China said on April 19 it was bracing to hold a Wuhan-style next summit with India this year despite India's reported decision to boycott Beijing's prestigious 2nd Belt and Road Forum to be held here next week to protest its sovereignty concerns over the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Addressing a media conference here ahead of the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) being held from April 25-27 to showcase China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made an impassioned appeal to India to shed its opposition to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as it no way "undermined" basic position on the Kashmir dispute.

Wang said so far 37 heads of state and governments had confirmed their participation in the BRF. Representatives from over 150 countries and 90 international organisations' close to 5000 participants have confirmed their participation.

ifty-one eminent scientists were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society on April 16, along with 10 new Foreign Members and one Honorary Fellow for their exceptional contributions to science. Among the 2019 intakes is Dr Gagandeep Kang, who is purportedly the first woman scientist from India to have received this honour, while Mumbai-born Padma Bhushan awardee Dr Yusuf Hamied was elected as Honorary Fellow.

The Fellowship of the Society is an incredible honour in the scientific world, and Gagandeep Kang, along with the other new Indian Royal Fellows have now joined the ranks of Isaac Newton (1672), Charles Darwin (1839), Michael Faraday (1824), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Albert Einstein (1921), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951) and Francis Crick (1959) -- brilliant scientific minds who created history with their scientific work.

Mali’s Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga has resigned along with his whole goverment, following a motion of no confidence over its failure to handle violence in the West African country.

In a statement, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s office said the President accepts the resignation of the prime minister and that of the members of government. 

On Wednesday, legislators had discussed a possible motion of no confidence in the government because of last month's massacre and failure to disarm militias. Last month, some 160 Fulani herders were killed by an ethnic vigilante group.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a convention of traders at Talkatora stadium in New Delhi today.

The convention has been organised by traders supporting the BJP to express gratitude for various measures promised in the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls.

Union minister Vijay Goel said, traders want to express their gratitude to the Prime Minister for the BJP's Sankalp Patra promising measures like accident insurance of 10 lakh rupees, pension after 60 years, traders credit card, simplification of GST and also exemption from income tax up to 5 lakh rupees.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari claimed that only the saffron party can permanently solve the problems of traders.

New technology is being put to the test fighting floods this year as rivers inundate towns and farm fields across the central United States. Drones, supercomputers and sonar that scans deep under water are helping to maintain flood control projects and predict just where rivers will breach their banks.

Together, these tools are putting detailed information to use in real time, enabling emergency managers and people at risk to make decisions that can save lives and property, said Kristie Franz, associate professor of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State University. The cost of this technology is coming down even as disaster recovery becomes more expensive.  

NASA astronaut Christina Koch is going to have her mission on the International Space Station (ISS) extended to 328 days. This would set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.  

The US space agency and its ISS partners have set a new schedule and new crew assignments. Koch arrived at the space station on March 14 and now is scheduled to remain in orbit until February 2020. She will eclipse the record of 288 days set by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson in 2016-17. 

She will be part of three expeditions -- 59, 60 and 61 -- during her current first spaceflight. Her extended mission will provide additional data for NASA's Human Research Program and continue to support future missions to the Moon and Mars. The longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut is 340 days, set by former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly during his one-year mission in 2015-16.

Sri Lanka’s first satellite ‘Raavana-1’ was launched into space today from NASA’s Flight Facility on Virginia’s east shore. ‘Raavana 1’ weights around 1.05 kg and the lifespan of the satellite is around one and a half years.

The launch marks Sri Lanka’s entry into the global space age. The satellite was designed and built at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan by two Sri Lankan research engineers. Its camera mission is to capture images of Sri Lanka and its neighbouring countries. 

Indian weightlifters will make their bid to gain a 2020 Olympic qualification at the 10-day Asian Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China starting today.

Former World and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Mirabai Chanu will be the biggest star of India's 12-member squad. Among male lifters, there will be hope riding on 16-year old Mizo teen Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who became India's first-ever gold medallist at the Youth Olympic Games last year. Commonwealth Games champion Satish Sivalingam,  will also be expected to make a medal-winning comeback.

India's squad for Asian Weightlifting Championships includes following:

Men: Sathish Sivalingam (81 kg), Vikas Thakur (96 kg), Jeremy Lalrinnunga (67kg), Gurdeep Singh (101 kg), M Raja (61 kg), Pradeep Singh (102 kg), Achinta Sheuli (73 kg), Ajay Singh (81 kg).

Women: Mirabai Chanu (49 kg), Jhilli Dalabehera (55 kg), Swati (59kg), Rakhi Halder (64kg)

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has said that Jet Airways has informed it that it is temporarily ceasing its operations. In a series of tweets, the Ministry said, the bank-led resolution process is still underway and it is expected to end by the 10th of next month.

During this time, the Ministry will support the resolution process within the existing legal and regulatory framework. 

The Ministry said, the Directorate General of Civil Avaition and other regulators are monitoring the situation carefully to ensure that all existing rules regarding refunds, cancellations and alternate bookings are followed strictly. 

Civil Aviation Secretary will convene separate meetings with airport and airlines today to coordinate and address any emerging issues on capacity, slots and passenger convenience.

Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat on Monday commissioned the Indian Coast Guard Ship Veera at a ceremony held at Naval Jetty at the dockyard in the city. Veera, third in the series of offshore patrol vessels of the Coast Guard, was built by L&T at its shipbuilding facility at Kattupalli in Chennai. 

Speaking on the occasion, General Rawat said the induction of the OPV will give a fillip to the maritime protection of India’s vast coastline of Eastern Seaboard. He said the commissioning of Veera will enhance the Indian Coast Guard’s operational capability to discharge its multifarious maritime tasks. 

General Rawat said there was good cooperation and synergy between Indian Army and Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has been pursuing the first ever joint case for the acquisition of vehicles for shallow water operations. The Coast Guard, being experienced in such operations, has played a lead role as lead agency in the project, he said. General Rawat was all praise for the Coast Guard, which was formed in 1978, has emerged as the fourth largest force in coastal security in the world.