BJP chief Amit Shah arrived at the new international airport terminal at Mattanur in Kannur district of Kerala on Saturday despite its inauguration scheduled in December. Shah, who is in Kannur to inaugurate a newly built BJP district committee office, became the first passenger to land at the airport, which is yet to be commissioned.

The date of the airport’s commercial opening has not been decided but it is set to be inaugurated in December after Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) gets the aerodrome license from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The airport will be a big boost for the people of Kannur, who have had to depend on either the Karippur airport in Kozhikode district or the Mangalore airport in neighbouring Karnataka till now. The airport has been built on a public-private-partnership (PPP) model at Mattanur, 30 km from Kannur town. It will be the fourth international airport in the state — the others are at Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

The late human rights champion, Asma Jahangir, will be honoured with the UN Human Rights Prize 2018 posthumously.

The announcement regarding the prize was made in a tweet by President of the UNGA Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces on Friday:

“Today I announced the 2018 winners of the @UN Human Rights Prize. I am proud to recognise the contributions of individuals & organizations that promote & protect human rights Rebeca Gyumi. Asma Jahangir Joênia Wapichana. Your work is an inspiration to us all.”

Asma Jahangir was a staunch human rights advocate who worked for the marginalised and oppressed classes of the society.

She was known as a strong opponent of General Zia-ul-Haq’s military regime.

Asma Jahangir breathed her last on February 11 after suffering from a cardiac arrest. 

Pakistan survived a late Glenn Maxwell charge to beat Australia by 11 runs in the second Twenty20 on Friday. Maxwell, dropped twice, made 52 off 37 balls and Nathan Coulter-Nile scored a fighting 27 but Pakistan restricted Australia to 136-8.

Earlier, opening batsman Babar Azam once again top scored with 45 and together with Mohammad Hafeez (40) anchored Pakistan to 147-6 after captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and opted to bat.

The victory ensured top-ranked Pakistan notches its 10th successive Twenty20 series victory under Ahmed that began with a 1-0 win over England in 2016. The last match of the series will be played at the same venue on Sunday.

“It’s not easy to get 10 out 10 in Twenty20, but credit goes to the boys, the way we have improved our bowling, batting and fielding,” Pakistan captain Ahmed said.

“It’s a big win and now we will try to give the boys sitting on the bench a chance in the last match.”

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has authorized the use of troops and other military resources at the US-Mexico border, US officials said on Friday, bolstering President Donald Trump’s battle against migrants trekking toward the United States.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mattis’ authorization did not include a specific number of troops, something that would be determined at a later point, and was not itself a “deployment order.”

The Pentagon did not comment on potential troop numbers, which US officials have told Reuters could be at least 800 active-duty troops and begin deploying as soon as Tuesday.

The US military said Mattis had authorized the military to provide “mission-enhancing capabilities” to US Customs and Border Protection, including engineering support to help build temporary barriers and housing.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has authorized the use of troops and other military resources at the US-Mexico border, US officials said on Friday, bolstering President Donald Trump’s battle against migrants trekking toward the United States.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mattis’ authorization did not include a specific number of troops, something that would be determined at a later point, and was not itself a “deployment order.”

The Pentagon did not comment on potential troop numbers, which US officials have told Reuters could be at least 800 active-duty troops and begin deploying as soon as Tuesday.

The US military said Mattis had authorized the military to provide “mission-enhancing capabilities” to US Customs and Border Protection, including engineering support to help build temporary barriers and housing.

US pilots would provide transportation for civilian government personnel, it said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has authorized the use of troops and other military resources at the US-Mexico border, US officials said on Friday, bolstering President Donald Trump’s battle against migrants trekking toward the United States.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mattis’ authorization did not include a specific number of troops, something that would be determined at a later point, and was not itself a “deployment order.”

The Pentagon did not comment on potential troop numbers, which US officials have told Reuters could be at least 800 active-duty troops and begin deploying as soon as Tuesday.

