Bengaluru: Union parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar passed away in Bengaluru on Monday at 2 am from complications following cancer and infections. He was 59. Kumar, who also held the portfolio of minister for chemicals and fertilizer in the Narendra Modi government, had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city and was on a ventilator in the ICU for last few days. 

Karnataka government has declared a one-day holiday for today as a mark of respect for Kumar - schools and colleges will remain shut today. The Union Minister's mortal remains will be kept at his residence in Bengaluru till 7 am on Tuesday and his funeral is expected to take place tomorrow. Kumar, who had been suffering from lung cancer, had not been keeping well since the last few months. Following the news of his demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a series of heartfelt tweets, remembering a "remarkable leader" and extended condolences to his family and friends. PM Modi hailed Kumar's contribution as an "able administrator", adding that he was a "great asset" to the BJP organisation. 

The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 155 points and the NSE Nifty breached the 10,600-mark in opening trade Monday on fresh buying by investors, ahead of release of macroeconomic data later in the day.

Traders said, fresh fund inflows by foreign funds and a bullish trend on other Asian bourses also influenced trading sentiments here.
The 30-share Sensex was quoting 155.14 points, or 0.44 per cent higher at 35,313.69 points. The gauge had lost over 79 points on Friday.
Reflecting the market’s better mood, all the sectoral indices led by consumer durables, IT, healthcare and banking were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 1.66 per cent.

Also, the NSE Nifty was trading higher by 46.55 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 10,631.75. Brokers said, building up of positions by domestic investors ahead of the release of index of industrial production (IIP) data for September and inflation data for October later in the day, buoyed trading sentiment.

Among the Sensex constituents, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Infosys, HDFC Ltd, Tata Steel, M&M, TCS, ONGC, Coal India, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Vedanta Ltd, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were major gainers, rising by up to 1.49 per cent.

Meanwhile, on net basis, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 614.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 337.28 crore Friday, provisional data showed.

MANCHESTER: Manchester City surged 12 points clear of Manchester United with a 3-1 derby win on Sunday that highlighted just how far Jose Mourinho’s team is from dethroning its neighbour as Premier League champions.

As United was run ragged, and unable to disrupt City’s passing, David Silva swept the league leaders in front in the 12th minute.

United’s sloppiness _ with Jesse Lingard conceding possession on the halfway line _ set Sergio Aguero on the run for a move he completed with City’s second three minutes into the second half.

Although Anthony Martial reduced the deficit from the penalty spot, City remained ruthless and Ilkay Gundogan smoothed Pep Guardiola’s passage to victory by netting from Bernardo Silva’s cross in the 86th.

Runner-up last season, United managed just one shot on target at the Etihad Stadium and is now languishing in eighth place. In a league it was accustomed to dominating until 2013, the 20-time English champions are now further behind City than at any time in the Premier League after 12 games.

At its annual developer conference, Samsung gave the world a glimpse of its upcoming foldable phone with a flexible display. Samsung’s new foldable phone, which has been called Galaxy X in past reports is using the company’s “Infinity Flex” flexible display technology, which allows the tablet-like screen to be folded so that it fits inside the user’s pocket.

While there are many questions about Samsung’s foldable phone, it looks like the company will manufacture at least one million units when these devices hit the market next year. The report comes from Korea’s Yonhap, which quotes Samsung’s President of Mobile Communications Dong-Jin Koh as saying that the company is looking at the one million initial production units.

Koh made the remarks in a press conference, though he said he could not give a release date for the foldable phone. However, Samsung is expected to release in the first half of 2019. “I can not date it, but I will release it until the first half of next year,” he was quoted as saying.

The report further quotes DJ Koh as saying, “The production volume of flagship products is about 1 million units at the same production scale as Samsung Electronics…The volume of folder blueprints will be over 1 million units, and if the market response is good, it can produce more.”

After playing 15 years of competitive cricket former India pacer Munaf Patel has decided to quit all forms of game. In his typical blunt fashion, he summarised his decision: “There is no regret; after all the cricketers I played with have retired. Only Dhoni is left! Baki sab done ho chuke hain. So, there is no sadness as such. Sabka time khatam ho chuka hain, ghum hota jab saare khel rahe hote aur mein retire kar raha hota (everyone’s time is up; there will be sadness only if others are playing and only I had quit!).

