India and Saudi Arabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU in the fields of Electrical Interconnections, Green and Clean Hydrogen and Supply Chains on Sunday. The MoU was signed between the Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R.K Singh and the Minister of Energy, Government of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud on the sidelines of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Climate Week in Riyadh.

The MoU aims to establish a general framework for cooperation between the two countries in the field of electrical interconnection, exchange of electricity during peak times and emergencies, co-production of green and clean hydrogen and renewable energy; and also establishing secure, reliable and resilient supply chains of materials. It was also decided that B2B Business Summits and regular B2B interactions between the two countries will be held to establish complete supply and value chains in areas of energy sector cooperation.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is planning to commence uncrewed flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission, has started to make preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1).

“Mission Gaganyaan: ISRO to commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission. Preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1), which demonstrates the performance of the Crew Escape System, are under way,” the space agency posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Though the space agency has not announced the date for the TV-D1, it is expected to take place by the end of October 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota (SDSC-SHAR).

Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi has been chosen by the Royal Swedish Academy for the coveted 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

“The 2023 peace laureate Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. This year’s NobelPeacePrize also recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women,” the Academy said.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games in China, the Indian contingent finished its campaign by living up to the commitment of “Iss baar 100 paar" with a record haul of 107 medals comprised of 28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze. This outstanding feat surpassed India's previous best of 70 medals at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018.
 
This is the second time India has won more than 100 medals in any of the three major Games - the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, and the Asian Games. They had won 101 medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

The baton for the next Asian Games has been passed on to Nagoya, Japan for 2026. The closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games concluded at the Hangzhou Olympics Stadium in China on Sunday. Hockey player P. R. Sreejesh was the flag bearer for India. The glittering ceremony saw more than 2000 performers put on a dazzling display, celebrating the love and unity between all the participating countries.
 
Raja Randhir Singh, the interim president of the Olympic Council of Asia or OCA, handed over the first Asian Games flag, the current flag and the torch to the Japanese side, marking the official end of the 19th edition of the Games. Nagoya which is set to organise the 20th edition is the capital of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu. Governor of Aichi Prefecture, Hideaki Omura, waved the flag of the OCA during the handover ceremony.

In ICC Men’s World Cup Cricket, India beat Australia by 6 wickets in their first game of World Cup 2023 to start their campaign on a winning note at the MA Chidambaram Stadium last night. Chasing a target of 200 runs set by Australia, India made 201 runs for the loss of four wickets in 41.2 overs. Virat Kohli scored 85 and KL Rahul made unbeaten 97 to help India register a win. KL Rahul was declared Player of the Match. The Men in Blue also broke Australia's 27-year-old streak of winning the first match of the World Cup.

A strong 165 run partnership between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul for the 4th wicket was highlight of the Indian Innings. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul joined hands and stitched one of the greatest partnerships in World Cup history to take India to a win. Earlier, opting to bat first, Australia were all out for just 199 in 49.3 overs. For India, Ravindra Jadeja, scalped three wickets, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav picked two wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya took one wicket each.

India’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam won gold medal in the women’s individual compound archery event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on Saturday.

Jyothi defeated So Chaewon of South Korea 149-145 in the final to complete a hattrick of gold medals, having already won titles in the women’s and mixed team events.

India on Saturday woke up to a very golden morning with its archers and the kabaddi team helping the nation to secure its long waited dream of achieving 100 medals target for the first time ever.

With a nail-biting 26-25 victory over Chinese Taipei in the women's kabaddi final, the Indian contingent won its 100th medal at the Asian Games, a first.

The women's kabaddi team accomplished the feat by winning the continental championship for the third time, improving one spot from their runner-up finish at the previous Games in Indonesia, and realising the nation's hopes of reaching the historic three-figure mark for the first time.

Indian archer Aditi Gopichand Swami came up with a stellar performance in the women’s compound archery women’s individual event to clinch the bronze medal at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.

Gopichand defeated Indonesia’s Ratih Zilizati Fadhly 146-140 to secure the bronze medal in the compound archery event, bringing India a step closer to taking its medal count in this Asiad past 100.

Aditi dominated the game from the very first set while the Indonesian trailed and eventually fell out of medal contention.

Aditi maintained consistency and scored 29 points in the first three sets. In the fourth game, she bagged 30 points and followed it up with a score of 29 in the last set.

The Reserve Bank has proposed to include the beneficiaries of @RBI under the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund - PIDF Scheme.

In a statement regarding various developmental and regulatory policy measures issued from Mumbai today, RBI said the decision is expected to give a fillip to its efforts towards promoting digital transactions at the grassroots level.

The Reserve Bank has further proposed to extend the PIDF Scheme by a further period of two years, i.e., up to December 31, 2025. It may be recalled that the scheme was operationalized in January 2021 for a period of three years with an aim to incentivize the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure such as physical Point of Sale (PoS), Quick Response (QR) codes in tier-3 to tier-6 centres, northeastern states and Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. RBI has informed that over 2.66 crore new touchpoints have been deployed under the Scheme till August 2023.