National Political News
1. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a state visit to India have agreed to move vigorously on the Indo German ‘Climate and Renewable Alliance’. The 7 focus areas of this alliance are:
(i) Solar technology next generation
(ii) Renewable energy storage
(iii) Climate friendly space cooling technologies
(iv) Super efficient appliances and buildings
(v) Zero emission passenger and freight vehicles
(vi) Energy efficient rail and water infrastructure
(vii) Offshore wind harnessing.
Germany shall provide India with soft loans to the tune of Euro 1.15 billion for solar projects in India during the next 5 years.
2. 4 Jawans of Rashtriya Rifles specialists in counter insurgency killed in an overnight fight with militants in Hafruda forests of Handswara, 85 km North of Srinagar in Kupwara district of Kashmir. Hafruda forest are dense with thick undergrowth and are known for deadly encounters being terrorist hideouts.
3. Slanging matches over the Beef ban issue between the ruling BJP Party sympathizers and the opposition parties of the UPA combine spill over to the Bihar election scene where first phase of polling has ended for the Bihar legislative assembly.
International Political News
1. ISIS Claims responsibility for killing of 2 foreigners including a Japanese in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh government claims it to be a work of the opposition BNP Jamaat Alliance to tarnish the image of the Government there.
2. The Nepalese Government is distraught with India over the Madhesiissue and the changes desired by India in the New Nepalese constitution. Nepal is thus looking towards China for comfort and is keen on opening trade route thru three passes to China thru the Himalayas shut after the devastating earth quake in April last. Tibet’s Khasatown is a dry port for Sino–Nepalese trade where these passes- roads leading from them converge.
3. Russian jet fighters / bombers violate Turkish Air Space during bombing on ISIS targets in Syria. Turkey has cautioned Russia over violation of its Air space.
4. 22 person killed in a mistaken air strike by American war planes on a hospital in the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan while launching air strikes against the Taliban.
5. North Korea continues with its rant against the U.S. on the occasion of 70th anniversary of ruling workers party which culminated with a massive military parade presided over by its leader Kim Jong Un in its capital Pyongyang.
Business News
1. The India VIX continues to be highly volatile. The VIX is a volatility index in the stock markets and is a measure of market expectations volatility over a period of time. It is measured from implied volatility of index options. Indian VIX was launched in March 2009 under arrangement with Chicago Board Option Exchange (CBOE).
2. CBI raid various branches of Bank of Baroda in Delhi along with residences of its officers in the on-going forex scam involving cash deposits of Rs. 6172 crores for onward transmission to some firms in Hong Kong.
3. Kingfisher’s Vijay Mallaya’s five residencies and offices in locations such as Bangalore, Goa and Bombay have been raided by CBI in the Rs. 900 crore advances scam pertaining to funds released by IDBI Bank.
Science and Technology:
1. Nobel Prize.
a. 3 scientists, Irish born 85 year old William Campbell, Japan’s 80 year old Satoshi Omura and China’s 84 year old Tu Youyou have been awarded the prize in the field of medicine for developing antidotes Aver mectin also known as Ivermectin to cure devastating parasitic diseases. These drugs virtually cure river blindness and filariasis, also known as elephantiasis, which are life threatening.
b. In the field of Physics, the prize has been won by Canadian Arthur Macdonald and Japanese Takaaki Kajita. They made a breakthrough in a phenomenon called neutrino oscillation, to determine the history and future fate of the cosmos. Neutrinos are second most abundant particles in the universe after photons of light. Neutrino are minisule particles created in nuclear reactions such as in Sun/Stars or in nuclear power plants.
c. The Nobel prize for Chemistry has been won by 3 scientists Tomar Lindahl of Sweden, Paul Modrich of America and Aziz Sancar of Turkey for their research on how cells repair the damaged de oxy ribonucleic acid (DNA) chain.
Sports
1. 2nd T-20 International Cricket Match played at Cuttack between India and South Africa is marred by crowd trouble. Bottles rained in as India collapsed to 92 in 17.2 overs and lost to South Africa who made the necessary runs in 17.1 overs.
2. Indian men’s hockey team defeated New Zealand 3–1 in the second test at Nelson, New Zealand to level the 4 match series 1–1.
3. Indian boxer Vijender Singh wins his profession debut against Britain’s Sonny Whiting by a knock out in the middle weight category at Manchester in England.
