G.K Update 27.09.2014

1.    Jayalalithaa convicted to 4 years imprisonment in DA case

i. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was on Saturday convicted under prevention of corruption act by a special court in Bangalore. She has been given a jail term of 4 years by the bangalore special court and slapped a fine of 100 crores.

ii. Special Judge John Michael D'Cunha convicted the 66-year-old AIADMK Chief in a case of owning assets to the tune Rs 66,65 crores disproportionate to her known sources of income during 1991-96 when she was chief minister for the first time.

iii. Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala Natarajan, her niece Ilavarasi and her nephew and the chief minister's disowned foster son Sudhakaran were also convicted. 
iv. The verdict was delivered at a makeshift court in the Parappana Agrahara prison complex in the presence of Jayalalithaa and the other accused.
v. Jayalalithaa, 66, will now lose MLA's post and has to step down as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, while she stands disqualified from public office for next 6 years.

2.    Justice Handyala Dattu to be sworn-in as new CJI

i. Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu will be sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of India tomorrow.

ii. He will succeed Chief Justice R M Lodha who is retiring today. Justice Dattu will be administered oath of office by the President Mr Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan. 
iii. He will have a tenure of 14 months as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Justice Dattu, who is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court after Chief Justice Lodha has been heading the bench monitoring investigations into the 2G spectrum scam.

iv. Justice Dattu joined the Supreme Court as a judge in December 2008. Born on December 13, 1950, he began his practice as an advocate in Bangalore in 1975 and dealt with all type of cases including civil, criminal, tax and Constitutional matters. 

3.    K.V. Kamath-led panel to examine financial architecture for MSME sector

i. The Finance Ministry has appointed a 15-member committee under the Chairmanship of ICICI Bank Chairman K V Kamath to examine the financial architecture for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

ii. The committee will, among other things, come up with concrete suggestions to improve the share of institutional finance to MSME from the low levels seen currently.

iii. Besides looking at innovative financial products for MSMEs, the committee will suggest measures to increase the flow of equity support to MSMEs by targeting incubator-based funds, angel/ seed funds, impact funds and venture capital/ private equity funds.

iv. It will also look at regional disparities in credit flow to MSMEs.

v. The Department of Financial Services move to set up this committee comes two-and-a-half months after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in his maiden Budget speech that a committee will be set up to examine the financial architecture for the MSME sector.

4.    BCCI extends tenure of Ravi Shastri as team India director till 2015 WC

i. The working committee of the BCCI today retained former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri as the Director of the Indian cricket team till the ICC World Cup next year. 
ii. The Committee also decided to hold its Annual General Meeting in Chennai on November 20. 
iii. The working committee also decided to continue with the services of coach Duncan Fletcher till the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February-March next year. 
iv. The Indian support staff trio of Sanjay Bangar, Bharath Arun and R Sridhar were also rewarded with contracts till the end of the World Cup. 

5.    SBI signed 500 million dollar Line of Credit with Korea Eximbank

i. State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender announced that it has signed a Line of Credit (LoC) of 500 million dollar with Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank).  
ii. The LoC will be utilised to provide finance to SBI’s clients in India and neighbouring countries that have business relationships either by way of equity participation or regular trade with Korean companies globally, as well as joint ventures or subsidiaries of Korean companies.

iii. SBI’s regional head (East Asia), C Venkat Nageswar and Korea Eximbank’s member of Board of Directors, Young Whan Sul signed the agreement at Seoul. The entire process was facilitated by SBI’s subsidiary, SBI Capital Markets and the signing of the pact for LoC is being seen as a step towards further strengthening of Korea-India strategic partnership. 

6.    Pakistan test fired short range nuclear capable missile Hatf IX

i. Pakistan on 26 September 2014 test fired the Hatf IX -short range surface-to-surface missile. The nuclear capable missile also called as Nasr was tested with successive launches of four missiles from a Multi Tube Launcher with Salvo Mode.

ii. It is a nuclear capable ballistic missile with a maximum range of 60 kilometers can cover western parts of India. With in-flight manoeuvre capability Hatf IX is a quick response system with shoot and scoot capability.

7.    Sri Lanka wins backing of 22 nations against UN rights probe

i. Sri Lanka has won the backing of 22 nations in its battle against the UN's war crimes probe into the country's human rights record during its brutal civil war.

ii. A government statement said the countries in a joint statement had termed the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution passed last March as an intrusive mandate and unwarranted in the context of Sri Lanka's own local investigation.

iii. The like minded group chaired by Egypt included Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan,Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

iv. This support was in addition to the concerns raised by India as Sri Lanka's all important giant neighbour had questioned the methodology of the investigation.

v. This is in view of Sri Lanka's decision not to cooperate with the investigation.

vi. India backed the US-sponsored 2012 and 2013 UNHRC resolutions which pinned Colombo to a credible process of reconciliation with the Tamil minority.

vii. However, India much to the delight of Sri Lanka abstained at the crucial vote last March which mandated an international investigation.

