The first-ever joint air exercise involving the Indian Air Force and the Royal Malaysian Air Force commenced today at Subang Air Base in Malaysia, officials said.

India has been eyeing a foothold at the strategically important Subang Air Base, sources said.

"IAF & RMAF # JointExercise: Making History-Today a joint exercise with the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) commenced at Subang Air Base, Malaysia. This is the inaugural bilateral exercise between IAF & RMAF," the IAF tweeted.

The IAF, on Twitter, also shared some pictures from the event.

"IAF & RMAF #JointExercise : In a formal ceremony, exercise was inaugurated by Gp Capt CUV Rao, team leader IAF & Col Mahadzer, Ex director of RMAF. It's a platform to exchange Knowledge & Good practices with each other. Glimpses of the inaugural ceremony," it said in another tweet.

Serena Williams was the highest paid female athlete for a third consecutive year in 2018, according to an annual list published by Forbes on Tuesday that was dominated by tennis players.

Williams, who returned to competition in March after giving birth last September, earned $62,000 in winnings over the past year but received $18.1 million from an endorsement portfolio unmatched among women in sports, Forbes said.

Williams, who will try to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 grand slam titles when she competes at the Aug 27-Sept. 9 U.S. Open in New York, earned twice as much off the court as any other female athlete, according to Forbes.

Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who captured her maiden grand slam title at this year's Australian Open, was second on the list with combined earnings of ($13 million) while reigning U.S.

Open champion Sloane Stephens ($11.2 million) was third. Spaniard Garbine Muguruza ($11 million) and Russian Maria Sharapova ($10.5 million) rounded out the top five.

Indian badminton player P.V. Sindhu ($8.5 million) and retired race car driver Danica Patrick ($7.5 million) were the only non-tennis players to crack the top 10, filling up the seventh and ninth spots, respectively.

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed seven new governors, the most significant of which was the appointment of Bihar’s governor Satya Pal Malik as the new governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

The appointment is crucial for the state as it is under President’s rule. After the fall of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance government, governor N.N. Vohra had taken charge. Now, Malik will take over the reins from Vohra and will be tasked with making key decisions, particularly around security issues.

The other appointments include are those of: Lalji Tandon, senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, as the governor of Bihar; senior BJP leader from Bihar Satyadev Narayan Arya as the governor of Haryana; party colleague Baby Rani Maurya from Uttar Pradesh as the governor of Uttarakhand.

Ganga Prasad, the governor of Meghalaya, was appointed as governor of Sikkim; Tathagata Roy, the governor of Tripura was named the governor of Meghalaya; and Kaptan Singh Solanki, the governor of Haryana, was made the governor of Tripura.

“The above appointments will take effect from the dates the incumbents assume charge of their respective offices,” said a release by the President’s Secretariat.

Palembang: India on Tuesday clinched a maiden Asian Games medal in Sepaktakraw despite its men's regu team losing to defending champion Thailand in Palembang.

The Indian men's regu team lost to Thailand 0-2 but picked up a bronze as both the losing semifinalists are also awarded a medal.

India had defeated Iran 21-16, 19-21, 21- 17 in the first match to make a winning start to their campaign.

India, however, lost to Indonesia 0-3 in the second Preliminary Group B match of the day but still advanced to the last-four stage and be guaranteed of at least a bronze.

Jakarta/Palembang: The ages of Indian champions are dropping, or so it seems. At least in shooting. If it is was silver for a 19-year-old Lakshay Sheoran in trap shooting on Monday, Saurabh Chaudhary went better on two accounts – he is 16 and won a gold medal in 10m air pistol at the 18th Asian Games.

It was India's third gold medal of the Games. Abhishek Verma, too, contributed a bronze from the same event, and later Sanjeev Rajput added a silver from 50m rifle 3-positions. That meant India bagged one gold, one silver and one bronze from the shooting ranges for the day to add to the two silver and one bronze India won in shooting on Monday.

Chaudhary said, "I did not feel any pressure. I just came to compete and do my best." He added, "I have been in good form and given good results and trained hard."

The Supreme Court Tuesday ruled that the None of The Above (NOTA) option cannot be made available in Rajya Sabha elections. A three-judge bench of CJI Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud observed that the NOTA option is applicable only for direct elections and not indirect elections such as the Rajya Sabha polls.

The top court, while hearing the petition of Gujarat Congress leader Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, had earlier said that by introducing NOTA, the poll panel was legitimising the act of not voting. Justice Chandrachud had pointed out that the rule in Upper House polls was an open ballot and the members by not transferring their excess vote to the next member would be violating the contract between parties. “If he doesn’t vote, party will expel him. But by making option of NOTA, you are legitimising his action,” added Justice Chandrachud.

Defending the use of NOTA, the EC said a member had the right not to vote and that would not be against the conduct of election rules or unconstitutional. The poll panel had said NOTA was first introduced in 2014 following an apex court verdict a year earlier and they (the Congress) did not have any objection in subsequent polls as it suited them.

MASON - Novak Djokovic finally was the last man standing at the Western & Southern Open here Sunday. To be that man, Djokovic had to beat one of his fellow all-time greats.

No. 10 tournament seed Djokovic beat No. 2 seed Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 on Center Court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. A sun-baked crowd watched in hot (86 degrees) and humid conditions.

Djokovic had been 0-5 in Cincinnati finales, while Federer fell to 7-1 lifetime in W&S championship matches. The crowd mostly pulled for Djokovic as, in a match of well-liked players, local fans apparently just wanted Djokovic to finally hoist the tournament's Rookwood Cup trophy.

Shortly after winning, Djokovic jumped up and down several times and pumped a fist in the air.

Defeating Japan’s Yukie Irie by 6-2 in the freestyle 50 kg category, 23-year-old Vinesh Poghatwon the gold for India at the Asian Games 2018 held in Jakarta, Indonesia. With this win, Vinesh becomes the first female wrestler to bag a gold for India in the history of Asian Games. This is the second gold for India in the Asian Games 2018 after Bajrang Punia won the men’s freestyle 65 kg.

Vinesh led the match 4-0 initially before losing some control over the game. In the penalty of 30 seconds allotted, Yukie stood firm and added two points to her tally. It was in the last three seconds where Vinesh scored two more points from a take down and took the final tally to 6-2.

This is the second time Vinesh has won the gold for India in this year. Prior to Asian Games, she had won in the women’s 50 kg freestyle at the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia. She is also the only female contestant of Asian Games from India to win the medal for the second time. In 2014 at the Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea, Vinesh had won a bronze for India in 48 kg category freestyle

Subhash Sheoratan Mundra has been appointed as Independent Director on the Board of Indiabulls Housing Finance for a period of three years, effective August 18 onwards. The former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and senior banker is not replacing an existing member on the Board, the company said.

Mundra, a Post-Graduate from the University of Poona, used to be the Chairman of Bank of Baroda and an Executive Director at Union Bank of India. He left the RBI in July 2017.

He has served on the Boards of several financial institutions and is presently on the Board of the Bombay Stock Exchange and DSP Blackrock Investment Managers.

NEW DELHI: Former Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh has been awarded with United States (US) 'Legion of Merit'.

The award was given to Singh for exceptionally meritorious service as Chief of Army Staff from August 2014 to December 2016.