October 21 10 northeast parties form common political platform Ten regional parties of the northeast have formed North East Regional Political Front (NERPF), a platform that will consider putting up joint candidates in the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll. Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio will be the NERPF Convenor, while Asom Gana Parishad president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta will be its chief advisor. Besides NPF and AGP, the other members of NERPF are Hills State Democratic Party, Meghalaya United Democratic Party, Manipur Peoples Party, Manipur State Congress Party, Manipur Democratic Peoples Front, Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura, Peoples Party of Arunachal and Mizo National Front. NERPF will have its permanent headquarters in Guwahati. 11 NRI police stations in Punjab The Punjab Government has established 11 NRI police stations for speedy redressal of complaints involving Non-Resident Indians. The State government has issued a notification according to which all police districts comes under the jurisdiction of these 11 NRI police stations. Inspector-General of Police and Head NRI Police Wing Punjab Gurpreet Kaur Deo said that earlier in 2008 government had set up 6 NRI police stations and now keeping in view the demand of people this number has been increased to 11. German firm set to finalise deal with India for supply of naval sonars German defence firm Atlas Elektronik, a leading manufacturer of high-tech maritime and naval systems,, is in the process of finalising a deal with India for supplying low-frequency sonar systems for Navy’s warships that will help them detect enemy submarines, warships and torpedoes from a long distance. Active Towed Away Sonars (ACTAS) could operate in deep as well as shallow waters. These sonars have been fitted on Navy’s front line combat ships. The Navy has 14 submarines but only eight are in operation at any given time. While 10 of them are Russian, others were supplied by HDW of Germany. Former ‘first lady of the Non-Aligned Movement’ dead Jovanka Broz, once a symbol of elegance as the wife of Yugoslav communist strongman Tito, lived the last three decades of her life as an outcast. For Ms. Broz, who died in Belgrade aged 88, the glory days ended shortly before Josip Broz Tito’s death in 1980 when his allies accused her of plotting a coup. Her last public appearance was at Tito’s state funeral in May 1980. Filipino Sultan who claimed Sabah dies A Philippine sultan whose armed followers invaded a vast Malaysian region earlier in 2013, sparking a security crisis, died. He was 75. Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s wife, Fatima Celia, said her husband had ordered his family and followers to keep alive the historic territorial claims to Sabah state in Malaysia. Malaysia has governed the resource-rich frontier region of timberlands and palm oil plantations in northern Borneo as its second-largest federal state since the 1960s. Nepal to host fifth South Asian conference on sanitation Seeking to promote hygiene and enhance quality of life for people in the region, over 250 delegates from eight countries in South Asia, will participate in a conference on sanitation beginning in Nepal. President Ram Baran Yadav is scheduled to inaugurate the fifth South Asian conference on Sanitation (SACOSANV) in Bhaktapur district near Kathmandu. All eight South Asian nations will participate in the three-day meeting. The first regional sanitation meet was hosted by Bangladesh in 2003. After Nepal (100), India will have the largest number of delegates (70) led by a minister. Bhaktapur will be declared as the 10th open defecation free district of the country. Current Account Deficit to fall below 3.8 pct this fiscal Current Account Deficit is likely to be lower than the projection of 3.8 per cent of the GDP and India will be in a better position to neutralise the impact of the tapering of monetary stimulus by the US Fed, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said. The current account deficit is the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign exchange. During 2012-13, the CAD was at all-time high of 4.8 per cent of GDP or $88.2 billion. Government proposes to bring it down to $70 billion or 3.8 per cent of the GDP. Prior approval must for prosecution under OECD pact Switzerland has signed the OECD pact which provides for sharing of tax information and mutual cooperation by signatories, but any penal action against money launderers and terrorists can be initiated only after obtaining prior sanction from the country that gave details. Switzerland on October 15 signed OECDs Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. India had joined the convention in 2012. Switzerland singing the OECD pact is seen as major boost for India and other countries seeking details on