12 FEBRUARY 2014

Ø  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) lifted the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association after an ad-hoc meeting of its Executive Board in Sochi. The IOC noted in a statement that it was for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that the suspension of a national Olympic committee was being lifted during the Olympics.

Ø  Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan were the largest philanthropic donors in the United Stats in 2013, donating nearly 1 billion dollars to charity, according to the annual list published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The tech billionaire, 29, whose net worth is estimated at almost 20 billion dollars, donated 992 million dollars to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which provides grants to several non-profit organisations in the tech region.

Ø  U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has announced that Washington is initiating consultations with New Delhi over a World Trade Organisation dispute pertaining to India’s National Solar Mission (NSM). These domestic content requirements [in NSM Phase II] discriminate against U.S. exports by requiring solar power developers to use Indian-manufactured equipment instead of U.S. equipment, and the U.S. informed Indian officials in New Delhi, Geneva and Washington that it was challenging this requirement. According to attorneys for the USTR, close to 10,000 American jobs may be at stake in the solar industry if India carries through with the local content, and U.S. exports, which stood at nearly $119 million before these criteria kicked in.

Ø  South Central Railway (SCR) launched ‘Hyderabad Live Train Enquiry System’ (HYLITES), a mobile application for Android smartphones, which gives real time information of 121 MMTS trains and the arrival and departures of express and passenger trains at Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Kacheguda stations.

Ø  Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain will pay an official visit to China from February 18 to 20.  This is his first state visit abroad after assuming office and he will hold summit-level talks with President Xi Jinping.

Ø  Newly elected Prime Minister of Nepal Sushil Koirala assumed office on Monday with his major backer refusing to join the government over disagreement over key Cabinet berths. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal who was heading a caretaker government that was formed to conduct the Constituent Assembly election resigned his judiciary post.

Ø  Lakshmi Swaminthan, who hails from Chennai, has been elected as the President of the Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She will be the first Indian to head the Tribunal, and her tenure will be for three years.

Ø  A Parliamentary panel, on Tuesday, rejected the Bill on micro finance institutions, which sought to empower the Reserve Bank of India to regulate them and fix interest rates ceiling on loans to be provided by MFIs.