3 MAY 2014

Ø  India has strongly objected to Switzer-land’s denial of informa-tion on account details of Indians at HSBC’s Swiss bank branches, in whose cases “incriminating evidence of tax evasion” has been found.

Ø  The Army has been called out and an indefinite curfew imposed in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) of Kokrajhar and Baksa in Assam after militants killed 20 persons and injured 10, all Muslim migrants, in three separate attacks. The Assam Police said the National Democratic Front of Boroland (Songbijit) carried out the attacks.

Ø  The Defence Research Development Organisation finally has its own flying platform, a light aircraft, for testing a new set of air-borne radars. The just acquired ‘ Nabhratna ’ (or jewel in the sky), a custom-built Dornier-228 aircraft, will speed up the development cycle of special radars that the DRDO is working on, Director-General Avinash Chander said. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd said it had built the aircraft in under a year, and six months ahead of schedule . Equipped with an indigenous synthetic aperture radar, avionics and communication system, the aircraft will be used in the coming months by the Bangalore-based LRDE (Electronics and Radar Development Establishment) to evaluate the performance of various radars under development.

Ø  Amitabh Bachchan awarded a prestigious Ph.D. scholarship, instituted in his name, to an Indian student incepted from the Melbourne based La Trobe University. At a function organised by the university here, Mr. Bachchan, 71, awarded La Trobe graduate Roshan Kumar. ‘Shri Amitabh Bachchan Scholarship’ will be presented every four years by him to an Indian citizen to develop a thesis related to media, digital technology and communication.

Ø  The United Kingdom will resume non-lethal aid to the rebels in Syria, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced in Parliament on May 1. The gift — one million pounds worth of laptops with satellite internet connection, mobile telephones and push-to-talk radios; commercially available vehicles, such as pick-up trucks; fuel; portable generators less than 3MW in power; logistics supplies such as clothing, rations and tents; and individual medical kits —communications equipment, vehicles, generators and medical kits, will be delivered to the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) “as soon as is practical” Mr. Hague said. The cost will be met from the government’s Conflict Pool Fund.