suspected black money stashed in Swiss banks as it virtually pulled down the famed secrecy wall surrounding Swiss banks. Tata, Singapore Airlines get govt approval for airline ventures name Tatas proposed aviation venture with Singapore Airline has got Corporate Affairs Ministrys approval to use the name Tata SIA Airlines Limited, which plans to offer full-service passenger services on domestic and international routes. Tata SIA Airlines is among the first major companies to be incorporated under the new Companies Act, 2013 that came into effect in October 2013. This is the third attempt by Tatas and SIA to enter the Indian civil aviation sector. Tatas have a long history of association with civil aviation in India. JRD Tata had started Tata Airlines in 1932, which was later in 1946 renamed as Air India and was subsequently nationalised in 1953. CPCRI develops new technique to tap Neera The Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) has developed a brand of Neera called Kalparasa. Neera, the sweet sap tapped from the immature inflorescence of coconut, is said to be rich in nutritional and health benefits. The technique developed by the CPCRI yields sap that is fresh, hygienic, and devoid of chemicals and contaminants. The institute is awaiting a patent for Kalparasa. The device by which the sap is collected involves fixing a grooved adaptor to the cut end of a spadix of a size equivalent to the diameter of the spadix. A hard pipe is attached to the groove and the sap flows easily into a connecting bottle. The bottle is kept in an icebox containing ice cubes. As the entire device is airtight, the sap is free from contamination, and in the icebox, it remains cool, preventing fermentation. 1st bionic man walks, talks, breathes Scientists have developed the world’s first robot human made entirely of prosthetic parts and he can walk, talk and even has a beating heart. The robot, which cost almost USD 1 million to build, was assembled from prosthetic body parts and artificial organs donated by laboratories around the world. Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co. in England put together the bionic man. The bionic man has the same prosthetic hand as Meyer, the i-LIMB made by Touch Bionics, with a wrist that can fully rotate and motors in each finger. To support his prosthetic legs, the bionic man wears a robotic exoskeleton dubbed “Rex,” made by REX Bionics in New Zealand. He also has a nearly complete set of artificial organs, including an artificial heart, blood, lungs (and windpipe), pancreas, spleen, kidney and functional circulatory system. However, he lacks a few major organs, including a liver, stomach and intestines, which are too complex to replicate. Large asteroid not likely to hit Earth in 2032 A newly discovered 1,300-foot-wide asteroid that buzzed past Earth last month will likely return in 2032, but the chances that it will hit our planet are very slim - just 1 in 63,000 - NASA has said. The asteroid 2013 TV135 made a close approach to Earth on September 16, when it came within about 6.7 million kilometres and it is likely to pay our planet another visit in 2032. However, NASA has allayed fears that the massive space rock could prove dangerous, with the US space agency saying that the probability this asteroid could then impact Earth is only one in 63,000. The asteroid was discovered on October 8, 2013, by astronomers working at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Ukraine. As of October 14, asteroid 2013 TV135 is one of 10,332 near-Earth objects that have been discovered. Dipika wins Macau Open India’s top squash player Dipika Pallikal upstaged former World No.1 Rachael Grinham of Australia to win the Macau Open, the seventh Women’s Squash Association (WSA) title of her career. She reached in the final defeating Rachael’s younger sister Natalie, a former World No.2 currently ranked eighth in the WSA rankings. Kang Sung-hoon wins Korea Open Kang Sung-hoon won the Korea Open, which ended in a dispute after Kim Hyung-tae was informed of a two-shot penalty when he led by one shot with two holes to play. It was an awkward ending for Kang, who closed with a 2-under 69 for a one-shot victory over Kim, Rory McIlroy (67) and two others. Hend takes Macau Open Australian long hitter Scott Hend claimed victory at the Macau Open as the tournaments star draw Ernie Els was forced to content himself with third place. In the $800,000 Asian Tour tournament, which also saw Indias Anirban Lahiri match the course record with an impressive nine-under-par 62, Hend capitalised on his overnight four-shot lead and never let Els come close to staging a comeback. He finished the tournament with a three-stroke victory, closing with a four-under-par 67 for a 16-under-par 268 total.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 06:08:44 +0000
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