Noted Mallakhamb coach Uday Deshpande and aggressive opening batswoman Smriti Mandhana were Sunday conferred the state government’s Shiv Chhatrapati awards at a function at the iconic Gateway of India. The awards were presented by Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao in presence of state sports minister Vinod Tawde, a media release issued by the minister’s office said.

While the Shiv Chhatrapati life-time achievement award was presented to Deshpande, who has dedicated his life to the traditional sport, the Shiv Chhatrapati award for players among several others was presented to Mandhana, who hails from Sangli district in western Maharashtra.

Mandhana is a member of the Indian women’s cricket team and will be leading the Board President’s XI against the England Women’s team in a warm up game on Monday.

According to the release, noted squash player Mahesh Mangaonkar and chess player Saloni Sapale, both recipients of the Shiv Chhatrapati award, have decided to donate the prize money of Rs one lakh, to the families of the slain jawans from Maharashtra, who were killed in the terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.

Yuwa, a Jharkhand-based NGO which works for girl empowerment, Sunday won the Laureus Sport for Good award, becoming the third Indian entry to bag the honour.

The NGO, founded by Americans Franz Gastler and Rose Thomson Gastler in 2009, runs a football program in rural Jharkhand covering 450 girls.

The girls are amateurs and, those who have been around for long, have become coaches. 

Four girls out of the 450 Hima, Nita, Radha and Konika will receive the award on behalf of Yuwa at The Laureus World Sports Awards here on Monday. 

An Indian sporting feat made its way to the Laureus Awards for the first time in 2004 when the Indian cricket team and its Pakistani counterpart shared the Sport for Good honour for resuming bilateral ties despite tensions between the two countries. 

Most recently, Magic Bus from India won the Laureus Sport for Good award in 2014.

On Sunday, none other than legendary coach Arsene Wenger played football with the young Indian girls ahead of the announcement. 

"They are good technically and want to play together. We used to say football is a sport played by 11 selfish individuals but they play like a team and are highly motivated," said Wenger.

A scientist who raised early alarms about climate change and popularized the term “global warming” has died. Wallace Smith Broecker was 87. The longtime Columbia University professor and researcher died Monday at a New York City hospital, according to a spokesman for the university’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Kevin Krajick said Broecker had been ailing in recent months.

Broecker brought “global warming” into common use with a 1975 article that correctly predicted rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere would lead to pronounced warming. He later became the first person to recognize what he called the Ocean Conveyor Belt, a global network of currents affecting everything from air temperature to rain patterns.

“Wally was unique, brilliant and combative,” said Princeton University professor Michael Oppenheimer. “He wasn’t fooled by the cooling of the 1970s. He saw clearly the unprecedented warming now playing out and made his views clear, even when few were willing to listen.”

In the Ocean Conveyor Belt, cold, salty water in the North Atlantic sinks, working like a plunger to drive an ocean current from near North America to Europe. Warm surface waters borne by this current help keep Europe’s climate mild.

Israel is to launch its first moon mission this week, sending an unmanned spacecraft to collect data to be shared with NASA, organizers said Monday.

Israeli space exploration firm SpaceIL, together with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), will launch a 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida at around 0145 GMT on Friday.

So far, only the US, Russia and China have landed spacecrafts on the moon. The Chinese craft made the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon on January 3.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and technology NGO SpaceIL announced the date at a press conference.

Mission control will be in Yehud, near Tel Aviv.

"We are entering history and are proud to belong to a group that has dreamed and fulfilled the vision shared by many countries in the world but that so far only three of them have accomplished," SpaceIL president Morris Kahn said.

AS SAUDI Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in India on a two-day visit on Tuesday, New Delhi and Riyadh will set up a “Strategic Partnership Council” at the ministerial level to deepen partnership in areas like political, security, trade, investment and culture.

After the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Crown Prince on Wednesday, the two sides are also expected to sign pacts in areas of investment, tourism, housing and information & broadcasting.

Both sides are also exploring the possibility of elevating the defence engagement with joint production and joint exercises, particularly joint naval exercises.

With the visit taking place in the backdrop of Pulwama terrorist attack last week and the Crown Prince’s visit to Pakistan over last two days, the Ministry of External Affair’s secretary (economic relations) T S Tirumurti, who handles the ties with the country, said that the Kingdom has shown “greater understanding” of India’s terrorism-related concerns and has also agreed to work with us in countering this global menace.

In Strandja Memorial boxing tournament, Amit Panghal in men's category and Nikhat Zareen, Manju Rani and Meena Kumari Devi in women's category will play their gold medal bouts today in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Asian Games gold-medallist Amit will fight it out with Kazakhstan's Temirtas Zhussupov. The lone Indian left in the fray in the men's draw defeated Morocco's Said Mortaji in a split 3-2 verdict last evening.

Former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen defeated Poland's Sandra Drabik 3-2 in an intense see-saw battle. She is up against Magno Irish of Philippines in the final.

While Rani got the better of Bulgaria's Emi-Mari Todorova, Devi beat Russia's Ekaterina Sycheva. Rani plays against Gabuco Josie and Devi clashes with Villegas Aira, both from the Philippines.

Pwilao Basumatari, Neeraj and Lovlina Borgohain settled for bronze medals after losing their semifinal bouts.

In Syria, in jihadist-held city of Idlib killed 24 people, including four children in double bomb attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, the first blast was caused by a bomb planted under a car in the main city of the Idlib region.

In another incident, a motorcycle bomb detonated after ambulances arrived at the scene of the first explosion. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Idlib, the last major part of Syria still outside the control of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The Reserve Bank has announced that it will transfer an interim surplus of 28,000 crore rupees to the central government for the half-year ended 31st December 2018.

In a statement, the RBI said the decision has been based on a limited audit review and after applying the extant economic capital framework.

The decision follows the RBI Board meeting held in New Delhi, yesterday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed the board. Apart from RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, all the four deputy governors and others attended the meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil several development projects in Varanasi today.

The Prime Minister will flag off the first ever Diesel to Electric Converted Locomotive at Diesel Locomotive Works in the city. He will also inaugurate the newly constructed Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre of Banaras Hindu University.

The hospital will provide affordable cancer care to patients in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand and even neighbouring countries like Nepal. Mr Modi will also inaugurate Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital, Lehartara.

With the inauguration of both cancer hospitals, Varanasi is set to become an important centre for quality treatment and care in Cancer-related ailments.

The Prime Minister will also interact with the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana - Ayushman Bharat at Banaras Hindu University.

The government's disinvestment proceeds have touched Rs 53,558 crore so far in the current fiscal, as against the full year budget target of Rs 80,000 crore.

Last week, as much as Rs 10,000 crore came in from Bharat-22 ETF and, another Rs 5,379 crore from the sale of Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) stake in Axis Bank.

The government has sold as much as 3 per cent stake in Axis Bank held via SUUTI through an offer for sale (OFS) and raised about Rs 5,300 crore.

Besides, the additional offering or Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) garnered about Rs 10,000 crore to the exchequer.

The issue got bids worth Rs 49,528 crore, with foreign investors pouring in Rs 38,000 crore and retail buyers Rs 2,000 crore.

Share buyback by Indian Oil corporation (IOC) fetched Rs 2,647 crore to the disinvestment kitty, while BHEL, NHPC and Cochin Shipyard garnered Rs 992 crore, Rs 398 crore and Rs 137 crore, respectively.