National Political News:
1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Silicon Valley,California, United States regarded as the Mecca of World IT sector.
- The Prime Minister participated in a townhall Q&A session alongside Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook at their headquarters. The Prime Minister also visited Google and Microsoft headquarters and has held discussions with Sunder Picchai,CEO of Google and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft respectively.
- Google will setup a free WiFi at 500 different railway stations across India and Microsoft shall bring in low cost broadband connectivity to 5 lakh Indian villages as a result of these meetings of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Qualcomm, world’s leading chipmaker, shall be investing $150 million in Indian mobile and Internet of ‘everything startups’ in the country.
- The Prime Minister also visited Tesla Motors and expressed interest in their Powerwall battery technology which ensures storage of electricity for very long periods. Powerwall technology can help areas in Indian agriculture where there is no electricity till now.
- Prime Minister Modi wound up his US visit with a visit to UN headquarters for the 70th General Assembly meet and also attended a ritual heads of state lunch hosted by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
- United States, United Kingdom and France support Indian bid for UN Security Council permanent member seat. China has expressed its reservations on the issue because of India making a common cause for the Security Council seat with the group of four whose other members are Germany, Japan and Brazil.
2. A MCOCA Court in Mumbai awards five bomb planters death sentence and their seven other associates get life term in the Mumbai suburban train blast which took place on July 11, 2006.
3. INS Kochi, stealth guided missile destroyer designed by Indian Directorate of Naval design was commissioned in the Indian Navy by the Defence Minister Mohan Parrikar at a ceremony in Mumbai. The warship can attain a speed of 30 knots and is propelled by 4 gas turbines. Its stealth features allow it to pass undetected by enemy radar. It has an array of sophisticated weapons, sensors, advanced missile systems – Brahmos supersonic cruise missile and long range surface to air missiles and submarine rocket launchers.
International Political News:
1. France launches air strikes against Islamic State training centers in Syria as an act of self defense. France felt that militants were being prepared/ trained at these training centers for attacks on France. A terrorist organisation known as ‘Daesh’ operates from Syria for attacks on France as claimed by it.
On the other hand, 30,000 foreign fighters from America, Britain and France have clandestinely travelled to Iraq and Syria since 2011 to become a part of ISIS.
ISIS Militants had previously attacked a satirical magazine headquarter Charlie Hebdo in Paris killing 12 people.
2. Citizens of Catalonia, Spain’s most progressive state have voted for Independence from Spain. The city of Barcelona known for soccer clubs is the capital of Catalonia. The separatists vote and plan for independence has been rubbished by the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
3. Russia and the USA principally decide to look for a diplomatic end to Syrian civil war on the side lines of the UN General Assembly meet. A 90 minute meeting took place between Presidents Putin and Obama to salvage the conflict in Syria. Russia supports the current President of Syria Bashar al-Assad who is opposed by the American’s and the West.
4. Afghan forces backed by US Air Force strike Taliban militants in the battle for the city of Kunduz, which has been retaken by the Government forces from the Taliban.
Business News
1. Forward Market Commission (FMC), a regulator for commodities derivatives, has been merged with the Security Exchange Control Board of India (SEBI). FMC and SEBI merger would bring about convergence of regulations in the commodities and equities derivatives market.
2. In a significant move, the RBI cut repo rate by 0.5% in a front loading move to revive the Indian economy. It is likely that enhanced capital flows in FDI and FII are likely in India as a result of this move. This move is a big a boost for auto and home sales. The Indian market Index Sensex rallied by 700 points on the basis of this news.
3. The Nikkei manufacturing purchase manager’s index for India declined to 51.2 in September from 52.3 in August this year. This has resulted in lower sales of auto and other capital goods. It is presumed to be the result of below normal rainfall attributed to ELNINO effect.
Science and Technology
1. NASA and a Brooklyn US based company Honeybee Robotics at Brooklyn Naval yard tie up to create a space shortgun. The shortgun will endeavor to chip off an Asteroid and shift its part into a moon orbit and then send a man moon mission to collect the debris of asteroid samples on the moon for analysis. The concept is to check solidity of an asteroid by measuring the rebound speed of the projectile fired at it.
2. India has launched from Sriharikota, which is around 80 km from Chennai Astrosat a space observatory from a PSLV – XL rocket carrying seven satellites – 5 from India and 1 each from Canada and Indonesia.
3. Scientist at NASA ,USA have confirmed that briny water flowed on the surface of Mars. The chemistry of this briny water is still under observation.
Sports
1. Indian Cueist Pankaj Advani wins the World Billiard title at IBSF World Billiards Championship in Adelaide, Australia by beating Peter Gilchrist of Singapore by 1168 points. 30 year old Advani is a master in the 3 ball game having pocketed 14 world titles previously.
2. India’s Olympic Champion Abhinav Bindra wins the Gold medal with a score of 208.3 points in the 10 Meter Air Rifle Event at the 8thAsian Air Gun Championship in New Delhi. Also India’s Ayonika Paul wins the bronze medal in 10 Meter Air Rifle women’s event.
3. Typhoon – Frank Tyson Ex England test cricketer dies at the age of 85 in Sydney, Australia. He was regarded as the fastest bowler of all times in the game of Cricket.
4. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes team wins the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to equal the all-time great Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 formula one victories in auto racing.
5. India lose the second T-20 International Cricket Match to South Africa in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.
