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.

Turkey was downgraded by two major rating agencies on Friday afternoon, as its leaders grapple with economic turmoil that has battered its currency and financial markets in recent weeks. Standard & Poor’s cited “extreme lira volatility” in its decision to lower its rating on Turkey one notch, to B+ from BB-. It predicted that the country will fall into recession next year and that a “hard landing” could be in store for its economy.

The lira has shed 38 per cent of its value against the US dollar since the start of the year, nearly half of which took place in the past two weeks alone, S&P

The downgrade pushes the country further into non-investment grade, or junk, territory.

Infosys Chief Financial Officer MD Ranganath, a veteran of nearly two decades at India’s second-largest software services company, has abruptly stepped down from his position, marking the second CFO departure at Infosys in three years.

In a statement to stock exchanges, Infosys did not give a reason for Ranganath’s departure, but said the company’s board had accepted his resignation and Ranganath would continue in his current role till 16 November 2018. The board has already started the process to hunt for Ranganath’s successor, it added.

According to two people aware of the matter, who requested anonymity, Jayesh Sanghrajka, deputy CFO at Infosys, is likely to replace Ranganath as the company’s next finance chief.

Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday a single exchange rate and pegged it to his socialist government‘s petro cryptocurrency, effectively devaluating by 96 percent.

Maduro said he would overhaul Venezuela's disparate exchange rates and peg salaries, pensions, and prices to the petro, a cryptocurrency launched by the government earlier this year. He said one petro would equal $60 and have the equivalent of 360 million bolivars.

That implies a new exchange rate of 6 million bolivars per dollar, broadly on par with widely used black market exchange rates, entailing a 96 percent devaluation compared with the current official DICOM rate of 248,832 bolivars per dollar.

The mortal remains of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were cremated with full State honours in Delhi on Friday. Before the last rites were performed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, several Union ministers and chief ministers of many states walked the entire 3.6-kilometre stretch of the funeral procession.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, veteran BJP leaders and Vajpayee's long-time associates LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were present at the funeral. Others attending the ceremony were, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, and Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Ashok Gehlot and Raj Babbar.

The election for the top post became just a formality after the Pakistan Peoples Party led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari with 54 seats abstained from voting following a rift over Sharif's candidature.

Khan, 65, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), secured 176 votes while his only rival and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Sharif got 96 votes, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser announced.

A total of 172 votes in the 342-member lower house of Parliament are needed to form a government.

11th World Hindi Conference was inaugurated by Mauritian Prime Minister Praveen Kumar Jagannath in capital city Port Louis today. 

A two minute silence was observed in the beginning of the conference to pay tribute to former Prime Minister and poet Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha and West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi are attending the conference. Speaking in the inaugural session Ms Swaraj said that today there is a need to preserve, spread and maintain the purity of Hindi language.

AIR correspondent reports more than 2000 delegates are attending the three day conference. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wished for the success of the conference.

Former United Nations chief and Nobel Peace Prize laureate General Kofi Annan passed away at the age of 80, following a short illness. Annan, a Ghanaian national, died in hospital in Bern, Switzerland, in the early hours of Saturday. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Announcing the news of the leader’s demise, the Kofi Annan Foundation wrote on its Twitter page, “It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan  Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the  United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on  Saturday 18th August after a short illness.”

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected as president after beating opposition candidate, Soumaila Cisse, in a runoff vote.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration on Thursday declared Keita the winner of the repeat poll held on Sunday with 67 percent of ballots cast.

Cisse, a former finance minister, who also ran against Keita in 2013, secured 32 percent of the votes.

Keita will serve his second five-year term as Malian leader.

Cisse had accused the incumbent's camp of cheating in the first round, which saw him secure 18 percent of the vote against Keita's 41 percent.

The repeat poll was marred by a low turnout amid security concerns and voter apathy.

Threats by armed fighters forced nearly 500 polling stations - about two percent of the total - to stay closed during the runoff, the government said. One election official was killed in northern Niafunke, in the Timbuktu region.

Keita, who is 73, will take office on September 4. His immediate challenges include strengthening a 2015 peace accord between the government, its allies, and former Tuareg rebels.

The peace agreement raised hopes of stability, but its meaningful implementation has been challenging.

Mali is a landlocked nation home to at least 20 ethnic groups where the majority of people live on less than $2 a day.

The country has battled attacks by armed groups and intercommunal violence for years.

Mr Abdo Benítez is the son of a close aide to ex-military dictator Alfredo Stroessner, and has faced criticism for defending the former leader's record.

He replaces Horacio Cartes. Both are from the conservative Colorado Party.

The 46-year-old says he will take a law-and-order stance and implement business-friendly policies.

Paraguay has enjoyed strong economic growth in recent years.