Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Pakistan tests nuclear capable Hatf VII cruise missile with a range of 700 metres
• DK.Joshi is next navy chief
• INS vikramaditya set for pre induction trials
• Monsoon arrives in Kerala

NATIONAL NEWS

• CRZ green signal for four more kudankulam units
  • The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has received the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for starting work on the next four units (KKNPP units 3-6).
  • The NPCIL has to submit a schematic diagram of its outfall and technical details to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) before commencing the work.
  • The MoEF has also asked NPCIL to carry out regular monitoring at the outfall point, especially for temperature and marine life quality.
  • It must also monitor all physical, chemical and biological parameters, including radioactivity, regularly.
    
    
• India to get first look at rising chinese leader.
  • Indian officials will get their first opportunity to engage with a key figure of the next generation of the Chinese leadership.
  • Mr. Li Keqiang, the anointed successor of Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-President Xi Jinping, the anointed successor of General Secretary and President Hu Jintao, are the only two members of the current Politburo Standing Committee who will retain their positions in the powerful nine-member body, which effectively runs China, following the transition.
    
    
• Ex- Director of institute of astra physicist Mr. J.C. Bhattacharya passed away
• India supports global funding of health R&D for poor
  • India supports a proposed legally binding global instrument that requires all governments to share the cost of research and development (R&D). The treaty, recommended by a World Health Organisation panel, will boost access to countries least able to pay for medical innovations but need it most. This would also delink profits from medical discoveries.
  • However, the CEWG highlights two taxes — Financial Transaction Tax and Tobacco Solidarity Contribution — as potential new sources of funding that could be channelled through international mechanism to supplement national resources
  • It recommends that “all countries should commit themselves to spending at least 0.01 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on government funded R&D devoted to meeting the health needs of developing countries.''
  • In 2010, three diseases received most of the global funding for R&D: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Despite being the leading child-killer in developing countries, diarrhoeal diseases received less than 5 per cent of global R&D funding in 2010.
  • Leprosy, Buruli ulcer, trachoma — an eye infection that can lead to irreversible blindness — and rheumatic fever are among the neglected diseases of poverty that occur in overcrowded, remote and poor areas. They received less than $10 million each
    
    
• Panetta, manmohan discuss defence ties and regional securiy
  • U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta who arrived here on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed bilateral relations, including issues relating to regional security and defence relationship between the U.S. and India

• Assam annual plan pegged at Rs. 10,500/- crore
  • The Annual Plan for Assam for 2012-13 was on Tuesday finalised at Rs.10,500 crore at a meeting here between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. At this level, the Plan size is over 16% higher than the outlay for the previous fiscal.

• India's elderly needs care : UNFPA
  • Universal social pension at least from 70 years of age should be considered by the country for the welfare of its burgeoning elderly population while finalising proposals under the 12{+t}{+h}Five Year Plan, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative for India Frederika Meijer has suggested.

INTERNATIONAL

• Spain premier for bank unity plan
  • Spain's Prime Minister appealed on Tuesday for European leaders to push toward greater fiscal unity a step that would allow its troubled banks to get direct financial help

• Locusts, a threat to crops in Africa : UN
  • Croplands in Niger and Mali are at “imminent risk” from desert locust swarms that are moving southward from Algeria and Libya, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned
  • Locust infestations were first reported in southwest Libya near Ghat in January 2012 and in southeast Algeria.
  • “How many locusts there are and how far they move will depend on two major factors — the effectiveness of current control efforts in Algeria and Libya and upcoming rainfall in the Sahel of West Africa,” said FAO.
  • Both Algeria and Libya have been working hard to treat infested areas, covering a total of 40,000 hectares in Algeria and 21,000 hectares in Libya as of the end of May. Niger last faced desert locust swarms during the 2003-05 plague that affected farmers in two dozen countries.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• A must read article by Jairam Ramesh defending Saranda Action plan
• Editorial on the financial transaction tax in European Union