The US military said Mattis had authorized the military to provide “mission-enhancing capabilities” to US Customs and Border Protection, including engineering support to help build temporary barriers and housing.

US pilots would provide transportation for civilian government personnel, it said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has authorized the use of troops and other military resources at the US-Mexico border, US officials said on Friday, bolstering President Donald Trump’s battle against migrants trekking toward the United States.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mattis’ authorization did not include a specific number of troops, something that would be determined at a later point, and was not itself a “deployment order.”

The Pentagon did not comment on potential troop numbers, which US officials have told Reuters could be at least 800 active-duty troops and begin deploying as soon as Tuesday.

The US military said Mattis had authorized the military to provide “mission-enhancing capabilities” to US Customs and Border Protection, including engineering support to help build temporary barriers and housing.

US pilots would provide transportation for civilian government personnel, it said in a statement.

The world’s largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal Friday said it has been chosen by the lenders to takeover debt-laden Essar Steel India Ltd for about Rs 42,000 crore.

In a statement, ArcelorMittal said its resolution plan for Essar Steel, which the lenders auctioned to recover over Rs 49,000 crore of unpaid loans, includes “an upfront payment of Rs 42,000 crore” to settle debt and “a further Rs 8,000 crore of capital injection into the company to support operational improvement, increase production levels and deliver enhanced levels of profitability”.

The Committee of Creditors have issued ArcelorMittal and its partner Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp a Letter of Intent (LoI) declaring them as the “successful applicant”.

The development comes a day after promoters of Essar Steel offered to pay lenders Rs 54,389 crore, including Rs 47,507 crore upfront cash payment to clear all dues of lenders, and pull out the firm from insolvency proceedings.

New Delhi: India and Bangladesh on Thursday signed an agreement to use the Chattogram and Mongla ports in Bangladesh for movement of goods to and from India.

The countries also decided to initiate Kolkata-Dhaka-Guwahati-Jorhat river cruise services.

The agreements were signed during the 19th edition of the standing committee meeting under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade in New Delhi. The two-day secretary-level talks between India and Bangladesh concluded on Thursday.

Shipping secretary Gopal Krishna said the move would strengthen trade and ties between the two neighbours. “An addendum has also been signed for inclusion of new ports Dhubri in India and Pangaon in Bangladesh,” said Krishna, adding discussions were also held to make the Nakugaon land port in Bangladesh and Dalu in India operational and to connect Gelephu in Bhutan as a tripartite cross-border route.

Bangladesh shipping secretary Abdus Samad expressed satisfaction with the present rounds of talks and said the next round of talks were expected in December. “The last round of talks between India and Bangladesh was held in 2016 and I am happy that after two years India has initiated the next round of talks which will help both countries.”

Both the sides have agreed for development of Jogighopa as a hub/transshipment terminal for movement of cargo to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Bhutan and on notifying Munshiganj river terminal by Bangladesh customs for routing third-party exim cargo through Kolkata port. The move will help reduce logistic costs substantially.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. is paying more to partners that distribute its search engine while charging less for each ad that it runs — a combination that’s putting a damper on growth. Third-quarter sales, minus partner fees, were $27.2 billion, the internet giant said Thursday in a statement. Analysts on average were expecting $27.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sales from Google’s own properties, including YouTube and search pages, rose 22 per cent, slower than the 26 per cent growth in the prior quarter. The company’s shares slid in extended trading.

Google is shelling out billions of dollars a year to partners including Apple Inc. to distribute its search engine widely. Then it’s up to Google to generate as much money as possible when people search and click on relevant ads. More of these marketing spots are running on mobile and YouTube, which can’t charge as much as the company’s original desktop search business because they result in fewer eventual consumer purchases.

“It’s a light top-line number,” said Ron Josey, an analyst at JMP Securities. “This is the first quarter in a while where growth decelerated.”

The number of clicks on Google ads jumped more than 60 per cent in the quarter, but prices dropped 28 per cent. That’s the biggest decline since at least early 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.