News : 8 -15 Sep 2013

• The United Nations has formally accepted Syria’s application to join the chemical weapons convention
• Microsoft is making its Xbox Music streaming service available for free on the Web even to those who don’t use Windows 8.
• India has decided not to give in to U.S. pressure to agree to discussions on phasing out refrigerant gases under the Montreal Protocol.More 
• The agreement signed between the Rubber Board and the National Institute for Research and Development in Defence Ship Building (NIRDESH), Kozhikode, is for developing rubber-based mountings for use in indigenously built submarines at Mazagon Dock Ltd., Mumbai.
• After Kazakhstan’s promise of 2,000 tonnes of the mineral, Uzbekistan has now offered to provide a similar quantity for fuelling nuclear plants in India.
• German scientists say they have discovered indicators of gold deposits at hotspots in the Pacific Ocean and measured the highest temperature ever recorded in the ocean at one of them.According to Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), 378 degrees celsius was registered at a depth of 1,850 metres near the island nation of Vanuatu, about 1,750 kilometres east of northern Australia.The only spot on the ocean floor ever found to be hotter — 403 degrees celsius — is in the Atlantic.
• China  welcomed a Russia-U.S. agreement on securing and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons, saying it was a peaceful solution to the stockpile issue that could ease the tense situation in the war-torn country.
• NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched 36 years ago – and now 19 billion kilometres from the Sun – has become the first man-made object to venture into interstellar space
• The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has launched a deep ultraviolet (DUV) solid-state laser device, making the country first-ever in the world to possess such technology
• Tamu Massif, as the megavolcano is called, may be as voluminous as Olympus Mons on Mars, which is regarded as the Solar System’s largest known volcano found at the bottom of Pacific ocean.Tamu Massif, the inactive volcano, was previously thought to be a string of volcanoes rather than one enormous feature. It is part of an underwater mountain range called the Shatsky Rise.
• The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, WAN-IFRA, has chosen The Hindu, along with seven other newspapers in India, for a prize for excellence in youth engagement. It has also named India the World Young Reader Country of the Year.
• The Ministry of Science & Technology(DBT & DST) ,Govt. of India and RIKEN, Japan’s largest research organization have signied MOUs to day for Launching joint Research programs in the fields of Biology, Life sciences and material sciences. (Genome–related research including systems Biology, Computational science including development of bioinformatics tools, Detection tools (e.g. spectroscopy) for security and other areas of mutual interest)
• India-Chile to Enhance Cooperation in Renewable Energy
• A Centre of Excellence and Ethics to be Set up at Ajmer
  • The Institute of Company Secretaries of India,
  • The Institute of Cost Accountants of India, and
  • The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India Sign MOU with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
• The National Highways Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2013 Receives the Assent of the President
• Vice President Releases Prof. K.N. Pannikar’s Book “History as A Site of Struggle” at Thiruvananthpuram
• International Olympics Committee decided to include wresting as 26th sport in 2020 Olympics at Tokyo.
• After three days of intensive talks in Geneva, Russia and the United States have reached an agreement on a timetable for the swift elimination of Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, with the provision that the non-compliance by Damascus would mean that the United Nations Security Council will steer the future course of action.
• Ray Dolby, an American inventor and audio pioneer who founded Dolby Laboratories, has died at the age of 80
• BJP on Friday named Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
• Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2012 to  Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
• The landmark Food Security Bill, aimed at giving a legal right on highly subsidised foodgrains to 67 per cent of the country’s population, on sep 12 received the President’s nod.
• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)  imposed life ban on pacer S. Sreesanth and Mumbai left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan for having brought disrepute to the game by indulging in spot-fixing in the last edition of the Indian Premier League.
  Also punished were Rajasthan Royals players Amit Singh, banned for five years, and Siddharth Trivedi, for a year as he did not inform the BCCI that he was approached by bookmakers. Harmeet Singh, however, was reprieved for lack of evidence.
• South East Asian countries have decided to eliminate measles and control rubella and congenital syndrome by the year 2020. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that $ 800 million is needed to achieve this goal.
• Knowing about a candidate is the voter’s natural right in a democracy(the fundamental right of the citizens under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution.), and non- disclosure of information by a contestant in his/her affidavit, leaving the relevant columns blank, will result in rejection of the nomination by the Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled .
  (At present, the EC has no power to reject nominations if candidates either leave some columns blank or give false information. However, a case can be registered against them under the Indian Penal Code for providing false information.)
