- Rakesh Sarna resigns as Indian Hotels MD and CEO
Rakesh Sarna, the managing director and chief executive of Indian Hotels Company Ltd, part of the Tata Group, resigned from the company.
Sarna, who joined Indian Hotels in September 2014, was known to be close to Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of the salt-to-software Tata Group.
Sarna’s position came into question after the ousting of Mistry from Tata Sons, the holding company of the conglomerate.
- Government bans Sale of Cattle for Slaughter
The Centre has banned the sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets across the country.Under a notification, titled the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017, those who wish to sell cattle — bulls, cows, buffaloes, steers, heifers and camels — may do so only after they formally state that the animals have not been “brought to the market for sale for slaughter”.
- India announces $500 mn assistance to Mauritius
India has announced a $500 million line of credit to Mauritius as the two countries resolved to deepen ties in a range of areas including the maritime domain.The two countries also signed a maritime security agreement after extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth. The bilateral maritime accord will strengthen mutual cooperation and capacities.
- Naveen Patnaik approves infra projects worth Rs 166 crore in Odisha
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given approval to the infrastructure projects, worth Rs 166 crore, for the construction of bridges and roads in the state. During a meeting held Patnaik directed the officials to expedite the construction work of the projects. The road projects to get Patnaik’s approval are: Balipada-Hatiota road in Ganjam, Rajnagar-Dangamal-Talachuan road in Kendrapara, Mahanga-Katikata road in Cuttack district, Angul-Kalamchuin road in Angul district.
- Green flag to country’s first e-vehicle public transport
Union road transport Minister Nitin Gadkari along with chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis flagged off taxi aggregator Ola’s electronic vehicle (EV) services in the city.
Nagpur will be the first in country to have such a service. A battery charging station for the vehicles was also inaugurated at the airport where the launch function was held. Fadnavis announced that the state government will soon come up with measures to promote setting up of charging stations. This is expected to be a major job provider especially to the technically educated youth.
- India records its first three cases of Zika virus infection
The World Health Organisation has confirmed that three cases of Zika virus were reported in the Indian city of Ahmedabad in January.
The country’s health ministry discovered the three cases in the Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad and reported the same to the WHO on15 May 2017. Three lab test reports had confirmed the cases of the virus.
This information has come into the public domain after the WHO published a ‘member state report’ on their website.
- World’s largest Bitcoin exchange crashes as currency surges
The world’s most used cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has seen a sustained rise since April’17, but over the last few days, it went wild. It is now worth almost double an ounce of gold; a single coin is priced at about Rs. 1.61lakh. Unprecedented levels of bitcoin trading and traffic saw the world’s most funded bitcoin exchange, Coinbase, crash and become inaccessible to users for hours.
- Construction Commences on World’s Largest Telescope in Chile
Construction began in Chile on the European Extremely Large Telescope, which when completed will be the world’s largest optical telescope, some five times larger than the top observing instruments in use.
Located on a 3,000 meter-high mountain in the middle of the Atacama desert, it is due to begin operating in 2024.
Among other capabilities, it will add to and refine astronomers’ burgeoning discoveries of planets orbiting other stars, with the ability to find more smaller planets, image larger ones, and possibly characterize their atmospheres, a key step in understanding if life is present.
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