NEWSLINE 1st SEPTEMBER, 2009

NATIONAL NEWS

Guarantor as liable as debt defaulter: SC

The Apex Court has ruled that the principal debtor and the guarantor or surety are both equally liable to be proceeded against for recovery of a loan by the creditor. "The legal position is clear that liability of the guarantor and principal debtor are co-extensive and not in alternative, "said a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and HL Dattu bursting the myth that the principal debtor had the primary liability to pay up a defaulted loan.

Govt. Plans Rs. 10,000cr dedicated telecom network for armed forces

In a significant national security-related development, the government is moving to build a $2 billion or Rs. 9,970.16 crore dedicated, highly secure and State-of-the-art optical fiber cable (OFC) network for the Army, Navy and Air Force. This will be one of the world's largest, closed user group (CUG) network for exclusive use by the million-plus personnel of the Indian armed forces.

ISRO Launches desi version of Google Earth

ISRO took a leap into satellite imagery of geographical regions with the launch of 'Bhuvan' a mapping application website like Google Earth, on 12 th August, 2009. The day marks the 90 th birth anniversary of the father of Indian Space Programme Vikram Sarabhai. The website can be accessed on http://www.bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in .

2 Army Officers get Ashok Chakra

Major Mohit Sharma of 1 Para, killed in a battle with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and Major D Sreeram Kumar were conferred Ashoka Chakra, the country's highest peace-time gallantry medal on Independence Day.

Maha sets up evening courts to deal with mounting cases

Maharashtra 's Law and Judiciary department will establish evening courts to reduce the large number of pending cases at district and subordinate courts. The evening courts will deal with cases under specified enactments, including the Negotiable Instruments Act. Under supervision of the Bombay High Court, the evening courts will function from 6p.m. to 8p.m. on every working day.

Awarding Death Penalty to be made tougher: SC

A 30-year old Supreme Court judgment laying down "rarest of rare case" guidelines on imposition of death penalty may soon see further tightening that could make award of capital punishment an absolute rare phenomenon. The Apex Court said time had come for an attempt towards deciphering a common view on this to usher in "some objectivity to the precedent on death penalty which is crumbling down under the weight of disparate interpretations".

Rajiv Gandhi Awards

Top achievers from different walks of life were presented the Rajiv Gandhi Awards at the 12 th awards ceremony in Mumbai. The winners include Isro Chairman G Madhavan Nair, Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, Industrialist- social worker Rajashree Birla, telecom whiz Sam Pitroda and Times Group MD Vineet Jain. Others who received the award are: Shahid Kapoor, Katrina Kaif (Entertainment), Narendra Jadhav (Education), Ramesh Chandra Agarwal (Journalism), Rohit Kocchar (Young Entrepreneur), Krushnaa Patil, who scaled Mount Everest recently (Woman Achiever) and 10-year-old Avika Gor of TV serial Balika Vadhu (Child Prodigy).

The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2008-09

• Company of the year : Hero Honda
• Lifetime Achievement : Keshub Mahindra
• Business Leader : Anand Mahindra
• Policy Change Agent : Jean Dreze
• Business Woman : Vinita Bali
• Global Citizen : Ram Charan
• Entrepreneur of the Year : G V Krishna Reddy
• Business Reformer : Nitish Kumar
• Emerging Company : Idea Cellular
• Corporate Citizen : Teri

International News

America's highest civilian award for Hawking and Yunus

British scientist Stephen Hawking and Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus are among the 16 eminent personalities who were conferred 'Presidential Medal of Freedom', America 's highest civilian award, by President Barack Obama. Hawking was awarded the Medal of Freedom in recognition of popular science publications and for making his research accessible to all members of the public. Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his role in poverty alleviation through micro-finance scheme in Bangladesh , has been honoured for altering the face of finance and entrepreneurship. Among others who were conferred with the prestigious awards are South African anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, breast cancer crusader Nancy Goodman Brinker, Medical Campaigner Pedro Jose Greer and tennis legend Billie Jean King. Civil rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery, native American tribal chief Joseph Medicine Crow, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, actress Chita Rivera and cancer researcher Janet Davison Rowley were also honoured.

Iran to get Women Ministers after 30 years

Iran 's President said that he will nominate three women to join his new cabinet, a move that could produce the first female ministers in the country in over 30 years. Ahmadinejad said he would appoint Marzieh Vahid Dastgerdi, a 50-year-old gynaecologist, as Health Minister and Fatemah Ajorlu, a 43-year-old law maker as Minister of Welfare and Social Security.

Miss Universe 2009

Miss Venezuela Stefania Fernandez has been named winner of the 2009 Miss Universe pageant in the Bahamas . Miss Dominican Republic, Ada Aimee de la Cruz, was the runner up. Miss China , Wang Jingyao, was named Miss Congeniality and Miss Thailand , Chutima Durongdej, won Miss Photogenic.