8.    10 scientists get Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 

i. Ten scientists were on Friday felicitated with prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for their outstanding contributions to field of science and technology.

ii. P S Ahuja, Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) awarded the scientists for their notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in the field of biology, chemistry, environmental science, engineering, mathematics, medicine and Physics. 
iii. Roop Mallik and Pratap Raychaudhuri, both scientists from Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), were awarded for their contribution in the field of Biological and Physical science respectively. 
iv. Sadiqali Abbas Rangwala from Raman Research Institute in Bengaluru was given the award for Physical Science.
v. Anurag Agrawal of New Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) was awarded for his contribution in the field of Medical Science.
vi. S Venkata Mohan from Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad and Soumen Chakrabarti from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai were given the award in the field of Engineering science while Kaushal Kumar Verma from Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru was awarded for his work in Mathematical Sciences. 

9.    Asian Games: Indian men's team wins compound archery gold

i. Creating a landmark in the history of Indian sports, India beat hosts and World champions South Korea in the men's compound archery team final at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field on Saturday for the country's second gold of 17th Asian Games.

ii. Indian team of Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma, came all guns blazing and beat the hosts 227-225 for the gold medal -- country's first from archery in the 17th Asiad.

iii. India won their first medal from the discipline earlier in the day as the women's compound team beat Iran to win bronze.

10.  Asiad: Men’s team gets historic Squash gold

i. Indian Men's Squash team scripts history as they won the first ever Gold medal in the Asiad. 
ii. They defeated Malayasin Team 2-Nil to fetch the gold. This was fourth medal from squash in this Asian Games. 
Earlier, today Indian Women's team settled for a silver after loosing to Malaysia Nil-2. Squash has given 1 Gold 2 Silver and a bronze.
iii. In the morning, Archery bagged Gold their first ever yellow metal. In the Men's Compound team event, the trio of Abhishek Verma, Sandeep Kumar and Rajat Chauhan defeated champions South Korea, 227-225. 
iv. Shooter Jitu Rai had won the first Gold on the opening day. Earlier today, in the Women's section, the team of Trisha Deb, Purvasha Shende and Jyothi Vennam defeated Iran, 224-217 to win a Bronze

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'Energy superpower': Coalition's grand fossil fuel plan for Australia

The government has unveiled its strategy to make Australia into an “energy superpower”, including goals to increase energy productivity, ramp up gas production and stabilise electricity prices.
The energy green paper states that the repeal of the carbon and mining taxes have improved Australia as an investment destination but more needed to be done, such as improving worker productivity and speeding up the extraction and export of gas and uranium supplies.
Ian Macfarlane, the industry minister, said the plan builds on one of Australia’s “areas of competitive strength.
“Australia has an abundance of energy resources and energy assets,” he said. “We are well regarded internationally for our diverse range of energy sources and we are supplying increasing volumes of energy commodities to energy-hungry nations in the Asian region.
“We can’t afford to become complacent – Australia must also be the world’s best in how we access and utilise our energy resources.”
But environmental groups have criticised the plan, claiming it focuses on exploiting fossil fuels while neglecting renewable energy sources.
“This paper positions Australia as little more than a quarry, with its strong emphasis on energy exports – from dirty coal to dangerous uranium,” said Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, climate change program manager at Australian Conservation Foundation
“The paper presents the wrong answers to the wrong questions. The government should be asking what Australia’s energy system should look like in 10, 20 and 30 years’ time, then acting with the rest of the world to cut pollution and invest in clean energy.”
The Climate Institute said it welcomed the green paper’s focus on energy productivity, which includes energy and vehicle efficiency.
“On the downside, the energy green paper notes the transformation under way in global energy markets as countries make increasing efforts to reduce their emissions, but steps back from positioning Australia to deal with international shifts to clean energy and carbon constraints,” said Erwin Jackson, deputy chief executive of the Climate Institute.
Jackson added that the green paper failed to address the issue of subsidies paid to fossil fuel generators. Climate Institute analysis, released on Tuesday, found that carbon-intensive energy was subsidised to the tune of $14 billion to $39 billion a year in Australia.
Business groups have reacted more positively to the green paper, with the Business Council of Australia pointing out that energy accounts for 20% of Australia’s exports and employs more than 125,000 people.
“We have had years of missteps on energy policy which are driving up electricity prices,” said Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the BCA.
“There is confusion between energy and climate policy, and inaction and a lack of political leadership in bringing on more gas supplies, particularly on the east coast.”
“We need a complete rethink of planning and approval processes which are imposing huge costs and delays in delivering major critical new energy projects.”
The green paper comes as the United Nations warned that coal, which makes up more than three-quarters of Australia’s energy supply, had no future if climate change is to be seriously addressed.
Domestically, the Australian government faces continued dissent over a review that recommended that the renewable energy target should either be suspended or shut down entirely.
Clean energy groups have organised a day of protest for Friday in each of Australia’s capital cities, involving more than 1,000 renewable energy companies, that will pressure ministers to retain the RET as it is.
The renewables sector has warned that $15 billion in investment and more than 20,000 jobs will be put at risk if the RET is wound back.

