The Raipur district and sessions court on  Oct 27 gave Enforcement Directorate(ED) 14-day judicial custody of Chhattisgarh IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and two businessmen in a money laundering case. The 2009-batch IAS officer along with two others, Laxmikant Tiwari and Sunil Agrawal were sent to central jail by the Raipur district and sessions court where they were produced by the ED.

The Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal vehemently criticised the Haryana government for granting parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. He is now serving jail after being convicted in rape and murder cases.

In August 2017 in Panchkula, a special CBI court found the self-styled godman guilty. Rahim and four other people were found guilty of planning to murder Ranjit Singh, a manager for the Dera, in 2002. Additionally, he was found guilty of killing a journalist in 2019.

In a major jolt to senior Samajwadi Party leader and MLA from Rampur, Mohammad Azam Khan, the Rampur MP/MLA court, on Oct 27 , awarded him a jail term of three years while slapping him with a penalty of Rs 25,000 in a case of hate speech dating back to 2019 general elections.

However, the court also granted conditional bail to the SP stalwart immediately after pronouncing the quantum of punishment giving him a week’s time to file an appeal against the order in the higher court.

The European Central Bank piled on another outsized interest rate hike aimed at squelching out-of-control inflation, increasing rates  on Oct 27 at the fastest pace in the euro currency's history and raising questions about how far the bank intends to go with the threat of recession looming over the economy.

The 25-member governing council raised its interest rate benchmarks by three-quarters of a percentage point at a meeting in Frankfurt, matching its record increase from last month and joining the U.S. Federal Reserve in making a series of rapid hikes to tackle soaring consumer prices.

The ECB has now raised rates for the 19-country euro area by a full 2 percentage points in just three months, the distance that took 18 months to cover during its last extended hiking phase in 2005-2007 and 17 months in 1999-2000.

Mike Davis, the southern California writer, described by some as a 'delusional lefty', branded, 'prophet of doom' has died. The 60s man bowed out after a long struggle with esophageal cancer on October 25. He was 76.

Israel's defense minister became the first top defense official from his country to visit Turkey in more than a decade  on Oct 27 as the two nations take steps to normalize their strained ties.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar welcomed Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to Ankara with a military ceremony before the two held talks and chaired meetings between their countries' delegations.

Turkey and Israel were once close regional allies with broad defense ties, but the relationship became more and more strained under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule. The Turkish leader has been an outspoken critic of Israel's policies toward Palestinians, while Israel objected to Turkey's ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Energy prices are expected to fall by 11% in 2023 as global growth is likely to slow down, according to a World Bank report. According to the World Bank’s commodity outlook, energy prices after surging 60% in 2022 will decline 11% in 2023 and 12% in 2024.

 It sees Brent crude oil averaging $92 a barrel in 2023, before easing to $80 in 2024. The decline in prices will be driven by slower global growth, weaker demand for natural gas as households and industry reduce consumption, and some supply responses, primarily for coal.

However, the report says that energy prices will remain more than 50% above their five-year average through 2024. The World Bank report further predicts that persistently high energy prices will continue to have inflationary implications, particularly through second-round effects such as higher transport and electricity costs for businesses.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its energy outlook has said that energy markets and policies have changed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not just for the time being, but for decades to come, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Oct 27 .  According to a report by IEA’s World Energy Outlook, the global energy crisis is causing profound and long-lasting changes that have the potential to hasten the transition to a more sustainable and secure energy system.

The report advocated for stronger policies to drive the huge rise in energy investment that is needed to cut the risks of future price spikes and volatility. It said subdued investment due to lower prices in the 2015-2020 period made the energy sector much more vulnerable to the sort of disruptions we have seen in 2022.

The issue of moonlighting and the debate around it refuse to die down, as multinational technology company IBM says having a second job is a conflict of interest with the company’s interests. In an internal note to employees, IBM India MD Sandip Patel said, “A second job could be full-time, part-time or contractual in nature but, at its core, is a failure to comply with employment obligations and a potential conflict of interest with IBM’s interests.”  He said the moonlighting concept can cause a lot of confusion if not clarified at a granular level.

IBM’s stance on moonlighting comes a week after the second-largest IT services firm Infosys allowed its staff to take up gig work with the prior consent of their manager and BP (business partner)-HR. Many IT firms including HCL, Wipro and Mindtree have stated moonlighting is unacceptable. Though Infosys allowed staff to take up gig work, it never mentioned the word ‘moonlighting’ and it said in an internal note - ‘No dual employment. HR experts say avoiding moonlighting is not the solution