Sriharikota: India on Thursday successfully launched its latest earth observation satellite HysIS, the data from which can be used in wide-ranging areas including agriculture, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here onboard ISRO’s trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The rocket, PSLV-C43, successfully injected state of the art HysIS and 30 other co-passenger satellites from eight countries into their designated orbits.

The rocket lifted off majestically into cloudy skies in a burst of orange flames at 9.57 am from the first launch pad at this spaceport at the end of the 28-hour countdown.

The Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) was placed in its orbit 17 minutes and 27 seconds after lift-off while the 30 co-passenger satellites were dropped into the designated orbit one by one after an hour.

New York: Microsoft Corp. has won a $480 million contract to supply prototypes for augmented reality (AR) systems to the US Army for use on combat missions and in training, the US Army said. The contract, which could eventually lead to the military purchasing over 100,000 headsets, is intended to “increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy,” according to a government description of the program.

‘AR technology will provide troops with more and better information to make decisions. This new work extends our longstanding, trusted relationship with the Department of Defense to this new area,” a Microsoft spokesman said in an emailed statement.

The US Army and the Israeli military have already used Microsoft’s HoloLens devices in training, but plans for live combat would be a significant step forward.

Sergei Loznitsa's Donbass, which is the official submission of Ukraine for the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 2019 Oscars, won the coveted Golden Peacock Award at the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which concluded in Goa on Wednesday. 

Donbass tells the story of a hybrid war taking place in a region of Eastern Ukraine, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies perpetrated on a mass scale by separatist gangs. Donbass was also selected as the opening film in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Loznitsa also bagged the ‘Un Certain Regard’ Award for the best director.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday, as many as 3 lakh poor people have benefited from Ayushman Bharat health scheme in the last one-and-a-half months.

Speaking at the function to release the book 'Making of New India: Transformation under Modi Government', Jaitley said that the NDA Government is both pro-business and pro-poor as the country needs greater resources to fund the poverty alleviation programmes.

Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday became the first Indian state to launch a single emergency number "112" which will connect to police, fire, health and other helplines through an Emergency Response Centre (ERC) in the state.

Under the project, one ERC has been established in Shimla along with 12 District Command Centres covering the entire state.

"The ERC has been integrated with police (100), fire (101), health (108) and women helpline (1090) services to provide emergency services via single emergency number 112," said a Union Home Ministry statement.

The service is part of the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) which includes a '112 India' mobile app integrated with panic button of smartphones and ERSS state website for ease of citizen in availing immediate assistance.

Global leaders will gather in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires this week for the Group of 20 summit, a meeting of the world’s largest economies responsible for 85% of global economic output and two-thirds of the world’s population.

While leaders will try to build consensus on key issues, the talks will be overshadowed by trade tensions between the United States and China.

 IT czar and philanthropist Azim Premji was bestowed with the highest French civilian distinction Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) here on Wednesday.

Premji, who is the chairman of Bengaluru-headquartered IT major Wipro, received the distinction from the Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler here, Wipro said.

"The award was bestowed on Azim Premji for his outstanding contribution to developing the information technology industry in India, his economic outreach in France, and his laudable contribution to society as a philanthropist through the Azim Premji Foundation and Azim Premji University," Ziegler said.

In his acceptance speech, Premji said, "I am extremely honored by the award bestowed on me. The vibrancy of the French democracy and its diversity is an inspiration to all across the world."

New Delhi: Hospitality firm OYO on Tuesday said it has appointed Max Healthcare Executive Director Rohit Kapoor as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its new real estate businesses, effective 6 December.

Kapoor will be entrusted with the responsibility to drive new real estate business opportunities which will include exploring new domains and categories and other strategic initiatives, OYO said in a statement.

He will also be responsible for growing OYO’s business in India as well as across international markets, through strategic partnerships and investment opportunities, it added.

Kapoor will be reporting to OYO Hotels & Homes Founder & Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal, the statement said.

The BCCI on Tuesday announced that a cricketer guilty of age fraud will be barred from all its recognised tournaments for two years. “The BCCI has a zero-tolerance policy for age fraud in sport and has taken strict action against cricketers found guilty of manipulating their date of birth certificates while registering for BCCI tournaments,” said the BCCI in a statement.

“As conveyed to state associations at the start of the season, BCCI wishes to reiterate that from the 2018-19 season, any cricketer who is found guilty of tampering his/her date of birth will be disqualified and barred from participating in any BCCI tournament for a period of 2 years i.e. 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons,” it added.

Earlier, a cricketer faced a ban of one year. In September, the BCCI had banned a Meghalya-bound Delhi player, Jaskirat Singh Sachdeva, for producing a fake birth certificate to play in an Under-19 tournament.

Jack Ma, co-founder of China’s most valuable company, was officially confirmed as a member of the Communist Party in a state-backed newspaper recognizing business leaders for their contributions to the country’s development.

The lines between business and politics have become increasingly hazy in China as President Xi Jinping has led a campaign to ensure the Communist Party plays a leading role across all aspects of society. That has at time created tensions when the interests of private business people and the state have conflicted.