UK coal power plants should be phased out, says David Cameron

David Cameron believes existing coal-fired power plants in the UK should be phased out in the next 10 or 15 years, while new coal-fired stations must be fitted with carbon capture and storage technology.
In his speech to the UN climate summit in New York, however, he omitted the key phase-out pledge. But his aides said this was only owing to having to shorten the speech at the last minute, and the UK team at the UN in New York tweeted Cameron as making the announcement.

New coal-fired power stations will have to use carbon abatement technology, under current plans, but the phase-out of coal has not been stated explicitly before. Last week a Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesperson refused to answer a direct question on whether a phase-out was government policy.
No 10 said the policy was not new, however. European Union rules on pollutants from coal-fired power stations, known as the large combustion plant directive (LCPD), will mean that ageing coal plants will have to be fitted with cleaning technology, and this is likely to cause most or all of them to come out of service within the next decade and a half. Many are also coming to the end of their useful lives.
Despite its outward stance against coal, the government is known to be lobbying the EU to bend the LCPD for one of the UK’s most polluting plants at Aberthaw in Wales.
A senior Tory familiar with the discussions said there was “nothing sinister” in Cameron’s omission of the pledge, and that the policy would stand.
But green campaigners were concerned at the apparently blasé way Cameron had scribbled out a major low-carbon policy announcement.
Greenpeace UK energy campaigner Louise Hutchins said: “The pledge to end dirty coal that David Cameron seems to have casually dropped from his summit speech wasn’t just a footnote but the keystone of any serious policy to clean up Britain’s energy system.

Rio de Janeiro mayor: give cities power over energy to help climate fight

Cities around the globe should have more say over their energy policy and powers to deal with climate change, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro has told the Guardian.
Speaking on the fringes of Climate Week in New York, Eduardo Paes said: “They should have more autonomy, it would make a difference.” Most cities are subject to regulations and policy set at the national level, which can fail to take account of their individual needs and characteristics, he said.
“National governments make decisions but do not consider what cities are doing [on energy and climate] and therefore do not properly support cities,” he argued. That can also result in a lack of financing for cities to be able to make vital changes, such as improving energy efficiency and public transport, he said.
In many countries, mayors of large cities have extensive powers, including over policing, transport, building and large aspects of health and education. But energy policy is usually dictated by national governments, with cities having little say in how their residents and businesses are powered.
Paes, who hosted the 2012 environmental conference Rio+20 and is chair of the C40 group of cities which have pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change, added: “Cities need to work with national governments and regional governments on this. Cities have the capability to cut global emissions by 3 gigatonnes, our research has found - this is a big opportunity.”
As part of Climate Week, which kicked off on Sunday with a 300,000-strong march through New York and similar marches around the world, the C40 group presented its annual prizes to cities that have come up with innovative ways to improve the environment.
Among the ten awards were two for London, on air quality and carbon accounting. The former was criticised by green campaigners as the UK’s capital has a record of breaching EU air quality standards. Other winners included China’s Shenzen, for urban transportation, and Seoul for green energy, Amsterdam for finance and economic development, and Barcelona for intelligent city infrastructure.
Paes said the examples of cities performing well should inspire others. “I am confident that their knowledge and experience will help drive other cities to implement on-the-ground solutions faster and more efficiently. Through cooperation and collaboration, cities continue to deliver the results that are having a global impact.”
More than half of the world’s population live in cities, and they produce the majority of greenhouse gas emissions.
City residents are also among those likely to face the perils of climate change, including rising sea levels - many major cities, from London and New York to Shanghai, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro are built by the sea - and the threat of major rainfall and extreme weather. Often, city infrastructure - including power networks, sewage and drainage systems, telecommunications and transport - has been built to old specifications that may not reflect the stresses they could be put under if global warming proceeds rapidly.
The vulnerability of even modern, rich and industrialised cities to extreme weather was illustrated when Hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012, overwhelming much of the infrastructure in the areas worst affected.

