President Vladimir Putin ordered ‘a significant part’ of Russia’s military contingent in Syria to start withdrawing, citing Moscow and Damascus had achieved their mission of destroying Islamic state in just over two years.Russia will keep its Hmeymim air base in Syria’s Latakia Province and its naval facility in the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartous on a permanent basis.
Saudi Arabia Lifts Cinema Ban after 35 years
Saudi Arabia finally lifted a 35-year old ban on cinemas, prompting celebrations from film fans, directors and movie chains eyeing the mass market in the Middle East. The first theatres could start showing films as early as March.
Russia & China Join India against Terror
Russia and China agreed to India's position on countering terrorism — including blocking terror funding, arms supply and flow of foreign terrorist fighters — and condemned statesponsored terror without naming Pakistan. Foreign Ministers of the three countries at the 15th edition of their trilateral meet in Delhi also underlined the primary and leading role and responsibility of countries in preventing and countering terrorism and extremism, and suggested that all states should take adequate measures to prevent terrorist activities from their territory. In a joint statement foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her Russian and Chinese counterparts Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi emphasised the need for a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism. They resolved to step up cooperation to prevent terrorism and radicalisation, combat the spread of terrorist ideology and propaganda, stop sources of terror financing, prevent travelling of and the supply of arms to terrorists, dismantle terrorist infrastructure, disrupt recruitment and the flow of foreign terrorist fighters, and prevent misuse of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for terrorist purposes.
National Carrier Air India appointed a new Chairman and Managing Director IAS Officer Pradeep Singh Kharola. The new chairman assumed charge from incumbent Rajiv Bansal. Kharola will be the third Air India CMD.
ReNew Power May Acquire Ostro Energy
ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd has agreed to acquire Ostro Energy Pvt Ltd, the company that holds the renewable energy assets of buyout firm Actis Capital, for an enterprise value of Rs. 10,000 crore. The equity portion of the transaction is close to Rs. 2,000 crore while the rest will be debt. The transaction, if successful, will consolidate ReNew Power’s position as the largest renewable energy company in India, where smaller project developers and their financial investors are looking to sell their assets in an industry that has seen a sharp increase in comp
Eight Cap and Centrum Capital in a Race for Dorr- Oliver
Eight Capital Group and Centrum Capital Ltd are in a race to pick up a majority stake in Hindustan Dorr-Oliver Ltd (HDO), which is currently facing corporate insolvency proceedings. Debt-laden IVRCL Ltd, in which banks own a majority stake post conversion of a part of their debt into equity via strategic debt restructuring (SDR), has a 55% stake in HDO.While Eight Capital has already submitted its expression of interest (EoI), Centrum has been working on it and is likely to submit the same soon.
Scientists have, for the first time, turned diamond into graphite using ultra-short flashes of an X-Ray laser. It is a decisive step forward in understanding the fundamental behaviour of solids when they absorb energetic radiation.
India to Host Afghanistan’s First- Ever Test Match
India will host newly promoted Afghanistan for their first-ever test match, probably in 2018. Afghans were scheduled to play their first test in 2019 versus Australia, but considering the historic relationship between India anf Afghanistan, India decides to host their first test.
West Indies set World Record Target
A record equalling 17th century by Ross Taylor had New Zealand closing in on a series sweep against West Indies at the draw of stumps. West Indies set a world record target of 444 to win.Taylor joined the late Martin Crowe and current captain Kane Williamson on 17 Test centuries.
21 Medals for India at the 10th Asian Airgun Championship
India added four medals to their kitty on the final day of the competition to finish with a haul of 21 medals, including six gold, eight silver, and seven bronze, besides for Youth Olympic Quotas.
Punjab government is making all round efforts to provide skill training to the youth of the state and provide them job opportunities at both home and abroad. As a part of this initiative, a delegation including chief of Daora Trading company of South Korea, Seong G Kim, and CEO of Biotrack International Hee Seung Kang, called on Technical Education and Industrial Training Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.The South Korean delegation had proposed to provide job avenues to 10,000 youth from Punjab annually, and for this purpose, the delegation members had also proposed opening a centre in the state teaching Korean language.
All Air Force Exams to Go Online
All examinations of the Indian Air Force will be conducted online. The Raksha Rajya Mantri Subhash Bhamre inaugurated the online examination web-portal of Indian Air Force. The Air Force is the first amongst the three services to take up Information-Technology enabled online examination. The C-DAC has designed the software for it.
Double Decker Train to Roll Out in 2018
The Railways is all set to roll out Uday express, a new long-distance double-decker train. The trains will run on three routes- Coimbatore- Bengaluru, Bandra-Jamnagar, and Vishakhapatnam- Vijaywada. The Uday Express or the Utrkisht Double- Decker air-conditioned Yatri express was was announced in the Rail Budget for 2016-17 and is aimed at catering to Business travellers. The first Uday express is likely to be first operational on the Coimbatore- Bengaluru route.