• India joined the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in strongly opposing foreign military intervention in Syria and welcoming the Russian proposal for putting the chemical arsenals under international control.
• India’s upcoming Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) seeks to reveal whether there is methane, considered a “precursor chemical” for life, on the Red Planet.
• Verizon raised $49 billion in the largest corporate bond deal ever.
• Software services company iGate Corporation announced the appointment of Ashok Vemuri as its president and CEO
• India has also the highest number of female millionaires in the world as the country boasts of over 1,250 UHNW women with a combined fortune of $95 billion.Notwithstanding the continuing economic gloom, India has recorded the largest increase in its Ultra-High Net worth Individual (HNIW) club among the BRICS nations in the last one year, with a total of 7,850 super rich people in the country
• Russia has lifted the ban on import of non-basmati rice and oilseeds from India
• US agrees to UN discussion on Syria.After its deft diplomatic manoeuvre that has already coaxed the United States to delay its decision on attacking Syria, Russia — the architect of a widely supported proposal to disarm Syria of chemical weapons — has said that it would soon submit an action plan that would result in an internationally supervised destruction of the Syrian arsenal of poison gas.
• The UK coalition government has confirmed plans to privatise the country’s 500-year-old Royal Mail this fall.
• Russia has taken a “principled” decision to sell Iran an improved version of the S-300 air defence missiles and to build a second nuclear reactor at Bushehr,
• Iran sanctions eased to allow cultural exchanges by US.
• Mamnoon Hussain was sworn  as Pakistan’s 12th President by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
• Following the successful $50 billion currency swap agreement with Japan, a task force set up to identify key trading nations for local currency swap arrangement by the Commerce Ministry will meet on 11 sep 2013, and deliberate on how to take forward the issue of shortlisting countries.
• Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday launched the platform ‘HAVEn’, designed to enable organisations to gain better insight into their data and deliver real-time outcomes.
• The annual Miss World beauty pageant will open on Sunday on the Indonesian island of Bali, despite weeks of opposition from conservative Islamic groups. But the finale, which was to take place near the capital Jakarta later this month, has also been shifted to Bali owing to the protest.
• In a vote in Buenos Aires this weekend, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has granted Tokyo the right to hold the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
• A new government prepared to take control of Australia ,with policies to cut pledges in foreign aid and to wind back greenhouse gas reduction measures in an effort to balance the nation’s books.Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbot’s conservative Liberal party-led coalition won a crushing victory at elections against the center-left Labour Party.
• Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was given a ceremonial guard of honour on his last day as he became the first democratically elected head of state to complete a full five-year term.
• India-born Mamnoon Hussain, a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,  sworn in as the President of Pakistan in sep 2013.Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry administered the oath at a ceremony
• A proposal to force Reliance Industries to give up 86 per cent of eastern offshore KG-D6 gas block, including 8 gas discoveries worth at least $8 billion, has been put up to Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily.
• Tripura surged ahead of Kerala to achieve top position in literacy chart in India. The state fell short to become fully literate state, but as of date stands at 94.65 percent.
• A Bill seeking to prohibit employment of individuals as manual scavengers by prescribing stringent punishment, including imprisonment up to five years, was passed by Parliament . It has provisions for rehabilitation of manual scavengers and their family members as well.

News : 1-7 Sep 2013

• Google said the next version of Android will be called ‘KitKat’ in keeping with its penchant for giving tasty names to its software for powering mobile devices.
• India’s advanced multi-band communication satellite GSAT-7, launched from French Guiana by European space consortium Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket on August 30, has been successfully placed in the geosynchronous orbit with an altitude of about 36,000 km above earth surface.
• After Ymail and Flicker revamp, Yahoo Inc. now unveils new logo.Yahoo’s $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, an Internet blogging service.
• A rhino gave birth to a male calf in the Assam State Zoo here . This is the first calf born under the ex-situ conservation programme of the Asian rhino.
• India and the UK have formed a green energy forum to enhance and acclerate activities in clean energy.
• The Forward Markets Commission (FMC), chief regulator of forwards and futures commodity markets in India, will, henceforth, be overseen by the Ministry of Finance instead of the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Food.The FMC is a statutory body set up under the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1952. Till March 2009, it had regulated Rs. 52 trillion worth of commodity trade.
• Reserve Bank of India  allowed them to carry Indian currency of up to Rs.10,000 per person from 7,500.
• Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday downgraded subordinated debt ratings of 11 Indian banks, including SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.
• The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday allowed banks to swap funds mobilised through foreign currency deposits to attract overseas funds.More.
