TOP -10 HEADLINES ================= 1. Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes, a breakthrough that spurred the development of LED technology used to light up computer screens and modern smartphones. 2. Services on the Konkan Railway were disrupted after derailment of a goods train near Chiplun on Tuesday morning. Twelve wagons of a goods train derailed between Chiplun and Kamathe station at 7.45 am. Passengers can contact 022 - 27587939 for train inquiry. A KR spokesperson said, Several trains were cancelled or diverted due to the incident. Moreover, transhipment of passengers of a few trains is also being carried out. 3. In a blow to former Tamil Nadu CM and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, the Karnataka High Court today rejected her bail plea in the disproportionate assets case, saying there was no ground to grant her the relief. The order by Justice A V Chandrashekhara came after Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh told the court he had no objection to granting conditional bail to Jayalalithaa, who is in prison here since her conviction by the Special Court on September 27. 4. Putting his swimming career on hold after his second DUI arrest, Olympic champion Michael Phelps began a six-week program Sunday that he said will provide the help I need to better understand myself. The winningest athlete in Olympic history made the announcement in a series of posts on his Twitter account. 5. Facebook today completed its USD 19 billion buy of mobile messaging application WhatsApp, appointing one of the startup’s co-founders to the social network’s board as part of the deal. “We are looking forward to connecting even more people around the world, and continuing to create value for the people who use WhatsApp,” Facebook said in a statement emailed to AFP. Along with joining the Facebook board of directors, Jan Koum will remain chief of WhatsApp. 6. Indian economy, which accounts for 80 per cent of South Asia’s output, is set to grow by 6.4 per cent in 2015-16 as against 5.6 per cent in 2014-15, the World Bank has said. 7. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for the year 2014 to Dr. Apathukatha Sivathanu Pillai at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (07.10.2014). 8. The year-long birth centenary celebrations of noted classical singer Begum Akhtar began today. In an impressive function held here today Union Culture Minister Shri Shripad Naik released a set of commemorative coins of Rs.100 and Rs.5. Noted singers Dr. Rita Ganguly (Dadra), Shri Shashank Shekhar (Thumri) and Smt. Prabhati Mukherjee (Ghazal) gave an impressive performance on the occasion. 9. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, made a number of announcements on consular and visa issues during his address at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on September 28th, 2014. The Union Government has moved swiftly to implement these announcements. According to a Gazette notification issued on September 30th, 2014, all PIO cards are now valid for the lifetime of the cardholder, instead of 15 years. 10. Manoj Srivastava, a senior journalist with Hindi daily Amar Ujala, died today in Varanasi. He was 50. Srivastava, who had extensively covered the Ayodhya dispute, had also worked with Navjeevan, Dainik Jagran and Current Weekly.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 08:23:09 +0000