Diana Pundole, a devoted teacher from Pune, has recently become a national sensation after clinching the national championship title in the saloon category at the MRF Indian National Car Racing Championship 2024 in Chennai.

Diana’s journey into the world of racing began eight years ago with an unexpected phone call from Coimbatore, inviting her to participate in a car racing championship. At that time, she was among 200 women selected from all over India to undergo rigorous trials as part of a national talent hunt. Despite facing scepticism and challenges, Diana’s determination led her to become one of the top six contenders in the competition, setting the stage for her future in racing.

On August 18, 2024, Diana Pundole, who is also a mother of two, secured the national championship title in the saloon category at the MRF Indian National Car Racing Championship. Her victory was even more special as it coincided with her birthday weekend. In a bid to help her focus, Diana’s coach had confiscated her cellphone a day or two before the race, causing her to miss all the birthday messages. However, when she turned on her phone after winning the championship, she was greeted with an outpouring of love and congratulations from friends and family, making the victory all the more memorable.

At the ongoing Under-17 World Wrestling Championship in Amman, Jordan, Indian women extended their dominance to win its first-ever team title with 185 points. Japan finished second with 146 points and Kazakhstan finished third with 79 points. Kajal became the fifth wrestler from the country to bag a gold. Kajal won her bout with a commanding 9-2 win over Ukraine’s Oleksandra Rybak in the 69kg weight category.

However, Shrutika Patil had to be content with silver after losing to the Japanese wrestler Yuu Katsume in the 46kg weight category. Raj Bala grabbed a bronze in the 40kg category with an 11-5 win over Japan’s Monaka Umekawa, while Muskan outplayed the USA’s Isabella Gonzales by technical superiority in the 53kg bronze play-off to add to India’s tally. Indian women signed off with eight medals, including five gold, one silver, and two bronze.

India’s men’s freestyle wrestlers on the other hand could not replicate the success of their women counterparts, as none of the five grapplers in action yesterday could make it to the semifinals. India now have a total of 10 medals in the championship, with two bronze medals coming in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Afghanistan Cricket Board have appointed former India fielding coach R Sridhar as assistant coach for the men’s national team for the upcoming bilateral series against New Zealand and South Africa.

“It is worth mentioning that the Afghanistan Cricket Board has appointed Sridhar as the assistant coach for the one-off Test against New Zealand and the 3-match ODI series against South Africa. The Afghanistan Cricket Board wish Sridhar fills the role effectively and hope to have long term contract with him in the future,” the board stated.

Sridhar, who played 35 first-class matches and 15 List A matches for Hyderabad, was part of the Indian coaching staff between 2014 and 2021. He was replaced by T Dilip when Rahul Dravid took over as head coach in November 2021.

Astronomers have taken a very interesting initiative and introduced an application, known as Black Hole Finder, which can help citizens spot newly-formed black holes.

The app has been launched by the Dutch Black Hole Consortium in eight languages and is now available for citizens to use worldwide. Earlier, it was only available in Dutch and English, but now, the makers have added Spanish, German, Chinese, Bengali, Polish, and Italian which has widened the reach of this app.

Space enthusiasts across the world have been appealed to help scientists identify the sources which are interesting and should be followed up, which is known as potential kilonovas.

Deepti Gaur Mukherjee, a 1993 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has assumed charge as Secretary to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

She has succeeded Manoj Govil, who had on Monday assumed charge as the Expenditure Secretary. Prior to this appointment, Mukherjee was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Authority.

She takes over as the top official of MCA at a time when the Ministry is working on a slew of legislations and reforms that may be introduced in the next few months.

Framing of draft Digital Competition Bill, ushering in IBC 2.0, enhancing the capacity of NCLTs are some of the top agenda items before the new Secretary, sources said.

Vedanta Group's Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) announced on Thursday that both BSE and NSE have imposed fines of Rs 5.37 lakh each on the company due to non-compliance with SEBI regulations regarding the required number of independent directors on its board.

In a filing, HZL acknowledged receiving notices from BSE and NSE, dated August 21, 2024, indicating penalties for violating Regulation 17(1) of the SEBI Listing Regulations concerning board composition. The company stated that it is actively engaging with the Ministry of Mines to address and fulfil the compliance requirements.

Further, the requirement of the woman independent director on the company’s board has already been fulfilled, it said.

At present, there are three independent directors on the company’s board.

Zomato will acquire Paytm's entertainment ticketing business for Rs 2,048 crore, the online food delivery platform and the fintech firm announced on Wednesday, August 21. The acquisition will help Zomato spruce up its "going-out" segment, while the beleaguered fintech firm will sharpen its focus on core payments and financial services distribution.

The sale agreement includes movies, sports, and events (live performances) ticketing business on a cash-free, debt-free basis, with the boards of both Zomato and One 97 Communications Ltd (OCL) approving the deal.

"As part of this agreement, OCL will transfer its entertainment ticketing business to Zomato by 1) Transfer of OCL’s entertainment ticketing business to it’s 100% subsidiaries, Orbgen Technologies Pvt Limited (OTPL) and Wasteland Entertainment Pvt Ltd (WEPL), and 2) Selling 100% stake in its subsidiaries OTPL and WEPL, which operate the TicketNew and Insider platforms, respectively to Zomato. The transfer will also include ~280 existing employees from the entertainment ticketing business," the Paytm said in an exchange filing.

Actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and "Maidaan", starring Ajay Devgn, were among the winners at the 2024 edition of the Septimius Awards in the Netherlands.

Zeeshan was named the best Asian actor for his work on the 2023 crime drama series "Scoop" and director Amit Ravindernath Sharma's sports drama "Maidaan" was adjudged the best Asian film at the ceremony, held between August 19-20 at Amsterdam's Tuschinski Theatre.

For his portrayal of Imran Siddiqui, the principled editor of a newspaper organisation in "Scoop", Zeeshan had received a lot of praise from the audience.

Hansal Mehta, director of "Scoop", congratulated the actor on his win at the Septimius Awards, billed as a "strong supporter of new talent and visionary ideas".

India has overtaken China as the world's largest importer of Russian oil. According to a Reuters report, Indian imports of Russian crude surged to a record 2.07 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, marking a 4.2% increase from June and a 12% rise year-on-year. This surge has pushed Russian oil to account for a historic 44% of India's total oil imports for the month.

Chinese refiners, facing lower profit margins from fuel production, reduced their purchases, leading to India's new position. In July, China's imports from Russia fell to 1.76 million bpd, as per Reuters citing Chinese customs data. As Western sanctions on Russia continue, Indian refiners have capitalised on discounted Russian oil, with a significant increase in imports of ESPO Blend crude. This variety of crude saw imports to India jump to 188,000 bpd in July, facilitated by larger Suezmax vessels.

IT industry body national association of software services companies (nasscom) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Rajesh Nambiar as its president-designate.

Nambiar, who resigned as chairman and managing director of Cognizant India, succeeds Debjani Ghosh at nasscom, who completes her tenure in November 2024.

“This is truly an exciting time for the industry, as we focus on the accelerated transition to AI-first companies, making talent our greatest competitive advantage, driving growth, and increasing investments in IP creation and R&D. I am both privileged and honoured to take on this opportunity to collaborate with all stakeholders to enhance the Indian tech sector’s capabilities,” said Nambiar.