Indonesia: Prabowo Subianto Confirmed as President-elect
Indonesia's Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto was declared the winner of last month's (February) presidential election in the world's third largest democracy.
Prabowo appealed for unity as his two rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, vowed to contest the result.
The former general, who had been dogged by allegations of human rights abuse for decades, won 58.59% of the votes.
He will assume office in October, taking over from President Joko Widodo, who is more popularly known as Jokowi.
Portugal's President Names Centre-right Leader Montenegro as PM
Portugal's President named Luis Montenegro, head of the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), as the country's new Prime Minister and invited him to form a minority government after eight years of Socialist rule.
The AD won a parliamentary election by a slim margin, far short of a working majority. Montenegro has repeatedly said that his party is prepared to govern on its own and will not negotiate a broad formal agreement with the far-right party Chega to work together.
Chega emerged as a political force after quadrupling its parliamentary representation - a first for a far-right party since the fall of a fascist dictatorship 50 years ago.
An AD government will be dependent on piecemeal deals in parliament with Chega or the left wing to pass legislation, making it potentially unstable.
Overall, the AD won 80 seats in the 230-seat legislature, followed by the Socialists at 78 seats and Chega, which was founded just five years ago, with 50.
Climate Leaders Set Priorities for COP29 at Copenhagen Ministerial
Climate leaders and ministers gathered in Copenhagen for the first major climate meeting since the COP28 in December 2023 and discussed expectations and priorities for the next UN climate change conference in Azerbaijan. India was represented by MEA officials in the meeting which was chaired by COP28 president Sultan Al-Jaber alongside COP29 president designate Mukhtar Babayev and Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, Dan Jorgensen.
This meeting marked the first major climate gathering post-COP28 and presents an early opportunity for governments to outline expectations for COP29 from November 11 to 24, 2024 under Azerbaijan's presidency.
IT major Wipro appointed Anne-Marie Rowland as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Capco, the London-headquartered consulting firm it had acquired for $1.45 billion in 2021.
Rowland is currently Managing Partner of Capco's business in the UK and Ireland and a member of Capco's global leadership team. She will take on the CEO's role effective April 1, 2024.
As CEO, Rowland will report to Delaporte and will become a member of Wipro's Executive Committee (WEC).
She had joined Capco 14 years ago and has consulting expertise in business change management, innovation, and transformation.
RBI Imposes Penalties on Tamilnad Mercantile Bank and DCB Bank
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) levied penalties on Tamilnad Mercantile Bank and DCB Bank for non-compliance with certain regulatory directions pertaining to interest rates on advances.
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank was penalised with Rs. 1.31 crore for non-compliance with RBI directives on 'Interest Rate on Advances' and 'Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) – Revision in Reporting'.
DCB Bank was penalised with Rs. 63.6 lakh for failure to comply with RBI guidelines concerning 'Interest Rate on Advances'.
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) developed SAKHI, a revolutionary app aimed at aiding astronauts during the Gaganyaan space flight mission. SAKHI, or Space-borne Assistant and Knowledge Hub for Crew Interaction, offers indispensable support across various critical aspects of the mission.
SAKHI provides astronauts with digital access to technical documents and training manuals, eliminating the need for cumbersome manual documentation.
Astronauts can use SAKHI to maintain a detailed log of the mission, utilising multiple formats including voice recordings, texts, and images for efficient documentation.
SAKHI facilitates continuous communication between the crew, the onboard computer, and ground-based stations, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity with Earth.
Haryana Enter Semi-finals of Women's Hockey Nationals
Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand qualified for the semi-finals of the senior women's hockey National Championship at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium Pimpri, Pune. Deepika struck a brace to hand favourites Haryana a 4-1 win over Odisha. Indian internationals Neha Goyal and Navneet Kaur also got goals for Haryana. In the other quarter-finals of the day, Madhya Pradesh beat Bengal 4-3 in a shootout after both teams were locked 1-1, while Jharkhand edged past Mizoram 2-1.
Ex-Indian Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu Joins BJP
Former Indian ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu joined the BJP, amid a possibility that he may be fielded in the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar in Punjab.
He joined the party in the presence of its general secretaries Tarun Chugh and Vinod Tawde, who highlighted Sandhu's distinguished family lineage. His father Bishan Singh Samundri was a well-known educationist and founding vice-chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University.
President Accepts Paras' Resignation, Gives Kiren Rijiju Additional Charge
President Droupadi Murmu accepted the resignation of Union Food Processing Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras. Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju was given the additional charge of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
Paras resigned as he accused the BJP of doing injustice with his Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) by excluding it from the seat-sharing deal with allies for the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.
CPM's Jitendra Chaudhary Sworn in as Tripura's New Leader of Opposition
Tripura CPM secretary Jitendra Chaudhary was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, weeks after the TIPRA Motha, which used to be the principal Opposition party, switched sides to join the BJP-led government.
The CPM, which has 10 MLAs, is now the principal Opposition in the 60-member Assembly.
Chaudhary served as a minister in the Left Front government under Manik Sarkar till 2013 and as a Lok Sabha MP till 2018.
IIT Kharagpur, Indian Navy Join Forces to Drive Innovation through Research Partnership
Indian Navy and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Naval Headquarters, New Delhi, symbolising their commitment to promote technology development, innovative solutions and joint R&D. Rear Admiral K. Srinivas, Asst. Chief of Materiel (Dockyard & Refit) at Naval Headquarters and Prof. (Ms) Rintu Banerjee, Dean (R&D) of IIT Kharagpur signed in presence of Prof. Virendra Kumar Tiwari, Director of IIT Kharagpur.