Munaf will be making his appearance in T10 League to be held in Dubai and he wants to pursue a coaching career. Still, for a man who has spent all his life playing cricket, the decision couldn’t have been easy. It was one of the reasons he kept lingering on, despite last playing for India many years back. “Mera mann aaj bhi nahi maan raha hai ke cricket chhodoon as I don’t know anything else. Cricket hi samaj mein aata hain.” (I still can’t believe I am quitting cricket as I don’t know anything else. I understand only cricket.”

Munaf says he discussed the decision with his close friend Ismail bhai of Matadar cricket club before he took the call. “There is no special reason, age ho chuka hai, fitness is not the same. Youngsters are there waiting for chances and it doesn’t look nice if I keep hanging on. The main thing is there is no motivation left. I was part of World Cup winning team in 2011; there can’t be a greater high than that,” the 35-year-old told The Indian Express.

The big three of men’s tennis – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – were all among the winners at the 2018 ATP World Tour Awards. The trio were named as award winners on Friday in the prelude to the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Not so surprisingly, Djokovic won the ‘Comeback Player of the Year Award’, voted by the ATP players, on the back of his glorious run during the second half of the season. Having dropped to World No 22 at one stage after struggling for form following an elbow surgery, the Serb bounced back by winning Wimbledon and the US Open including Masters titles in Cincinnati and Shanghai. His brilliant run saw him replace Nadal at the top of the ranks at the Paris Masters when the Spaniard withdrew due to injury.

Djokovic’s coach Marian Vajda was also named ATP Coach of the Year (voted by ATP coaches) after he guided the Serb back to the top following their reunion in April.

New Delhi: The stage is set for another showdown between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Union government with the Centre sticking to its ground on Friday.

Discussions are underway with the RBI to decide the appropriate economic capital framework of the central bank, Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary of the department of economic affairs, said on Twitter.

The statement comes at a time when the government and RBI are at loggerheads over a range of issues, including norms regarding weak banks, the liquidity problem faced by non-banking finance companies, as well as pressures on the central bank to transfer more of its surplus to the government.

The meeting of the central board of the RBI on 19 November is likely to be stormy with the government determined to take up these issues and press for a decisive outcome.

The Central government on Friday cleared the appointment of Chief Justices of High Courts of Allahabad, Patna, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura.
Justice Govind Mathur, the most senior judge of the Rajasthan High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. Justice Mathur is functioning at present, on transfer, in Allahabad HC.

Justice A P Sahi, the most senior judge of the Allahabad HC, has been appointed the Chief Justice of Patna HC. He will succeed Justice M R Shah, who has been elevated as a Supreme Court judge.

Justice S K Seth, who is the senior-most judge of the Madhya Pradesh HC, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the High Court.
Justice Sanjay Karol, the most senior judge of Himachal HC, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Tripura HC. Justice Karol, has served as Advocate General of Himachal Pradesh.

Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu Google Doodle: By dedicating a doodle to Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu on her 131st birthday on Saturday, Google paid a tribute to one of the first women engineers in the world.

The first female member of the General Association of Romanian Engineers, Zamfirescu ran laboratories under Geological Institute of Romania and supervised a number of economic studies involving Romania’s supply of natural resources like coal, bauxite, chromium, shale, copper and natural gas. Saturday’s doodle signified her field of work.

Born on November 10, 1887 in the Romanian port city of Galati, Zamfirescu graduated from the Central School of Girls in Bucharest and had even earned a baccalaureate from Mihai Viteazul High School. However, due to prejudices regarding women in science, her application to the School of Highways and Bridges was rejected.

The opening day of the ICC Women’s World T20 saw multiple records broken in West Indies. In the first match of the day, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opt to bat. After losing three wickets with just 40 runs on the board, the skipper led from the front to settle down her side and hammer a 51-ball ton in the process. In doing so, the right-hand batswoman became the first Indian player to score a T20I century.

Before she was dismissed for 103, Kaur took India’s total to 194/5 which is the highest ever team total in a Women’s World T20 tournament in history. In reply, the Kiwis could only muster to reach 160/9 in their quota of 20 overs, handing India an easy 34-run win in the first game.

If that was not enough, West Indies Deandra Dottin produced a brilliant spell against Bangladesh Women to break more records. In 3.4 overs, the seamer took a fifer, giving away just 6 runs in her spell. Dottin became the first West Indies bowler to record a five-wicket haul in Women’s T20I. It was also the best figures in all Women’s World T20s.