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- Indian-origin US astronaut is among nine astronauts named by Nasa to fly on commercial spacecraft made by and to and from the International Space Station, the research laboratory that orbits around Earth.
- Their voyages are scheduled to begin next year, and they would be the first American astronauts to launch from United States soil since 2011. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) retired its space shuttle fleet that year, and started sending astronauts to the ISS aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, at a cost that has risen to $81 million per seat. “What an exciting and amazing day,” Jim Bridenstine, Nasa’s administrator, said at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in on 4 August. The seven men and two women pumped their fists in the air and gave thumbs-up as they strode onto the stage.
- Nasa said that if uncrewed test flights go smoothly, the astronauts will fly before then, on roughly two-week test flights and later on missions of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
- Nasa worked closely with the firms to build both the spacecraft. Williams has been named for the Boeing programme the first test flight scheduled to take place in the middle of 2019. She will be accompanied by commander Josh Cassada of the American navy, who will be making his first space journey.
- Williams has spent 322 days aboard the ISS since becoming an astronaut in 1998. While she was there in 2007, she completed the on a treadmill in 4 hours 24 minutes, marking the first time an entrant had finished the race from orbit.
- The contracts for travel to the ISS were awarded in 2014. Boeing received a $4.2 billion contract, and SpaceX’s was for $2.6 billion. The contracts call for six missions, with as many as four astronauts per mission, for each firm.
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- Indian shuttler PV Sindhu settles for silver in the BWF world championship, after losing to Marin of spain in the final.
- P V Sindhu finished second best yet again in a major tournament final as she went down tamely to Carolina Marin in the World Championships' women's singles title clash, adding to the Indian's tale of woes in Nanjing, China on 5 August.
- The Olympic silver medallist settled for another white metal following a 19-21 10-21 loss to Olympic champion Marin of Spain.
- The 23-year-old Sindhu, who had lost an epic final to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara at Glasgow last year, didn't have answers to Marin's blistering pace in the 45 minutes that the match lasted
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- A late chip-in eagle saw India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar hold off a charging Anthony Quayle to claim the Fiji International by one stroke on 5 August.
- Bhullar began the final day at Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course with a one-shot lead but found himself trailing late in the day as the Australian Quayle came home in 29 and set the target at 13 under.
- But the eagle on the 17th moved Bhullar back into the lead and he held his nerve to par the last and sign in for a 66 and a one-shot victory over Quayle, who finished with a final round 63. He finished with a four-day total of 14-under 274.
- It was Bhullar ninth Asian Tour title and 10th crown overall. He now becomes the most successful Indian player on Asian Tour, overtaking the tally of eight Tour wins by Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa.
- He is the first Indian to win on Australasia Tour and also became the fifth from the country to win on European Tour after Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh (4), S.S.P. Chawrasia (4) and Anirban Lahiri (2).
- Four-time Major winner Ernie Els had a final round 65 to finish at 12 under for a share of third with New Zealander Ben Campbell.
- It was Bhullar’s first win on the European Tour after 106 starts since 2014.“I’ve been playing really well. It was just a matter of time,” he said.“It was a tough day. It was windy, flags were tough but I played really well. I gave myself many, many opportunities on 5 August.”
- Quayle shot two eagles and three birdies on the homeward nine to go with three birdies early in the day, and was not too disappointed to come up one stroke short.“That was pretty awesome out there,” he said. “I got to play with Ernie (Els) and played a pretty awesome back nine there. I’m pretty happy with it.”
- A bogey on the 16th essentially ended Campbell’s chances but he bounced back with a birdie on the 17th in a 66.Els chipped in for an eagle on the first and although seven under for the day, he doubted he could have done much better.
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- Carolina Marin claimed a slice of history as the Spaniard became the first woman to win three badminton World titles with an emphatic victory over P.V. Sindhu of India on 5 August
- The aggressive Marin is now the reigning World and Olympic champion thanks to an imperious 21-19, 21-10 win in Nanjing.
- The all-action 25-year-old adds the 2018 crown to her titles in 2014 and 2015, and the Olympic gold she won from the unlucky Sindhu at Rio 2016.
- In the first game, the rivals went toe-to-toe, the more attacking Marin, the seventh seed, bellowing after each winning point. Third seed Sindhu, 23, well known for her never-say-die spirit, initially edged ahead before Marin dragged her back to 16-16.
- It was too close to call and the chair umpire had a job on his hands as the two foes repeatedly tried to throw one another off on Marin’s serve the Spaniard wanting to get on with the game quickly but Sindhu refusing to let her in an attempt to kill the momentum.