The strategic collaboration focuses on joint research and development initiatives involving teams from Indian Navy and IIT Kharagpur. The MoU will be co-ordinated by INS Shivaji, Lonavala.
This alignment signifies a move towards a symbolic relationship between the Academia and the Military, fostering an environment conducive to innovation and knowledge exchange.
Helicopter Unit Inducted at Air Force Station Thanjavur
One Helicopter Unit was inducted at Air Force Station Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, a move that will ensure availability of sufficient resources with the Southern Air Command's headquarters to enhance operational capabilities as well as meet peacetime tasks.
The Southern Air Command (SAC) is based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
SAC was established in July 1984 in response to certain geopolitical developments to ensure effective command and control of IAF assets and facilitate quick deployment of combat forces in the event of threats developing in the Indian Ocean Region.
Saeed Ahmed, the former Pakistan Test captain and a dashing batsman of his time, passed away. He was 86.
Ahmed played 41 Test matches, scoring 2,991 runs with five centuries and 16 half-centuries. He also took 22 wickets with his off-spin bowling.
Ahmed made his Test debut against the West Indies during the famous drawn Bridgetown Test in 1958 when he was 20 and played his last Test for Pakistan in Melbourne against Australia during the 1972-73 tour.
He was Pakistan's sixth Test captain and replaced Muhammad as skipper of the side during England's tour of Pakistan in 1969. He only led Pakistan for three Tests and all were drawn.
World Forestry Day is celebrated annually on March 21.
The idea of World Forestry Day was proposed in 1971 by the General Assembly of the European Confederation of Agriculture. March 21 was chosen by the United Nations as it aligns with the Vernal Equinox and Autumn Equinox in the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively.
The theme for World Forestry Day 2024, 'Forests and Innovation: New Solutions for a Better World,' highlights the importance of forests in fostering innovation and addressing global challenges.
World Poetry Day
World Poetry Day is celebrated every year on the 21st of March. This day is dedicated to poetry and the celebration of literature in all forms.
The day was first approved by the UNESCO in 1999, and it was established with the goal of encouraging and supporting regional, national, and international poetic movements. The UNESCO also noted that the day would serve as a platform for the promotion of linguistic diversity.
"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" is the theme for World Poetry Day 2024. The theme highlights iconic writers of the past whose trailblazing works enlarged poetry's footprint across cultures.
Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Randomness Studies
A French mathematician who says maths "gives you wings" was awarded the Abel Prize - one of the most prestigious honours in the field.
Michel Talagrand received the award for his groundbreaking contributions, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said.
His work in probability theory involved understanding random phenomena.
Talagrand, who is now retired, is the fifth Frenchman to win the prize since it was founded in 2003.
Named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, the prize was created by Norway's government, partly to compensate for the lack of a Nobel Prize for mathematics.
The winner is chosen by a committee of five internationally recognised mathematicians and comes with a 7.5 million kroner (£858,941) cheque.
IIT Delhi, Flipkart to Conduct Joint Research for Personalised Recommendations
The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and Flipkart signed an agreement as part of Flipkart's ongoing industry-academic alliance initiatives.
As a part of this partnership, Flipkart will offer research grants and market insights to the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi's industry interface organisation, to generate granular, data-backed segments of users linked to different e-commerce categories based on shopping behaviour, demographics, surrounding users' behaviour, etc.
On the technical front, the collaborative effort will help in developing a general purpose user activity graph that could be harnessed for different use cases leveraging state-of-the-art GNN (graph neural network) based techniques.
The research aims to address the limitation of existing persona creation tools and to learn from a user activity graph that encompasses information about the various personas associated with each user.
IIT Delhi Launches Certificate Programme on EVs, Charging Infrastructure
The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) unveiled the commencement of the second batch of its certificate programme focusing on the fundamentals of electric vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure. This initiative seeks to address the escalating demand for specialised and skilled professionals amidst the burgeoning electric vehicle era in the Indian automotive industry.
The certificate programme, tailored to the context, is designed to meet the dynamic and evolving demands of this emerging sector, coinciding with the Government of India's policies and initiatives poised to catalyse another green revolution.
The five-month online learning programme, comprising 55 hours, is geared towards mid-career professionals, equipping them with essential skills to thrive in the rapidly growing electric vehicle industry.
Acting Chief Justice G. S. Sandhawalia Inaugurates Hybrid Video Conferencing Facility in Punjab & Haryana HC
The Acting Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia on Wednesday, inaugurated four I.T. initiatives, i.e. Hybrid Video Conferencing in High Court and in all District Courts in states of Punjab, Haryana and U.T. Chandigarh, free public Wi-fi in High Court premises, Inventory Management Software (IMS) for District Courts & 'Neutral Citation Phase-II (QR Code).
On this occasion, Justice Lisa Gill, Chairperson Computer Committee, Members of the Computer Committee and all other Judges of the High Court were present.
The inaugural function was also attended by all the District and Sessions Judges in the States of Punjab, Haryana and U.T. Chandigarh through virtual mode.
Appoint Bengaluru Industrial Tribunal Presiding Officer: Karnataka High Court to Centre
The Karnataka High Court urged the Central government to appoint a Presiding Officer at the Central Government Industrial Tribunal cum Labour Court at Bengaluru 'before the working class revolt on the street'.
A Bench of Chief Justice N. V. Anjaria and Justice Krishna S. Dixit made the oral remark after disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) by the Industrial Law Practitioners' Forum for the appointment of a Presiding Officer.
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