NEW DELHI: Ashok Malik, a veteran journalist and former Press Secretary to the President of India, was on Tuesday appointed as Policy Advisor in the External Affairs Ministry in the rank of Additional Secretary.

The 50-year-old Distinguished Fellow of the prominent think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) will have a two-year tenure from the date he assumes charge "or until further orders, whichever is earlier", according to the decision taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

For Malik's appointment, the post of Director in the Indian Foreign Service Grade IV has been temporarily upgraded to Additional Secretary level in the Ministry.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on manufacturing a hypersonic missile, that would be capable of travelling at a speed five times faster than that of sound.

This means, the next generation hypersonic weapons will have the capacity to move at a speed of about a mile per second.

Senior government officials have informed that a wind tunnel is being worked on at the moment where the weapon will be tested and fine-tuned, before it is put to operational use.

Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said that Bangladesh and North East India could benefit from improved physical connectivity and people-to-people contact. Participating in the India-Bangladesh stakeholders' meeting in Guwahati, Mr Munshi said better connectivity would enhance consumers' welfare through access to goods at competitive prices and enhance opportunities for exporters. 

The Minister requested India to withdraw the ban on the export of onions. He said India is the second-largest trading partner of Bangladesh and both the countries registered impressive growth in recent years.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal said India and Bangladesh are blessed to have the political leaders who are very keen to forge a more meaningful and mutually beneficial relationship. He said the Centre's Act East Policy gives a paradigm shift to the development narrative of North East region. 

The AYUSH ministry has signed an MoU with the Defence ministry to provide traditional medicine services at the armed forces’ hospitals and dispensaries. Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik on Monday inaugurated an Ayurveda Palliative Care Unit at the Base Hospital in the Delhi Cantonment.

“Our soldiers work in challenging environmental conditions right from glaciers of Siachin to the deserts of Thar, which takes a toll on their physical as well as mental health,” the minister said.

He said ayurveda and yoga can help them to attain the best of physical and mental health, and improve their endurance. Naik said ayurvedic medicines and ‘panchkarma’ procedures such as ‘snehana’ and ‘swedana’ are effective in treating the work related musculoskeletal disorders.

Under the MoU, ayurveda units will also be established at palliative care centres at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, Air Force Hospital, Hindon in Ghaziabad and five identified ex-service men Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) polyclinics in Delhi –NCR.

Indian Railways has installed the most advanced Electronic Interlocking System on the Grand Chord route. The measure is expected to help Indian Railways speed up trains and achieve the objective of reducing the travel time between Delhi and Howrah to about 12 hours from the existing 17 to 19 hours. 

Grand Chord is part of the Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line and Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur in West Bengal and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Uttar Pradesh, and covers a stretch of 450 kilometres falling in North Central Railway Zone. The new Electronic system has replaced outdated 65-year old mechanical signalling system at Tundla Junction in Uttar Pradesh on the route.

BrahMos test-fired successfully! In a huge boost for India’s defence preparedness, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has conducted two consecutive successful tests of the formidable BrahMos missile. The back-to-back tests on October 21 and October 22 prove the pinpoint accuracy of the BrahMos missile system, defence sources told Financial Express Online. Today’s launch was carried out in combat mode in the morning at 9:30 AM at Trek Islands in Car Nicobar Islands. According to IAF the twin successful launches were carried out by Indian Air Force’s user unit in operational configuration. The aim of the two tests was to assess the mission readiness and swift deployment capability of the surface-to-surface BrahMos cruise missile over the long-distance range of 300 kilometres.

Last October, in the opening round of Chess.com Isle of Man International at Douglas, Viswanathan Anand escaped to a 74-move win over a 12-year-old Raunak Sadhwani, an International Master rated 2438.

“I was very, very lucky to win,” admitted Anand as he reflected on the game where the youngster temporarily gained a winning position. “When I saw the pairing, I knew it could be tough because Sadhwani was ridiculously under-rated. And of course, over the board, he played much stronger than his rating. So I feel relieved to have won.”

In fact, a couple of weeks before this game, Anand in an interview had named Sadhwani as one among the country’s incredibly talented youngsters. “My words almost came to haunt me during my game against him,” said Anand in good humour.

Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's ruling Liberals will form a minority government, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp projected on Monday after polls closed across the country.

The Liberals were leading or elected in 146 out of 304 electoral districts that had reported results by about 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT on Tuesday), the CBC said. Trudeau needed to win 170 seats to secure a second majority government.

A minority government in the 338-seat House of Commons would leave Trudeau in a weakened position and needing the support of left-leaning opposition parties to push through key pieces of legislation.

Ahead of the vote, polls showed a neck-and-neck race across the country as Trudeau, who took power as a charismatic figure promising "sunny ways," battled Conservative leader Andrew Scheer for the chance to form the next government.

Trudeau, 47, the Liberal Party leader, was endorsed by former U.S. President Barack Obama in the final stretch of the campaign and is viewed as one of the last remaining progressive leaders among the world's major democracies.

K P Sharma Oli will be accompanied by his spouse Mrs. Radhika Shakya. The Nepali delegation will include Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Chief Adviser to Prime Minister Bishnu Rimal, Foreign Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Oli will address the general debate of Summit on October 26. The theme of general debate is “Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of contemporary world”.

Nepali Prime Minister will attend the official dinner to be hosted by the President of Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in honour of the heads of delegation on 25 October 2019. Mr. Oli will also hold bilateral meetings with the Heads of Delegations of different countries on the side-lines of the Summit. 

The 18th NAM Summit will be preceded by the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting on 23-24 October and Senior Officials Meeting on 21-22 October 2019.

The Summit will consider report of Preparatory Ministerial Meeting, review the progress achieved in implementation of  outcomes of 17th Summit held in 2016 and conclude with the adoption of the Baku Declaration.

Riya Bhatia beat Nastja Kolar of Slovenia 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the final of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday.

Except for losing her way in the second set, it was a dominant performance by the 22-year-old Riya, ranked 516, against the Slovenian, who had reached a career-best rank of 178 in singles and 140 in doubles.

Riya led 5-3 in the first set, in which she struggled with nine double faults, and led 5-2 in the decider, before closing it out in style with her only ace in the match, on match point. Riya converted all the four breakpoints that she forced, and saved 12 of 16 break points that she faced. Both the players won an identical 86 points each in the match.