Washington, Jan 17; PTI: US President Donald Trump has nominated three Indian Americans to key administration positions, as per the latest list of senior nominations sent by the White House to the Senate.

Rita Baranwal has been nominated for the post of assistant secretary of Energy (Nuclear Energy), Aditya Bamzai for Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and Bimal Patel as the assistant secretary of Treasury.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — All of 17, never the winner of a Grand Slam match until this week, Amanda Anisimova is making quite a first impression at the Australian Open.

Anisimova showed precisely why there are those who consider her a possible future star, producing one spectacular shot after another Friday to upset 11th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-2 and reach the fourth round.

“I want to win this tournament,” Anisimova said, tapping her right index finger on a table for emphasis at her post-match news conference. “Right now.”

18 Jan 2019; AFP: Electric-vehicle maker Tesla will recall over 14,000 Model S cars in China as part of the global automotive sector's effort to replace potentially dangerous airbags made by Takata, China's market regulator announced on Friday.

The US giant will recall imported Model S cars made between February 2014 and December 2016, the State Administration of Market Regulation said, joining other carmakers in an effort affecting tens of millions of cars worldwide.

Mumbai, Jan 17 (PTI) A 35-year-old Canadian woman was allegedly molested by an employee of a city-based five-star hotel during her stay there, a police official said Thursday.

Sumit Rao (32), a staff member of the hotel located in Juhu area, has been arrested in connection with the alleged incident that took place on January 5, he said.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists produced the world's first genetically-engineered human blood vessel cells, providing a promising option for therapeutic use.

The study published on Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell showed that human vascular cell function can be enhanced by editing a single longevity-related gene.

New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday accused the government of compromising national security and asked why it bought only 36 Rafale fighter jets instead of 126 required by the Air Force.

His comments come in the wake of fresh revelations on the Rafale deal in a media report which claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to but 36 aircraft instead of the 126 asked for by the Air Force pushed the price of each jet up by 41.42 per cent.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that it was recalling the furloughed employees back to work next week with pay despite a partial government shutdown.

"The Department expects to be able to resume most personnel operations and fund most salaries," said Bill Todd, the department's deputy under secretary for management, in a statement posted on its website.

According to the statement, most employees will resume work on Tuesday.

Colombo, Jan 17 (AP) Sri Lanka is considering a USD 300 million loan offer from the Bank of China as it prepares to repay foreign debts this year, a Finance Ministry official said.

The government has appointed a three-member committee to negotiate the deal, according to Finance Ministry spokesman M R Hasan.

The loan is repayable in three years, he said Wednesday.

Sri Lanka must repay USD 5.9 billion in foreign loans this year, of which 40 per cent needs to be serviced during the first three months.

It paid back USD 1 billion this week.

Sydney, Jan 17 (AFP) An Israeli student has been killed in a late-night attack in Australia while she was speaking on the phone with her sister, police said Thursday.

Police appealed to the public for help tracking down the killer of 21-year-old Aiia Maasarwe, whose body was found early Wednesday near the campus of the Melbourne university where she was studying.

"This was an horrendous, horrific attack inflicted on a completely innocent young woman who was a visitor to our city," Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper told reporters in Melbourne Thursday.

Bengaluru, Jan 17 (PTI) Hitting out at the BJP for making "futile attempts" to destabilise his government, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Thursday accused the saffron party of keeping its MLAs in "confinement" at a hotel in Gurugram.

Grappling with the political turmoil triggered by reports that the BJP was luring Congress MLAs, Kumaraswamy rejected a charge by the saffron party that he was trying to poach their lawmakers.

18 Jan 2019; AFP: Zimbabwe imposed a "total shutdown" of the internet on Friday, a major provider told customers, after protests early this week triggered a ruthless security crackdown.

The internet had been partially restored after a first shutdown started on Tuesday.

"We were served with another directive for total shutdown of the internet until further notice," Econet, the country's biggest provider, said in a text message on Friday.

New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) The Congress manifesto for Lok Sabha elections would be ready by February-end and the party is reaching out to public and various experts to seek their views in addressing problems confronting the nation including "joblessness and agrarian distress", party leaders said.

Several rounds of extensive consultations with various sections of society in around 30 locations across the country have already been held to seek their views and include them in the party's manifesto.