In The Headlines: Fitch still keeps India’s sovereign rating low 

Global rating agency Fitch Ratings on Tuesday kept India's sovereign rating unchanged at 'BBB-' —the lowest investment grade—with a stable outlook, citing a "weak fiscal position and difficult business environment". The government and some commentators in India have been pitching hard for a rating upgrade by Fitch and other agencies, saying the country's strong economic fundamentals, political stability and a slew of reforms need to be better reflected in the rating assigned to it. Fitch said the stable outlook reflects the assessment that upside and downside risks to the ratings are broadly balanced.

Kerala to take up currency shortage issue with Centre

Kerala government said on Tuesday that the remonetisation process of the Centre has not resolved the currency shortage felt in the state and demanded that the Union government correct its policy. Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac, while replying to a calling attention on the matter in the state Assembly said, Kerala would take up the currency shortage issue with the Centre in the coming GST Council meeting.

N Korea wants to speed up nuke programme

North Korea's Foreign Ministry says the country will speed up measures to bolster its nuclear programme "at the maximum pace" in response to the new US policy that calls for new sanctions and "maximum pressure and engagement." A statement from the Foreign Ministry spokesman that was circulated by North Korea's UN Mission says the Kim Jong-un government “is ready to respond to any option” taken by the United States.

France polls: Le Pen accused of plagiarism

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has been accused of copying from the speech of defeated rival François Fillon. Several sections of her speech in Villepinte, north of Paris, on Monday, on the occasion of Labour Day repeated almost word-for-word comments Fillon made in an address on April 15. The similarity in the speeches was pointed out by the Ridicule TV YouTube channel. Though she was ridiculed in social media for plagiarising the speech, one of her aides defended it as a ‘tribute’ to Fillion.

With inputs from NH Webdesk