State-owned telecom firm BSNL has become the first operator to start optical fibre-based high-speed broadband service in Pulwama with the launch of 'Bharat Fibre', the company said Thursday.

"This is the first such FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) service deployment in the (Kashmir) Valley under this unique revenue share model. Since the Bharat Fibre services are provided on the optical fibre right up to the customer premises, reliable and high-speed internet services are delivered to the customers," BSNL Director (Consumer Fixed Access) Vivek Banzal said in a statement.

He added that the services are generally not affected even during adverse weather conditions.

BSNL provides FTTH service with a monthly charge in the range of Rs 777-16,999 in over 160 telecom districts with a minimum speed of 2 megabit per second (mbps).

"We have plans to roll out this service in all the districts of Jammu and Kashmir. People looking for business opportunities to partner with BSNL should contact local BSNL authorities and our team shall explain the ease of network integration and revenue sharing process," Banzal said.

Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar was Thursday conferred with France's highest civilian award - Chevalier de l'Ordre national de la Lgion d'Honneur - for his contribution to India-France space cooperation.

According to an official statement, on behalf of the President of France, Ambassador of France to India, Alexandre Ziegler conferred Kumar with the highest civilian honour of France. 

World number one Bajrang Punia won the gold medal as he defeated Viktor Rassadin in the finals of men's 65kg freestyle in the Ali Aliyev wrestling tournament in Kaspiisk, Russia on Thursday.

Bajrang got the better of the local favourite 13-8 in his final bout after being down 0-5 at one stage.

The 25-year-old Indian grappler had won a gold medal last week at the Asian Championships in Xi'an, China.

External Affairs Ministry has said that India is prepared to deal with the impact of the end of waivers from US sanctions on import of oil from Iran. 

Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday that there will be additional supplies from other major oil-producing countries based on the plan drawn up by the Ministry of Petroleum. 

He said the decision will be taken keeping in view the country's energy security, commercial consideration and economic interests.

In November, the US had granted a six-month waiver to India, China, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea to continue importing oil from Iran. 

Extensive safety measures have been taken by the Government with zero casualty target.  

A massive exodus got underway in coastal Odisha as Lakhs of people left their homes in probably the largest evacuation ahead of a natural disaster in the country. 

Our correspondent reports that the Odisha government has moved more than 11 lakh people to safety and advised the public to remain indoors.
  
After crossing Odisha, cyclone Fani is likely to move towards West Bengal. It is also likely to impact parts of the northeast, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. 

There is a forecast of massive tides up to 1.5 metres and fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea. Our Kolkata Correspondent reports that leaves of the Government employees in the coastal districts have cancelled. 

The extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani has made landfall near Puri of Odisha on Friday morning. 

Heavy rainfall has been recorded at many places over Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri and  Jagatsinghpur districts last night.

India's largest bank State Bank of India has moved to a new interest rate regime on large savings account deposits as well as short-term loans.

In March, SBI had announced that it will link its interest rate on savings account with balance above 1 lakh and short-term loans like overdraft and cash credit facility to Reserve Bank of India's repo rate, effective 1 May 2019.

The interest rates on large SBI savings account deposits and interest rate on some short-term loans will automatically change as and when RBI changes its repo rate. This will help in better transmission of RBI's policy rates into the banking system.

Drake has broken the record for the number of Billboard Music Awards received by an artist - after picking up another 12 at Wednesday's event.

It means the rapper now has a total of 27 Billboard Awards to his name.

He won the biggest prize of the night - the award for top artist - beating the likes of Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Post Malone and Travis Scott.

Drake thanked his mum for her "relentless effort" in his life during his acceptance speech.

He said: "No matter how long it took me to figure out what I wanted to do, you were always there to give me a ride and now we're all on one hell of a ride."

Drake also won top male artist, top streaming songs artist, top rap artist and top Billboard 200 album for Scorpion as well as seven others.

India's second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on a day between 9 and 16 July this year. 

In a release, the Indian Space Research Organisation said, Chandrayaan-2’s lander will touch down near the Moon's south pole on 6th September. 

The National space agency said, Chandrayaan-2 will have three modules in it, an orbiter, a lander named Vikram and a rover known as Pragyan.

Chandrayaan-2 will be launched using India's most powerful rocket GSLV-Mark-3.

Ace India goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award by Hockey India while the names of three other players have been proposed for the Arjuna Award.
   
Midfielder Chinglensana Singh Kangujam and forward Akashdeep Singh and women's team defender Deepika have been nominated for the Arjuna Award.
 
Hockey India has also nominated R.P. Singh and Sandeep Kaur for Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement, while coaches Baljeet Singh, B.S. Chauhan and Romesh Pathania have been proposed for Dronacharya Award.