Arvind Singh, a 1988-batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, on Wednesday took charge as the chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), an official release said.

The AAI, which comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, owns and manages more than 100 airports across the country.

Prior to this appointment, Singh was the additional chief secretary (Energy) of Maharashtra government.

He also worked as chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited and Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited.

The US has announced the increase of H-1B work visa application fee by 10 US Dollars as part of its revised selection process. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made the announcement yesterday. It said, the non-refundable fee will support the new electronic registration system to make the H-1B cap selection process more efficient. Petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions, will first have to electronically register with the USCIS during a designated registration period.

USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli said the electronic registration system is part of an agency-wide initiative to modernise immigration system while deterring fraud.

The H-1B program allows US companies to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the application of a body of highly specialised knowledge with bachelor's or a higher degree in the specific speciality, or it's equivalent.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has stressed on the urgent need to attach high priority to emergency medicine and services in the country. Inaugurating 10th Asian Conference of Emergency Medicine in New Delhi today, Mr Naidu said, there is a need to develop programs and manuals to train citizens in emergency first aid procedures such as Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation as it will help in saving a life while waiting for emergency services. He also stressed on the need to invest in providing timely and high-quality Emergency Health Services in India.

The Vice President expressed happiness that the Government of India has made it mandatory for all medical college hospitals to have full-fledged Emergency Departments by 2022 with an aim to improve trauma care. He stressed on the need to include Emergency medicine and trauma care in the curriculum of Undergraduate courses. He added that Medical students must be trained to deal with the whole gamut of situations relating to emergency medicine.

The ninth edition of the Dhaka Lit-fest started on Thursday with a galaxy of writers and book lovers thronging the venue ground at the Bangla Academy.

Over the three day of the festival 200 speakers, performers and thinkers, will take part in discussions on diverse topics.

The special focus of this year's lit-fest is on Indigenous Languages as the UNESCO has marked 2019 as the year of Indigenous Language Protection.

Renowned literary personalities and authors from Bangladesh and abroad like William Dalrymple, Monica Ali, H M Naqvi, Prayaag Akbar, Shashi Tharoor are participating in the festival.

Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today unveiled three books on Guru Nanak Dev Ji in New Delhi. The books were launched in the run-up to 550th Birth Anniversary celebration of Guru Nanak Dev Ji at a function at Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College. The National Book Trust has published these titles - 'Guru Nanak Bani', 'Nanak Bani', and 'Sakhian Guru Nanak Dev' to spread the message of Guru Nanak Dev’s writings among readers of Indian sub-continent. These books, published originally in Punjabi, shall be translated into 15 major Indian languages. Speaking on the occasion, Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, the teachings and philosophy of Guru Nanak Dev are still relevant in today's world.
 
Addressing the gathering, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal  Nishank called upon the people to take the message of the Guru Nanak Dev in every nook and corner of the globe.

The government has decided to set up 25 thousand crore rupees fund to revive stalled housing projects.  The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet at a meeting held yesterday in  New Delhi.

Briefing media after the meeting,  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government will put in 10 thousand crore rupees in the Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) while State Bank of India and  Life Insurance Corporation will provide  15 thousand crore rupees taking the total size to  25 thousand crore rupees.

In Women's Cricket, India won the three match series 2-1 beating the West Indies by 6 wickets in the 3rd and final ODI match in North Sound, Antigua last night.

Indian women achieved the victory target of 195 runs comfortably with 47 balls to spare. For India, Smriti Mandhana was the highest scorer with 74 off 63 balls.

Earlier, the hosts were all out at 194 in 50 overs after electing to bat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate global investors meet at Dharamshala today. The two day Global Investors’ Meet will be attended by diplomats, leaders from the corporate sector, senior policymakers, development agencies, entrepreneurs and investors from across the world.

AIR correspondent reports, in view of the Prime Minister’s visit, elaborate security arrangements have been made. All the roads leading to Dharmshala have been smoothened. The city has been decorated with colourful lights and Kangra painting on walls. The state government is organizing this summit in order to tap the vast potential of the State in attracting investment in different sectors. The two-day mega event will be graced by the presence of top heads of Indian industry and business besides foreign delegations and Union minister and senior government officials. A large business delegation from UAE and Ambassadors of at least 16 countries would be participating in the meet. 

IT services firm Tech Mahindra Ltd (Tech M) has acquired BORN Group, a New York-based digital content and production agency, for $95 million in an all-cash deal.

BORN’s services include consulting, content creation, maintenance and hosting services, digital and social marketing, among others. It has clients such as Google, Tata, Red Bull and TAG Heuer.

BORN has offices in New York City, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and India and employs over 1,100 people.

The firm is owned by private equity firm True North and Zodius Capital. True North acquired a controlling stake in the firm in 2011, when it was known as Group FMG.

Manu Bhaker won gold in women's 10m air pistol event while Vivaan Kapoor and Manisha Keer won the yellow metal in junior trap mixed event at the Asian Shooting Championships.

Manu and any other Indian shooter were ineligible to win an Olympic quota as the country has already exhausted them in earlier competitions.

She put up a dominant showing, shooting 584 in qualification and 244.3 in the final to take gold.

Chinese Asian Games champion Wang Qian took the silver.