27 MARCH 2014

Ø  A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of the missing MH370 jetliner found a possible debris field containing 122 objects.

Ø  Russian mathematician Yakov Grigorevich Sinai (78), one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th Century, has been chosen for the 2014 Abel Prize, the mathematician’s Nobel Prize, by the Norwegian Academy of Science Letters. The President of the Academy, Nils Chr. Stenseth, announced this in Oslo.

Ø  Approximately seven million people died of air pollution around the world in 2012, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated in its new study.

Ø  Astronomers found rings around an asteroid, the smallest object known to have this feature and only the fifth after Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The twin rings around a rock called Chariklo were spotted in June last year as it passed in front of a star, scrutinised by seven telescopes dotted over a 1,500-kilometre stretch of South America.

Ø  Nearly a month after announcing $19 billion acquisition of instant messaging firm WhatsApp, Facebook reached a definitive agreement to acquire virtual reality technology company Oculus VR, Inc., for about $2 billion in a cash and stock deal. The California headquatered Oculus’ flagship product — Oculus Rift — is a goggle like ‘virtual reality headset’ for video gaming.