NEWSLINE 1st OCTOBER, 2009

National News

Nasa Probe on Chandrayaan finds Water on Moon's Surface

India 's maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan -1 has found water, a discovery that scientists say will upend thinking about space and boost research. And, of course, it has helped shake off the failure tag from the Rs. 386-crore Chandrayaan-1 project that was aborted recently. The historic development took place just prior to the termination of the mission on August 30, 2009. Although water was spotted by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), Nasa probe and one of the 11 payloads on the spacecraft, glory shone on ISRO for the discovery that was made after nearly five decades of lunar exploration by western nations. Water molecules and hydroxyl ? a charged molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom ? were discovered across the Moon's surface. The M3 had covered 97% of the Moon before Chandrayaan-1 was terminated.

ISRO launches Oceansat 2

ISRO placed in orbit seven satellites including Oceansat-2 within a span of 20 minutes, its first successful mission after the abrupt end of the ambitious Chandrayaan-I project. The satellites were launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). PSLV, the 44 metre, 230-tonne launch vehicle has now undertaken 15 consecutive successful missions, ever since it failed on its debut on September 20,1993. Oceansat-2, the country's 16th remote sensing satellite, will identify potential fishing zones, sea state forecasting and coastal zone studies, besides providing inputs on weather forecasting and climate studies.

Hindu Law gets a secular touch

Hindu personal law prohibits same-gender adoption but a landmark judgment by the Bombay High Court disregarded that. The Court ruled that Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000- a secular law enabling rehabilitation of abandoned children through adoption-would prevail over the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA). This was the first time the court was interpreting provisions of two conflicting legal provisions on adoption? the 54-year old Hindu Adoption Act and nine-year old Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

Screening test must for Indians with foreign MBBS Degree

The Supreme Court has ruled that Indian students who get a medical degree from a foreign country covered under the reciprocity clause, will have to clear the screening test conducted by Medical Council of India to practice in India . At present, certain medical qualifications of UK , Australia , Canada , Italy , Japan , New Zealand , South Africa , Ireland , Nepal , Pakistan and Bangladesh are covered under the reciprocity clause.

NCR SelfServ 32, next generation ATM

Global technology company NCR Corporation unveiled its next-generation multi-function automated teller machine (ATM) which would help financial institutions, reduce their operating costs. The machine, NCR SelfServ 32, is designed to accept cheques without any envelope and is scalable to offer bulk cheque deposits and is in sync with the Reserve Bank of India 's current initiative of getting bank's technology ready to offer cheque truncation.

Global Patent for Tirupati Ladoo, Banarasi Sarees

The famed Tirupati laddu? the prasadam most sought after by lakhs of pilgrims who throng Tirumala? has joined the ranks of Darjeeling Tea, Madhubani paintings and Goa feni after it was granted the Geographical Indication Patent Rights. The Tirupati laddu got the patent rights under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act. Banarasi silk products have now joined the league of Pochampalli, under the registered name of 'Banaras Brocades and Sarees' by securing Geographical Indication (GI) rights. The GI rights are the intellectual property rights that restrict others from marketing or processing a product in the same name.

Russia ready to help India for its own advanced Radar

Russia , on top of a full technology transfer, is offering India help in building its own advanced Radar. This would put India in the elite league of manufacturers of some of the most sophisticated defence equipment. The two planes will go to India next month for flight evaluation trials.

13 Indian companies are in the list of Forbes' 50 best listed Companies

13 Indian companies have made it to the list of Forbes' 50 best-listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region. In the Forbes list, there are four Indian entities ? Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services among the top ten firms in terms of market value and others are Adani Enterprise, Axis Bank, Bharat Heavy Electricals, HDFC Bank, Jindal Steel & Power, Larsen and Tourbo, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Wipro.

Marathi Film on Phalke is India 's Oscar entry

'Harishchandrachi Factory', a Marathi film based on the making of the country's first film "Raja Harishchandra" India's first full length feature film in 1913 by the pioneer of Indian Cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke, was chosen India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language film at the Oscar Awards next year. Directed by theatre veteran Paresh Mokashi, it is only the second Marathi film after 'Shwaas' in 2004 to be chosen for Oscars.

Penal Provisions for Stop-payment of cheque

The Bombay High Court has ruled that asking your bank to stop payment on a cheque also attracts criminal action under stringent provisions of Negotiable Instruments Act (NIA), which are otherwise invoked in instances where a cheque bounces due to insufficiency of funds.

At UN, Yugratna calls for sharing mother earth

A young girl from India 's Gangetic plain, where climate change issues affect everyday life and quotidian tasks such as burning the chulah affect the climate, made a plea for the ages at the United Nations asking world leaders to show vision and leadership in stopping "those who make mother earth cry." Thirteen-year old Lucknow girl Yugratna Srivastava, spoke eloquently about the need for the world to stop pillaging the earth in a speech that was cheered by world leaders, including the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Ford drives first small car 'Figo' into India

US auto major Ford, the only one of Detroit's Big Three automakers to have avoided bankruptcy unveiled company's first small car for the Indian market 'Figo' (Italian slang for 'cool').

International News

Yukio Hatoyama elected as Japan 's Prime Minister

Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama was elected Prime Minister of Japan on 16 th September, 2009, promising to reinvigorate the world's second-largest economy and shake up government with his left-of-center party. Parliament convened a special session to formally select Hatoyama as the new leader after Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet resigned earlier in the day, ending more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule by the conservative and staunchly pro-U.S. Liberal Democratic Party.

Pandith sworn as first US envoy

41-year-old Farah Pandith, is the first Special Representative to Muslim Communities of the United States . She has been formally sworn in as the first US Special Representative to Muslim communities as part of the Obama Administration's efforts to reach out to the Islamic world.

