Surface-to-air Akash missile test fired

Two days after its successful trial, India today again test-fired the indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile from the test range at Chandipur near Balsoer.

"The user specific trial, which formed part of the country's routine air defence exercises, was conducted from the ITR," said a Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) official associated with the ‘Akash’ missile project.

To re-validate the technology and operational efficacy of the anti-aircraft missile, Defence forces conducted the trial with logistic support provided by the ITR.

Buddhist encyclopaedia published in Russia

The first encyclopaedia of Buddhist philosophy has been brought out in Russia where Buddhism has seen a revival after the collapse of Communism.

The encyclopaedia analyses the philosophical aspects of Buddhism in the context of different civilisations, cultures and religions, including Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.

Releasing the book at a function held at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences India’s Ambassador Ajai Malhotra said that the philosophy of Lord Buddha was a relevant today as ever and would continue to inspire future generations across the world.

Indian-origin student cracks 350 years' old math puzzles

A 16-year-old Indian-origin 'genius' from Germany has managed to crack puzzles that had baffled the world of maths for more than 350 years.

Shouryya Ray, from Dresden, has solved two fundamental particle dynamics theories which physicists have previously been able to calculate only by using powerful computers.

Shouryya has been hailed a genius after working out the problems set by Sir Isaac Newton.

His solutions mean that scientists can now calculate the flight path of a thrown ball and then predict how it will hit and bounce off a wall, the Daily Mail reported.

Kerala is the second state to ban the use of gutka and paan masala after Madhya Pradesh.

Citing increasing incidence of diseases like oral cancer, the Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala today announced a ban on the manufacture and sale of gutka and paan masala containing tobacco in the state with immediate effect.

Announcing the decision at a press conference here, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the ban on gutka and paan masala containing tobacco and nicotine was enforced under the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Regulation Act, 2011.

Kerala is the second state to ban the use of gutka and paan masala after Madhya Pradesh.

The increasing incidence of gutka-induced diseases like oral cancer had prompted the government to ban the products, Chandy said adding the Commissioner of Food Safety (Kerala) had issued the notification banning these products on May 22.

New York polytechnic honours Sam Pitroda

Polytechnic Institute of New York University, America's second-oldest private engineering school, has conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering on Sam Pitroda, adviser to Indian Prime Minster Manmohan Singh.

Delivering the keynote address at the school's 157th Commencement here Friday, Pitroda urged the class of 2012 to recognize technology as the key to social change and inclusive growth, not only economic prosperity.

Dalai Lama gives Templeton Prize money to Indian charity

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Monday received the prestigious 1.1 million pound Templeton Prize here and announced that most of the prize money will go to 'Save the Children' fund in India.

Speaking at the St Paul's Cathedral where he received the prize, 76-year-old Dalai Lama said that most of the prize money will go to the 'Save the Children' fund in India, with smaller bequests to a science and religion group which is studying the effects of Buddhist practice and to a project to train Buddhist monks as scientists.

About 900,000 pounds will go to 'Save the Children', an Indian NGO that works for child rights, with 125,000 pounds set aside for 'The Minds and Life Institute', a US based non-profit organisation. Money will also go towards a fund to educate Tibetan monks about science.

Scott Thompson quits as Yahoo CEO

Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Scott Thompson has stepped down after a controversy over a fake computer science college degree on his biography, the third CEO in three years to leave the Internet company struggling to define its future.

The departure is a victory for hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb of Third Point LLC, which is one of Yahoo's largest outside shareholders and brought the discrepancy in Thompson's educational background to light.

Rahul Khullar to be new Trai chairman

Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar has been appointed as the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for a three-year term.

Khullar, a 1975 batch IAS officer of Delhi cadre, will succeed JS Sarma, whose tenure ended today. The tenure of Khullar, who was due to retire in April next year, will be till May, 2015.

"I will be joining from tomorrow," Khullar told PTI. Khullar, 59, will head Trai at a time when the regulator is in the line of fire of telecom operators for its recommendations on spectrum auction in which it has proposed steep high base price for radio waves. The auction is to be undertaken before August 31 this year.

China, Japan, South Korea Agree to Trade Talks

Setting aside their political differences, China, Japan and South Korea have decided to work out a trilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to further boost trade that stood at over USD 650 billion in 2011.

Presiding over a summit meeting of the three countries here today, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said all three nations have agreed to commence talks for FTA within this year.

Calling the agreement as "an important strategic decision", Wen told a press briefing atttended by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that the three countries should make concerted efforts for early establishment of FTA.

BoB overtakes PNB as second most profitable public sector bank

State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) has pipped PNB to become the country's second largest public sector lender in terms of annual profit.

Mumbai-based BoB's net profit crossed Rs 5,000 crore during 2011-12, a rise of 18 per cent from the previous year.

Punjab National Bank's (PNB) net profit rose by 10.2 per cent to Rs 4,884 crore for the fiscal ended March, 2012.

The country's largest bank State Bank of India in the first nine months of 2011-12 has posted a net profit of Rs 8,243.64 crore. Its profit in 2010-11 stood Rs 8,264.5 crore .

16.8 lakh children under five in India died of infectious diseases in 2010

More than 16.8 lakh children below five years died of infectious but preventable diseases in India in 2010 and more than half of them could not complete the first month of their life, a new study has claimed.

