14 November 2014
National:
Nehru's 125th birth anniversary: Govt to launch Bal Swachhta
Mission
Government launched
a nationwide mission called Bal Swachhta Mission to mark Jawahar Lal Nehru's
125th birth anniversary. The day is also being celebrated as Children's Day.
Under the Bal Swachhta Mission, a cleanliness drive will be organized in
schools across the country between 14th and 19th of this month. A series of
functions including lecture, debate and symposium are being organized across
the country to mark the day. The nation is remembering the country's first
Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru on his 125th birth anniversary. He was
the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement and served the nation
as Prime Minister for more than 16 years. Nehru is also considered as the
architect of the modern Indian nation-state.
Hindustan Times, The Week win IPI Award
The IPI India Award
for Excellence in Journalism, 2014, has been awarded jointly to ‘Hindustan
Times’ and ‘The Week’ for “outstanding journalistic work” during 2013.
Hindustan Times has been chosen for the award for a series of stories it did in
2013 on acid attacks on women, sufferings of the victims and how some of them
carried on with the fight. The series culminated in a campaign called “Stop
Acid Attacks” to enlist the support of society for the cause. The award went to
The Week for an investigative feature on the plight of widows of Dardpora in
Kashmir, who lost their husbands in the strife in the Valley. Justice A.S.
Anand, former CJI, headed the jury. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs. 1
lakh, a trophy and a citation for each winner.
Indo-China joint exercise Hand-in-Hand 2014 to commence in Pune
on Nov16
Joint Exercises
between India and China, the Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2014 is all set to commence
at Aundh Camp, at Pune in Maharashtra on Nov16. This will be the fourth joint
training exercise by the Indian Army with People’s Liberation Army of China.
While the second edition of the exercise was held at Belgaum in 2008, it has
been conducted twice in China in 2007 & 2013. The aim of the joint training
is to share the drills and practices learnt while tackling insurgency and terrorism,
thereby promoting healthy military to military relations between the two Armies
and developing joint strategies of conducting operations in a counter terrorism
environment.
International:
Frog named after Ozzy Osbourne
Scientists have
named a new species of frog Pendropsophus ozzy in honour of rocker Ozzy
Osbourne. The scientists gave the frog its name because the rocker had once
infamously bitten the head off a bat during a gig in 1982. Once the team
brought the creature — a species of tree frog with unusually long fingers and
toes — back to the lab, they “kept talking about the ‘bat frog’, which led to
us talking about being fans of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
MSF to begin Ebola drug trials
Global aid agency
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF or Doctors Without Borders) said it would begin
unprecedented trials within a month on Ebola drugs. The trials in Guinea are
aimed at rushing out an emergency therapy to battle an epidemic which has taken
more than 5,000 lives since December. The first trials are due to start in
December and results could be available by February next year. Ebola,
transmitted through bodily fluids, leads to haemorrhagic fever and — in an
estimated 70 per cent of cases in the current outbreak — death. There is no
specific treatment regime and, as yet, no licensed vaccine — although one of
the leading candidates, known as ChAd3 and made by Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline,
is being tested in Mali and elsewhere.
Sapphire from Kashmir sells for world record $ 6 million
A rare step-cut Kashmir
sapphire in rich velvety blue has sold for a world record at a Sotheby's
auction in Geneva, where it fetched $ 6 million. A rare 27.54 carat step-cut
Kashmir sapphire which exhibited a rich, saturated velvety blue colour achieved
$ 5,984,474, a world auction record for a Kashmir sapphire. The gem was
purchased by a buyer from Asia. Previous record was set by a Kashmir sapphire
weighing 28.18 carats when it sold for $ 5,093,000 at Sotheby's New York in
April 2014. Kashmir sapphires sport a rich lustrous blue colour often compared
to that of a cornflower. In the 1880s a landslide in Kashmir, caused the
legendary sapphires to be discovered. With a limited production, Kashmir
sapphires make up a tiny percentage of the world's total sapphire supply.
