Norway lawmakers nominate Snowden for Nobel
1.Two Norwegian lawmakers say they have jointly nominated former NSA contractor Edward Snowden for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
2.Socialist lawmakers Baard Vegard Solhjell, a former Minister, and Snorre Valen said on Wednesday the public debate and policy changes “in the wake of Snowden’s whistleblowing has contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order”.
3.Being nominated just means Mr. Snowden will be one of scores of names that the Nobel committee will consider for the award.
4.The five-member panel won’t confirm who’s been nominated but those who submit nominations sometimes make them public.
5.Nominators, including members of national parliaments and governments, university professors and previous laureates, must enter their submissions by February 1, 2014.
6.The prize committee members can add their own candidates at their first meeting after that deadline.
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More than 2,000 Indian websites hacked
1.Pakistani hackers defaced more than 2,000 Indian websites on Republic Day in what is being termed as a “major cyber attack.”
2.The website of model-turned-actress Poonam Pandey, which was also among the hacked sites displayed messages like “Pakistan Zindabad,” besides “your site security is compromised” and “Patch your site”. A group identifying itself as “Team Madleets” claimed responsibility for the hacking.
Bank site targeted
3.According to sources in Global Cyber Security Response Team (GCSRT), Bangalore, the website of Central Bank of India had also been targeted by the Pakistani hackers. The bank’s website remained offline even on Tuesday night.
4.He said most of the websites had been defaced by Pakistani hackers going with the handle “StrikerRude”, “KashmirCyberArmy”, “PakCyber Expert”, “HUnter Gujar” and the Operation was named as “#OP26jan”.
5.The GCSRT member said Republic Day’s hacking of a total of 2,118 websites comes two weeks after 1,400 Indian websites were hacked. A majority of the hacked websites were being restored, he added.
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Sensex down 36 points in fourth day of losses
1.The Sensex on Wednesday erased early gains and closed 36 points lower, logging its fourth straight loss, as earnings from Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank failed to enthuse investors, amid caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s possible decision to further trim stimulus.
2.Selling that picked up the last hour of trade in select metal, realty and banking shares before Thursday’s expiry of monthly equity derivatives, also dampened trading sentiments.
3.After a better start, the Sensex rose over 140 points to 20,828.68 helped by firm Asian cues. However sustained off-loading of stocks led to the 30-share Sensex closing lower by 36.21 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 20,647.30.
4.The gauge has now lost over 726 points in four days. “ICICI Bank reported rise in consolidated net profits in Q3FY14 on a YoY basis, while asset quality was marginally lower. Bharti Airtel too was down post results. Though the results were good but fell short of general expectations,” said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio.
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ICAI proposes changes in Indian Accounting Standard norms
1.To provide a clearer picture on companies’ financial position, the apex body of chartered accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has suggested changes with respect to presentation of financial statements and comparative numbers.
2.The ICAI, which is in process of bringing Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) norms in line with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), has highlighted the amendments in an exposure draft and sought public comments on the same by February 17.
3.As per the proposed norms for financial statements, an entity has to provide a third balance sheet or opening balance sheet only when it changes its accounting policies, makes retrospective restatements or makes reclassifications as well in cases where the changes have had a material effect on the balance sheet.
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First liquid ammonia shipment reaches Kochi port
1.The first shipment of imported liquid ammonia has reached Kochi Port to enable fertiliser production process of the public sector FACT, following its decision to suspend ammonia production using LNG.
2.The spiralling cost of natural gas had forced the fertiliser company to temporarily suspend ammonia production. Liquid ammonia is one of the important raw materials used by FACT to produce NPK fertiliser.
3.The first consignment of 7,500 tonnes of liquid ammonia reached the Port from West Asia and will be moved to production units of Udyogamandal and Ambalamedu by road and waterways. One more shipment of similar quantity is expected in the first week of February. As LNG prices are touching $ 24.35 per MMBTU, it would be viable for the company to import ammonia rather than depending on internal production, a senior official told Business Line.
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Apex court refuses to review verdict criminalising gay sex
1.The Supreme Court today refused to relook into its verdict criminalising gay sex in the country.
