South Sudan's foreign ministry said it deplored the extension of an arms embargo and sanctions imposed on individuals in the troubled country by the UN Security Council.

The resolution drafted by the United States was approved as all parties were urged to "avoid a relapse into widespread conflict". The Security Council extended the embargo on sales of arms until May 31, 2024.

South Sudan remains wracked by armed conflict and political turmoil five years after a peace deal was signed to end a civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead.

The resolution was passed with 10 votes in favour while five members -- China, Russia, Ghana, Gabon and Mozambique -- abstained.

The three African countries said the sanctions were counterproductive and did not reflect the progress they said South Sudan had made.

South Sudan extended its "profound gratitude to the friendly governments" for their support in this "unfair vote".

South Sudan became an independent nation after it broke free from Sudan in 2011 but has lurched from crisis to crisis, enduring persistent armed violence, extreme hunger and natural disasters.

Between 2013 and 2018, South Sudan suffered through a civil war pitting forces loyal to two sworn enemies, Salva Kiir, who is now president, and Riek Machar, who became his deputy.

A peace accord in 2018 paused major combat between their forces but armed violence continues to inflict a horrific toll on the young and impoverished country.

The UN refugee agency says that more than two million people are internally displaced.

The Turkish defence ministry announced it will be sending a commando battalion to northern Kosovo in response to a NATO request for troops to help quell violent unrest.

The request came from NATO's Joint Force Command Naples, the ministry said in a press statement posted on its official Twitter account, and the battalion will join the alliance's peacekeeping mission in the region, known as KFOR, as a reserve unit.

Turkiye did not specify how many troops would be going, but NATO announced that it would be sending 700 troops to bolster the force in the area.

All the new troops are expected to come from the same country.

KFOR currently consists of almost 3,800 troops, including some 350 from Turkiye.

Violent clashes with ethnic Serbs left 30 international soldiers - 11 Italians and 19 Hungarians - wounded, including fractures and burns from improvised explosive incendiary devices.

Australia's most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith quit his corporate job  after a civil court blamed him for unlawfully killing four Afghans, escalating calls for the tarnished national hero to be stripped of his revered Victoria Cross medal.

Roberts-Smith, who retired from Australia's elite Special Air Service Regiment a decade ago, quit his job as state manager of Seven West Media after losing a landmark defamation suit against newspapers that had accused him of an array of war crimes.

The 44-year-old had taken leave since 2021 to focus on his federal court case, which has been financed by the company's billionaire executive chair Kerry Stokes.

Gujarat has witnessed a huge jump in EV registration by 1475% since the adoption of the Gujarat State Electric Vehicle Policy in 2021.

From a mere 7240 EVs prior to the implementation of the Policy, the total number of registered EVs in Gujarat is presently 1,18,086.

For the last five months, around 8858 EVs are being registered per month. Surat has the most electric vehicles (EVs), with 31,561.

The usage of electric vehicles is encouraged due to rising concerns about global warming and climate change. They are more effective since they lessen reliance on conventional fuels and have a significant impact on lowering carbon footprint.

The Gujarat government is promoting the same by offering a variety of incentives under its EV policy.

A maximum subsidy of 20,000 is offered to two-wheelers, 50,000 to three-wheelers, and 1,50,000 to four-wheeler electric vehicles under its policy. The state government has so far offered a subsidy of 133.83 crore.

It should be noted that this policy will be in effect for four years. Subsidies will be granted for a total of two lakh electric automobiles under this program.

Following this, there are 20,937 EVs in Ahmedabad, 7648 in Vadodara, 6678 in Rajkot, and 3259 in Jamnagar.

There are 1,06,341 two-wheelers, 4093 three-wheelers, 5646 four-wheelers, and 2006 among the total registered EVs.

According to government officials, EV charging stations are being built at a rapid pace in several locations throughout Gujarat. In the next few days, 250 more public charging stations will be erected.

