In Mr. Jaitley's absence, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was holding the additional charge of the Finance and Corporate Affairs portfolio.
Union Minister Arun Jaitley is back as the Finance Minister after a three month interval to recuperate from a kidney transplant surgery in May this year.

Announcing his return, a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan read, “The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed to assign the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs to Shri Arun Jaitley.”

In Mr. Jaitley's absence, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was holding the additional charge of the Finance and Corporate Affairs portfolio.

India's men's hockey team romped to their biggest ever tournament win at the Asian Games on Wednesday with a 26-0 thrashing of hapless Hong Kong -- who didn't have a single shot on target.

India scored nearly a goal every two minutes as they broke an 86-year-old record, surpassing their 24-1 victory over the United States at the 1932 Olympics.

The eight-time Olympic champions' dominance was such that with seven minutes to go, they took off their goalkeeper Krishnan Bahadur Pathak as the entire team laid seige to the Hong Kong goal.

India had already overtaken their previous Asian Games record -- Monday's 17-0 hammering of hosts Indonesia -- by the end of the third quarter, when they led 18-0.

But the defending champions refused to show any mercy, scoring another eight goals in the final period.

India's men have won a record eight Olympic golds, but trail on Asian Games golds (three) to their fierce rivals Pakistan (eight).

Mumbai: The Mumbai Maersk, operated by APM Terminals Mumbai, has set a world record in loading the highest number of containers, surpassing the 19,000-TEU-mark, the shipping line has said.

The vessel loaded 19,038 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) setting a new world record, which is a fete not only for a Maersk vessel but also for any vessel in the world, the shipping line said in a statement on Wednesday.

The world record load of 19,038 TEU has raised a new bar for Maersk by surpassing the Madison Maersk, a first generation triple-E class vessel, which had clocked the
previous record of loading 18,215 TEU in 2015.

The Mumbai Maersk, a second generation triple-E class vessel with a nominal capacity of 20,568 TEU, had left the Tanjung Pelepas port in Malaysia over the weekend and is sailing into Europe with the first port of call expected at Rotterdam on 5 September.

• Indian shooter Rahi Sarnobat has bagged a gold medal in the 25m pistol final after two rounds of shoot-off.

  Thailand’s Naphaswan Yangpaiboon and Rahi were tied at a Games Record final round score of 34 after 10 rounds of 5 shots each, after which the match went into a shoot-off. Both found the target four times in the shoot-off, leading to another round of five shots where Rahi shot three and the Thai two, ensuring a historic gold for the Kohlapur-born shooter.

  The other Indian in this final, Manu Bhaker who qualified in the top spot with a Games Record score, finished at the sixth spot.

  The gold now puts India in the sixth spot in the medal tally with four golds, three silvers and four bronze.

RAIPUR: 

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday announced that Naya Raipur smart city, will be renamed 'Atal Nagar' in honour of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away on August 16 in New Delhi.

After a cabinet meeting in Raipur, Mr Singh announced that along with renaming of Naya Raipur, the Bilaspur University, a medical college, state capital expressway and the under-construction Central Park will be named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The first-ever joint air exercise involving the Indian Air Force and the Royal Malaysian Air Force commenced today at Subang Air Base in Malaysia, officials said.

India has been eyeing a foothold at the strategically important Subang Air Base, sources said.

"IAF & RMAF # JointExercise: Making History-Today a joint exercise with the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) commenced at Subang Air Base, Malaysia. This is the inaugural bilateral exercise between IAF & RMAF," the IAF tweeted.

The IAF, on Twitter, also shared some pictures from the event.

"IAF & RMAF #JointExercise : In a formal ceremony, exercise was inaugurated by Gp Capt CUV Rao, team leader IAF & Col Mahadzer, Ex director of RMAF. It's a platform to exchange Knowledge & Good practices with each other. Glimpses of the inaugural ceremony," it said in another tweet.

Serena Williams was the highest paid female athlete for a third consecutive year in 2018, according to an annual list published by Forbes on Tuesday that was dominated by tennis players.

Williams, who returned to competition in March after giving birth last September, earned $62,000 in winnings over the past year but received $18.1 million from an endorsement portfolio unmatched among women in sports, Forbes said.

Williams, who will try to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 grand slam titles when she competes at the Aug 27-Sept. 9 U.S. Open in New York, earned twice as much off the court as any other female athlete, according to Forbes.

Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who captured her maiden grand slam title at this year's Australian Open, was second on the list with combined earnings of ($13 million) while reigning U.S.

Open champion Sloane Stephens ($11.2 million) was third. Spaniard Garbine Muguruza ($11 million) and Russian Maria Sharapova ($10.5 million) rounded out the top five.

Indian badminton player P.V. Sindhu ($8.5 million) and retired race car driver Danica Patrick ($7.5 million) were the only non-tennis players to crack the top 10, filling up the seventh and ninth spots, respectively.

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed seven new governors, the most significant of which was the appointment of Bihar’s governor Satya Pal Malik as the new governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

The appointment is crucial for the state as it is under President’s rule. After the fall of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance government, governor N.N. Vohra had taken charge. Now, Malik will take over the reins from Vohra and will be tasked with making key decisions, particularly around security issues.

The other appointments include are those of: Lalji Tandon, senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, as the governor of Bihar; senior BJP leader from Bihar Satyadev Narayan Arya as the governor of Haryana; party colleague Baby Rani Maurya from Uttar Pradesh as the governor of Uttarakhand.

Ganga Prasad, the governor of Meghalaya, was appointed as governor of Sikkim; Tathagata Roy, the governor of Tripura was named the governor of Meghalaya; and Kaptan Singh Solanki, the governor of Haryana, was made the governor of Tripura.

“The above appointments will take effect from the dates the incumbents assume charge of their respective offices,” said a release by the President’s Secretariat.

Palembang: India on Tuesday clinched a maiden Asian Games medal in Sepaktakraw despite its men's regu team losing to defending champion Thailand in Palembang.

The Indian men's regu team lost to Thailand 0-2 but picked up a bronze as both the losing semifinalists are also awarded a medal.

India had defeated Iran 21-16, 19-21, 21- 17 in the first match to make a winning start to their campaign.

India, however, lost to Indonesia 0-3 in the second Preliminary Group B match of the day but still advanced to the last-four stage and be guaranteed of at least a bronze.

Jakarta/Palembang: The ages of Indian champions are dropping, or so it seems. At least in shooting. If it is was silver for a 19-year-old Lakshay Sheoran in trap shooting on Monday, Saurabh Chaudhary went better on two accounts – he is 16 and won a gold medal in 10m air pistol at the 18th Asian Games.

It was India's third gold medal of the Games. Abhishek Verma, too, contributed a bronze from the same event, and later Sanjeev Rajput added a silver from 50m rifle 3-positions. That meant India bagged one gold, one silver and one bronze from the shooting ranges for the day to add to the two silver and one bronze India won in shooting on Monday.

Chaudhary said, "I did not feel any pressure. I just came to compete and do my best." He added, "I have been in good form and given good results and trained hard."