• Raghuram Rajan takes over as RBI Governor.
• British telecom giant BT has called off its dial-up Internet access service as the vast majority of its 6.8 million broadband customers have switched to much faster connections.
• The Cabinet approved the India-Abu Dhabi bilateral air services agreement enabling their airlines to fly 50,000 seats each week, up from the current level of 13,700.
• Nokia sell its main handset division to Microsoft for 5.44 billion euro($7.2 billion).
• Danish pharmaceutical major Novo Nordisk  said it would soon launch its insulin injection Tresiba (insulin degludec) in India.
• Parliamentary Standing Committee’s report on the “Alleged Irregularities in the Conduct of Studies Using Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccine by PATH in India.In the trials, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), with the support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), approval from the Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB) [all three private international parties], donations from Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and Glaxo SmithKline (GSK), in partnership with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and along with the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, through the national vaccination programme, delivered and administered HPV vaccines to 10-14-year-old girls in Khammam (A.P.) and Vadodara (Gujarat) districts.
• Pakistan RTI draft promises to hold defence department accountable
• U.S. President Barack Obama has sought congressional approval for limited military intervention in Syria to win more support for his plan to punish the Bashar al-Assad regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons.US is having support of France.
• U.S. President Barack Obama has sought congressional approval for limited military intervention in Syria to win more support for his plan to punish the Bashar al-Assad regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons.
• Bhutan has assured India that the security of the two countries is entwined and during its Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay’s first overseas visit after wining the elections, reiterated Thimphu’s desire to continue with the cooperation
• As its current account deficit widens and the value of the rupee dwindles, India plans to increase crude oil imports from Iran so as to save $8.5 billion in foreign exchange.It will save foreign reserve as India would be paying in Rupees.
• Sir David Frost, the journalist and broadcaster died.Frost, who was knighted in 1993, helped to establish London Weekend Television and TV-am.
• Uzhavan Express (Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways and runs between Chennai Egmore and Thanjavur Jn) that was flagged off from here on September 1, qualifies to be called a ‘green express’ as bio-toilets have been fitted into 34 of its 36 coaches.The first bio-toilet-fitted train, Gwalior-Varanasi Bundelkhand Express, has been running since January 2011.
• The Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is in for more trouble as the Comptroller and Auditor-General has questioned the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry over the recent gas price increase and wanted to know the steps taken to ensure that the operator (RIL-BP) delivers gas at $4.2 mbtu as per the approved production plan.
• Reprieve for RTI as bill to insulate parties is deferred.The government has decided to refer the RTI [Amendment] Bill, 2013, to the standing committee of Parliament because the order passed by the Central Information Commission bringing political parties within the purview of ‘public authority’ under the RTI Act needs elaborate study.The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 13, seeks to insert an explanation in Section 2 of the RTI Act regarding public authority. It states, “Authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted by any law made by Parliament shall not include any association or body of individuals registered or recognised as a political party under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”The Bill has a new Section 31 in the principal Act which says the amendment will apply “notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any court or commission..,” and will prevail over “any other law for the time being in force.”
• Deepak Sandhu, who has been an information commissioner for the last four years, on Thursday became the first woman Chief Information Commissioner of the country.
• Negating a Supreme Court order, Parliament on Friday passed a bill that maintains the right of those in jail to contest polls.SC accepted to review the ruling to banned person from contesting election if in custodyThe Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013 was rushed through in the Lok Sabha and passed .The Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on August 27. The Amendment Bill seeks to add a proviso to sub-section (2) of section 62 of the RP Act to state that a person cannot cease to be a voter while in detention as his or her right is only temporarily suspended.One of the amendments states that as the name of the jailed person continues to be on the electoral rolls, he or she also continues to be an elector and can file nomination for an election.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would address the United Nations General assembly on September 28, according to the latest provisional list of speakers released by the U.N.
•  The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group made progress in the creation of a $100-billion Currency Reserve Fund (CRF) by announcing individual contribution.China will contribute $41 billion, while Brazil, Russia and India will chip in with $18 billion each. South Africa, the smallest economy, will commit only $5 billion to the CRF.
• President Pranab Mukherjee confers the the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony to Zubin Mehta, western classical music conductor of Indian-Parsi origin
• The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill, 2011, was passed in the Rajya Sabha and now passed by Lok Sabha.
• The Rajya Sabha  passed a Constitution 120 th amendment Bill to create a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) which will replace the collegium system of appointing judges to higher courts.