to hit two 150+ scores in a series after Hamilton Masakadza against Kenya at home in 2009.

Sharma got off to a solid start with his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan. The duo added 71 runs together before the latter was dismissed. Skipper Virat Kohli was soon dismissed afterward for 16. But despite the two quick wickets, Sharma maintained his calm and continued to add runs together at a brisk pace to move towards the milestone. He stitched a 211-run partnership with Ambati Rayudu, who also scored a half century.

A treaty banning nuclear weapons could come into force by the end of 2019, backers of a campaign that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize said in an annual progress report on Monday.

The treaty aims to stigmatise nuclear weapons as previous treaties marginalised landmines and cluster munitions. Signatories promise to reject nuclear strategies and encourage others to follow suit.

The Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor, published by Norwegian People’s Aid, said 19 states had already adhered to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, putting it well on the way to the 50 ratifications it needs to come into force.

“We’re pushing for getting 50 ratifications by the end of 2019,” said Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

“We have about 25, 30 countries that say that they will be ready by the end of 2019, so it’s definitely possible.”

The big nuclear powers oppose the treaty because they say it could undermine nuclear deterrence, which they credit with preventing conventional war. Fihn told Reuters such arguments were ridiculous scaremongering.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and held productive, focused discussion on bilateral, regional and global issues.

Modi arrived in Japan on Saturday to attend the 13th India-Japan annual two-day summit which will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

“Strengthening the strategic orientation of our relationship. Foreign Minister of Japan Taro Kono called on PM @narendramodi. Held productive and focused discussion on bilateral, regional and global issues,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Modi also met Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Minister of Economy Trade and Industry (METI), Hiroshige Seko.

He appreciated the Japanese support extended to the flagship initiatives in India.

“Secretary General of Liberal Democratic Party Toshihiro Nikai called on PM @narendramodi. PM appreciated his vision and experience in strengthening of our bilateral relationship, specially support extended to the flagship initiatives in India,” Kumar tweeted.

Novak Djokovic is in commanding form and well poised to wrestle back the No. 1-ranking from longtime rival Rafael Nadal at the Paris Masters. Heading into the Paris event, which starts Monday, Djokovic was only 215 points behind Nadal at a tournament he has won a record four times, the last time in 2015. Nadal has never won here. The two tennis greats have won a combined 31 Grand Slam titles, with Nadal ahead 17-14. But Djokovic appears to be on an ever-upward curve while Nadal is tentatively returning from a right knee injury.

Djokovic has won four of the last five tournaments he has entered, a strong run including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and most recently the Shanghai Masters.

“In both the U.S. Open and Shanghai, I’ve played as good as ever,” Djokovic said Sunday at a news conference in Paris. “So I really enjoy tennis at the moment and enjoy competing. When you have a lot of confidence, you approach the practice sessions and the tournaments and the matches in a just completely different way.”

Djokovic feels he’s reaching the ultra-dominant level he was leading up to at the time of winning the French Open in 2016, which turned out to be his last Grand Slam title before a slump of two years without winning one.

In 2017, Djokovic’s level of play started dropping due to complications with an elbow injury. In January, he finally underwent right elbow surgery and, by the time he reached the French Open in June, his ranking had dropped to No. 22. “It was quite opposite extremes in terms of how I felt and how I played five months ago and today,” Djokovic said. “I do think that I’m playing at my best at the moment (now). I always feel like I can improve, but I feel like this is a very high level.”