National Political News:
1. Stalemate continues in Rajya Sabha over the passage of Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill. BJP leader claimed that Congress leadership is behind the impasse and stalling of the GST bill.
The 23 day offensive of the Congress party to censure the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in the ex- IPL commissioner Lalit Modi controversy came to an end in Parliament ,when the Lok Sabha defeated the Congress party adjournment motion to censure the minister over her link with Lalit Modi and favoring him to get a UK travel document for Portugal. Lalit Modi the ex IPL Commissioner is an economic offender as per the Enforcement Directorate of Government of India.
2. Devotees to the Jharkhand temple Baidyanath Dham suffered a stampede while queuing up disorderly to pay obeisance for the Sawan month ceremony. 10 pilgrims got killed and 30 were hurt when the pressure of the crowd increased between 3 to 4 a.m.
3. The tie up of RJD, JDU and Congress parties for forthcoming Bihar assembly elections has reached finality with the announcement of seat sharing by Bihar Chief minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Congress party’s C.P. Joshi. 100 seats have been allotted to the RJD and JDU each, 40 for the Congress and the balance 3 left for NCP to contest in the 243 seat Bihar assembly elections.
International Political News:
1. The 70th anniversary of atomic bombing of Nagasaki by American bombers on Aug 9, 1945 that claimed 74000 lives and maimed many more was attended by representatives from 75 countries including the US. PM Shinzo Abe of Japan laid the wreath at the memorial in Nagasaki Peace Park.The Japanese city of Hiroshima was also bombed by an atom bomb 3 days prior to Nagasaki bombing and suffered total devastation.
2. Eastern China hit by Typhoon Soudelor, causing heavy rains, the heaviest in the century and with wind speed up to 230 km/ hour that left a trail of destruction in Wenzhou city of Zhejiang province. Other Chinese provinces affected by the typhoon are Jianxi and Anhui.
3. US consulate in Istanbul, the European continent part of Turkey was attacked after Turkish Government crackdown on ISIS, Kurdish and Far left militants. 11 persons were killed in the shootings at various places in Turkey by suspected militants belonging to these outfits.
4. The US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has decided to give her private server to US government for Investigations into her Email record ,asUS secretary of state for 4 years. The issue raised by her opponent Republicans and others was regarding leakage of Government confidential data on her private server while she was conducting work as the top US diplomat.
Business News:
1. The Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Kalraj Mishra in a written statement in Parliament has stated that the major product groups affected by Chinese imports are:–
Electrical and Electronics, Mechanical and Metallurgical products, Chemical, Glass and Ceramic products.
2. The Chinese currency ‘Yuan’ has been devalued by the Chinese central bank by 2% against the American Dollar. China is grappling with an economic slowdown caused by reduced exports. Indian markets are singed by this move as the Indian market stock index Nifty drops by 1.33% and Rupee is quoting at about 65 Rupees to a dollar.
3. Sunder Pichai, 43 year old Chennai born IIT graduate from Kharagpur will head Alphabet which includes the following businesses :–
(i) Google, Search, Maps, Youtube, Chrome and Android
(ii) Moonshot projects – Calico (Life extension biotech research)
(iii) Xlab – (Research incubator that includes projects like self-driving cars and delivery drones)
(iv) Nest labs – Home automation company that designs to connect all devices to internet.
(v) Investment Arms, Ventures and Capital.
4. Consumer inflation index for July fell to 3.78% whereas industrial production grew by 3.8% for June. Finally there are some green shoots in the Indian economy.
Science and Technology:
1. NASA’s Kepler mission has found a planet orbiting in the habitable zone between 2 stars. This is the 10thsuch exoplanet located by NASA’s Kepler mission. The planet has been termed as Kepler 453 b. The planet was discovered by chance when it was in line of sight of the Earth. Its orbit is erratic being subject to gravitational pull of 2 stars. Its radius is 6.2 times that of earth and it is spinning like a top.
Sports:
1. Smashing Sania Mirza has been picked up for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award by the Government. The selection was done by a 12 member selection committee headed by the former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court V.K. Bali.
2. The first Cricket Test Match between India and Sri Lanka also known as the emerald Island has been through various twist and turns with Sri Lanka finally winning the match by 63 runs.
India scored 375 all out in the first innings and 112 all out in the second innings. Sri Lanka replied with 183 all out in the first innings and367 all out in the second innings.
3. Saina Nehwal has won the women’s singles runner up silver medal at the World Badminton championships played in Jakarta.
