A new study has provided evidence showing that human activities have made global rainfall more volatile over the past century.

Published on Friday in the journal Science, the study was conducted by researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the UK Met Office.

The study reveals a systematic increase in rainfall variability since the 1900s, ranging from global to regional scales and from daily to intraseasonal timescales.

Rainfall variability refers to unevenness in the timing and amount of rainfall. Higher variability means that precipitation is more unevenly distributed over time, resulting in wetter wet periods and drier dry periods.

Sri Lanka has set up a new division in the police to address legal issues faced by investors and exporters and to provide them with additional security in the future, the country's Export Development Board (EDB) quoted a state minister as saying on Friday.

The EDB said in a statement that it held its 24th exporters' forum on Thursday, which is a platform for discussing and resolving issues faced by exporters, news agency reported.

The event was presided over by State Minister of Investment Promotion Dilum Amunugama, the statement read.

Union Bank Regional Office Chandigarh, following the plantation drive “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” by Ministry of Environment (Forest & Climate Change), Government of India, had set a target of planting 10,000 trees at 15 identified locations and areas near the branches. A plan for planting 200 trees by each branch under Regional Office Chandigarh in, Panchkula, Ambala, Chandigarh (UT) & Yamuna Nagar districts. Under said Campaign, Tree Plantation Jan Abhiyan-2024 program was organized on 26.07.2024 at Green Belt, Sector 18C, Chandigarh. On this occasion, Smt. Anindita Mitra, IAS, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh participated as the Chief Guest. 

The National Independent Authority for Elections (ANIE) validated the candidacy requests of three individuals for the presidential election scheduled for September 7 in Algeria, state-run television ENTV reported.

According to the report released on Thursday, Mohamed Chorfi, the head of ANIE, held a press briefing to unveil the list of candidates for the September elections.

He said that ANIE approved the candidacies of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Secretary General of the Socialist Forces Front Youcef Aouchiche, and head of the Movement of Society for Peace Abdelaali Hassani Cherif, and deemed them eligible as they met all the requirements set forth by ANIE, news agency reported.

As more and more Indians prefer to have simple and transparent exposures in mutual funds, the total retail folios in index funds increased by nearly 12 times from 4.95 lakh in March 2020 to 59.37 lakh in December 2023, a study by Zerodha Fund House showed on Friday.

The Assets under management (AUM) of index funds has recorded a staggering increase of 25 times -- from about Rs 8,000 crore in March 2020 to about Rs 2,13,500 crore in March this year.

Notably, debt index funds had seen a sizable growth from negligible to no AUM till March 2021 but scaled up to almost surpass the milestone AUM of Rs 1.1 lakh crore in March, according to the study.

“Nearly 11 per cent of new folios last financial year came from index funds. It is only the beginning of a growing trend and Zerodha Fund House is proud to play its part in it,” said Vishal Jain, CEO, Zerodha Fund House.

The Jharkhand government has appointed Anurag Gupta, a 1990 batch IPS officer, as the acting DGP of Jharkhand replacing Ajay Kumar Singh.

Ajay Kumar Singh, a 1989 batch IPS officer, has been appointed as the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Jharkhand Police Housing Corporation Limited. He was appointed as the DGP of Jharkhand on February 14, 2023, based on seniority.

Anurag Gupta has previously served as the Director General of CID and ACB. He has held several significant positions in the Jharkhand police, including SP of Garhwa and Hazaribagh, SSP of Ranchi, and DIG of Bokaro Range.

He has also served as ADG of the Special Branch at the Jharkhand Police Headquarters.

The World Bank Group's Board of Executive Directors has approved a development loan totalling 599.1 million euros ($650.5 million) for Romania to support its economic and environmental sustainability.

The loan is aimed at helping Romania promote fiscal consolidation and sustainability and increase pension system equity, said the bank group in a statement on Thursday.

The loan will also introduce incentives to decarbonize Romania's transport sector and support its first green bond issuance to boost public investment, news agency reported.

Additionally, the loan will promote private-sector involvement in renewable energy and boost energy efficiency by introducing new financing for green investments, among others.

After 435 fake gun licences were recovered in Jammu city, the J&K Police on Friday said the accused was on the run and will be arrested soon.

The police busted a fake gun licence racket and recovered licences hidden in an under-construction building on Thursday.

Police said that information was received through reliable sources that one person, namely Tirath Singh, had stored fake licences in the building.

Singh is a resident of Gadigarh and owns a gun-selling shop. The building where he carried out the illegal activities is located near Harward College in Jammu.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman decreased income tax and increased standard deduction rebate in the Union Budget 2024-25. This move by the government is likely to boost FMCG sector growth.

According to marketing research firm Kantar Worldpanel, "The FMCG sector is expected to register 6.1 per cent yearly growth in FY 2024-25 in the rural market, which was 4.4 per cent last year. However, the FMCG sector’s growth in the urban market remained flat at 4.2 per cent in this fiscal."

According to the report released by Kantar Worldpanel, volumes in rural market could equal those in the urban market, which is higher at present.

Bringing an end to speculation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she will be attending the NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“On one hand there is financial deprivation and on the other hand, there is a conspiracy to divide West Bengal. I will be attending the Niti Aayog Meeting to raise my voice of dissent on both these issues,” the Chief Minister said while interacting with the mediapersons at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here before leaving for Delhi.

Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee is accompanying her to the national capital.