International Dance Day, also called World Dance Day, is a worldwide celebration that pays tribute to the art form of dance and promotes its various forms as a universal value. The day also aims to raise awareness about the inherent value of dance and empower the dance community to showcase their work to a wider audience.

The idea of International Dance Day was conceived by the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), an essential partner of UNESCO in the area of performing arts. Every year, the committee selects a renowned choreographer or dancer to deliver a special message to the global dance community, highlighting the significance of dance and its ability to connect people worldwide.

Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting held in Astana, Kazakhstan, on April 26. During the meeting, a protocol was signed by the Defence Ministers of all SCO Member States.

In the Joint Communiqué issued after the meeting, the SCO Defence Ministers agreed, among other initiatives, to develop the idea of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, rooted in the ancient Indian philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.

At the gathering, the Defence Secretary reiterated India’s steadfast commitment toward maintaining peace, stability, and security in the SCO region. He emphasized the need to adopt a zero-tolerance approach toward terrorism in all its forms for the prosperity and development of the SCO Member States.

The Indian Embassy in Kuwait organised the India-Kuwait Investment Conference 2.0 on Tuesday. The two countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to share information regarding technologies and innovation within the financial and regulatory ecosystem.

The conference was held with the support of the Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC), Union of Investment Companies (UIC) and Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

"The India-Kuwait Investment Conference 2.0 was organized by the Embassy with the support of IBPC, UIC and KCCI. The Managing Director of Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) was the Chief Guest. Senior-official led delegations from GiFT city, NIIF, InvestIndia and CII participated," the Indian Embassy in Kuwait posted on social media platform X.

Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Narsingh Pancham Yadav was elected chairman of the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) Athletes’ Commission here on Wednesday, completing a process that was mandated by the sport’s world governing body.

A total of eight candidates were in the fray for the seven positions. The polls were conducted on ballot paper.

Ahead of the 2016 Olympics, the Games-bound Narsingh had grabbed headlines when two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, who missed the qualification event due to an injury, requested for a trial bout against him.

A few days after Meta unveiled its Llama 3 Large Language Model (LLM), Microsoft on Tuesday (April 23) unveiled the latest version of its ‘lightweight’ AI model – the Phi-3-Mini. Microsoft has described the Phi-3 as a family of open AI models that are the most capable and cost-effective small language models (SLMs) available.

What exactly are language models, and how does an SLM differ from an LLM? Are there any benefits of employing an SLM for developing AI applications? We explain.

Phi-3-Mini is believed to be first among the three small models that Microsoft is planning to release. It has reportedly outperformed models of the same size and the next size up across a variety of benchmarks, in areas like language, reasoning, coding, and maths.

Shankaracharya of Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri, Jagadguru Sri Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati Swami released “Heavenly Islands of Goa”, a book authored by Governor of Goa P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, in Goa on Saturday.

The book, which is Mr. Pillai’s 221st, was released at a programme held at New Durbar Hall in the Raj Bhavan in Dona Paula.

Jnanpith award winner Damodar Mauzo received the first copy of the book.

The seer appreciated the efforts of Mr. Pillai for creating wonderful literature in the field of social-culture, Indian history and tradition which will be helpful to the young generation to make research and study the vibrant culture and history of the country.

The global vaccine drives of the second half of the 20th century are one of humanity’s greatest achievements.

Immunization campaigns have enabled us to eradicate smallpox, nearly defeat polio, and ensure more children survive and thrive than ever before.

This year World Immunization Week will celebrate 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) – recognizing our collective efforts to save and improve countless lives from vaccine-preventable diseases and calling on countries to ramp up investments in immunization programmes to protect the next generations.

In just 5 decades we went from a world where the death of a child was something many parents feared, to a world where every child –– if vaccinated –– has a chance to survive and thrive.

Central govt has re-appointed T Rabi Sankar as deputy governor of RBI for one year, effective from May 3, 2024, or until further orders.

Sankar, who holds an M Phil in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, assumed the position of deputy governor in May 2021. Prior to his appointment, he served as executive director at RBI.

Beginning his career at RBI in 1990, he has held various roles including responsibilities in payments & settlement, financial markets, and public debt management.

His expertise encompasses exchange rate, reserves portfolio, and public debt management, monetary operations, and the development, regulation, and surveillance of financial markets.

SBI Card has launched three variants of its first travel-focused core credit card, ‘SBI Card MILES’ with curated travel benefits. The three variants, SBI Card MILES ELITE, SBI Card MILES PRIME, and SBI Card MILES.

Cardholders can earn up to 6 Travel Credits on every INR 200 travel spend Up to 2 Travel Credits on spending Rs 200 on other categories. One can convert these Travel Credits into Air Miles/Hotel Points of respective partners or directly use them to book air tickets and hotel accommodations by visiting SBI Card mobile app or website https://www.sbicard.com/. Alternatively, one can redeem them on SBI Card’s Rewards Catalogue as well.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Thursday said it has partnered with Reserve Bank's arm RBIH to put in place a system which will enable faster processing of agricultural loans.

NABARD said it will integrate its e-KCC loan origination system portal with the Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit (PTPFC) of Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI.

NABARD has developed the loan origination system portal to facilitate digital Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loan processing for cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).