PMO news ad Fiasco-Pak General included! + 16 other news items-read on!…WEEKLY NEWLETTER FOR THE WEEK ENDED 30th JANUARY 10
PMO-goof up
1) PMO has tendered an apology to the nation for an advertisement given in some newspapers by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on the occasion of National Girl Child Day. The advertisement aimed at creating awareness about child foeticide carried the photo of former Pak Air Force chief Tanvir Mahamood Ahmed alongside our PM , Sonia Gandhi and several other Indian icons. An enquiry has been ordered.
2) Saddam Hussien’s cousin ,Ali Hassan Al Majid , more infamously known as ” Chemical Ali ‘ for using poison gas on Kurd rebels in 1995 has been executed after an Iraqi court found him guilty of war crimes.
3) Britain has narrowly come out of its worst recession in 3 decades by recording a positive GDP growth of 0.1 % for the quarter ended 2009 after 6 consecutive quarters of negative growth.
4) Vijaya Mallaya ‘s United Spirits , the top ranking spirit company in India has become the world’s 2nd largest spirit company overtaking the French company Pernod Ricard.. The world’s largest spirit company is Diageo.
5) The 5 assassins of the founder and the late President of Bangladesh , Sheik Mujiber Rehman were executed in Dhaka on the 28th , 35 years after the assassination.
6) Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected as President of Sri Lanka after trouncing the opposition candidate retired General Sarat Foneska by a huge margin of 17 %. Sarat Fonesco had led the Sri Lankan army to victory against LTTE
7) Steve Jobs of Apple unveiled iPad tablet in San Francisco that will combine miniaturization with wider technology access. It can be used for accessing the web , sending e-mails , reading books , watching videos in a much better fashion than laptops or smart phones.
Abhishek Bachan’s debut venture into television as the anchor of the show ‘ National Bingo Nights ‘has got one of the highest television ratings in an emulation of his father’s rating for ” Kaun Banega Croropathi ” when it started . We need to wait and see how long it will last.
9) In an unprecedented move , the Defense Minister disagreed with the recommendation of the Army chief and has ordered the court martial of the Military Secretary to the army chief , Lt. Gen.Avidesh Prakash for his alleged role in the sale of army land to private agencies. He will be the first 3 star General to face such an action.
10) In the monetary policy announced by RBI , CRR has been hiked to 5.75 % from 5 % to remove about Rs. 36,000 crores out of the banking system to control inflation. They have also predicted a GDP growth rate of 7.5 % for the current fiscal.
11) 3 G spectrum auction has been put off to August. Can adversely impact the fiscal deficit for this fiscal.
12) The US Senate has approved a second term for the controversial Ben Bernanke , the Chairman of US Federal Reserve despite concerns about his performance in his first term.
13) In line with the Copenhagen accord on climate change , India submitted its targets for reducing its emission levels by 25 % of GDP in 2020 compared to 2005 levels. India has also clarified that all actions that India will take are purely voluntary and will not be legally binding.
14) Gautam Gambhir equaled Viv Richards world record of 11 successive test 50′s when he scored 68 in the first innings in the second test against Bangladesh being played in Dhaka.
15) India defeated Bangladesh in the 2nd test played at Dhaka to win the Idea 2 test series 2-0.Thec victory margin was 10 wickets and it was India’s 4th consecutive test series win . With this win , India retains its No 1 ICC test ranking.
16) Serena Williams of US won the women’s singles crown in the Australian Open for the 5th time. This is her 12th Grand Slam title. She defeated Justin Henen of Belgium who was trying to emulate compatriot Clisjters who made a comeback after a long lay off by winning the US open women’s singles title last year.
17) Australia won the ICC under 19 LOI’s world cup by defeating Pakistan by 25 runs in the finals held in New Zealand . India were the defending champions.
