2 JULY 2014: Indian nurses still caught in Tikrit

Ø  In steering India’s growth in the field of Information and Communication Technology, the newly-elected government at the Centre will focus on two major milestones: broadband connectivity across the length and breadth of rural India and electronics manufacturing.

Ø  Stating that the El Nino factor will not have a direct impact on the rains, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that monsoon is set to revive by the end of the week. The statement comes amidst worries that the country has recorded a 43 per cent deficit in rainfall in June.

Ø  India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was included in a top-secret list of six non-U.S. political parties worldwide that the U.S. National Security Agency received official permission to covertly spy upon, according to the latest trove of data released to the media by Edward Snowden, former NSA contractor-turned fugitive whistleblower.

Ø  Chief of the Army Staff, General Bikram Singh, is heading for Beijing on a visit that has been upgraded to a political level after China decided that their Indian guest should also have a dialogue with top functionaries of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC).

Ø  The 46 nurses stuck inside a hospital building in Iraq, while “safe and unharmed” were in an “extremely delicate situation” The nurses continued to remain confined to the hospital premises in Tikrit — about 140 km northwest of Baghdad — where a fierce battle raged between the ISIS rebels and the Kurdish armed fighters.

Ø  The first tweet from President Pranab Mukherjee’s official Twitter handle was posted at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday and in about five hours, the list of followers had swollen to over 10,000. Mr. Mukherjee’s debut on Twitter with the handle @RashtrapatiBhvn is his latest social media foray. He was the first President to have a presence on Facebook and YouTube. His office releases and engagements were regularly updated online.

Ø  In a rare honour, the U.S. has named a mountain in Antarctica after eminent Indian-American scientist Akhouri A. Sinha, whose pioneering biological research expedition provided vital data about animal populations. The honour was accorded to Mr. Sinha, adjunct professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development at the University of Minnesota, by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Ø  The Rajasthan government on Monday declared the camel as the State animal.

Ø  The National Democratic Alliance government has appointed the former Cabinet Minister, Suresh Prabhu, as the head of a high-level panel on power revamp — “Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy.” Mr. Prabhu will be assisted by three former bureaucrats — Pratyush Sinha, Anil Baijal and Partha Bhattacharya. Mr. Prabhu will draw on his experience as the initiator of reforms in the power sector during his tenure as Power Minister in the former NDA government when he had piloted the integrated electricity bill and the law for setting up a regulator, something that current Minister Piyush Goyal wants to do in the coal sector.

Ø  State Bank of India, launched six digital branches across the country as part of its programme to offer next generation banking solutions to the growing mobile phone and internet-savvy customer base. These branches, named sbiINTOUCH, will facilitate services such as instant account opening with personalised debit cards, instant loan approval for car and home, remote expert advisors available via video links, along with interactive walls and table displays. Besides Delhi, where sbiINTOUCH branch was inaugurated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the other such branches are located in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Ahmedabad.