Japanese air force celebrate 60th with plane-shaped scooters

To celebrate 60 years since Japan's Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) was founded, servicemen ride plane-shaped scooters at a ceremony in Tokyo. The novelty scooters are based on the design of fighter aircraft. Those who take part in the ceremony are staff members who never leave the ground, such as mechanics and support staff

Financial markets seem to be in a world of their own

This has been an unusual year for the global economy, characterised by a series of unanticipated economic, geopolitical, and market shifts – and the final quarter is likely to be no different. How these shifts ultimately play out will have a major impact on the effectiveness of government policies – and much more. So why have financial markets been behaving as if they were in a world of their own?
Apparently unfazed by disappointing growth in both advanced and emerging economies, or by surging geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe and the Middle East, equity markets have set record after record this year.
This impressive rally has ignored a host of historical relationships, including the long-established correlation between the performance of stocks and government bonds. In fact, correlations among a number of different financial-asset classes have behaved in an atypical and, at times, unstable manner.
Meanwhile, on the policy front, advanced-country monetary policy cohesion is giving way to a multitrack system, with the European Central Bank stepping harder on the stimulus accelerator, while the US Federal Reserve eases off. These factors are sending the global economy into the final quarter of the year encumbered by profound uncertainty in several areas.
Looming particularly large over the next few months are escalating geopolitical conflicts that are nearing a tipping point, beyond which lies the spectre of serious systemic disruptions in the global economy. This is particularly true in Ukraine, where, despite the current ceasefire, Russia and the west have yet to find a way to ease tensions definitively. Without a breakthrough, the inevitable new round of sanctions and counter-sanctions is likely to push Russia and Europe into recession, dampening global economic activity.
Even without such complications, invigorating Europe's increasingly sluggish economic recovery will be no easy feat. In order to kick-start progress, the ECB president, Mario Draghi, has proposed a grand policy bargain to European governments: if they implement structural reforms and improve fiscal flexibility, the central bank will expand its balance sheet to boost growth and thwart deflation.
If member states do not uphold their end of the bargain, the ECB will find it difficult to carry the policy burden effectively – exposing it to criticism and political pressure.
Across the Atlantic, the Fed is set to complete its exit from quantitative easing (QE) – its policy of large-scale asset purchases – in the next few weeks, leaving it completely dependent on interest rates and forward policy guidance to boost the economy.
The withdrawal of QE, beyond being unpopular among some policymakers and politicians, has highlighted concerns about the risk of increased financial instability and rising inequality – both of which could undermine America's already weak economic recovery.
Complicating matters further are the US congressional elections in November. Given the likelihood that the Republicans will continue to control at least one house of Congress, Barack Obama's policy flexibility will probably remain severely constrained – unless, of course, the White House and Congress finally find a way to work together.
Meanwhile, in Japan, the private sector's patience with the three-pronged strategy of Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to reinvigorate the long-stagnant economy – so-called "Abenomics" – will be tested, particularly with regard to the long-awaited implementation of structural reforms to complement fiscal stimulus and monetary easing. If the third "arrow" of Abenomics fails to materialise, investors' risk aversion will rise yet again, hampering efforts to stimulate growth and avoid deflation.

UK exports fall amid crises in eurozone and Ukraine

Orders for Britain's factories dried up as the slowdown in the eurozone and tension between Russia and the Ukraine led to a harsher climate for exporters.
The monthly snapshot from the Confederation of British Industry found that firms were reporting a big drop in demand from overseas – falling to its lowest level since the start of 2013.
Although firms said they had no immediate plans to cut back on output, the downbeat industrial trends survey from the UK's leading employers' organisation added to recent evidence that the economy will struggle to maintain the high growth rates seen in recent quarters.
Of the 488 manufacturers quizzed, 24% said their total order books were above normal for the time of year in September while 28% said they were below normal. The balance of -4 percentage points came after a +12 point balance in August and was the weakest for 11 months.
Against a backdrop of renewed stagnation in the eurozone, and escalating tension in eastern Europe and the Middle East, only 14% of firms said their export order books were above normal against 38% saying they were below normal.
Katja Hall, CBI's deputy director-general, said: "Export orders for UK manufacturers are faltering, which is disappointing. However, it's encouraging that output growth has remained solid and firms expect production to rise strongly in the next quarter."
More than a third of companies (36%) said they planned to boost output over the coming three months, while 9% said they expected production cuts. The balance of +27% was slightly down on the +31% recorded in August.
Howard Archer, UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said that without new orders output would not continue to be strong. "The overall impression is that the manufacturing sector is still clearly expanding but at a reduced rate compared to the early months of 2014.
"This is disappointing for hopes that UK growth can be broad, based on a sustained basis going forward and less dependent on the services sector."