Business & Economy:
Indian-origin banker Kunal Shah becomes youngest Partner
at Goldman Sachs
Kunal Shah, a
32-year old Indian- origin managing director at Goldman Sachs is among the 78
individuals to be promoted to the position of Partner, becoming the youngest to
be inducted into the investment giant’s most coveted club. Shah is one of the
five persons of Indian-origin to have made the cut in Goldman Sachs in 2014
class of Partners. He was promoted to managing director at the investment
banking giant at the age of 27. The Cambridge University math grad was also
named in Forbes ’30 under 30′ Finance list in 2011. The other persons of
Indian-origin named to the firm’s elite group are Meena Lakdawala Flynn,
Manikandan Natarajan, Umesh Subramanian and Rajesh Venkataramani. Lloyd
Blankfein is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Gary Cohn is the
President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs selects
its partners every two years through an extremely secretive and rigorous
month-long selection process. The record for becoming the youngest Goldman
Sachs Partner is held by Eric Mindich who was promoted in 1994 at the age of
27. Goldman now has 467 partners, an elite group that represents about 1.6 per
cent of its 33,500-strong workforce.
Sundaram Mutual launches world brand fund
Sundaram Mutual has
announced the launch of its new scheme, the Sundaram World Brand Fund, a
five-year closed-ended equity scheme. The fund aims to invest 65 per cent to
100 per cent of the scheme’s assets under management (AUMs) in equity
securities listed on stock exchanges across the world.
The equity
securities of world’s strong brands and those with the potential to become
globally recognised brands will be targeted for investments under this scheme.
For investment in international securities, Sundaram Asset Management Company
(AMC) has entered into an agreement with Sundaram AMC Singapore to act as
investment advisors. The new fund offer (NFO) opens for the subscription on
November 20, and closes on December 02, 2014.
6 Indian infra projects figure in KPMG world markets
Delhi Metro, Yamuna
expressway and Tata Power’s Mundra ultra mega power project in Gujarat are
among the six ventures that have figured in the list of world’s most
innovative, impactful infrastructure projects prepared by international
accounting firm KPMG. The other three projects in the KPMG’s Infrastructure
100: World Markets report is Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT),
Interceptor Sewage System and Narmada Canal Solar project. These projects were
evaluated on the basis of their scale, feasibility, complexity, innovation and
impact on society.
Sports:
Rohit Sharma makes highest ever 264 runs in ODI
India rode on Rohit
Sharma's great double-century in the fourth ODI to get past a hapless Sri
Lanka, who was found wanting all throughout the match at Eden Gardens in
Kolkata. Skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. Both the
openers, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma vindicated Kohli's choice of batting
first and took India off to a flyer before Rahane got out against the run of
play. Rohit created history making highest ever ODI score of 264 runs off just
173 balls while Virat Kohli made 66 runs. It was Rohit's second double century
in ODI. India beat Srilanka by 153 runs as chasing the mammoth target of 405
runs; visitors were all out at just 251 in 43.1 overs. Earlier India made 404
for 5 in stipulated 50 overs. The fifth and final match will be played in
Ranchi.
Sajan Prakash creates new National record
Sajan Prakash of
Railways sank the men’s 1500m freestyle record before booking a ticket to the
FINA World championships on the second day of the 68th senior National aquatic
championship in Kolkata. Prakash, who had missed the 400m freestyle gold to
challenger Saurabh Sangvekar of Maharashtra on the opening day, rebounded in
style to win in the longer format. The 15:45.83s timed by the young Railways
swimmer sunk the national record created by Sangvekar in 2011.
AIFF signs agreement with Brazilian club
In order to help young footballers of
the country grow in the lead-up to the FIFA under-17 World Cup to be held in
India, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has signed a renewable one-year
contract with Brazilian club Atletico Paranaense. According to AIFF general secretary
Kushal Das, the partnership would enable Indian players to spend at least 30
days a year on the club premises, participate in training and play tournaments.
For the first time the AIFF has entered such collaboration.
India clinches three gold medals
Chakravarthi Reddy
(under-18), Parnali Dharia (girls under-18) and R. Vaishali (girls under-14)
claimed gold medals for India in the Asian youth chess championship that
concluded in New Delhi. India finished with three gold, five silver and two
bronze medals out of the 18 at stake spread over six categories.
Kohli named ambassador
India’s Virat Kohli
, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum
and Sri Lankan veteran Kumar Sangakkara have been appointed ambassadors for
2015 ICC World Cup.
