- IndiGo, which has grown to be the biggest airline by domestic market share, placed an order for 250 single-aisle aircraft, valued at $25.70 billion (Rs.1.50 lakh crore) at $102.8 million per aircraft.
- The Union Health Ministry has issued a notification making it mandatory for cigarette manufacturing companies to carry statutory warning against smoking on both sides of a cigarette pack and covering at least 85 per cent of the packaging (60% picture and 25% legend). Beginning April 1, 2015, every cigarette packet will carry the statutory warning on both sides with pictorial depiction of throat cancer and a message in English, Hindi or any Indian language. As per government data, the total economic costs attributable to tobacco use from all diseases in India for people in the 35-69 age group was more than Rs. 1.4 lakh crore in 2011 and the cost of premature mortality was highest in the 40-44 age group for both men and women. As per the report ‘The Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report 2014’ released in Moscow on Tuesday, India has slipped to 136th position in the list of 198 countries that warn smokers about the hazards of smoking through graphic pictures on cigarette packages. The report says though India was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, it has not complied with the minimum rules.
- China on Wednesday sharply reacted to India’s plans to construct a road network along the McMahon line in Arunachal Pradesh and expressed hope that India will not take any action which may complicate the situation before a final settlement is reached to end the boundary dispute.
-
Canada wants to share its expertise and help India meet its target of ‘Housing for All by 2022.’ It said Canada had expertise in wood-based housing technology that enables multi-story construction that India could consider to meet its ambitious housing targets & that the life span of such houses was about 60 years and was amenable for renewal. Canada also offered technology for waste water recycling.
- Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has received the Euromoney’s Central Bank Governor of the Year Award 2014 in Washington
- The Tatas received the first Vistara A320 aircraft painted with the airline’s livery. The aircraft landed at Delhi airport where the airline will be based. Vistara, the 51:49 per cent joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines is gearing to launch domestic operations soon.
- Ashok Leyland will start manufacturing and marketing electric and hybrid buses in India from next year, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make-in India’ campaign. The company is looking to bring a range of vehicles from its U.K. arm Optare to India.
- A Saudi court on Wednesday sentenced prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr to death after convicting the anti-government protest leader of “sedition”. Nimr, a driving force behind 2011 protests against Saudi Arabia’s Sunni authorities in the Eastern Province, was also convicted of seeking “foreign meddling” in the country, a reference to Iran & “disobeying” the kingdom’s rulers and taking up arms against security forces.
- The railways are learning a few lessons from the decision to extend the concept of airline-type dynamic pricing to half of the tatkal tickets on offer in about 80 trains.
- Stating that the CBI probe was conducted in a “clandestine manner” a special court here on Wednesday rejected a closure report in the coal blocks allocation scam and asked the agency to further investigate the case.
- India feels that a “constructive dialogue” is the best way out of the difficult situation in Ukraine and wants all sides to abjure violence and work towards a peaceful, negotiated solution to bring peace and stability to the area. India and Finland signed 19 agreements that ranged from a bio-refinery in Numaligarh, Assam to cooperation in the field of bio-technology, education and nuclear safety. They also want to double their trade of $1.5 billion in the next three years even as they focus on knowledge-based education and research cooperation. Finland also felt that India was a “natural claimant” to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. However, the Finnish leader clarified to the press that his country did not want any extension of the veto right to new members of the U.N. Security Council. On climate change, Mr. Mukherjee said the world must be careful in using the resources of the Arctic and not repeat the mistakes of the Industrial Revolution.
- The World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-I) has cracked the secret codes used for illegal online trade of animals, reptiles and mammals. The breakthrough was made by TRAFFIC, the wildlife crime control wing of the organisation.
- Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have questioned the technical feasibility of the ‘Mars One’ project that aims to establish the first human colony on the Red Planet by 2025. ‘Mars One’ is a non-profit organisation based in the Netherlands that has put forward conceptual plans to establish a permanent human colony on Mars. The mission plans to initially send four astronauts on a one-way trip to Mars where they would spend the rest of their lives building the first permanent human settlement.
- In a bid to boost winter tourism, Uttarakhand has extended the Char Dham yatra all year round. The annual pilgrimage — undertaken over six months at Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — will now continue at the winter abodes of the idols, which are moved out of the snow-bound shrines.
- Blosom, a 6-foot 4-inch cow owned by a U.S. woman, was recently dubbed the world’s tallest and will be included in the 2016 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
- Facebook and Apple are covering the costs for female employees to freeze their eggs to delay childbearing, which could hamper their careers.
- The BBC’s website was blocked in China after a video of Hong Kong police beating and kicking a pro-democracy protester began circulating online. The move appears to be the first time BBC’s English-language website has been completely blocked in China since December 2010, when it was inaccessible for days before the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
- 2014 Man Booker Prize: Australian writer Richard Flanagan for “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”
- The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has set December 2015 as the deadline for implementing long-term additional safety measures in nuclear installations.
- Yoga guru Baba Ramdev said the website that has been selling a “health package” as a preventive measure against Ebola fraudulently used his name. (http://www.ramdevmedicine.com/)
- Switzerland on Wednesday said it would examine Indian requests for banking information on a priority basis and provide requested details in a time-bound manner.
Credits: The Hindu, Google.
No comments:
Post a Comment