Of the total deaths, 52 per cent or about 0.875 million were among the children who died in the first 28 days of their life, according to the study published in The Lancet on Thursday.

Pneumonia remained the leading killer, which accounted for 28.6 per cent of all deaths in children under five, followed by preterm birth complications (18.1 per cent) and diarrhoea (12.6 per cent), the study found.

Pt Ravi Shankar gets Tagore award

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar has been nominated for the first Tagore Award, instituted by the government to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, for promoting values of universal brotherhood.

The name of Ravishankar, the Varanasi-born, most-famous contemporary Indian musician, was cleared unanimously by a jury under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

UTI CMO Jaideep Bhattacharya resigns

Amid declining market share and uncertainty over appointment of a full-time Chairman, UTI Mutual Fund's Chief Marketing Officer Jaideep Bhattacharya has quit the fund house.

According to sources, Bhattacharya has quit to explore other carrier opportunities and a formal announcement could be made soon.

There have been reports of the board not being happy about the performance of the fund, which was once the country's largest fund house but has currently slipped to fifth position.

Since U K Sinha left UTI to become SEBI Chairman in February 2011, there has been no full time chief of the country's oldest fund house.

Pranab Mukherjee elected Chair of ADB Governors' Board

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was elected today as Chair of the ADB's Board of Governors and the country will host the 46th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in New Delhi next year.

"India is very happy to accept the chair," Mukherjee said at the closing business session of the 45th annual meeting of the ADB board of governors.

Mukherjee said while India was the founding member of the ADB in 1966, its lending operations in India began two decades later.

Indian women lift Asian Squash title; men falter against Pak

Indian women squash team today created history by winning its maiden Asian title by defeating top seed Hong Kong 2-0 in the final in Kuwait.

The men’s team, however, went down 0-2 against Pakistan in the summit clash in the 16th Asian Team Squash Championship.

In the women’s final, Joshna Chinnappa, ranked 71st in the world, waged a grim battle against world number 16 Joey Chan before winning 11-3 11-8 8-11 11-8 in 38 minutes to put India 1-0 ahead.

Dipika Pallikal, ranked 14th, then complemented the superb show by her compatriot, winning 11-8 12-10 11-8 against world number seven Annie Au in 32 minutes to seal the issue in India’s favour.

India’s best performance in the women’s team championship was a silver medal at the last championship held in 2010 in Chennai.

Russia's Pravda hits 100, still urging workers to unite

One hundred years after its first edition appeared, the once mighty Pravda newspaper has gone back to its origins as a struggling opposition newspaper, but is still defiantly urging the workers of the world to unite.

The paper that for decades was the mouthpiece of the ruling Soviet Communist Party, churning out propaganda that made a mockery of its title meaning "Truth", suffered a humiliating fall from grace as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Banned by Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1991, Pravda was later revived, then sold to a Greek family, engulfed by financial problems and finally taken over in 1997 by the Russian Communist Party Central Committee.

France's Holland Declares Victory In Presidential Election, Urges Unity

Socialist Francois Hollande has declared victory in France’s presidential election, following a bitter campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The French on this 6th of May have chosen change, carrying me to the office of president of the republic," Hollande told huge crowds of supporters in his electoral base of Tulle in central France.

The Socialist leader said he was "proud to have been capable of giving French people hope again." He also urged unity and promosed to be “the president of all."

According to projections based on partial results of Sunday's run-off vote, Hollande got some 52 percent, against 48 percent for Sarkozy.

Haryana to promote institutional deliveries

Haryana Government has introduced ‘Surakshit Maa Award Yojna’ to encourage the pregnant women for early ante natal registration.

Stating this at Chandigarh, an official spokesman said that this award would be given every month in the sub-centres of the districts selected for this year.

Women who would report for ante natal registration in the first trimester would become eligible to be registered for a draw of lottery every month in the sub centre.

India, the Second Largest Producer of Fruits and Vegetables

India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world with 74.877 million metric tonnes production of fruits and 146.554 million metric tonnes production of vegetables for the year 2010-11.

The cumulative wastages in fruits and vegetables is estimated 5.8% to 18%. As per study by the Central Institute for Post Harvest Engineering & Technology, Ludhiana (published in 2010) post-harvest losses of major agricultural produces including fruits and vegetables at National level were estimated to the tune of about Rs. 44,000 crore per annum. “Creation and Management of cold chain infrastructure” for agriculture has been identified a thrust area by the Prime Minister.

Mayweather ‘World’s richest boxer’

American star Floyd Mayweather is the world’s richest boxer with an estimated fortune of 100 million pounds.

And the boxer’s bank balance is set receive an extra 12 million pounds as he challenges Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto for the WBA light-middleweight crown in Las Vegas Saturday.

But it wasn’t the same for Floyd as a kid, when his family couldn’t even afford a lock on the door.

“Basically, I raised myself, and it was my older sister who made sure I got up every morning and went to school. I only had three pair of pants, three shirts and one pair of shoes. I’d mix and match to make them look different. The running water we had was cold, so we would heat water on the stove to wash,” The Daily Star quoted Floyd, as saying, whose mum was a drug-addict.