Sports

South Korean Y E Yang becomes First Asian to win Major Title

South Korea 's Y E Yang toppled Tiger Woods and became the first Asian-born man to win a major title with a stunning performance in the PGA Championship at Chaska. His victory is massive for Asia , the fastest-growing market in golf. For Woods, it was the second time he has finished runner-up in the PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

World Athletic Championship

Fastest man on earth Usain Bolt slashed a mind-bogging 0.11 seconds off his own 100m record in Berlin at the World Championships to win in 9.58 secs. Bolt's latest record came exactly a year after he set the Bird's nest in Beijing aflame with a sizzling 9.69-sec run.

Vijender Singh is now ranked Second in the World

Olympic bronze medal winner Vijender Singh achieved a career-high second spot in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) official rankings in which three other Indians made the top-10 of their respective categories. Among other Indians, Beijing Olympics quarterfinalist Akhil Kumar has been placed ninth in the feather weight (57kg) rankings with 1050 points. In the 48kg category, world youth champion Thokchom Nanao Singh has been ranked fifth with a tally of 1400 points.

Mahesh Bhupati and Mark Knowles lifts Rogers Cup Doubles Title

Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles continued their rampaging form to lift their fourth ATP title together, beating seventh seeds Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in straight sets in the finals of Rogers Cup in Montreal .

Super Dan claims a Historic World Title No. 3

Lin Dan won his third successive World title with a convincing 21-18, 21-16 victory over his Chinese teammate Chen Jin. Xie Xingfang faltered at the final hurdle and lost 23-21, 21-12 to Lu Lan at the BWF World Championships held at Hyderabad . Incidentally, Lin Dan is the first shuttler to clinch three world titles. Dan attained legendary status after becoming only the second player in the world to hold the Olympic and World titles at the same time. In another all-China final, eighth-seeded women's doubles pair of Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting defeated second seeds Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei. All England champions Cai Yun and Hu Haifeng of China won a thrilling men's doubles final over Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae of Korea . In all China won four out of the five golds on offer.

F-1 victory for Rubens

Rubens Barrichello claimed his 10 th Formula One victory when he drove his Brawn GP car to win the European Grand Prix at Valencia . It was the Brazilians' first triumph in five years since 2004. Lewis Hamilton driving a McLaren finished second while Kimi Raikkonen finished third.

England Regain the Urn with 197-run Victory at the oval

England regained the Ashes with a sweeping victory over Australia in the fifth Test at the Oval. With this loss, Australia have dropped to 4 th spot in the ICC Test rankings behind South Africa , Sri Lanka and India . It's the first time Australia has lost the No. 1 spot since rankings began in 2003.

News and Views

• Discovery Networks works Asia-Pacific will soon launch three new 24 hour channels - Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and Discovery HD - after getting clearance from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• Community health insurance scheme for the Capital's urban poor is set to see the light of day soon. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries would get a free annual insurance cover of Rs 1.5 lakh. Delhi is modelling its health insurance scheme on Andhra's 'Rajiv Arogyashri Health Insurance Scheme'. The Health department has appointed Joint Secretary Dr Ashwini Singla as CEO of the trust.
• S.K. Roongta, Chairman, Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) has won the 'SCOPE' Award for excellence and outstanding contribution to the Public Sector Management-Individual Category for the year 2007-08. The award carries a gold plaque and a cash amount of Rs. 1,00,000.
• Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla launched the first of its kind banking service, where a consumer can pay his income tax using an ATM. The facility has been started by Corporation Bank. Initially, at least 10-20 lakh people who have an account in the bank will benefit.
• PepsiCo Chief Executive Indra Nooyi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, ICICI Bank Chief Chanda Kocchar and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson of Biocon have been listed among the World's 100 most powerful women by Forbes magazine.
• Sanskrit Poet Satya Vrat Shastri was conferred the 42 nd Jnanpith award for his contributions to the enrichment of the language by his disciple and Princess of Thailand Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Shastri became the first Sanskrit poet to be conferred the award since its inception. The award comprises a citation and a prize money of Rs. seven lakh.
• Ex-civil servant Najeeb Jung has been named as the new Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia.
• US Senator Edward Kennedy, a major figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America 's most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated died at the age of 77.

Science and Technology

Measles vaccine will not require a Syringe

Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus in paramyxovirus family and around 1200 people die by measles everyday. But now a single deep breath could soon vaccinate a child against measles. Next year, India will start human trials of a measles vaccine that will not require a syringe. Instead, a single long breath will deliver the vaccine straight into the child's lungs.

Global Warming will affect Earth's tilt

A new study has suggested that global warming may heat up oceans to the extent that it could cause Earth's axis to tilt in coming century. The Earth spins on an axis that is tilted some 23.5 degrees from the vertical. But this position is far from constant, the planet's axis is constantly shifting in response to changes in the distribution of mass around the earth.