2.A Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and S.J. Mukhopadhaya, in inchamber proceedings, dismissed a bunch of petitions filed by the Centre and gay rights activists against its December 2013 verdict declaring gay sex an offence punishable up to life imprisonment.
3.In a big setback to the LGBT community, the Supreme Court had on December 11 set aside the Delhi High Court judgment decriminalising gay sex and thrown the ball into Parliament’s court for amending the law.
4.The judgment revived the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with life imprisonment in a setback to people fighting a battle for recognition of their sexual preferences.
5.Seeking a stay on the operation of the judgment, gay rights activists, including NGO Naz Foundation, had said thousands from the LGBT community became open about their sexual identity during the past four years after the high court decriminalised gay sex and they are now facing the threat of being prosecuted.
6.They had submitted that criminalising gay sex amounts to violation of fundamental rights of the LGBT community.
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Visa at doorsteps for Emirates passengers
1.Emirates customers can now directly arrange their visas online at www.emirates.com/in for 10 international destinations at the click of a button. These destinations are the UK; the US; Canada; Switzerland; France; Germany; Italy; The Netherlands; Nigeria; and South Africa.
Indian gateways
2.The service will initially be offered from 10 Indian gateways of the airline in Mumbai; New Delhi; Chennai; Kolkata; Ahmedabad; Bangalore; Cochin; Kozhikode; Hyderabad; and Thiruvananthapuram.
3.It will also be available in Baroda; Pune; Goa; Jaipur; Lucknow;and Mangalore, where Emirates does not operate direct flights.
4.The service is being offered in partnership with Visas of the World, an airline spokesperson said here. Emirates passengers in India will not anymore need to physically visit a visa office to collect their application forms or check their documentation.
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Kolkata Book Fair inaugurated
1.The 38th Kolkata International Book Fair was inaugurated on Monday by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. It will be open for public from Wednesday till February 9.
2.The Chief Minster compared the Kolkata International Book Fair with festivals such as Durga Puja and Eid-ul-Fitr. “There are Twitter, Facebook and e-books. But, our tradition and heritage will remain intact. Despite the (technological) changes, the feeling and joy of reading books will always remain,” she said, adding that “she prefers to use a pen rather than typing out something on a computer.”
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A new challenge for Viswanathan Anand in Zurich
1.Indian chess ace Viswanathan Anand will find himself in the unfamiliar position of starting as the lowest-ranked player when he takes on a tough field in his first Classical tournament since losing the world title, in the Zurich Challenge here at the Savoy.
2.The small event, having just five rounds between six players, boasts of a very strong field led by reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen, who is playing his first tournament since clinching the champion’s tag from Anand.
3.For Anand it will be a new challenge and one can expect him to play at his best having got a good rest. For the upcoming candidates tournament too, this could prove to be a good warm-up.
4.World number two Levon Aronian of Armenia, Fabiano Caruana of Italy, Hikaru Nakamura of United States and former world championship challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel complete the line-up of what is the highest category tournament ever in the history of the game.
5.This will be the first time when Anand starts a tournament as the lowest ranked player with his world ranking slipping to number nine. According to the January list, Nakamura is third, Caruana is fourth and Gelfand is just a shade ahead of Anand at eight.
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Russian cosmonauts install ISS camera
1.Two Russian cosmonauts installed a high-fidelity camera outside the International Space Station in a second attempt at completing the work in a six-hour, eight-minute spacewalk on Monday.
2.Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy had first installed a pair cameras on December 27, but had to take them back inside because they were not properly transmitting data back to Earth.
3.But Monday’s work was not entirely successful. Although the team successfully installed a high-resolution camera, a second, medium-resolution camera again failed to work as planned.
4.The cameras, made by the UrtheCast Company of Canada, were brought to the station by a Russian ship on November 30 and are to provide images of the Earth online.
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Hero MotoCorp unveils range of future models
1.The country’s largest motorcycle manufacturer Hero MotoCorp on Wednesday unveiled future models including hybrid and diesel two-wheelers that would be launched, starting next financial year.
2.The models include Hero HX250R – an all-new 250-cc sports bike, RNT – a diesel concept bike, Leap – electric-serial-hybrid scooter, Dash – an all-new 110 cc scooter and new 150-cc ‘Xtreme’ – sports edition.
