Airtel, UNICEF pact to provide education content in Africa

Bharti Airtel has partnered with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide health, education and youth-focussed content to its customers in 17 African countries. The agreement allows UNICEF to tap into Airtel’s mobile services to make health, education and youth-focused content available to Airtel customers across the 17 African countries, the company said in a statement. Through improved connectivity, more Africans will have free access to mobile applications and services developed by UNICEF, such as eduTrac, mTrac and U-report.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic sworn in as first woman President of Croatia

Kolinda Grabar -Kitarovic was sworn in as the first woman president of Croatia on 18 February 2015. She is Croatia’s fourth president since its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. In January 2015 election run-off, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic had narrowly defeated her left-wing predecessor Ivo Josipovic. In this election she had secured 50.5% of the votes while her predecessor Ivo Josipovic had secured 49.5% votes.

Lupin ties up with Poland-based firm for generic asthma drug

Mumbai­based drug major Lupin on 17 February 2015 signed an agreement with Poland-­based Celon Pharma to jointly develop a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus, a drug used to treat asthma. Under the agreement, both the companies will jointly develop fluticasone/salmeterol dry powder inhaler (DPI) product which is a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus. But Celon will supply the product to Lupin for its commercialisation in the US, Canada, Mexico, and other key markets.

10th Aero India show begins in Bengaluru

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the 10th ‘Aero India’ show at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Its main theme is ‘Make in India’, the new Indian refrain that invites defence and civil aerospace manufacturers to think of manufacturing in the country. Delegates from 109 countries are participating in the event and over 700 companies from India and abroad are taking part in the exhibition. In the exhibition, India is showcasing its indigenously made Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, radars, missiles, satellites, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Airborne early warning and control system (AWACS), while the foreign military aircraft that are displayed include F-15C Eagle, Lockheed F-16C, Boeing KC-135, Boeing C-17, Rafale and Embraer EMB-145I etc.

Phalke award winner filmmaker D. Rama Naidu passes away

Multilingual filmmaker Daggubati  Rama Naidu, who made memorable films like ‘Ramudu-Bheemudu’, ‘Srikrishna Tulabharam’ and ‘Premnagar’, died in Hyderabad on Wednesday. He was 78 and was suffering from prostate cancer. He was the only Indian filmmaker to produce movies in many languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi and English. He was conferred with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award (2009) and Padma Bhushan (2012) in recognition for his contribution to Telugu cinema.