HEADLINES
- Putin wins presidential elections marred by reports of violation
- Super sonic cruise missile BrahMos test fired successfully
NATIONAL
NEWS
- Putin wins presidential elections, marred by reports of violation
- Opposition activists and observers have reported thousands of violations that involved multiple voting, known as “carousels,” voting without proper documents and non-admission of monitors to polling stations.
- The elections watchdog agency Golos has received more than 3,000 complaints of violations.
- Nebraska to use made in India drug for execution
- A prison in Nebraska to use a made-in-India chemical for killing a death-row inmate.
- The drug, unconsciousness-inducing sodium thiopental, was procured fraudulently from its manufacturer — who is “shocked and appalled” at its proposed use — is an additional twist to this saga of a growing trans-border death-trade.
- Michael Ryan, on death row for double murder will be killed by injecting the drug manufactured in a small village in uttrakand
- It will also come as a blow to the proprietors of Naari, a Swiss-Indian pharma company,which has argued that the 485 grams of sodium thiopental, now in the possession of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS), was taken from it under false pretences by a middleman called Chris Harris
- Political thrust needed in implementing IAP
- Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has suggested a paradigm shift in the implementation of the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) in 78 Left wing affected (LWE) districts to give a political thrust to combat Naxalism in these regions
- Mr. Ramesh's has suggested to Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia to hand over the responsibility of coordination and implementation to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, (At present the Ministry of Rural Development is shouldering this responsibility.) during the 12th 5 year plan for better impact
- He has also opposed uniform coverage of all 78 districts, stressing that only 20 of these were acutely affected by Naxalism
- Mr. Ramesh prescribed considering blocks as a unit for addressing the problems better.
- 'Krishna Doctrine' for Indian mission
- the Minister made it plain that diplomats need to make a conscious effort to shed elitism, and respond with humility and urgency to the needs of Indian nationals abroad – especially those in distress.
- To shoulder the expanded workload, changes were being made in the administrative structure of the Indian missions. Dedicated welfare officers would soon be posted in embassies and they will be accessible to the community round-the-clock.
- A weekly “open day” would be designated where interaction with the community at a mass level would be possible.
- The ambassadors would be asked to earmark two hours every week to address the needs of Indians in distress
- Under a new accountability system, they would monitor the official response to the complaints, including time lines within which they have been addressed.
- India, Egypt pledge to build afresh.
- The two countries had identified Information Technology as a thrust area for joint forays.
- Both countries signed documents on Sunday to work together in agriculture, culture and environmental protection.
- India has decided to fully engage with the Muslim Brotherhood, which has emerged as a dominant force after the country's recent parliamentary elections.
- Sovereign guarantee likely for Iran imports
- The Union government is ‘favourably' looking into the demand of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and state-run Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) for amendment to shipping laws and providing for ‘sovereign guarantee' and Cost and Freight (C&F) mode for crude oil import shipping consignments from Iran.
- The government was also actively looking into the issue of exempting payments made to Iran under the agreed rupee mode from imposition of ‘withholding tax' to tackle the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European Union.
- Under the present law, India allows import of crude oil by OMCs under the FOB mode. Now the OMCs have cited EU and U.S. sanctions and the difficulties being faced in getting insurance cover for the consignments as the reason for the government to invoke the ‘sovereign guarantee' clause and allow delivery under C&F mode. C&F is a term of sale which means the seller will bear all expenses barring insurance charged up to the named port of destination.
- The OMCs raised concerns stating that the whole exercise of payment under the rupee mode could turn futile until the Finance Ministry exempted payments from massive local taxes.
- Iranian supplier, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), will be the main mechanism for import of crude into India and for receiving payments.
- SCI, which has the biggest fleet of tankers, has conveyed to the government that it will not get international insurance cover following EU sanctions.
INTERNATIONAL
- MIT's initiative to promote online learning
- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has launched MITx, under which selection of its courses will be offered through an online interactive learning platform.
- 150 people killed in Congo blasts
- At least 150 people were killed in a series of explosions at a munitions depot in the Congolose capital of Brazzaville.
- River Congo flows through Brazzaville. Equator passes through the country of congo
- Call for urgent action against Somalia
- Leading nations, including India, on Thursday agreed that the international community must respond urgently to the crisis in Somalia, described by Prime Minister David Cameron as the “world's worst failed state”, blighted by two decades of civil war and famine and caught up in a vortex of terrorism, piracy and famine.
EDITORIALS,
OPINIONS AND COLUMNS
- An article on the recent forest fires in the Nagarohole national park of Karnataka
- Editorial on the resolution against Sri Lanka in the ongoing UN human rights council at geneva
- A nice article on the disinvestment fiasco
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