3.However, the names of a few of the products are ‘project codes’ and the final names of the models may be different and will be announced at the time of their launch, the company said adding that prices too will be announced at that time.
4.“This is yet another example of the India Story - the successful pursuit of our engineers to scale new technology frontiers on their own and leverage the best of technologies available around the world to make superior products which will cater to different geographies around the globe,” Pawan Munjal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hero MotoCorp, said here.
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Mumbai monorail first phase to be ready soon
1.With the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) getting final safety clearances for the monorail system from experts in Indian Railways, Mumbaikars will soon be able to travel by the country’s first monorail.
2.The first phase of the 8.26-km-route from Chembur in suburban Mumbai to Wadala in Central Mumbai is likely to be open for commuters within seven days.
3.By mid-2015, the second phase of 11.28 km connecting Wadala with Mahalaxmi in South Mumbai is also expected to be commissioned.
4.Malaysian infrastructure company Scomi, in a joint venture with L&T, is executing the full project, which is expected to cost MMRDA Rs 3,000 crore.
5.Additional Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA, Ashwini Bhide, who has been a driving force behind the project, feels that the service will offer a comfortable alternative to commuters although the route will not make enough commercial profits.
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Mass e-surveillance project set for launch
1.The Centre’s highly advanced telecom and Internet surveillance project — the Central Monitoring System (CMS) is in its final stage of deployment.
2.Yet, there has been no word on the legal and procedural framework under which the country’s security agencies can track phone calls, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and e-mails in real time.
3.In seven of the 11 states covered in the first phase, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) — a government agency — has already installed the equipment for this massive snooping programme. Over 50 per cent of the overall testing is over. It has been completed in Delhi and is underway in Haryana.
4.Tests for “remote provisioning” and those related to protocol testing are underway. The Intercept Storage and Forwarding (ISF) servers of the Government are being tested for integration with the telcos and ISPs’ legal intercept (LI) system.
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NABARD projects a credit potential of Rs 12,727 cr for U'khnad
1.The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Wednesday projected a credit potential of Rs 12726.83 crore in the state focus paper (SFP) for the year 2014-15 in Uttarakhand under the priority sector.
2.This envisages an increase of 17.35% over the current year projection, said S Selvaraj, Chief General Manger of NABARD’s Uttarakhand regional office while releasing the SFP.
3.While projecting the credit potential, NABARD took into account the resources endowed with the state, infrastructure and extension support available, market trend, skill profile and the damage caused by the devastating floods last year.
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India ranks at the bottom in terms of Intellectual Property
1.Despite the current decade being called India’s ‘decade of innovation’, the country has ranked at the bottom of the list of 25 countries in terms of its intellectual property (IP) environment.
2.According to a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), India’s percentage score has further fallen from 25% in 2012 to 23% in the year 2014.
3.The continued use of compulsory licenses, patent revocations, and weak legislative and enforcement mechanisms raise serious concerns about India’s commitment to promote innovation and protect creators,” the report said.
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Google is best company to work for: Fortune
1.For the fifth consecutive year, Internet search giant Google has been named as the best company to work for by Fortune Magazine.
2.Google has topped the latest list of '100 Best American Companies to Work for' followed by -- software developer SAS and strategy consultants the Boston Consulting Group in the second and third positions, respectively.
3."Google's stock climbed past $1,000 in 2013-a boon for Googlers, all of whom are stockholders," Fortune said adding that "Google tops the list once again, marking its eighth appearance and fifth time as No. 1."
4.So much so that three winners of Google's annual talent show opened for Bruno Mars at his Las Vegas show in April at the Global Sales Conference.
5.Among other noted names, Qualcomm was ranked 32 in the list, Goldman Sachs Group (45), CISCO (55), Marriott International (57), Deloitte (61), PricewaterhouseCoopers (65), American Express (67), Novo Nordisk (72), Ernst & Young (78), Discovery Communications (79), KPMG (80), Intel (84), Microsoft (86), Accenture (90) and Hyatt Hotels (95).
6.To pick the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Fortune partnered with the Great Place to Work Institute. More than 252,000 employees at those companies were surveyed by the institute.
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