Theatre in Odisha would never be the same again. Its lone crusader is no more. 
The man who brought in new genres and concepts to the theatre scene and put Cuttack on the global theatre map, eminent dramatist and organiser Kartik Chandra Rath passed away on Monday following a heart attack. He was 70 and is survived by wife, a son and two daughters. 

Rath single-handedly organised one of the biggest theatre festivals in the world - India Theatre Olympiad - in Cuttack for the last two decades. The Olympiad came to become a prestigious feature in the world amateur theatre calendar. Every autumn, Cuttack transformed into a throbbing theatre stage with scores of international theatre groups from all over the world and over a hundred groups from the country converging in the city to perform at the festival.

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is resigning after weeks of mass protests, state media report.

Mr Bouteflika, who has been in power for 20 years, had already dropped plans to seek a fifth term as opposition to his rule grew.

The powerful Algerian army had called for the 82-year-old to be declared incapable of carrying out his duties.

The ailing leader suffered a stroke six years ago and has rarely appeared in public since.

Google South East Asia and India Vice-President Rajan Anandan will leave the company by April-end and join Sequioa Capital India as a Managing Director.

Rajan will leave Google by April end and joining Sequioa Capital India as an an investment advisor and mentor to Surge founders. He will join six other Managing Director in his new role.

Surge is a scale-up programme for startups in India and South East Asia.

Rajan tweeted: "8 amazing years. 850million internet users across India and SEA. Many billions of revenue and fastest growing region in the world. Incredible team that thinks big and executes superbly."

One of the most prominent faces of Tamil cinema, director J Mahendran breathed his last on Tuesday morning at his residence in Chennai. He was 79.

Last week, he was hospitalised after brief illness. His son and filmmaker John Mahendran shared the news on Twitter. He wrote, “Director Mahendran passed away this morning.”

Mahendran became a prolific screenplay writer before turning to direction. His first directorial Mullum Malarum (1978) was an instant hit that had impact beyond the box office. The film had Rajinikanth, Sarath Babu and Sobha in the lead roles. Later, Mahendran and Rajinikanth worked in films like Kaaliand Johnny. Many believe that Mahendran contributed significantly to the rise of Rajinikanth as the superstar we known him today.

India and Chile have agreed to work together to strengthen the global response to defeat and destroy terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. President Ram Nath Kovind who was on an official visit to Chile said this after a brief Tete-a-Tete with his Chilean counterpart. President said that both countries committed themselves to further strengthen the economic partnership.
  
India and Chile signed three MOUs for cooperation in the fields of mining, culture and Empowerment of persons with disabilities. The agreements would further enhance engagement in economic, social and cultural fields between the two countries. Chile is the sixth largest trading partner of India in the Latin American region. 

Later President participated in India-Chile Business Forum and interacted with young scientists at the University of Chile. Mr Kovind was on a three-day visit to Chile on the third leg of his three-nation tour including Croatia and Bolivia.
On his journey back home, the President will make a transit halt in South Africa, where he will pay tribute to the late former South African president Nelson Mandela and interact with the Indian community. 

President Ram Nath Kovind has concluded the his visit to Chile, the last leg of her three nation visit to Bolivia, Croatia and Chile.

He will be reaching New Delhi on Thursday after a transit visit to South Africa.

Earlier on Monday, the President discussed wide ranging issues of mutual interest with his Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera as the two sides signed three MoUs in the fields of mining, culture and disability.

India offered training slots to Chilean armed forces in the premier defence institutions including for courses in mountain warfare and peacekeeping.

The two countries also agreed to explore opportunities for other cooperation in the defence sector.

The President welcomed Chile's decision to allow visa-free entry to Indian nationals holding a valid US visa, saying the step would promote both cultural and business ties between the two countries.

India ended the 12^th Asian Airgun Championships 2019 in Taiyuan, Taipei, with an overall tally of 25 medals including 16 gold, five silver and four bronze to completely dominate the championships. Both established and the new budding faces in the squad performed equally admirably to win all but two gold medals on offer.

On the concluding day on Monday, Yash Vardhan in the 10m Air Rifle Men’s junior event and Shreya Agrawal in the women’s junior event won individual gold medals. They also won the team gold in the events with their respective partners to win three gold medals each at the championships. Yash and Shreya have earlier combined to win the Mixed Team Rifle junior event in the competition.

In the junior men’s 10m Air Rifle event, India made a clean sweep of all medals with Keval Prajpati and Aishwary Tomar following Yash’s finals effort of 249.5 with silver and bronze medals for themselves. Keval shot 247.3 in the finals while Aishwary ended with 226.1.

In the women’s event as well, Mehuli Ghosh added an individual bronze with a finals effort of 228.3. Shreya’s gold-winning 24-shots ended on an impressive 252.5.

Ms Caputova, who has almost no political experience, defeated high-profile diplomat Maros Sefcovic, nominated by the governing party, in a second round run-off vote on Saturday.

She framed the election as a struggle between good and evil.

The election follows the murder of an investigative journalist last year.

Jan Kuciak was looking into links between politicians and organised crime when he was shot at home alongside his fiancée in February 2018.

ICICI Securities on Saturday appointed Vijay Chandok as an additional director and as a Managing Director and CEO of the company with effect from May 7, 2019.

"The board of directors of the company have approved the appointment of Vijay Chandok as an additional director and as a Managing Director and CEO of the company with effect from May 7, 2019 subject to the approval of the members at the ensuing annual general meeting of the company and other regulatory approvals," ICICI Securities said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

A subsidiary of ICICI bank, the company said that Shilpa Kumar has tendered her resignation as the Managing Director and CEO and also a director of the company with effect from May 6, 2019.

She will be taking up a senior level position at ICICI Bank Limited, the company said.

Roger Federer has lifted his fourth title at the Miami Open with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 win over defending champion USA's John Isner on Sunday.

The 37-year-old world number five took the first set in 24 minutes. In his 50th Masters final, the Swiss fourth seed produced some typically sublime groundstrokes and wrapped up the match in an hour and three minutes.

It is Swiss player's 28th Masters title and the 101st overall for a player who has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles. Federer is now behind only America's Jimmy Connors with 109 career singles titles.