There are currently 152 charging stations in the state. In conjunction with BISAG-N, the government will provide a uniform charging infrastructure and allow a more efficient charging station site selection procedure. As a result, 91 hotspots in municipal corporations, 48 in municipal regions, 96 on state highways/national highways, and 15 at tourist locations have been chosen.

On Jun 2 , the Gujarat Government also announced the establishment of a factory for the production of lithium-ion cells. Soon, it will be the world's third lithium-cell manufacturing company and India's first lithium-ion cell facility.

This plant would have a production capacity of 20 GWh and an anticipated initial investment of roughly Rs. 13,000 crores. More than 13,000 people will be employed directly and indirectly as a result of this project 

After receiving an annual payment of  Rs 71.02 crore in FY22, IT services company Infosys CEO Salil Parekh's compensation fell 21% to Rs 56.44 crore in FY23 as he exercised fewer RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) compared to last fiscal.

Parekh's compensation was 627 times that of an average salary of an Infosys employee- Rs 9 lakh.

In its annual report, Infosys said of the total amount, Parekh's remuneration includes Rs 30.60 crore pertaining to the exercise of 1,24,783 RSUs under the 2015 Plan and 73,962 RSUs under the 2019 Plan during fiscal 2023.

Parekh's Rs 56.44 crore remuneration includes fixed pay, variable pay, retiral benefits and the perquisite value of stock incentives exercised during the period.

According to the annual report, the median Infosys salary was Rs 9,00,012 and Rs 8,14,332 in fiscal 2023 and  2022, respectively. The increase in the median remuneration of employees in FY23 compared to the previous fiscal was 10.52%.

The average annual increase in the salaries of employees was 9.9% in India, after accounting for promotions and other event-based compensation revisions, Infosys said. Last fiscal, Parekh's compensation was 872 times the median remuneration of employees. 

Parekh's remuneration is lower compared to Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte who took home about Rs 82.4 crore in FY23.

Infosys president Mohit Joshi was the highest paid as he earned Rs 57.32 crore in FY23. He will be joining Tech Mahindra as CEO and leaves Infosys on June 9. He is on leave from March 11, 2023, and will stay on leave till the last date with the Company, that is, June 9, 2023, said Infosys.

ICICI Bank  has committed Rs 1,200 crore to help the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) to expand its cancer treating facilities.

As part of the commitment from the ICICI Foundation, three new facilities will be built in Navi Mumbai's Kharghar on the outskirts of the financial capital, Mullanpur in Punjab and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Girish Chandra Chaturvedi, the chairman of the second largest private sector lender, said the three facilities will be fully functional by 2027 and will enable the Tata Memorial Centre to handle 25,000 more cancer patients per year.

Chaturvedi said right now, the bank has Rs 500 crore of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) corpus ready for the three facilities, and will be adding to the corpus as the years go.

Falling for the second consecutive week, India's forex reserves dropped by USD 4.339 billion to USD 589.138 billion for the week ended May 26, the Reserve Bank said.

In the previous reporting week, the reserves had declined from USD 6.052 billion to USD 593.477 billion.

It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion.

The reserves have been declining as the central bank deploys the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments.

For the week ended May 26, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, declined by USD 4.014 billion to USD 520.931 billion, according to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves dropped by USD 225 million to USD 44.902 billion, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were down by USD 84 million to USD 18.192 billion, the apex bank said.

The country's reserve position with the IMF was down by USD 17 million to USD 5.113 billion in the reporting week, the apex bank data showed.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is upset at Sri Lankan board expressing its desire to host the entire Asia Cup and has declined the latter's offer to play an ODI bilateral series in the island nation.

According to sources in the PCB, relations between the PCB and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have turned sour after its offer of hosting the entire Asia Cup instead of four games being held in Pakistan as per the 'Hybrid Model' proposed by Najam Sethi.

Pakistan is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in July to play two Tests of the next ICC World Test Championship cycle and apparently the SLC had suggested that Pakistan also play a few ODIs as they are optimistic their team will book a spot from the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe and would need more exposure before the main event in October.

But a reliable source confirmed that the PCB after initially saying they would consider the proposal had turned it down now.