Record: Brown's new book sells over 1m copies in a day

The latest novel from "Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown, "The Lost Symbol," broke one-day sales records. Readers snapped up over one million hardcover copies across the US , Canada and the UK after it was released.

China bans foreign tourists from Tibet

China has banned foreign tourists from travelling to Tibet ahead of a parade in the capital to mark 60 years of Communist rule amid stepped-up security across the country to ensure nothing mars the celebrations.

9 PIOs in Obama's White House

At least nine Indian-origin people work in the White House, with some getting $100,000 or more a year, official figures released by President's Barack Obama's office have revealed. Sonal Shah is the Deputy Assistant to the US President and Director at office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.

SPORTS

Vijender Singh has become the world number 1 boxer

Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist Vijender Singh became the first Indian boxer to reach the pinnacle of the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) world ranking in the middleweight category (75kg).

US Open 2009

The 2009 US Open Tennis tournament was held from August 31 to September 14 , 2009 .

Men's Singles: Juan Martin Del Potro has ended Roger Federer's run of dominance at the U.S. Open, stunning the top-ranked Swiss great in five sets to win his first Grand Slam final.

Women's Singles: Wild card entry and former world number-1, 26- year old Belgian Kim Clijsters made history with a stunning victory over Danish Caroline Wozniacki in the women's final after returning from a lay off of over two years and birth of her child.

Men's Doubles: Leander Paes of India partnering Czeck Lukas Dlouhy overcame the challenge of his former playmate Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles to lift his 10 th Grand Slam Title.

Women's Doubles: Serena Williams and Venus Williams defeated Cara Black and Liezel Huber to emerge Women's Doubles Champion.

Mixed Doubles: Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott defeated Cara Black and Leander Paes. This was the first ever slam title for the pair of Gullickson and Parrott.

Somdev leads India to elite World Group

India defeated South Africa 4-1 in the World Group play off round to enter the elite Davis Cup World Cup after 11 years. The only loss came in the doubles tie which India had to concede because of injury problems. Somdev Devvarman was the star of the event with a spectacular win over South Africa 's Rik De Voest in a high-voltage marathon five-setter. What makes India 's win more spectacular is that the matches were played at indoor hard courts at Ellis indoor stadium, a surface not traditionally favoured by Indians

Gaganjeet Bhullar clinches DLF Masters title

Gaganjeet Bhullar won the title of DLF Masters golf tournament at the DLF Golf and Country Club on 20 th September, 2009. The defending champion Jyoti Randhawa settled with tied-fourth place.

Haryana Wrestler Wins World Championship Bronze in 74kg Freestyle

Ramesh Kumar the wrestler from Haryana ended India's 42-year wait for a medal in the men's segment at the World Championships by winning bronze in the 74kg freestyle category in Herning, Denmark.

Gebrselassie wins Berlin marathon

World marathon record-holder Haile Gebrselassie won the Berlin marathon for the fourth time in an official time of 2 hours 6min 08sec, but missed out an a new World record. The 36-year-old smashed his own record here at last year's race. Kenya 's Francis Kiprop came second and Ethiopia 's Negari Terfa was third. The women's race was won by Ethiopia 's Atsede Habtamu Besuye in a time of 2:24:47.

Churchill Brothers win Durand Cup

Okolie Odafe's hat-trick powered Churchill Brothers to their second Durand Cup title in football. The reigning I-League champions drubbed Mohun Bagan 3-1 in the 122nd edition of the Durand Cup final played at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi .

News and Views

• Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, father of the 'Green Revolution,' who developed high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat that nearly doubled India 's wheat output and prevented famine in the developing world has died at the age of 95.
• The ancient city of Rome can now be virtually built within a matter of hours, thanks to a new computer algorithm developed by an Indian-origin University of Washington researcher. It uses hundreds of thousands of tourist photos to automatically reconstruct an entire city in about a day.
• Indian entrepreneur Anurag Mendhekar, founder of Blue Vector Systems has been selected for this year's Indiana University 's 'Distinguished Asian Pacific American Alumni Award'.
• Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi has been elected as President of Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA).
• Patrick Swayze, best known for his starring roles in the hit films 'Dirty Dancing' and 'Ghost', died on 14 th September, 2009 at the age of 57 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
• The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of nine new National Institutes of Technology (NITs), taking their number to 29 across the country.
• The World's new tallest man, Sultan Kosen measuring 8 feet 1 inch from Mardin in eastern Turkey was presented by Guinness World Records in London .
• "Katyayani" a television channel dedicated to Mother Goddess, was launched on the auspicious day of "Prathami" by Chief Minister of Delhi , Sheila Dikshit on 19 th September, 2009.
• Karamveer Singh took over as the new Director-General of Police of Uttar Pradesh. An IPS officer of the 1975 batch, Mr. Karamveer Singh succeeds Vikram Singh, who has been appointed the Director-General of Home Guards and Director of Civil Defence.
• An official survey has revealed that backward castes account for around 38.5% of the rural populace. The findings are part of an exercise which scanned all rural households as part of BPL survey 2002

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Habitable moons may be spotted by 2014

British astronomers have claimed that thousands of moons capable of supporting life, like those shown in the Star Wars' flicks, could be scattered all over our galaxy, and are likely to be spotted by 2014.

A Single shot of vaccine, to fight Rabies

A single shot of vaccine might soon be efficient to provide protection against rabies. The team led by James McGettigan, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University showed that a replication-deficient rabies virus that lacks a key gene called the matrix gene induced a rapid and efficient anti-rabies response in mice and non-human primates. The immune response induced is so substantial that just one inoculation, instead of the standard six, may be enough to provide protection. The current vaccine is made from inactivated rabies virus, whereas the new vaccine is made from a live virus.