Guterres appoints ex-diplomat of India Amandeep Sing Gill as technology envoy

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appointed former Indian diplomat Amandeep Singh Gill as his envoy on technology to coordinate programmes for international digital cooperation.

Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced the appointment calling Gill a “thought leader on digital technology”.

Gill, who graduated from the Panjab University in Chandigarh in BTech in electronics, has a doctorate in nuclear learning in multilateral forums from the King’s College in London.

According to the UN, the envoy on technology “coordinates the implementation of the Secretary-General’s roadmap on digital cooperation and will advance work towards the global digital compact proposed in the common agenda, in close consultation with the member states, technology industry, private companies, civil society, and other stakeholders”.

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Buddha’s relic on way to Mongolia

India has decided to display a relic of the Buddha in Mongolia from June 14 for a period of 11 days. The initiative was at the request of the Mongolian government earlier this year when they sought display of the Buddha’s relic in Mongolia. The relics, which are kept in the national museum and have very special significance, are usually not taken out of the country. However, as a special gesture it was decided to send the relic of the Buddha to Mongolia.

Mongolia is considered as a Buddhist nation with 53 per cent of the population being Buddhists. Large number of Buddhist monks, who have been keen on higher learning in Buddhism, have traditionally been travelling to India for pursuing Buddhist studies in different institutions. These individuals have formed the bulwark of Buddhist diplomacy between India and Mongolia. One of the most prominent Rinpoches from India who has also contributed significantly towards spread of Buddhism in Mongolia is Bakula Rinpoche, who was posted as the Ambassador of India to Mongolia from 1990 to 2000.

These were crucial years when the communist party’s hold on the state had come to an end in the Soviet Union with fall out effect on Mongolia too. As the country became free and people were keen to learn about different religions, Bakula Rinpoche’s presence in Mongolia was timely. He became so popular in Mongolia that large number of people visited him from different parts of the country to take his blessings. Bakula Rinpoche is revered in Mongolia till this day and his impressions would remain etched in the minds of the Buddhists of Mongolia for years to come.

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Kerala’s Suchetha Satish Sets World Record By Singing In 120 Languages

Suchetha Satish is a 16-year-old girl from Kerala who is making headlines today for her ability to sing in 120 languages, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. At an event hosted at the Indian Consulate in Dubai, she set the world record for singing in the most number of languages.

Satish achieved this feat at the ‘Music Beyond Borders’ performance held on August 19 in Dubai. Kesiraju Srinivas, another Indian national, held the record before her in the category in 2008, having sung in 76 different languages.

Satish is said to have achieved this feat by singing in 29 Indian languages and 91 global languages. She started at noon with Janaki Jane, a Sanskrit song from the Malayali film Dhwani. Her final song was written by her mother and produced by Bollywood musician Monty Sharma, and was in Hindi.

The ‘Music Beyond Borders’ concert, held in Dubai, commemorated India’s 75th anniversary of independence and the United Arab Emirates’ 50th anniversary of freedom. The ceremony was also attended by Ajay Puri, the Consul General of India in Dubai. While Satish’s parents, dermatologist T.C. Satish and Ayilliath Sumitha, recognised her potential when she was only three years old, her love of languages developed organically after she heard a Japanese song performed by a guest at her house. She promptly looked up the words on the internet and, within a few hours, she had performed the entire song, recorded it, and sent it to the guest

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Another feather in cap for Telangana mountaineer Poorna as she climbs Mt Denali in US

Poorna, who hails from the erstwhile Nizamabad district, scaled the highest peak of Mount Everest at the age of 13 years and became the youngest Indian and the youngest girl in the world to have reached the summit.

“I am very happy to climb Mt Denali, I thank my sponsor Prof YV Gopala Krishna Murthy, Chairman of Ace Engineering Academy, Dr RS Praveen Kumar for identifying my talent and Bhukya Shoban Babu, Chairman of Bhukya Shoban Babu Foundation, Hyderabad, for supporting me,” Poorna said in a statement.

With the sponsorship of the ACE Engineering Academy for the Mt Denali expedition, she started for North America from India on May 18 and reached the starting point Anchorage in Alaska on May 19.


