Friday, 15th June, 2012

HEADLINES

• After mamata's googly congress in damage control mode
• Paddy MSP raised by rs.170 per quintal; Urad and groundnut by Rs.1000/-
• Headline inflation puts RBI in a fix; Confused whether to support the flagging growth momentum or tackle inflationary pressure.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Indian funds in swiss banks go up
  • Switzerland said the quantum of money held by Indians in Swiss banks stood at 2.18 billion Swiss francs (about Rs. 12,740 crore) at the end of 2011, having risen for the first time in the past five years.
  • The total funds held by Indian individuals and entities include 2.025 billion Swiss francs held directly by them and 158 million Swiss francs held through ‘fiduciaries' or wealth managers, shows the latest data disclosed by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in its annual handbook on Swiss banks published on Thursday.
  • The funds, described by the SNB as ‘liabilities' of Swiss banks towards their clients from India, are the official figures disclosed by the Swiss authorities and do not indicate the quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held by Indians in the safe havens of Switzerland.
    
    
• Allen stanford gets 110 years in jail
  • Financier and cricket mogul Allen Stanford, 62, was on Thursday sentenced to 110 years in jail for a $7-billion Ponzi scheme. The ruling closes the book on the flamboyant ex-tycoon's fall from grace.
    
    
• Joint programme by India – US universities soon
  • Proposals to enable US and Indian universities to offer joint degrees under which students from India complete a part of the course in the US is under active consideration
  • This was part of the dialogue between Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
  • However, there were some minor irritants like bilateral acceptance of degrees awarded by some universities and years of study, among others. A dialogue is on to address such issues, he said and hoped that the policy makers would empower the bureaucrats to issue certificates of equivalence and make it easy for students.
    
    
• Woman athlete accused of being a man and of rape
  • Pinky Pramanik, who had won a gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in the 4x400 meters relay event, was accused of rape and torture by her neighbour. The victim has alleged that the athlete is actually a man who had maintained sexual relations with her on the promise of marrying her.
    
    
• Lakshar e – taiba resumes online jihad
  • Four years after it was forced to shut down its website in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Lashkar-e-Taiba's parent organisation has re-established its presence in cyberspace.
  • The internet registry service www.who.is does not hold ownership details for the Jama'at website, but records it is hosted by the Karachi-based internet service Magsnet

• Rs. 1100/- crore for natgrid
  • The Centre on Thursday approved Rs.1,100 crore for purchase of hi-tech equipment for the National Intelligence Grid, cleared by the Cabinet last year. The NATGRID will pool information from 21 categories of database including rail and air travel, income tax, bank account details, credit card transactions and visa and immigration records for ready access by intelligence agencies
  • The NATGRID was conceptualised after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to facilitate robust information sharing by security and law enforcement agencies. It will give 11 agencies — including the RAW, the IB, the ED, the National Investigation Agency, the CBI, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the Narcotics Control Bureau — access to the combined data.

INTERNATIONAL

• Brotherhood defiant as court dissolves parliament
  • Egypt's highest court has ordered the dissolution of Parliament, dominated by Islamists, saying that conduct of the elections held around six months ago was unconstitutional.
  • Farouk Sultan, head of the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC), however said the Shura Council, the Upper House, would not be dissolved. Also, all decisions made by the People's Assembly would remain valid

• China moves closer to space mission
  • China moved a step closer to the launch of its first manned space docking mission by moving the carrier rocket of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft into its “ready to launch” status and injecting it with propellant
  • The much anticipated launch, which could take place as early as this weekend, has been closely followed in China with one of the three crew members set to become the first Chinese woman in space

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• A very good article on universal health coverage by a professor of CMC
• An article on nuclear energy from a volunteer of chennai solidarity group for Kudankulam struggle
• An interesting editorial on the debate of God vs Science
• Editorial on India – US strategic partnership
• An opinion of article 370