Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Key accused in Guwahati molestation case Amarjyoti kalita held in Varanasi

NATIONAL NEWS

• Haj discretionary quota reduced
  • The Supreme Court has reduced the number of seats to 300 from the 5,050 recommended under the government’s discretionary quota for the 2012 Haj pilgrimage and hoped representation for them would be made on “reasonable basis”
• Tamil nadu allowed to carry out repairs in Mullaiperiyar dam
  • The Supreme Court on Monday permitted Tamil Nadu to carry out repair and maintenance works on the Mullaperiyar dam in the presence of the Superintending Engineer of Kerala and an independent member nominated by the Chairman of the Central Water Commission.
  • The Bench allowed Tamil Nadu to clean the stilling basin to fill up the eroded pockets with Epoxy concrete; reaming the drainage holes in the drainage galleries, and all periodical routine maintenance works.
• US wants Inida to raise the defence FDI ceiling
  • U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defence Department Dr. Ashton B. Carter said if India raised its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) ceiling in defence to international standards, it would increase commercial incentives to invest.
  • In an interactive session on “U.S.-India Defence Cooperation: The Way Forward,” organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he also referred to India’s policy of offsets which, he said, could be helpful to growing industry capabilities – if there were the right companies, and the right absorptive capacity.
  • The defence procurement policy specified that a foreign armament company, which bagged an arms deal over Rs. 300 crore, must plough back at least 30 per cent of the contract value back into India as offsets.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Pakistan probes olympics visa scam
  • Pakistan ordered an investigation into a ‘visa scam’ aimed at facilitating access to the London Olympics as part of the country’s Olympic squad. Unveiled by the British tabloid The Sun , the report “Olympic ‘terror visas’ racket” claimed that terrorists could have accessed the Games with these doctored travel documents
• Scientist create artificial jelly fish
  • Using cells from rat hearts and a seer polymer film, scientists on Sunday reported they had created an artificial jellyfish that could one day help save patients with heart disease.
  • The exploit marks an advance in so-called biomimicry, in which a natural wonder inspires copycat innovation in the lab.
  • The interest in the jellyfish lies in its remarkable swimming ability, which comes from muscles that open its bell-like body and then contract it, thus ejecting water and driving the creature along.
  • As a result, it offers tempting insights for scientists hoping to make small, reliable heart pumps for the future.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• A nice article on the impact of films in our lives
• Do you think racism is no longer there? Read this article
• Another article on arab spring
• Problems faced by the polio campaign in pakistan
• Editorial on family planning