WASHINGTON: NASA is set to launch the world's first mission to the Sun next year, that will explore our star's atmosphere and answer questions about solar physics that have puzzled scientists for over six decades.

The Parker Solar Probe has been named in honour of pioneering astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who predicted the existence of the solar wind nearly 60 years ago, the US space agency announced yesterday.

Railways have decided to provide the 'buy tickets now and pay later' service for any Express trains, an IRCTC official said on Thursday.

According to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd official, soon passengers would be able to buy tickets from the IRCTC website and pay later.

The rupee firmed up by another 8 paise to 64.43 against the US dollar on Thursday on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks even as India's economic growth slowed to 7.1 per cent in 2016-17.

India's economic growth slowed to 7.1 per cent in 2016- 17, the year in which 87 per cent of the currency was demonetised, despite a very good showing by the agricultural sector.

The BSE Sensex fell over 75 points to 31,070 and the Nifty slipped below 9,600-mark in early trade on Thrusday as participants trimmed their positions, triggered by lower GDP numbers and core infrastructure sectors growth.

Trading sentiment suffered a setback after macroeconomic indicators such as GDP numbers and core sector growth showed that the country's economic growth has slowed down.

Former Australian Pacer and current mentor at Chennai's MRF Pace Foundation, Glenn McGrath has deemed Indian bowling attack as the most potent one among the team participating in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 starting Thursday.

England is hosting 8 teams, including themselves, for what is also called a mini-World Cup tournament, from June 1-18.

In an apparent move to fight the influence of "fake news" in Britain's June 8 general election, Facebook has launched a new feature called "Perspectives" to help users compare the stances of major political parties on key issues.

The location-sensitive feature will appear as a prompt beneath articles linked to the election and will allow users to read each party's position on key issues such as housing, the economy and foreign affairs, BT.com reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet on Thursday for an annual summit the highlight of which is expected to be the signing of an agreement to build the last two units of the Kundankulam nuclear power plant with Moscow's help.

The two countries are also expected to sign a number of other agreements in wide-ranging sectors, including in science and technology, railways, cultural exchanges and other business areas between private parties also, in addition to a "vision statement" that the two leaders will release.

Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has reported a 15 per cent jump in domestic sales of passenger vehicles (cars, utility vehicles and vans) in May. The company sold a total of 130,248 units in the domestic market against 113,162 units in same month last year.

Most segments of the products at Maruti reported strong growth. The utility vehicle segment jumped 66 per cent to 22,608 units while mini segment (Alto and WagonR) grew 18 per cent to 39,089 vehicles.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday proposed new norms to regulate index providers, entities who design and develop benchmark indices such as the Sensex and Nifty. The index operators, which include subsidiaries of stock exchanges and independent entities such as S&P, currently do not come under Sebi’s direct regulatory purview.

The proposed norms include a code of conduct for index operators, while mandating more disclosures and greater transparency when including or excluding a stock from the indices.

Microsoft on Wednesday showcased an innovative Windows Mixed Reality headsets designed with the help from partners like Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo at the information and communication technology (ICT) show ‘Computex 2017’. Available later this year, these affordable headsets will utilise the Windows Mixed Reality platform to enable new video, entertainment, social and productivity experiences.

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