VR Lalithambika, previous chief, Directorate of the Human Spaceflight Program, ISRO, has been granted the top French regular citizen honor, Légion d'honneur, for her commitment to space participation among France and India. The honor was given to her by Minister of France to India Thierry Mathou for the French Government on Tuesday.

Kyrgyzstan moves to free its banner of 'sunflower'

Bishkek: Kyrgyzstan's parliament decided on Wednesday to change the plan of the public banner after pundits, including President Sadyr Japarov, said its focal component seemed to be a sunflower, which in the nearby culture represents flightiness and servility. The Focal Asian country's banner, embraced in 1992 after it acquired freedom from the Soviet Association, portrays a yellow sun — which serves as the zenith of a conventional Kyrgyz yurt tent — with 40 beams on a red foundation.