German business confidence tumbles

Confidence is draining from German businesses, with a survey finding sentiment fell for a fifth successive month in September to its lowest level in nearly 18 months.
Fuelling fears that Europe’s largest economy is running out of steam, the Munich-based Ifo thinktank’s business climate index, based on a monthly poll of about 7,000 firms, tumbled from 106.3 to 104.7, back to the level of spring last year.
Warning that the German economy is no longer running smoothly, the thinktank said sentiment worsened across all sectors of the economy.
After a strong showing in the early part of the year, Berlin has wrestled with waning business confidence and increasing reticence among consumers to spend. Official figures showed GDP shrank in the second quarter by 0.2%. Analysts said the Ifo index indicated GDP may shrink again when third quarter figures appear next month.
A second quarterly contraction in GDP will mean the German economy is officially in recession, denting the country’s image as the engine of eurozone growth.
IHS Global Insight said the conflicts in eastern Ukraine and the Middle East were having a more serious impact on German firms than expected.
About 10% of German companies export to Russia. Berenberg bank said the drop in confidence will persuade firms to cancel investments.
Concerns that the eurozone’s major economies are struggling prompted the European central bank (ECB) president, Mario Draghi, to say he will keep monetary policy loose for as long as it takes to encourage growth.
He said: “Monetary policy will remain accommodative for a long time and I can tell you that the ECB governing council is unanimous in committing itself to using the tools at its disposal to bring inflation back to just under 2%.”
Referring to signs of growth elsewhere in the world, he said ECB policy would remain accommodative, even “while other countries’ monetary policy may gradually acknowledge recovery is taking place”.

World Bank email leaks reveal internal row over 'light touch' $50bn loans

Environmentalists and human rights campaigners have sounded the alarm at radical plans to ease conditions for World Bank loans, enabling more than $50bn (£29bn) of public money a year to be made available for large power, mining, transport and farming projects.
Leaked emails seen by the Observer reveal that senior figures at the bank feared that light-touch regulation would lead to an increase in "problem projects". Critics are also worried that the door could be opened to large-scale environmental destruction and a lack of protection for communities affected by projects.
Ana Revenga, the bank's vice-president for poverty reduction, says in one of the emails: "It might appear that the bank is interested in lending more, hence lowering standards … [It] would likely entail an increase in the number of problem projects and cancellations." The email exchanges indicate that the bank may expand the use of "biodiversity offsetting" – which lets developers destroy nature in one place if they compensate elsewhere. Many social and environmental safeguards appear to have been dropped under the plans, which have not been made public but are at an advanced stage.
The bank group, which loans and guarantees around $50bn a year to over 100 countries to alleviate poverty, is the world's largest development institution, with Britain as its largest donor. It has been consistently criticised for its damaging lending policies and because it is dominated by industrialised countries.
Strong safeguards and conditions on its loans and guarantees were put in place after a series of environmentally destructive projects in the 1980s and 1990s such as the Narmada dam in India and the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people to make way for palm plantations in Indonesia.
But the World Bank group, which includes the International Finance Corporation, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, is in the process of a reorganisation and wants to harmonise safeguards and standards between its private and public lending groups.

Do the Brics need their own development bank?

For the leaders of the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), the announcement in July of their agreement to establish a "New Development Bank" (NDB) and a "Contingent Reserve Arrangement" (CRA) was a public-relations coup. The opportunity for a triumphal group photo was especially welcome for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, in light of her country's ignominious World Cup defeat and slack economy, and for Russia's President Vladimir Putin, given the international reaction against his government's support of the rebels in Ukraine.
The agreement was also an opportunity for the five countries to reiterate their dissatisfaction with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the role of the dollar in the global monetary system. The Brics possess just 11% of the votes in the IMF, despite accounting for more than 20% of global economic activity. The US Congress refuses to ratify the agreement reached in 2010 to correct this skewed state of affairs. And the United States has displayed no willingness to renounce its anachronistic privilege of nominating the World Bank's president.
Meanwhile, the share of the dollar in global foreign-exchange reserves remains more than 60%, while 85% of global foreign-exchange transactions involve dollars. Given the reluctance of underrepresented countries to sign up for the IMF's precautionary credit lines, central banks desperate for dollars can obtain them only from the Federal Reserve. The Fed was reasonably forthcoming in providing dollar swaps in the last crisis in 2008; but there is no guarantee that it will behave similarly in the future.
Thus, the Brics' dissatisfaction with the status quo is understandable. The question is whether their NDB and CRA will make a difference.
The logic for the NDB is compelling. The Brics, and developing countries generally, have immense infrastructure needs. China may not have an infrastructure deficit, but it has something else: large construction companies that welcome the opportunity to undertake additional projects abroad. Hence the incentives of the NDB's prospective creditors and borrowers are happily aligned.
Moreover, there already is a proliferation of regional development banks, from the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank to the more modestly capitalized African Development Bank. These institutions co-operate with the World Bank. Their existence creates no major problems for the Bretton Woods institutions.
There is no reason why the NDB should create problems, either. With initial capital of just $100bn, it is too small to make a major contribution to global infrastructure needs. But inadequate capitalization can be corrected over time.
The CRA – intended to lessen the Brics' dependence on the Fed and the dollar – is another story. The five participants agreed to earmark $100bn (£59bn) of their foreign-exchange reserves for swap lines on which all members are entitled to draw.
But here the interests of prospective borrowers and lenders are not obviously compatible. The next Brics country experiencing a crisis will want to draw on the CRA. But the other members will hesitate to lend more than token amounts, especially if there are repayment doubts. In contrast to development finance, the incentives of potential lenders and borrowers are not aligned.
Permitting the lenders to impose policy conditions on borrowers, and to monitor their compliance, can redress this problem. But imposing conditionality on sovereign states is a delicate matter – especially when the countries involved are as large, proud, and diverse as the Brics. It is difficult to imagine Brazil, for example, accepting policy conditions laid down by China.

