More than 50 senior Congress leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Tara Chand, resigned from the party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Chand and several others, including former ministers Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, Gharu Ram and former MLA Balwan Singh, announced their resignations from their party, including its primary membership, at a press conference.

Azad, 73, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ended his five-decade association with the Congress, terming the party "comprehensively destroyed" and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" its entire consultative mechanism. He will soon a launch a national-level party from Jammu and Kashmir.

Recently, Bhupendra Chaudhary was made the new president of the UP unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after which on Aug 30  he resigned from his post of Panchayati Raj Minister in the Uttar Pradesh government.

Earlier on August 25, BJP appointed state Panchayati Raj Minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary as its new Uttar Pradesh party chief.

The post was vacant since the previous state president Swatantra Dev Singh relinquished charge after becoming a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government 2.0.

Bhupendra Singh, who hails from the Jat community, will be an important OBC face in Uttar Pradesh for the party.

Fighting between rival Iraqi forces raged for a second day  on Aug 30 with rocket fire echoing from Baghdad's Green Zone where 23 supporters of powerful Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr have been shot dead.

Tensions have soared in Iraq amid a political crisis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president for months, and escalated sharply after Sadr's supporters on  Aug 29 afternoon stormed the government palace following their leader's announcement that he was quitting politics.

The violence pitches backers of Sadr against rival Shiite factions backed by neighbouring Iran.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said "security or military forces, or armed men" were prohibited from opening fire on protesters.

Pakistan has secured a much-needed bailout package from the IMF, which will help the cash-starved country avert an imminent default, amidst the persisting political uncertainty and the devastating floods that has displaced over 33 million people.

The international lender approved the 7th and 8th tranche of USD 1.17 billion for Pakistan at an executive meeting in Washington on Aug 29.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the International Monetary Fund's Board has approved the revival of Pakistan's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

Business conglomerate Adani Group's chairman Gautam Adani is now the world's third-richest person after overtaking France's Bernard Arnault according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

With a total net worth of USD 137.4 billion, 60-year-old Adani has surpassed the wealth of Louis Vuitton chairman Arnault and is now just behind business magnate Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the ranking.

In the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani is at number 11 with a total USD 91.9 billion worth.

This is the first time an Asian person has broken into the top three of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The index is a daily ranking of the world's richest people. Details about the calculations are provided in the net worth analysis on each billionaire's profile page. The figures are updated at the close of every trading day in New York.

The net worth of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are currently at USD 251 billion and USD 153 billion, respectively.

Adani is a first-generation entrepreneur and the Adani Group comprises of 7 publicly listed entities with businesses spanning energy, ports and logistics, mining and resources, gas, defence and aerospace and airports. In each of its business areas, the Group has established a leadership position in India.

The Adani Group is the third largest conglomerate (after Reliance Industries and the Tata Group) in India.

Listed Adani group companies are Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, and Adani Transmission.

Over the past 5 years, flagship company Adani Enterprises has invested heavily in new growth sectors that include airports, cement, copper refining, data centres, green hydrogen, petrochemical refining, roads and solar cell manufacturing.

Indian economy's size will touch USD 20 trillion by 2047 provided the annual average growth is 7-7.5 per cent in the next 25 years, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Chairman Bibek Debroy said.

Releasing 'The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100', Debroy also said the country's annual per capita income will be over USD 10,000 if the country grows at an average economic growth rate of 7-7.5 per cent in the next 25 years.

According to him, India will also be among the high human development category countries by 2047.

India, which is the world's sixth largest economy with a GDP of USD 2.7 trillion, is currently classified as a developing nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious target of making India a developed nation by 2047.

A developed country is typically characterised by a relatively high level of economic growth, a general standard of living, and higher per capita income as well as performing well on the Human Development Index (HDI) that includes education, literacy and health.

India was classified as a 'third-world' country at the time of Independence from British rule in 1947.

But over the past seven decades, its GDP has grown from just Rs 2.7 lakh crore to Rs 150 lakh crore.

Dispelling speculation that the Indian government is planning to ban the manufacturing of Chinese smartphones below Rs 12,000, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar  has said the government has no such plan to ban Chinese mobiles under Rs 12,000. The minister, however, said that measures would be taken to ensure space for Indian companies and suppliers. 

There were reports that the government was mulling a policy to restrict Chinese smartphone companies from dominating the below Rs 12,000 market segment.  The move would have given a major dent to Chinese mobile makers as smartphones under Rs 12,000 accounts for one-third of the country’s total sales of smartphones.

Athletics Federation of India (AFI)  has announced its partnership with HSBC India to support women athletes of the country, especially the youngsters.

Under the partnership, promising girls will be picked from the National Inter District Championships for Under-14 and Under-16 categories and would be nurtured to perform on the global stage.

India's first medallist in World Athletics Championships Anju Bobby George, Birmingham Commonwealth Games medallists Priyanka Goswami (10,000m race walk) and Annu Rani (javelin throw) and Asian Games silver winner (400m) Hima Das were also present on the occasion.