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Washington: Goldman Sachs has agreed to a settlement worth USD 1.2 billion to resolve claims that it misled US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage securities it sold them before the housing market collapsed in 2007.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, announced the settlement yesterday with the Wall Street powerhouse.

New York-based Goldman Sachs sold the securities to the companies between 2005 and 2007.

Under the settlement, Goldman is paying USD 3.15 billion to buy back the securities from Fannie and Freddie.

Washington - Pacific corals and fish can both smell a bad neighbourhood, and use that ability to avoid settling in damaged reefs, scientists say.

Damaged coral reefs emit chemical cues that repulse young coral and fish, discouraging them from settling in the degraded habitat, researchers found.

The study showed for the first time that coral larvae can smell the difference between healthy and damaged reefs when they decide where to settle.

Chennai: India's ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission was just nine million kilometres away from the red planet, Indian Space Research Organisation said today.

"Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is just nine million km away from Mars and 189 million kilometres away from the Earth. 33 more days to MARS," ISRO said in its social networking site.

Early this month, ISRO scientists ruled out Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre originally planned for August as the spacecraft was on track.

New Delhi : Facing a Sebi order with charges of running an illicit money pooling scheme worth about Rs 50,000 crore, PACL Ltd on Friday said that it will approach the Securities Appellate Tribunal against the directive of the capital markets regulator.

"Sebi has unfortunately failed to recognize the submissions of the company that it can't be treated like a CIS. The company would now appeal this order before the Securities Appellate Tribunal," PACL said in a statement after the Sebi order.

New Delhi : The Planning Commission has called a meeting of its former Deputy Chief and members on Tuesday to deliberate on the structure of the new body which will replace the 64-year-old institution.

"It is correct that they have called a meeting. They have invited me. But I will not be in Delhi so I would send my comments in writing to them," former Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told PTI.

Chandigarh : BJP on Friday hailed the "minimal" 2.74 per cent hike in power tariff in Punjab, saying it will put minimum burden on people, even as opposition Congress opposed the hike.

Power regulator Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) today announced a hike of 2.74 per cent in power tariff for all consumer categories for 2014-15.

Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma said the 2.74 per cent hike announced by PSERC is the minimum burden the government could put on the people of the state.