Quarantined Ebola regions set to receive emergency food drops

International agencies are considering emergency food drops and truck convoys to reach extremely hungry people in Liberia and Sierra Leone, who are cordoned off from the outside world to halt the spread of the Ebola virus, a World Bank official said on Thursday.
Hunger is spreading fast as farmers die leaving crops rotting in fields. Truckers scared of the highly infectious disease are halting deliveries and shops are closing. Major airlines have shut down routes, isolating large swaths of the countries.
The Mano river region, home to about 1 million people and an epicentre for the disease, is a major concern and the issue was raised on Wednesday with the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said Tim Evans, senior director for health at the World Bank.
“There has been a lot of inflation in food prices and a lot of difficulty in getting food to the quarantined population,” he added.
The World Bank, with the UN and the World Health Organisation (WHO), is urgently assessing how to make emergency food deliveries, or the organisations face the danger of a deepening health crisis from malnutrition and the spread of other diseases, he said.
“This is emerging as an important part of the immediate response,” Evans said. “We are looking at exactly what the needs are and where, and then looking at how we contribute to making sure that food gets to the right places.”
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said it has declared Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – the three countries with more than 1,000 deaths in total from Ebola – a level three food emergency, its highest threat. It is mobilising teams to get food into the area to prevent widespread hunger and deaths.
“We are pulling out all the stops,” said Steve Taravella, WFP spokesman in Washington.
His agency is extraordinarily stretched. Never before has it faced six top-level emergencies at once – in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Cameroon, Central African Republic and now the Ebola-hit countries. “It is a dramatic, profound situation,” he said.
For west Africa, the stability of the whole region is at stake if hunger and disease spread uncontrolled, Evans said. “It certainly is a threat to national security,” he added, stressing that a comprehensive response is needed.
But for Nigeria, the World Bank director expressed optimism that it has acted promptly to contain Ebola by reaching those who came into contact with its first victim there. “It suggests at this point that it is relatively contained,” he said.
Longer term, the Ebola outbreak has exposed the danger from chronic underfunding of national healthcare systems and the need to invest in regional laboratories to test and manage infectious diseases, he said.
Most African countries have fallen far short of a 2000 pledge, known as the Abuja declaration, to devote 15% of their budgets to healthcare. The World Bank “absolutely” expects more lending for health in the years ahead, Evans said.

Global remittance industry choking billions out of developing world

A handful of firms are exerting a stranglehold over the global remittance industry by charging huge fees on money sent from friends and family abroad, choking an annual half a trillion dollar lifeline for countries that face sweeping economic challenges.
Remittances generate three times more money every year than the total global aid budget, according to the World Bank, which projects that $436bn (£261bn) will be sent overseas this year.
The value of transfers often overshadows huge sectors of a country’s economy: Filipinos, for example, received $25bn in remittances last year, eclipsing the total value of the country’s $22bn electronics industry. In Vietnam, cash transfers worth $11bn nearly equalled all petroleum exports, which were valued at $12bn, according to World Bank data.
But fees of up to 29% are still being charged on money transfers between some countries, despite a pledge by the G8 at the L’Aquila summit in 2009 to halve the world’s mean remittance fee to 5% (pdf). Such a reduction would save poorer countries as much as $16bn a year, the World Bank says.
The average transfer fee is more than 8% (pdf). The average surcharge from the G8 group of rich countries is just 0.5% lower, with Japan the most expensive country to send money from, and Russia the cheapest.
There are five “corridors” – a country to country transfer – with an average fee higher than 20%, all of them in Africa. Migrant workers in South Africa, for example, paid an average of just over 23% in fees on the money they sent to Botswana in 2012, making it the most expensive remittance channel in the world.Sending money from South Africa to Mozambique was the second most costly channel, with an average 22% fee imposed on transfers.
“Forcing migrant workers to pay as much as $50 to send $200 is wrong, especially when they are sending salaries they have earned in the hope of supporting their families back home,” the World Bank said in a report. “Two-hundred dollars often is a very significant sum for migrants’ family income.”

 The World Bank said: “These funds would simply remain available to migrants and their families and could contribute significantly to improving the living conditions of the migrants themselves as well as reducing poverty in their countries of origin.”

