Indian sports stars Rishabh Pant, Bajrang Punia, Rani Rampal and Manu Bhaker were presented the Delhi Sports Journalists Association Best Sportspersons awards by the Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra on Thursday.

Speaking after the award ceremony, Pant said that the media plays a role in supporting junior cricketers. He said, “I can never forget how many Delhi sports journalists encouraged me from my early days.”

Tarak Sinha, who guided Rishabh Pant in his early days, received the Best Coach Award. Pant shared a photo of the same on his Instagram account.

The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recommended adding breakdancing, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when the full membership meets in June.

IOC President Thomas Bach said at a news conference in Switzerland that making the Olympics more affordable and responsive has been a key aim for the committee.

He said, the addition of these four sports to the Paris medal program offer the opportunity to connect with the young generation.

All four sports will be assessed in terms of how they are managed, the integrity of competitions and judging, before being finalized for Paris. 

President Ram Nath Kovind has said, the recent changes in India have been hugely transformational for the country's economic growth and upliftment of society.

He was addressing the students at the University of Zagreb in Croatia on Wednesday evening.

The President said, a New India is in the making, an India that is aspirational and globally connected; that is impacting the global economy; that is willing to lead international efforts to find solutions to challenges like Climate Change and building a new global architecture to deal with terrorism.

Mr Kovind is in Croatia on the first leg of his three-nation visit. He will leave for Bolivia this afternoon, and will later head to Chile.

An agreement has been signed between India and the African Union to establish an India-Africa health sciences collaborative platform.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that the MoU will pave the way for cooperation in research and development, capacity building, health services, pharmaceutical trade and manufacturing capabilities for drugs and diagnostics.

The statement said, to carry forward the vision of a structured and concrete partnership in the health sector, the MEA partnered with Indian Council of Medical Research and had jointly organised the first India-Africa Health Sciences Meet in 2016 in New Delhi.

In Shooting, Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary have bagged a Gold medal in the 10-metre Air Pistol Mixed team event at the 12th Asian Airgun Championship at Taoyuan in Taipei. The teenage Indian duo went on to win the five-team final with a score of 484.8 points.

The pair made it to the Final after smashing the world record in the qualification. 17-year-old Manu and 16-year-old Saurabh shot a combined score of 784, breaking the record set by Russians Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov at the European Championships.

The win came exactly a month after the duo won the ISSF World Cup stage gold at the same event in Delhi.
   A second Indian team, comprising Anuradha and Abhishek Verma, also reached the Finals, but finished fourth.

Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO on Wednesday successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile test, Mission Shakti from Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha. 

A DRDO - developed Ballistic Missile, Defence Interceptor Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a Hit to Kill mode. 

An official release said, the interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sensors has confirmed that the mission met all its objectives.

The test has demonstrated the nation’s capability to defend its assets in outer space. It is a vindication of the strength and robust nature of DRDO’s programmes. With this India has joined a select group of nations, which have such capability. 

The Ministry said, the test has once again proved the capability of indigenous weapon systems.

In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has demonstrated anti-satellite missile capability by shooting down a live satellite on a Low Earth Orbit. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed the nation to announce that India has become the fourth country to execute a low-orbit satellite destruction in space. Modi said India shot down a low-orbit satellite through an Indian anti-satellite weapon A-SAT in an operation called ‘Mission Shakti’ which lasted for just 3 minutes. “India has entered its name as an elite space power. An anti-satellite weapon A-SAT, successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit,” PM Modi said.

He had earlier tweeted that he will address the nation shortly with what he called a “very important message”. Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister said, “I would be addressing the nation at around 11:45 AM – 12.00 noon with an important message. Do watch the address on television, radio or social media.” With the Model Code of Conduct already in place, the government cannot take any policy decisions or make any announcements.

Tech giant Apple is known for its hardware devices like the iPhone, MacBooks, iPods, Watch and software services like iOS, MacOS, Apple Music, Apple Pay, etc. At the ‘It’s Show Time’ event held at the Steve Job’s Theatre, Apple announced a new credit card called the Apple Card.

Apple launched Apple Pay back in 2014 which helped users carry transactions easily through their card details stored in the Apple Pay mobile Wallet app. Five years after the launch, Apple has given a significant update to the Apple Pay service with the launch of Apple Card.

Apple card is a virtual credit card that can be integrated into the Wallet app of the iPhone. The company has partnered with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard for payment handling and processing. The idea behind the launch of this new service is to replace the traditional credit card with a new, smarter and secure payment method across online and offline stores. Applying for an Apple Card is possible within the Apple Wallet app itself. Users can sign up for the card in the app and get a digital card that can be used for payments. Users can track expenses on a daily, weekly, monthly and even category-wise basis. There is also a physical titanium credit card which does not have any other information apart from the Apple Logo and the card holder’s name below it. This also means that there is no CVV, credit card number, expiration date, and signature that are usually found on traditional cards. All this information is stored in a special security chip used by Apple Pay called Secure Element.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday was honoured with Croatia's highest civilian award -- the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav.

Kovind is in the European country as part of his eight-day three-nation visit to Croatia, Bolivia and Chile to further strengthen bilateral ties between India and the three countries.

"President of India honoured with highest civilian order in #Croatia! During his State Visit to Croatia #Presidentkovind is honoured with Grand Order of the King of Tomislav, the highest award of Croatia. #Presidentkovind dedicated it to India-Croatia friendship! @KolindaGK," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Ravish Kumar tweeted.

The civilian order is awarded to heads of state for their important contribution towards the development of state relations between Croatia and their respective countries.

Kovind, who is the first-ever Indian head of state to visit Croatia, was earlier accorded a ceremonial welcome here. He is in the European nation from March 25 to March 28.

The Reserve Bank of India has slapped a penalty of Rs 2 crore on Punjab National Bank for non-compliance of regulatory directions with regard to SWIFT operations. 

SWIFT is a global messaging software used for sharing information on inter-bank transactions by financial entities. 

In a regulatory filing, the bank said, the Reserve Bank in a letter dated March 25 has informed the bank about the penalty.

Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank had imposed penalties worth 71 crore rupees on 36 public, private and foreign banks for non-compliance with various directions on time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT operations.