- Sindhu hit into the net to allow Marin to capture the first game in 27 minutes and she took that momentum into the second to make history.
- As well as disappointment at Rio 2016, Sindhu was beaten in last year’s World Championships final by Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara and had to settle for silver at this year’s Commonwealth Games too.
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- Carolina Marin claimed a slice of history as the Spaniard became the first woman to win three badminton World titles with an emphatic victory over P.V. Sindhu of India on 5 August
- The aggressive Marin is now the reigning World and Olympic champion thanks to an imperious 21-19, 21-10 win in Nanjing.
- The all-action 25-year-old adds the 2018 crown to her titles in 2014 and 2015, and the Olympic gold she won from the unlucky Sindhu at Rio 2016.
- In the first game, the rivals went toe-to-toe, the more attacking Marin, the seventh seed, bellowing after each winning point. Third seed Sindhu, 23, well known for her never-say-die spirit, initially edged ahead before Marin dragged her back to 16-16.
- It was too close to call and the chair umpire had a job on his hands as the two foes repeatedly tried to throw one another off on Marin’s serve the Spaniard wanting to get on with the game quickly but Sindhu refusing to let her in an attempt to kill the momentum.
- Sindhu hit into the net to allow Marin to capture the first game in 27 minutes and she took that momentum into the second to make history.
- As well as disappointment at Rio 2016, Sindhu was beaten in last year’s World Championships final by Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara and had to settle for silver at this year’s Commonwealth Games too.
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- With an aim for better research in the high education institutions, the government has approved 122 new research projects at a cost of Rs 112 crore under IMPRINT-2. The research will cover domains like Energy, Security, Healthcare, Advanced Materials, ICT and Security/Defence. "Out of 2145 proposals, 122 best proposals were selected for funding under IMPRINT-II, advancing cutting edge level technology," HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
- "Of the 122 new IMPRINT projects sanctioned, 81 are sponsored by industry. This industry-academic collaboration will bring excellence in research," Javadekar said. He also added that the knowledge portal for monitoring the progress of research projects and to disseminate findings will be launched in October 2018.
- The new research project proposals selected include: 35 in Information and Communications Technology; 18 in Advanced Materials, 17 in Healthcare Technology, 12 in Energy Security; 11 in Security and Defence; 9 in Sustainable Habitat; 7 Water Resource and River Systems; 5 in Environment and Climate; 4 in Manufacturing; and 4 in Nano Technology.
- IMPRINT is a Pan-IIT + IISc joint initiative supported by the MHRD to address the major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance.
- IMPRINT is also open for private institutions. The initiative aims at providing the overarching vision for research into areas that are predominantly socially relevant.
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- The U.K. government on 5 August announced new plans to change the law for organ and tissue donation to address the urgent need for organs within Indian-origin communities in the country.
- The proposed new system of consent for organ and tissue donation is expected to come into effect in England in 2020 as part of a drive to help black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people desperately waiting for a life-saving transplant.
- Under the new presumed consent system, those who do not want to donate their organs will be able to record their decision on the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) Organ Donor Register (ODR).
- “Organ donation is of course a deeply personal choice, and for many, their faith will play an important factor in their decision,” said Jackie Doyle-Price, U.K.’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Mental Health and Inequalities.
- “We want to make it much easier for people to record and share their decision with friends, families and to NHS staff so that they can be confident their wishes whether or not they choose to donate will always be respected,” she said.
- The announcement comes as a recent report called on the NHS to take more proactive action to address the high death rate among Indian-origin people in Britain due to low levels of organ donation within the community.
- The ‘Organ Donation: Breaking Taboos Amongst British BAME Communities’ report, commissioned by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, was aimed at studying the low levels of donation among BAME communities in the U.K.
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- The nominating committee of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has selected Ajay Data, Founder & CEO of Data XGen Plus and a global leader in email linguistic services, as a new council member of Country Code Supporting Organisation (ccNSO).
- Ajay Data is the first Indian to have been selected as a member of ccNSO and will be representing India at a global level. He will be the custodian of Asia, Australia and Pacific Islands as a member of ccNSO.
- Data has got a two-year term and will take up the position during ICANN 63 Meet in Spain in October 2018. The members of ccNSO, which is ICANN’s policy development body for ccTLD (country code top-level domains) issues, are all country code top level domain operators from around the world.
- According to a press statement, ccNSO of the ICANN is the policy-development body for global issues regarding country code top-level domains (ccTLD) within the ICANN structure.
- “I am very thankful to the government of India for supporting my candidature for this prestigious position which not only brings in pride to the country but also huge responsibility to participate and contribute in shaping the future of internet,” Data said.
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