Barack Obama welcomes report saying fighting climate change can be low cost

Barack Obama said on Twitter that the study showed it was unnecessary to 'choose between fighting climate change and growing the economy'. Photograph: John Bazemore/AP

Barack Obama has welcomed a report finding that reducing greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved at a low cost and with added benefits in the form of a better quality of life for people around the world.
In remarks on Twitter, Obama said: "This study concludes that no one has to choose between fighting climate change and growing the economy." The reaction is significant in advance of key talks next week convened by the United Nations, when world leaders will meet in New York to discuss climate change for the first time since 2009.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, who will convene next week's meeting, said: "We can no longer afford to burn our way to prosperity. We must manage climate risk for sustained – and sustainable – economic progress. We need a structural transformation in the global economy. This report argues for a new model where economic growth and climate action are mutually reinforcing – and it shows how we can build it. There is no time to lose."
The report, on the New Climate Economy, was co-authored by leading economist Lord Stern and involved a roll-call of international institutions including the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and the OECD group of rich countries. It concluded that tackling climate change would add only a small amount – about $240bn – to the trillions of dollars of investment that will take place around the world in the next decade and a half, in order to accommodate a growing population.
But the authors warned that if the growth takes place along current, high-carbon lines then the world will be locked in to high carbon emissions for decades to come. For only a small amount of extra investment, businesses and governments can achieve economic growth alongside lower carbon dioxide emissions, which could halt climate change and lead to a better quality of life for citizens, through cleaner air and water and a better environment.
The report is the most significant intervention in climate politics by Lord Stern since his 2006 review of the economics of climate change found that the short-term costs of tackling emissions were far outweighed by the benefits.
Ed Miliband, leader of the UK's Labour party, said: "Better Growth, Better Climate, is a hugely important report for those who care both about safeguarding our environment for our children and creating a successful, fairer future for us all.
"This report shows there is no contradiction between tackling climate change and growing our economies. However, it is clear a lack of political leadership is undermining the opportunity to act on climate change and secure the jobs of the future. That is why we need a Labour government that will champion a low carbon economy both in the UK and overseas."

Ecstasy in Space , Agony on Earth

Bangalor:- India inserted the world's fastest, cheapest and perhaps one of the most intricate Mars missions flawlessly into martian orbiton on wednesday amid tumultuous applause from the nation led stirringly by prime minister Narendra Modi.

Ecstasy in Space , Agony on Earth

Bangalor:- India inserted the world's fastest, cheapest and perhaps one of the most intricate Mars missions flawlessly into martian orbiton on wednesday amid tumultuous applause from the nation led stirringly by prime minister Narendra Modi.

Ecstasy in Space , Agony on Earth

Bangalor:- India inserted the world's fastest, cheapest and perhaps one of the most intricate Mars missions flawlessly into martian orbiton on wednesday amid tumultuous applause from the nation led stirringly by prime minister Narendra Modi.

Apple rolls out new privacy protections

APPLE is rolling out new privacy protections for iPhones and iPads, with a new system that makes it impossible for the company to unlock a device even with a warrant.

Apple’s privacy terms, which were updated overnight, indicate that under its new mobile operating system iOS 8, the company will not have access to customer passwords.
“Your personal data such as photos, messages (including attachments), email, contacts, call history, iTunes content, notes, and reminders, is placed under the protection of your passcode,” the new policy on Apple’s website says.

“Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data. So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”
The iOS 8 operating system is available on the iPhone 6, which goes on sale on Friday, and can be installed on many existing iPhones and iPads.
The update comes in the wake of revelations of massive government surveillance programs that sweep up data from computers and other devices.

 

Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sell 10 million in first weekend

APPLE has announced a sales record of 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the first weekend smashing both analyst’s expectations and previous iPhone sales records.
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the sales record, which was several million more than what some analysts expected, and suggests Apple has made a wise move shifting up to the phablet market.

Apple pulls iOS8 update after reports the software cripples iPhones

APPLE has been forced to pull an update to its iOS8 operating system just hours after it was released following reports that it stopped some phones from being able to make phone calls and prevented the Touch ID fingerprint scanner from working.

The good news for Australian Apple fans who might have jumped out of bed and quickly installed the latest update from Apple is that it’s no longer available, after the problems were quickly reported shortly after the software’s release overnight.

BENDABLE: The iPhone feature nobody wants

iOS8: the best new features

Apple has acted after the issue had some users complaining it turned their shiny new iPhone 6 into a shiny new iPod, in that it was an iPhone that didn’t make phone calls.

Mohamed El-Erian:

Mohamed El-Erian: Chief of $2 trillion investment firm Pimco quit after his daughter gave him a list of 22 special moments he missed

 A TOP international financier quit his job running a $2 trillion investment fund after his 10-year-old daughter gave him a list of 22 special moments he’d missed in her life.

