India and ASEAN have resolved to strengthen ties by deepening cooperation in the maritime sector and boosting connectivity.

The two sides made the affirmations at the 21st ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) held here on April 11-12, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

The meeting was co-chaired by Vijay Thakur Singh, SOM Leader and Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, and Busaya Mathelin, SOM Leader and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand.

The ASEAN-India SOM reviewed the strategic partnership and its future direction. It assessed the progress of cooperation under all three pillars — political-security, economic and socio-cultural, the MEA said.

Former Additional Chief Secretary of Kerala, D Babu Paul died early Saturday at a private hospital here. He had been admitted to the hospital last Friday for heart-related ailments.

Babu Paul, a noted administrator and writer, was 77 and leaves behind a son and daughter. His wife had predeceased him in 2000, family sources said.

Scientists have found no long-lasting, major epigenetic differences in astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a year in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and his twin brother, Mark Kelly, who remained on Earth. Epigenetic changes involve chemical "tweaks" to DNA that can influence gene activity, but the changes don't affect the underlying genetic code itself. The changes affect when and how a gene is read, or expressed, for its protein-encoding instructions.
 
Andrew Feinberg from the Johns Hopkins University in the US said that the study is the dawn of human genomics in space and they developed the methods for doing these types of human genomic studies to draw conclusions about what happens to humans in space.
 
Scientists have long monitored and studied the physiological effects of space travel on astronauts. However, most of these astronauts travel on spaceflight missions of six months or less, not the longer missions required to travel to Mars or elsewhere. Feinberg noted that studying identical twins -- who, by nature, have the same genetic material -- was an important and rare opportunity to compare physiological and genomic changes when one twin went into space and the other remained on Earth.

A new state-of-the-art, Virtual Reality Centre (VRC) to provide a major boost to indigenous warship design capabilities of the Navy was inaugurated by Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba in New Delhi on Friday. 

Speaking on the occasion, Lanba said the project will facilitate collaborative design reviews for continuous interaction between designers and end-users to improve design and ergonomics onboard warships.   
  
The Navy said in a statement that the VRC at the Directorate of Naval Design would   provide impetus to "self-reliance and greater fillip" to warship construction under the 'Make in India' initiative of the Indian government.

BJP president Amit Shah has congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being conferred the order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, highest civilian award of the Russian Federation. 

Mr Shah said it is a matter of pride and joy for all Indians and is a recognition for the countrymen. BJP President said every award which has been given to Mr Modi in the last five years is of every Indian who aspires for a happy and strong country.

The Indian women's hockey team beat Malaysia by a solitary goal to complete a 4-0 win in the five-match bilateral series in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

It was Navjot Kaur's fine field goal in the 35th minute and a good defensive display that helped India win.

The team will return from its successful campaign on Friday.

In United States, SpaceX has carried out its first commercial launch with its Falcon Heavy rocket tasked with placing a Saudi satellite in orbit. 

The bright white rocket rose with a mighty roar and spewed thick gray smoke on the ground as it made its way up into clear blue skies over Cape Canaveral, Florida last night.

SpaceX said the rocket exerts 5.1 million pounds of thrust - that of more than a dozen jetliners. 

The rocket is to carry a Saudi Arabian satellite operated by Arabsat, a year after sending founder Elon Musk's red Tesla roadster into orbit as a test. The Falcon Heavy had been scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday but was delayed because of fierce winds in the upper atmosphere.

The Union HRD Ministry has appointed vice chancellors to three universities after the Election Commission gave its nod as the Model Code of Conduct is in place due to the Lok Sabha elections.

A senior HRD ministry official said, Najma Akhtar has been appointed as the V-C of Jamia Millia Islamia and Sanjiv Sharma has been appointed as the V-C  of Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Motihari. 

Name of Rajaneesh Kumar Shukla has been approved for the top post at Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha, the official said. Akhar, is the first woman to be appointed to the Vice Chancellor's post at Jamia.

India and the Netherlands have discussed ways to strengthen bilateral political and economic ties, including boosting cooperation at the United Nations and other international fora.

The two countries held Foreign Office Consultations in New Delhi, with the Indian side led by A Gitesh Sarma, Secretary, West, Ministry of External Affairs, and Johanna Brandt, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, leading the Dutch delegation. In a statement, the MEA said, India and the Netherlands share a multi-faceted relationship. 

Both countries used this opportunity to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including political, economic, commercial, scientific and cultural cooperation, the MEA said.

In United States, a bipartisan group of half a dozen influential US lawmakers has reintroduced an important legislation in the House of Representatives which seeks to advance the US-India strategic relationship. 

If enacted, the legislation would ensure that the US State Department treat India as a NATO ally for the purposes of the Arms Export Control Act.

It would send a powerful signal that defence sales to India should be prioritised according to US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, which had worked on this important legislation. 

The bill HR 2123 was introduced this week by Congressman Joe Wilson, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Wilson said India is the world's largest democracy, a pillar of stability in the region, and has shown strong commitments to export control policies.
 
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2017 included special language recognising the unique US-India defence relationship that designated India as a "Major Defence Partner" of the United States. The legislation bolsters national security and helps ensure full alignment between the Department of Defence and the Department of State.