NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (NNN-Bernama) — India’s fair competition panel has approved the merger of Vistara airline with Air India.

The merger creates a larger Tata Group airline to take on domestic market leader IndiGo.

Vistara is the brand name of Tata SIA Airlines Limited, which is 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines.

Sept 2 (Reuters) - An Indian court on Saturday decided that Jet Airways (JET.NS) founder Naresh Goyal will remain in India's financial crime agency's custody until Sept. 11, the agency said in a press statement.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates financial crimes in India, arrested Goyal late on Friday.

Jet Airways did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Goyal hasn't commented publicly on the case in the past.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces hit two command and observation posts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as an enemy communications center in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuadorian authorities announced Friday the release of 50 guards and seven police officers who were taken hostage for more than a day, in what the government described as a response by criminal groups to its efforts to regain control of several large correctional facilities in the South American country.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 115 Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen in the Zaporozhye direction in the last day, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.

"Up to 115 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, four vehicles, two M-777 artillery systems, and a US-made M-119 gun, as well as two howitzers: Msta-B and D-20, were destroyed in a day," the report said.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s king has formally endorsed members of a new Cabinet, paving the way for a government headed by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to take office more than three months after the general election.

Srettha, representing the Pheu Thai party, was named prime minister by Parliament on Aug. 22. A prominent real estate developer until officially entering politics last year, he will also hold the finance minister’s post.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn issued his royal approval on Friday.

NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- China-U.S. cultural exchanges and tourism cooperation have seen rapid recovery and development this year, Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping said Friday.

Huang made the remarks during the Evening of Chinese Culture event held Friday in New York's Citi Field baseball park.

ANKARA, Sept 2 (NNN-TRT) – The Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), killed a senior member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in a cross-border operation in northern Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah region.

The “neutralised” PKK member, Rezan Gungen, codenamed “Rezan Botan,” was allegedly trained in Sulaymaniyah, for assassination attempts against Türkiye’s security forces.

Turkish authorities often use the term “neutralised” in their statements to imply the “terrorists” in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: Artillery of the battlegroup East has struck a Ukrainian drone control center in the south of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Oleg Chekhov, a spokesman for the battlegroup, told TASS.

"Rocket and cannon artillery hit the command center of Ukrainian territorial defense units in the area to the west of Vremevka <...>, a strongpoint with a satellite communication station near Novodarovka and a control point of Ukrainian unmanned aviation north of Vladimirovka," he said.

ABUJA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - President Bola Tinubu has ordered a recall of Nigeria's ambassadors the world over with immediate effect, his spokesman said on Saturday.

"The president is determined to ensure that world-class efficiency and quality, will henceforth, characterize foreign and domestic service delivery to citizens, residents and prospective visitors alike," presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said.

TEHRAN, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Iraq held a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday for a joint railway project near the common border in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

The event marks the start of construction of a railway that would span 32 km between Shalamcheh city in the Iranian province and the port of Basra in southern Iraq, said the report.

BEIJING (AP) — Typhoon Saola made landfall in southern China before dawn Saturday after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and most of Hong Kong and parts of the coastal mainland suspended business, transport and classes. Damage appeared to be minimal, however, and some services were returning to normal by afternoon.

Meanwhile, Taiwan issued a warning Saturday for a second typhoon, Haikui, which was expected to pass over the island Sunday, before traveling onward to the central Chinese coast.