News Roundup - 9 December 2014

1. Carnatic music exponent and guru Nedunuri Krishna Murthy died.
2. Four Infosys co-founders, including Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, and their families on Monday sold shares worth over $ 1 billion (Rs 6,484 crore) — within months of all original promoters exiting the management and Vishal Sikka becoming the first outsider CEO. While these four co-founders, including former CEO S. D. Shibulal and K. Dinesh, have monetised only part of their holdings — for entrepreneurship and philanthropic activities — their action led to a sharp plunge of about 5 per cent in the IT giant’s share price, eroding almost $ 2 billion from the company’s market capitalisation.
3. Supreme Court questioned suspended BCCI president N. Srinivasan’s dual role as the head of the national cricketing body and IPL team owner, whose son-in-law has been found prima facie guilty of betting.
4. A Boeing aircraft has completed the world’s first flight using ‘green diesel’, a sustainable biofuel made from vegetable oils, waste cooking oil and animal fats. The company powered its ecoDemonstrator 787 flight test airplane on December 2 with a blend of 15 per cent green diesel and 85 per cent petroleum jet fuel in the left engine. Sustainable green diesel is widely available and used in ground transportation. Boeing previously found that this fuel is chemically similar to HEFA (hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) aviation biofuel approved in 2011. Green diesel is chemically distinct and a different fuel product than “biodiesel,” which also is used in ground transportation. With production capacity of 800 million gallons (three billion litres) in the U.S., Europe and Asia, green diesel could rapidly supply as much as one per cent of global jet fuel demand. On a lifecycle basis, sustainably produced green diesel reduces carbon emissions by 50 to 90 per cent compared to fossil fuel, according to Finland-based Neste Oil, which supplied green diesel for the ecoDemonstrator 787.
5. The world’s first handcrafted herbal Holy Koran, made from about 200 medicinal plants, has been unveiled. The Koran has been made by the Islamic arts and calligraphy company, Heddem Arts and has been crafted over 23 years from 1957 to 1979 by Turkish Unani Doctor Hamdi Taher. The Koran is made of high potency herbal mixtures prepared as per Unani medical system. The herbal-cream-written Koran includes 606 pages and weighs about 7.5 kg.
6. SC lifted a three-year-old ban on Hookah smoking.
7. The U.S. and NATO closed their combat command in Afghanistan, more than 13 years after invading the country in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks to target al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Credits: The Hindu, Google.