04 April 2014 National: (1) Brijesh Kumar tribunal term extended : As deadline for creation of separate Telangana nears, the Centre government has decided to extend the term of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal headed by retired SC Judge Brijesh Kumar till July 31, 2014. The tribunal has been asked to make the allocation on the basis of the projects located in each State and its requirement of water. (2) Dengue and malaria add to poverty Vector-borne diseases are adding to the vicious cycle of poverty and have a significant impact of socioeconomic status of communities. While countries in South-East Asia have made substantial economic progress, dengue and malaria fuel a vicious cycle of poverty and are still killing thousands of people. On World Health Day, April 7, the WHO has impressed upon countries to prevent and control vector-borne diseases including dengue, kala-azar, lymphatic filariasis and malaria, among others. Forty per cent of the global population at risk of malaria lives in the WHO South-East Asian region, home to a quarter of the world’s population. Malaria is endemic in 10 of the 11 countries of the region: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. Maldives is the only country that has remained free of malaria since 1984. Sri Lanka has made remarkable progress in controlling malaria by bringing cases down from 203 in 2000 to zero since November 2012. Lymphatic filariasis, another mosquito-borne disease, is linked to poverty and creates disfiguring and social stigma. International: (1) World’s oldest weather report found in Egypt If you thought weather prediction was a recent phenomenon, you would be in for a surprise if told that weather prediction was done in ancient Egypt some 3,500 years ago. A new translation of a 40-line inscription on a six-foot-tall 3,500-year-old calcite block from Egypt — called the Tempest Stela — describes rain, darkness and the sky being in storm without cessation, louder than the cries of the masses. Two scholars at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute — Nadine Moeller and Robert Ritner — believe the unusual weather patterns described on the slab were the result of a massive volcano explosion at Thera — the present-day island of Santorini in the Mediterranean Sea. The Tempest Stela dates back to the reign of the pharaoh Ahmose, the first pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. (2) South Korea extending ballistic missile range to counter North Koreas threat South Korea has test-fired a new ballistic missile with a range of 500 km (310 miles) and will try to extend the range to 800 km so it can strike any site in North Korea, days after Pyongyang fired a mid-range missile. The new missiles are intended to counter the threat from North Koreas missile and nuclear programmes, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said, but the move is likely to rattle the North, hit with UN sanctions for its own missile tests. South Korea adopted a voluntary ban on developing ballistic missiles with a range of more than 300 km, under an agreement with the United States, but the allies agreed in 2012 to allow the South to develop 800 km-range missiles. (3) Skydiver dies An attempt to set a world skydiving record by having more than 220 people freefall from an airplane in formation turned tragic when one of the jumpers died. Skydive Arizona blamed the accident on a malfunctioning parachute.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 05:30:47 +0000
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