Justice Muhammad Raffiq today took oath as Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court. Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy administered the oath of office and secrecy at Raj Bhavan in Shillong.

Mr. Raffiq succeeds Ajay Kumar Mittal who is now the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court. He will be the eighth Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court. Justice Rafiq started his law practice in 1984. He practised exclusively in Rajasthan High Court in almost all branches of law.

He has been recognized as an expert on the Indian Constitution, service, land acquisition, tax and company law cases. In 2008, he was appointed as Justice at the Rajasthan High Court. He also served as acting Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court twice.

Preparations for the 50th IFFI gather pace in Goa; Theme song unveiled apart from several other measures that are underway to make it a grand event; 200 quality films from 76 countries will be screened during the festival.

The Information and Broadcasting ministry on Wednesday launched the official anthem and radio jingle for the golden jubilee edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled to take place in Goa from November 20 to 28.

The anthem, inspired by the nine 'rasas' (emotions) of the Natya Shashtra and an amalgamation of scenes from prominent movies and dance 'mudras', has been developed by noted dancer Geeta Chandran and Grammy Award-winning composer Ricky Cage. 

The audio-visuals of the anthem have been directed and produced by National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) under the guidance of I&B Ministry and the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF).

Every year, November 13 is celebrated as World Kindness Day. Celebrating this day is an attempt to make the world a better place with acts of kindness and pledging good deeds.

World Kindness Day was first celebrated in 1998 by The World Kindness Movement. This is an organisation formed at a 1997 Tokyo conference by the like-minded kindness organisations from around the world. In 2019, the organization was registered as an official NGO under Swiss law.

“To highlight good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness that binds us,” is the main purpose of the World Kindness movement.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the office of Chief Justice comes under the transparency law, the Right to Information (RTI) Act, adding that judicial independence cannot be attained by holding back information.

‘Judicial independence and accountability go hand in hand...Transparency strengthens independence,” said Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who heads the five-judge bench. Others on the bench are Justices Sanjiv  Khanna, Deepak Gupta, NV Ramanna and DY Chandrachud.

“Judicial independence does not mean that judges are above the law,” observed Justice Chandrachud.

Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan today inaugurated an exhibition of Technologies in Food Processing developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The exhibition organized in New Delhi showcases CSIR technologies in food sector to the industries and MSMEs. It also highlights the latest research and development being done in the food processing sector in the country.

Talking to reporters, Dr Harsh Vardhan urged industries to adopt CSIR technologies developed for food processing sector. He said products developed through these technologies and innovations are cost-effective and healthier for people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Brasilia on a 2-day visit to attend 11th BRICS Summit. The summit will take place on 14th November while BRICS Business Council meeting and BRICS Business Forum will take place today where business leaders will deliberate upon the ways to enhance the business collaborations between BRICS countries and deepen the relations with New Development Bank.

Huge business delegations from all the BRICS countries are participating in the BRICS Business Forum which will be joined by all the BRICS leaders in the evening. During the summit, the leaders will discuss intra BRICS cooperation for the economic development of BRICS societies. A BRICS MoU between Trade and Investment Promotion agencies has already been signed.

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday recommended President’s rule in Maharashtra where no political party has been able to form a government after the assembly polls last month.

The Cabinet decision followed intense speculation for hours that Governor Bhagar Singh Koshyari had recommended President’s rule in the state and an initial denial by the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.

As speculation reached a feverish pitch, the Governor’s house released a statement saying it has recommended the President’s rule.

Several countries, including Australia, Iran, UK and Vietnam, will participate in the 14-day India International Trade Fair 2019 beginning in New Delhi on Thursday.

The theme for the 39th edition of the fair (November 14-27, 2019) is 'Ease of Doing Business' inspired by India's unique achievement of rising to 63rd rank on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index from 142nd rank in year 2014, an official release said.

The fair will be inaugurated by Minister of Micro, Small and Midium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari.

"A remarkable feature of this multi-product exhibition is that it offers an equal opportunity for large corporations, MSMEs, non-government agencies, artisans, self-help groups (SHGs) to promote their products and services to a very large sample of potential customers," the release said.

NASA has detected a massive thermonuclear explosion coming from outer space, caused by a massive thermonuclear flash on the surface of a pulsar -- the crushed remains of a star that long ago exploded as a supernova.

The explosion released as much energy in 20 seconds as the Sun does in nearly 10 days.

NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope on the International Space Station (ISS) detected a sudden spike of X-rays on August 20, reports the US space agency.

The X-ray burst, the brightest seen by NICER so far, came from an object named "J1808".

The observations reveal many phenomena that have never been seen together in a single burst.

Public Service Broadcasting Day will be celebrated today. The day is celebrated every year to commemorate the first and last visit of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi to the studio of All India Radio, Delhi in 1947.

The Father of the Nation addressed the displaced people, who had temporarily settled at Kurukshetra in Haryana after partition.

A function will also be organized at the premises of All India Radio in New Delhi to mark the occasion.