Mohamed El-Erian’s decision to resign from Pimco in May 2013 stunned the finance world and caused widespread debate about why he left.

Now the California-based businessman has revealed the personal side of his choice.

“About a year ago, I asked my daughter several times to do something — brush her teeth, I think it was — with no success. I reminded her that it was not so long ago that she would have immediately responded, and I wouldn’t have had to ask her multiple times; she would have known from my tone of voice that I was serious,” Mr El-Erian told Worth.

“She asked me to wait a minute, went to her room and came back with a piece of paper. It was a list that she had compiled of her important events and activities that I had missed due to work commitments. Talk about a wake-up call.

“The list contained 22 items, from her first day at school and first soccer match of the season to a parent-teacher meeting and a Halloween parade. And the school year wasn’t yet over. I felt awful and got defensive: I had a good excuse for each missed event! Travel, important meetings, an urgent phone call, sudden to-do.”

 

CSIR-CBRI Recruitment 2014 www.cbri.res.in, Scientist Vacancies Open

CSIR-CBRI Recruitment 2014: CSIR-Central Building Research Institute Scientist Recruitment 2014 project released online at www.cbri.res.in website on 20/September/2014.

CSIR-CBRI has published job advertisement (04/2014) for recruitment of 31 (thirty one) scientist, out of which 19 (nineteen) vacancies for Civil Engineer, 04 (four) vacancies for Physics, 04 (four) vacancies for Chemistry & 04 (four) vacancies for Architecture.

Job Type: Government Sector
Total Vacancies: 31
Post Name: Scientist
Post Code 01. सिविल इंजीनियर: 19 Vacancies (UR-9, SC-3, ST-1 & OBC-06)
Post Code 02. फिजिक्स : 04 Vacancies (SC-2 & OBC-02)
Post Code 03. केमिस्ट्री: 04 Vacancies (SC-3 & OBC-01)
Post Code 04. आर्किटेक्चर : 04 Vacancies (UR-01, SC-02, OBC-01)
Application last date: 20/October/2014
Website: www.cbri.res.in

Minimum Requirements
If you are one of them seeking for CSIR-Central Building Research Institute Scientist Notification 2014 can apply for Scientist only if eligible and agree commission’s all terms & conditions.

• M.E/ M. Tech / Ph. D degree / Bachelors degree etc (refer to notice)
• Age not exceed than 35 year
• Salary pay band: Rs. 15600-39100/-

How to Apply
Candidate qualified for CSIR-CBRI Recruitment 2014 project may submit application form on or earlier than 20/Oct/2014. Before submit application form all interested job aspirants may visit www.cbri.res.in website and read the notice and guideline thoroughly.

 Advt. No. CSIR-CBRI-4/2014 for Scientific Positions 

Apple Recruitment 2014-2015 apple.com

Apple Recruitment 2014:

Apple is Multinational Corporation which recruits eligible and well educated candidates for filling up various posts. It also publishes latest apple jobs notification time to time, so applicants may take advantage of these exciting career opportunities by applying online for Apple Recruitment 2014.

Name of the Organization	Apple Incorporation
Position name	Various
Qualification	Bachelor’ Degree/Master’s Degree
Salary	Good salary
Experience	Required
Last date to Apply	As soon as possible
Mode of apply	Online
Not Happy with this Recruitment and looking for more Private Jobs

Complete details about Apple jobs notification such as eligibly criteria, job type, position type, process to apply, selection procedure etc. are expressed below by the team members of privatejobshub.

Post Name:

S.No	Name of the Post
1.	SDS Support Lead / Engineering Project Manager
2.	Quality Assurance Engineer
3.	Head of Finance
4.	Quality Program Manager
5.	IOS International QA
6.	Apple Care Vendor Manager
7.	Legal Counsel
8.	Field Technician
9.	Quality Assurance Engineer
10.	Technical Carrier Account Manager
11.	Product Compliance Manager

Educational Qualification:

Job hunters who are going to apply for these posts must have completed Bachelor’s Degree/Master’s Degree in relevant discipline from the recognized University/Institution.

B.A / B.Com / B.Sc Jobs

Get More Master Degree Jobs

Selection Mode:

Selection of the applicants will be done on the basis of their performance in the Interview.

Get useful interview tips

Upcoming Jobs For Fresher’s

Salary:

Selected candidates will get the basic salary as per their qualification and experience.

How to Apply?

• Applicants can apply for Apple Jobs through official website that is jobs.apple.com
• After visiting the site, follow “Ready To start Search” and then you can find job according to your location.
• Now choose the link of the post for which you want to apply and then read the instructions carefully.
• Press on the “Submit CV” button.
• Sign In with your Apple ID and password.
• Fill the Form and upload the required documents and submit the form.
• Don’t forget to take the print out of the form.

Steps To Fill Application Correctly

Last Date:

As soon as possible