New Delhi : Shri Amit Khare, IAS (Jharkhand: 1985) today assumed charge as Secretary in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on superannuation of Shri Narendra Kumar Sinha, IAS. Prior to his appointment, Shri Khare was Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand.

During a career span of more than 33 years, Shri Khare has held various field postings and has worked from grassroots to the higher levels of governance in both State and Central Governments.  Prior to being Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand Shri Khare served as Principal Secretary, Finance & Planning Department, Government of Jharkhand.

He has served as Member Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India and Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The government has drawn a blank on the 76% stake sale in Air India (AI) with not a single player putting in an expression of interest (EoI) to buy the state-owned carrier before the deadline ended on Thursday.

There is no plan to extend the deadline and a spokesperson for the government said on Thursday a “further course of action will be decided appropriately”.

Industry watchers said those interested in buying AI were probably spooked by the government’s insistence on retaining a 24% stake despite suggestions it should exit the airline completely. Although this was a minority holding, buyers feared a lot of interference.

The government has reconstituted the Press Council of India for a three-year term but the names under medium newspaper category have not been announced as the matter related to it is sub judice.

According to a gazette notification, members of the newly reconstituted body under the category of ‘Working Journalists-Editors’ are Chandramani Raghuvanshi, Uttam Chandra Sharma, Pradeep Kumar Jain, Om Prakash Khemkarni, Sayed Razza Husain Rizvi and Baldev Raj Gupta.

In the category of ‘Working journalists-Other than Editors’, the nominated members are Amar Devulapalli, Balwinder Singh Jammu, Sarat Chandra Behera, Pravat Kumar Dash, M A Majid, Kamal Nain Narang and Chhayakanta Nayak. Mr. Uttam Chandra Sharma, Mr. Dash and Mr. Nayak were nominated for the second term in the revamped PCI, the notification said.

Denmark's parliament banned the wearing of face coverings in public spaces Thursday in a move that critics say will criminalize Muslim women who choose to wear the niqab or burqa.

The measure will come into force on August 1, Reuters news agency reported. Fines will range from 1,000 Danish crowns ($160) for a first offense to 10,000 crowns for a fourth violation, the news agency said.
The ban is the latest in a series to be approved by European lawmakers. A ban on wearing the full-face veil in public went into force in France in 2011. Restrictions on full-face veils are also in place in Belgium, Austria and parts of Switzerland, while other European countries have debated the issue.

Lawmakers in Quebec, Canada, passed a bill last October that would require public workers and citizens seeking government services to have their faces uncovered.

NEW DELHI:  World No Tobacco Day is observed across the world on May 31.Tobacco is one of the most common forms of addiction. Even though scientific evidences have revealed its harmful health effects, the use of tobacco in different forms has seen a dramatic increase, especially in the developing countries.

A Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-2) report shows that India is the second largest consumer of tobacco products with 28.6 percent of the population addicted to it in any form. Of this, 10.7 per cent smoke, and 21.4 percent use Smokeless Tobacco. Of the 346 million global Smokeless Tobacco consumers, India alone has 152.4 million consumers with a substantial increase across all age groups.

This potentially lethal substance is responsible for more than 1 in 10 deaths globally, with India featuring among the top four users of tobacco. About 11.2 per cent smokers worldwide are Indian.

Microsoft has surpassed Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in the market capitalisation for the first time in three years, becoming the third most valuable firm after Apple and Amazon globally.

According to a report in Investor’s Business Daily late Tuesday, Microsoft is also hot on the heels of Amazon, the second largest company in the world – sitting at $782 billion (£588 billion). At the top of the pack is Apple – which, with a market valuation of $923 billion (£694 billion), isn’t going anywhere soon.

As The Verge points out, Google generates around 90% of its revenue directly from advertising, and 60% of Apple’s entire revenue is also attributable to iPhone sales which could see billions wiped from its valuation if sales slow.

Microsoft, however, has grown much of its business through hardware, software and services. In its latest earnings report, Microsoft’s Windows, Surface and Xbox divisions chalked up to around 35% of its revenue. Cloud services clocked in at around 30% and Office and productivity solutions at another 30%.

The World Trade Organisation’s dispute settlement body has agreed to set up a panel to examine America's allegations against certain alleged export subsidy measures in India.

Last month, the U.S. dragged India to the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism over export subsidies, saying that these incentives were harming the American companies. “At its meeting on 28 May, the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body agreed to a request from the United States for the establishment of a dispute panel to examine certain alleged export subsidy measures in India,” the WTO said in a statement.

The U.S. has stated that all WTO members, including India, are required to provide subsidies consistent with provisions of the WTO's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, including refraining from providing subsidies contingent upon export performance.

Credit rating agency Moody's on Wednesday cut its forecast for India's GDP growth in 2018 to 7.3 percent from 7.5 percent earlier.

The government will release GDP data for the quarter ended March on Thursday at 05:30 pm. Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Monday said it was expected that annual growth was between 7.3 and 7.5 percent in the March quarter.

• Vikas Gowda's retirement was announced by the Athletics Federation of India on its twitter page

• Gowda, who holds the national record of 66.28m, is one of the most decorated Indian athletes

• His retirement came just a few months before the Asian Games in Indonesia