Nepal's central bank has announced the ban of Indian currency notes with denominations above Rs 100. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Sunday issued a circular for the institutions licensed by it notifying them about the ban, reports Xinhua news agency.

Nepal's cabinet in December had decided to ban the use of these currency notes. The decision to ban these notes has come a time when the NRB has requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) arequesting the latter to allow Nepal to use currency notes with all denominations. Currently, only the notes with a denomination of Rs 100 and below are freely exchangeable in Nepal.

The Moon, the Earth and the Sun will line up this morning for the only total lunar eclipse of this year and the next. At the same time, Earth will also witness a supermoon as the satellite will be closer to the planet. The moon will appear slightly bigger and brighter than usual. 

The eclipse will begin with the partial phase around 9:04 AM (Indian Standard Time). Totality, when Earth's shadow completely blankets the moon, will last 62 minutes, beginning at 10:11 am. During totality, the moon will look red, also known as a blood moon, because of sunlight scattering off Earth's atmosphere. This total lunar eclipse is the 18th total lunar eclipse since 2001. 

If the skies are clear, the entire eclipse will be visible in North and South America, as well as Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom, and in most parts of Europe. Africa will have partial viewing before the moon sets. The Indian subcontinent will not be able to view the phenomenon.

’World's oldest man’ Masazo Nonaka, who was born just two years after the Wright brothers launched humanity's first powered flight, died on Sunday aged 113, Japanese media said.

Nonaka was born in July 1905, according to Guinness World Records — just months before Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity.

Guinness officially recognised Nonaka as the oldest living man after the death of Spaniard Francisco Nunez Olivera last year. "We feel shocked at the loss of this big figure. He was as usual yesterday and passed away without causing our family any fuss at all," his granddaughter Yuko told Kyodo News.

Nonaka had six brothers and one sister, marrying in 1931 and fathering five children.

Hosts Maharashtra walked away with the Overall Trophy at the Khelo India Youth Games, as they amassed a mammoth 85 gold, 62 silver and 81 bronze for a total of 228 medals. Their sportspersons and officials received the trophy from Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Maharashtra Sports Minister Vinod Tawde at the closing ceremony in Pune, a media release said.

Javadekar said the performances of the athletes at the Games had underlined the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of “5minute aur” for sports. He added that the government was determined to bring in a compulsory one-hour daily sports period in every school across the country.

Tawde said he wanted not just five minutes, but 50 minutes and encouraged all the sportspersons. Maharashtra finished ahead of Khelo India School Games 2018 winners Haryana, who were second with 62 gold, 56 silver and 60 bronze for a total of 178 medals.

Indian tennis player Ankita Raina on Sunday won her first singles title of the 2019 season and eighth overall after trampling top seed Arantxa Rus in straight sets in the final of the USD 25,000 event in Singapore. Coming into the tournament after competing at the Australian Open Qualifiers, Ankita demolished world number 122 and the Dutch top seed 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 23 minutes.

Ankita toppled four seeded players in the tournament starting with Dutch eighth seed Lesley Kerkhove in the second round. The gritty 25-year-old followed that up with wins over second seed Uzbek Sabina Sharipova and third seed Conny Perrin from Switzerland.

The 50 points earned from the title triumph are likely to catapult Ankita to a career-high singles rank of 168 when the new WTA list is issued on Monday. “I’ve been working on my serve for a long while now and I think it’s starting to help. I also feel there’s more power in the strokes. It definitely helped playing the Grand Slam as the first tournament of the year. It gave a lot of positivity and self belief,” Ankita told PTI from Singapore.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has stressed on incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data computing into the Armed forces' system. He was addressing the valedictory function of the National Conference on 'Self Reliance in Defence Manufacturing' in Hyderabad yesterday. 

General Rawat said, future wars are going to be fought in the cyber domain and it is important to start understanding the relevance of AI and Big Data computing and how to incorporate it into the defence system. He said, the Indian Armed forces have to be prepared whether it was defence of borders, combating proxy wars, terrorism, insurgencies or other internal security disturbances. 

The Army Chief also said, the defence forces needed equipment that were capable of deep viewing adversaries' territories.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said, the new law guaranteeing 10 per cent reservation to Economically Weaker sections of general category in jobs and education is in tune with the government's commitment to ensure development of all sections.

Mr Singh was addressing a public rally at Nagpur in Maharashtra yesterday on the concluding day of the national convention of BJP's Scheduled Caste cell. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the new reservation to realise Babasaheb BR Ambedkar's dream of egalitarian society. 

The Home Minister said, the Congress is trying to secure votes in the name of BR Ambedkar, but nothing for him. Mr Singh also said, India became the fastest growing economy in the world in just 55 months under Mr Modi, adding that it is the truth accepted by economists across the world.

The 15th edition of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas begins at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh today. Around 6,000 NRIs are expected to take part in the three-day event which is being organised in Varanasi for the first time. The theme this year is, 'Role of Indian Diaspora in building New India'. 

Several world leaders of Indian origin, including Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, will take part in the event and share their insights on the theme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally inaugurate the event tomorrow, with Mr Jugnauth being the Chief Guest. The valedictory address and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards will be given by President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday. 

Youth Pravasi Bhartiya Divas and Uttar Pradesh Pravasi Bhartiya Divas will be held on the opening day today. Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore yesterday inaugurated several exhibitions including a digital exhibition on the theme of 'Ek Bharat Swacch Bharat: Sardar Patel and Gandhi ke Sapno ka Bharat. 

“The number four position has been an area which we want solidified but because of the combinations sometimes we have to make changes,” said Virat Kohli in his media interaction after the third ODI. In that match, MS Dhoni played the perfect number 4 and saw India all the way through. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma had said that he would like to see Dhoni bat in that position but Kohli believes Dhoni is best suited for number five. Ambati Rayudu, who got the backing from the captain after his performance against West Indies as the ideal number four, had a forgettable series in Australia but, it seems the team management will be sticking with him in the New Zealand series at least.

HDFC Standard Life Insurance on Friday changed its name to HDFC Life Insurance following the receipt of relevant approvals from regulatory authorities.

The change in name is effective right off the bat and the company will henceforth operate under the name HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd, it said.

"Over the years, specifically after listing of the company on stock exchanges, HDFC Life, as a brand has established itself as one of the most valuable brands in the Indian life insurance sector.

"Hence, with a view to align the corporate name of the company with its brand name, the corporate name has been changed to HDFC Life Insurance," the statement said.