Queen Elizabeth II is laid to rest on  sep 19  after a grand state funeral attended by leaders from around the world, and a historic last ceremonial journey through the packed streets of London.

The longest-serving monarch in British history died aged 96 at Balmoral, her Scottish Highland retreat, on September 8 after a year of declining health.

The last state funeral to be held in Britain was in 1965 for the country's wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.

She will be buried alongside her father king George VI, her mother queen Elizabeth the queen mother, and sister Princess Margaret, reuniting in death the family who once called themselves "us four".

The coffin of her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will also be transferred to lie alongside her.

One of the most prominent young figures and potential future leader of France’s far-left  has quit his party post after admitting violent behaviour towards his wife.

Adrien Quatennens, 32, has been a key figure of the France Unbowed (LFI) movement of far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who narrowly missed out on making the run off in this year’s presidential elections.

Quatennens announced he was resigning as a coordinator for the LFI as he admitted that one year ago he had hit his wife, with whom he is in the process of divorcing, during an argument. 

The net direct tax collection (after refunds) for 2022-23 registered a 23% jump to R7 lakh crore as on 17 September 2022. Last year during the same period the net direct tax collection was R5.68 lakh crore.

Of the R7 lakh crore, corporate tax collected during the period was R3.7 lakh crore while personal income tax collected was R3.30 lakh crore. Meanwhile, Gross collection of Direct Taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for 2022-23 stands at R8.36 lakh crore compared to R6.42 lakh crore in the corresponding period in 2021-22, registering a growth of 30%.

The Gross collection of R 8,36,225 crore includes Corporation Tax at R4,36,020 crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) including Securities Transaction Tax (STT) at R3,98,440 crore.

Of the total gross tax collection, advance taxes accounted for R2,95,308 crore. Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) collected during the period was R4,34,740 crore, self-assessment tax at R77,164 crore and regular assessment tax collected was R 20,080 crore.

The finance ministry in a statement said that direct tax collections ontinue to grow at a robust pace, which is a clear indicator of the revival of economic activity after the pandemic, as also the result of the stable policies of the government, focusing on simplification and streamlining of processes and plugging of tax leakage through effective use of technology.

The finance ministry also pointed out that there has been a remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during the current fiscal, with almost 93% of the duly verified ITRs having been processed till 17 September 2022.

It said that there has been a 468% increase in the number of refunds issued in the current financial year. Refunds amounting to R1,35,556 crore have been issued in 2022-23 till 17 September, as against refunds of R74,140 crore issued during the corresponding period last year. 

Days after completing a USD 6.5 billion acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC, billionaire Gautam Adani said his group has planned to double cement manufacturing capacity and become the most profitable manufacturer in the country.

He saw a multifold rise in cement demand in India on the back of record-breaking economic growth and the government's infrastructure creation push, which will give significant margin expansion.

In a speech made at an event to mark the completion of the acquisition on September 17, the Adani Group founder and chairman said the ports-to-energy conglomerate has in a single stroke become the second largest cement manufacturer in the country.

Adani Group last week completed buyout of Swiss major Holcim's stake in the two firms.

The group is the world's largest solar power company and has committed USD 70 billion investment in clean energy business including green hydrogen.

Adani Group is the largest airport operator in the nation with 25 per cent of passenger traffic and 40 per cent of air cargo. It is the largest ports and logistics company in the country with a 30 per cent market share.

Injuries seem to spur wrestler Bajrang Punia on. It happened last year at the Tokyo Olympics where he competed with his injured right knee to win a bronze medal. It happened again at the ongoing World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Despite sustaining a serious head injury in his first bout of the 65kg weight category, he not only competed with his skull bandaged heavily but also finished on the podium, winning his fourth Worlds medal. For the record, he is the only male wrestler from the country to win two or more medals at the marquee event.

In the ongoing crackdown against religious leaders and preachers, the authorities have detained another prominent religious leader Sarjan Barkati from south Kashmir.

He is the third prominent religious leader to be arrested in the last few days and the arrests have drawn strong condemnation from Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), an amalgam of religious, social and educational organisations of Kashmir .

Barkati was arrested by police from his residence in the Reban area of Shopian in south Kashmir on Sep 17.

He was arrested in October 2016 under PSA for organising anti-government rallies after the killing of Hizb commander Burhan Wani.

Barkati was released on October 28, 2020 after spending nearly four years in jail. He was again arrested in 2021 for praying in favour of Palestinians during Eid congregational prayers in a mosque in south Kashmir.

Earlier, police  has arrested two prominent religious leaders and clerics Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri and Abdul Rashid Dawoodi from south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Veeri was also arrested after Article 370 revocation.

Former union minister and Congress leader Manikrao Gavit died of old age at a hospital in Maharashtra's Nashik on Sep 17.

Gavit was 87, and is survived by his daughter former MLA Nirmala Gavit and son Bharat.

A nine-time Lok Sabha MP, Gavit represented the tribal-dominated Nandurbar constituency from 1980 to 2009, and lost the election in 2014.

India’s seven decades-long wait to see the return of Cheetah in its wild ended with Prime Minister Narendra Modi releasing the first batch of Cheetahs from Namibia, at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district on his 72nd Birthday on Sep 17.

The eight fully-vaccinated Cheetahs (including five females and three males, among them two male siblings) which were flown from Namibia by special cargo aircraft, landed at Gwalior Airport.

After a routine medical check-up, the Cheetahs were shifted in the Indian Air Force’s Chinook helicopters to the Kuno National Park (KNP), where the Prime Minister released three of them from their cages into the special enclosures where they’ll be quarantined for a month, before being shifted to bigger enclosures for a couple of months and finally be released in the wild by the year end.

The PM, escorted by MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, union forest, environment and climate change minister Bhupendra Yadav, union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia among others, captured from his 10 ft high platform stage, the historic release of Cheetahs into the Indian wild, by using long lens camera and clicking memorable snaps of the felines slowly and carefully exploring their new habitat.