India and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) have moved a step forward in enforcing an
extradition agreement
that would allow
around 1,200 convicted Indians jailed in the country to return home to complete
their prison
terms. The UAE
Cabinet formally approved the mutual agreement signed last year. The decision
follows
another ruling
from the UAE government that allows expatriates, who have overstayed their
visas, to either
regularise their
documents after paying a fine or to leave the country without any penalty.
One
Billion Rising’ campaign launched in Rajasthan
The ‘One Billion
Rising’ campaign was launched in Rajasthan on December 10, the International
Human
Rights Day. The
campaign is a global movement launched to stop violence against women.
According to the
data released by
the United Nations showed that globally one out of every three women was beaten
up or
raped or both.
Statistically, that meant more than a billion women were victims of violence,
sexual or
otherwise.
Yatra
against manual scavenging reaches Patna
Maila Mukti Yatra
(National People’s March for Eradication of Manual Scavenging in India) was
began in
Madhya Pradesh in
November, 2012 has reached Patna. Many of the former manual scavengers are now
working as
conservancy workers still earning a paltry sum that can range from a few
tenners a day or a few
hundred rupees a
month. There are a few newer forms of scavenging, such as workers employed in
the
Indian Railways or
those who clean up after a religious event at a pilgrimage site. The yatra will
continue to
Jharkhand. It is
slated to end in New Delhi on January 31, 2013.
SC
refuses to go into validity of CMC order
The Supreme Court
refused to go into the validity or otherwise of the order passed by the Cauvery
Monitoring
Committee on December 7, 2012, and left it open to the States of Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka to
seek appropriate
remedy before the Cauvery River Authority, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh.
India,
Ukraine ink defence cooperation pact
A broad defence
cooperation agreement was among five pacts signed following delegation-level
talks
between the
visiting Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. With
Ukraine having
consolidated its military enterprises into bodies under governmental control,
on the lines of
what Russia did to
its military-industrial complex a decade ago, New Delhi feels the path has been
smoothened for a
more intimate defence relationship. Instead of dealing with a number of defence
enterprises
scattered over Ukraine, India will find it easier to conduct focussed
negotiations, which could help
it get a better
deal.
Sudeep
Sen to address Nobel Laureate Week
Delhi-based poet
Sudeep Sen has been invited to address the Nobel Laureate Week being held in
Saint
Lucia, a sovereign
island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea, in January, 2013. Mr. Sen is the
first Indian,
and the only one
thus far from the Asian, Australasian-Pacific, African, South American region,
to be chosen
for the honour. He
will deliver the Derek Walcott Lecture and present his own poetry. Saint Lucia
is home to
Nobel Laureate and
noted playwright Derek Walcott.
International
Zardari
announces grant for girls’ education worldwide
Pakistan’s
President Asif Ali Zardari announced a $10-million donation for a global war
chest to educate all
girls by 2015 set
up in the name of Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for campaigning
for girls’
education. The “Malala
Fund for Girls’ Right to Education” aims at raising billions of dollars to
ensure that all
girls go to school
by 2015 in line with U.N. Millennium goals.
Nobel
prize money will benefit war-hit children, says EU
The Norwegian
Nobel Prize Committee honoured the European Union with Peace Prize for 2012 in
the
presence of EU
heads of state and government in Oslo. The Committee said the organisation had
been
given the award
for transforming Europe from a continent plagued by war to a continent of
peace. The prize
was collected on
behalf of the EU by Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council;
Martin
Schulz, President
of Parliament; and Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission.
The
prize money of €930,000
will be given to projects that help children struggling in war zones, with the
recipients to be
announced shortly. The EU has said it will add €1.07 million along with it to
donate a total of
€2 million to the
selected aid projects.
Business and economy
Barclays
Capital buys 11.6 lakh shares of Karnataka Bank
Barclays Capital
Mauritius acquired 11.60 lakh shares of Karnataka Bank for Rs.22.54 crore as
per bulk data
available with the
stock exchanges. The shares were purchased at Rs.194.31 apiece.
Credo
buys shares in IndusInd Bank for Rs.119 cr
Credo India
Thematic Fund hiked its stake in IndusInd Bank by picking up 28.6 lakh shares
in the private
sector lender for
about Rs.119 crore. Credo, which held 1.53 crore shares or 3.28 per cent stake
in IndusInd
Bank at the end of
the September quarter, bought 28.6 lakh shares in the private sector lender
(amounting to
0.6 per cent
holding).
Science and technology
BEL,
Israel’s IAI ink MoU on naval missiles
A MoU signed
between Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has
set the stage
for joint
development and indigenous production of a set of Long Range Surface-to-Air
Missiles (LR-SAMs)
to defend Indian
warships from enemy attack. BEL will be the lead integrator of this set of
missiles and
produce some of
the major sub-systems. LR-SAMs, along with MR-SAMs (Medium Range SAMs) for the
IAF, is among the
major pursuits of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO),
which is
said to be
developing some of them, also in a tie-up with IAI, at a cost of over around
Rs. 2,500 crore. It is
based on Israel’s
Barak missile system and will give the country an advanced, seeker-based
missile
capability. Indian
missiles are ‘guided’ and the country does not have the ‘seeker’ technology
that enables a
missile to home in
on the target. The LR-SAM would track and engage multiple targets
simultaneously over a
70-km range,
defence sources said.
Russia
delivers 3 upgraded MiG-29s to India
Russia has
delivered the first three of the upgraded MiG-29 fighters to India, more than
two years behind
schedule. The
modernisation has added punch and versatility to the potent platform.
Originally designed as
an air superiority
fighter, the upgraded planes have been equipped with air-to-surface missiles to
engage
ground targets.
The MiG-29s have been equipped with new avionics, weapons, radar, glass
cockpit, helmetmounted
displays and an
inflight refuelling system. As per the contract, the plane’s service life has
been
extended to 3,500
flight hours and 40 years. Under the contract signed in 2008, Russia is to
upgrade the
IAF’s fleet of 63
MiG-29s. The first six planes are to be overhauled in Russia and the rest in
India.
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