Coca-Cola is set to its launch sports drink Powerade in India within the next two months, a move to compete with PepsiCo's Gatorade, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The beverage giant will introduce the drink in India just before the ICC World Cup, sources told the paper.

Powerade is currently available in India only through imports, and Coca-Cola is planning to launch a locally-made version in India, the report added.

All India Football Federation president Praful Patel has become the first Indian to be elected as a member of the FIFA Executive Council. He got 38 out of 46 votes.

Mr Patel was one of the eight candidates vying for the spot in the election which was held during the 29th Asian Football Confederations Congress in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The membership in the council will be for four years, from 2019 to 2023.

The biannual Army Commanders’ Conference will begin in New Delhi today. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will deliver her opening address at the conference. 

During the conference, important issues that are likely to be discussed are the management of the extant security dynamics, mitigation of future security threats and enhancement of combat edge over potential adversaries. 

Other issues like infrastructure development for capacity enhancement along the Northern borders, review of strategic railway lines, optimization of a limited budget to ensure making up of critical deficiency in ammunition and welfare of troops will be discussed. 

According to an official release, the Conference, chaired by Chief of the Army Staff is held biannually for formulating important policy decisions. It is an important event for the planning and execution process of the Indian Army.

Private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd on Friday said that its board has approved a merger with mortgage financier Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd in an all stock deal. The merged entity, to be called Indiabulls Lakshmi Vilas Bank, will be among the top eight private banks in India by size and profitability, Indiabulls Housing Finance said in a filing with stock exchanges.

The share swap ratio for the merger has been fixed at 1:014, which means that for every 100 shares of LVB held by shareholders, they will be entitled to receive 14 shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance, according to the exchange filing.

As of 31 December, LVB operated 569 branches and 1,046 ATMs across 19 states and one Union territory. Indiabulls Housing Finance is involved in providing home loans, loan against property to retail customer including MSMEs and businesses, lease-rental discounting and construction finance through a network of branches spread across 18 states and three Union territories.

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co and Chinese technology firm Tencent Holdings have signed a preliminary deal to develop software for driverless vehicles, South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper reported on Saturday.

Both companies plan to conduct joint research and development on safety and security systems for self-driving cars, which Hyundai seeks to roll out commercially by 2030, the report, which cited unnamed industry sources, said.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of a business forum held in Seoul on April 4 by the South Korean government and China's Guangdong province, it said.

Hyundai and Tencent did not offer any immediate comments on the report.

The two companies are also exploring ways to utilise Tencent's popular WeChat messaging app in developing China-targeted car models, the newspaper said.

A deadly disease affecting amphibians has descended into a global pandemic and it has already wiped out 90 species.  This was disclosed by a prominent US biologist  Jonathan Kolby, at the World Organisation for Animal Health Aquatic Conference in Santiago, Chile yesterday. The disease attacks the skin of frogs, toads and other amphibians. 

As the creatures use their skin to breathe and regulate their bodies' water levels, the damage caused by the disease eventually leads to heart failure and death.

Over the past five years, the highly contagious disease has already caused nearly 90 species to disappear, with over 500 impacted.
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Amphibians play a major role in maintaining aquatic environmental quality. They also feed on mosquitoes, which carry human diseases such as malaria and the Zika virus. 

Japan's space agency has said its Hayabusa2 spacecraft released an explosive onto an asteroid to make a crater on its surface and collect underground samples to find possible clues to the origin of the solar system. 

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said in Tokyo that Hayabusa2 dropped a "small carry-on impactor" made of copper onto the asteroid and safely evacuated and remained intact. JAXA is analyzing further details. 

Hayabusa2 successfully touched down on a tiny flat surface on the boulder-rich asteroid in February, when the spacecraft also collected some surface dust and small debris.

David Malpass, the Treasury official nominated by President Donald Trump to head the 189-nation World Bank, has won election to the post.

The World Bank says Malpass was approved unanimously by the bank’s 25-member executive board on Friday. He will begin a five-year term next Tuesday succeeding Jim Yong Kim, who stepped down earlier this year, three years before his term was to end.

Malpass was serving in the Trump administration as Treasury’s under secretary of international affairs. He has been a longtime critics of the World Bank and its sister lending organization, the International Monetary Fund.

However in his Treasury post, Malpass helped win support last year for a $13 billion funding increase for the bank.

The 7th Foreign Office consultations between India and Italy were held in New Delhi on Thursday. 

The Indian side was led by Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, A. Gitesh Sarma. The Italian side was led by Director General of Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Luca Sabbatucci. 

In a release, the External Affairs Minister said these consultations provided an opportunity to review the follow-up actions taken after the visit of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in October last year as well as the entire range of bilateral relations, including political, defence, scientific, economic and commercial ties. 

They also exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues, including cooperation in the United Nations and other international organizations.

Both sides took note of the growing economic and commercial relations and discussed steps to further facilitate their growth, including through strengthening the existing institutional mechanisms. In the light of the robust exchange of people between the two countries, both sides agreed to establish a regular Consular Dialogue.

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and The India International Exchange (IFSC) Limited (India INX), India’s first international exchange based in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) on April 3, 2019, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate with regards to maintain a orderly securities markets in India and Russia. Speaking at the signing ceremony which took place at the annual exchange forum in Moscow Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO, BSE said: “BSE, India Inx and MOEX are collaborating together to facilitate the development of channels of communication. We strongly believe together we would foster a continuing relationship for the benefit of the financial services industry in India and in Russia”.

With this the BSE, India INX has become the first Indian exchanges to sign a MoU with Moscow Exchange. With the collaboration, BSE, India INX and MOEX feel the initiative between India-Russia Portal would boost professional intermediaries in both markets to share their know-how and expand their client network in their home market and abroad. With that the exchange companies would also conduct joint research to explore the possibility of further cooperating in the area of cross-listing of derivative products, ETF, dual listing and fixed income product cooperation, stated the circular. All in all, the initiative would also open up a community of professional intermediary networks to benefit their development and cross-border operation.