28 December 2013

Ø  Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday publicly asked the Maharashtra government to “reconsider” its rejection of a judicial commission report on the Adarsh housing scandal that has indicted four of the party’s former Chief Ministers, along with a host of NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena leaders. Aside from former Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan, the report indicts Sushilkumar Shinde, who is now Union Home Minister, the late Vilasrao Deshmukh and Shivajirao Nilangekar Patil.

Ø  Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal and his would-be Cabinet colleagues will travel to Ramlila Maidan, the venue for Saturday’s swearing-in ceremony, on a Metro.  The historic Ramlila Maidan, which has been the centre of several anti-establishment movements, including the “total revolution” led by Jayaprakash Narayan, will host the taking over the reins of power for the first time. It was here that Jayaprakash Narayan held the last meeting before the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency in 1975.

Ø  The Mission Readiness Review (MRR) team has cleared the launch of the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5) at 4.18 p.m. on January 5, 2014. The refurbished three-stage rocket will put into orbit a communication satellite called GSAT-14.

Ø  A huge car bomb rocked central Beirut on Friday, killing five people including an influential member of a coalition opposed to the Syrian regime, Mohammad Chatah, 62.  he headed to a meeting of the March 14 coalition at the mansion of ex-prime minister Saad Hariri, in the city centre. Dozens were injured.

Ø  China has said it is willing to offer its neighbouring countries use of its home-grown satellite navigation system free of charge, in a strategic push that has already garnered interest from a number of countries including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Thailand, according to officials.  Chinese officials said on Friday they intend to widen use of the Beidou satellite network, which already has 16 satellites serving the Asia-Pacific and has been promoted here as an alternative to the American Global Positioning System (GPS). The focus will be on countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and particularly in South and Southeast Asia, where the satellites offered the highest accuracy. 16-satellite Beidou network will expand to 35 satellites by 2020 to provide global coverage.

Ø  Russian passenger ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, said the boat had experienced very strong winds and limited visibility.  The ship, with 74 people on board, has been trapped in ice about 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont D'Urville.  The ship, which is in the Australian Search and Rescue region, is carrying scientists and tourists who are following the Antarctic path of explorer Sir Douglas Mawson a century ago. They have been carrying out the same scientific experiments his team conducted during the 1911-1914 Australian Antarctic Expedition — the first large-scale Australian-led scientific expedition to the frozen continent. Three boats with icebreaking capability have diverted to try to help free it, with the Chinese vessel Snow Dragon around 15 nautical miles from the vessel earlier in the afternoon, but progressing at slow speed.

Ø  Japanese officials in Okinawa on Friday approved the long-stalled relocation of a controversial U.S. military base, (U.S. Marines’ Futenma Air Station)  a breakthrough that could remove a running sore in relations between Tokyo and Washington.

Ø  The New Year could see the introduction of a new pensions system in India that will offer retirement savers the option of tapping the high-risk-high-return equity markets. Stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will in its next board meeting in January take up a proposal to allow mutual fund companies to offer pension plans. Contributions to the proposed pension scheme will be discretionary, to begin with. The NPS is the mandatory pension scheme for government employees hired after May 1, 2004, though it is open to private individuals too. The NPS does not give government employees the option of investing more than 8 per cent of their retirement savings into equity markets. Private sector employers with more than 10 employees statutorily contribute on their behalf to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).