She was accompanied by four other Indians — Ajeet Bajaj, Padma Shri Awardee in adventure sports, Deeya Bajaj, Anmish Varma from Visakhapatnam and Varma, a mountaineer.  

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India and Vietnam sign mutual logistics agreement

The defence minister and his Vietnam counterpart General Phan Van Giang signed a joint vision statement

India and Vietnam on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support in presence of the two Defence Ministers during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the Southeast Asian nation.

“In these times of increasing cooperative engagements between the defence forces of the two countries, this is a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support and is the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country,” the statement said on the logistics agreement.

India has signed several logistics agreements including all Quad countries, France, Singapore and South Korea beginning with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. in 2016.

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QS Ranking | IISc Bengaluru fastest rising South Asian university, two IITs in top 200

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, is the fastest rising South Asian university among the coveted QS World University Rankings top 200 varsities, having gained 31 places while four IITs have also figured in the category attaining a higher rank compared to the previous edition.

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), London based global higher education analyst, on Thursday released the 19th edition of the world’s most consulted international university ranking.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, which has bagged the 172nd position, is India’s second best institution, rising five places while IIT Delhi has risen eleven places to bag 174th rank.

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NHAI enters Guinness World Record for laying 75 km highway in 105 hours: Nitin Gadkari

Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that the 75 km stretch of the Amravati-Akola highway in Maharashtra was laid in 105 hours and 33 minutes, setting a Guinness World Record

State-owned NHAI has created a Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous lane of 75 kilometres in 105 hours and 33 minutes on the national highway between Amravati and Akola districts in Maharashtra.

Mentioning about the record, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the project was implemented by 720 workers including a team of independent consultants who worked day and night.

The total length of the 75 kilometres of single lane continuous bituminous concrete road is equivalent to 37.5 kilometres of two-lane paved shoulder road and the work started on June 3, at 7:27 am and was completed on June 7, at 5 pm, the minister said in a video message.

The previous Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous was for building 25.275 kilometres of road that was achieved in Doha, Qatar in February 2019 and that task was completed in 10 days, Mr. Gadkari said.

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International Catholic Migration Commission elects Christine Nathan new president

 The Council of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) has elected Christine Nathan from India as the commission’s new president. She is the first ICMC president from Asia. She belongs to the Archdiocese of Bombay and nominated to the ICMC Council by the CCBI Migrant Commission.

The ICMC Council has its members from the National Episcopal Conferences. The 58 members representing the Episcopal Conferences all over the world elected her on June 1, 2022 at its meeting held in Rome.

Apart from the Episcopal Conference His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin Secretary of State, Giorgio Bertin O F M Bishop of Djibouti and Fr Fabio Baggio, cs, Co-Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development attended the ICMC Council meeting in Rome.

She is the member of Migrant and Labour Commission of the Archdiocese of Bombay. Christine is a senior education specialist in Adult and Workers Education with experience over 40 years. Having a strong multi-speciality background Christine has worked with the International Labour Organisation (ILO – UN) with Govts, employers and workers. Regional specialist on adult education, Occupational safety and health.She has engaged herself with NGO’s and Civil Society Organisation’s on several social issues at the National and international levels.

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ISSF World Cup | Elavenil, Ramita and Shreya win gold in 10m air rifle team event

issf completes on June 07th

Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita and Shreya Agrawal outplayed Denmark 17-5 in the gold medal contest of the 10m air rifle team women’s event at the ISSF World Cup

India opened their account at the ongoing ISSF World Cup with the trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita and Shreya Agrawal claiming the gold medal in the 10m air rifle team women competition in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Indian trio outplayed Denmark represented by Anna Nielsen, Emma Koch and Rikke Maeng Ibsen, 17-5 in the gold medal contest. Poland won bronze

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India, Bangladesh flag off New Jalpaiguri-Dhaka Mitali Express

Three days after restarting two cross-border trains stopped amid Covid-19 pandemic, India and Bangladesh jointly flagged off a new passenger train – Mitali Express – on Wednesday.

The new bi-weekly Mitali Express will connect New Jalpaiguri in North Bengal with Dhaka in Bangladesh through Haldibari in India and then Chilahati in Northern Bangladesh. The train will travel the 513 km distance in about 9-10 hours twice a week from India and back.

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