13 NOVEMBER 2014: Philae lands on Comet 67P

Ø  China and the United States have agreed on a timetable to limit emission of greenhouse gases — a decision that will impose fresh pressure on India not to obstruct a binding treaty on climate change next year. The breakthrough was achieved during talks between visiting U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, ending a 20-year discord between the world’s two leading economies on how to combat climate change. In a joint announcement on Wednesday, the U.S. agreed to reduce by 2025 its emission of greenhouse gases by 26 per cent to 28 per cent below its 2005 level. China stated its intent to peak emissions of carbon dioxide in 2030, if not earlier. It also agreed to raise the share of non-fossil fuels to 20 per cent, in its primary energy mix, in the next 16 years. This would entail China shifting towards clean energy generated by nuclear, wind, solar and such zero-emitting resources.

Ø  In an embarrassment for the Gujarat government, the Comptroller and Auditor General has observed that the State’s sanitation coverage is only 46 per cent. Picking several holes in the government’s Total Sanitation Campaign, launched in 1999, the CAG found that Gujarat projected “inflated” figures of individual household latrines, based on the release of funds, instead of actual construction of toilets.

Landing on Comet 67p

 

Ø  The European Space Agency said it has succeeded in landing a spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history. The agency said it received a signal from the 100-kilogram Philae lander after it touched down just after 1600 GMT on Wednesday on the icy surface of the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. “We are on the comet,” the agency tweeted. The landing on the speeding comet marks the highlight of the decade-long Rosetta spacecraft’s mission to study comets and learn more about the origins of these celestial bodies. Scientists hope the lander, equipped with 10 instruments, will unlock the secrets of comets — primordial clusters of ice and dust that may have helped sow life on Earth. Philae Lander followed up with its own tweet: Touchdown! My new address: 67P! #Cometlanding