Today's Hot Stories - March 11, 2014 - PT education

Today's Hot Stories - March 11, 2014

10 Headlines for Today

(1) DMK releases poll manifesto
(2) SP releases digital book for Lok Sabha polls
(3) Japan marks third anniversary of quake-tsunami disaster
(4) LIC close to seizing Unitech's land
(5) Car sales stop downhill journey
(6) World Bank to give $3 billion to Ukraine
(7) Dolgopolov stuns Nadal at Indian Wells ATP Masters
(8) Qualifier Giorgi dumps Sharapova out
(9) Golf: Reed wins WGC-Cadillac Championship
(10) Elephants can tell difference between human languages

5 Stories for Today

(1) NaMo chai in trouble, EC bans sale of free tea
(2) Missing Malaysian jet: Stolen passports probed, hunt on for Iranian man
(3) IRDA arm creates hospital registry
(4) China to set up five private banks on trial basis
(5) FDI in India: Overseas investment in services drops 60% to $1.59 billion in April-Dec

(1) NaMo chai in trouble, EC bans sale of free tea


Bharatiya Janata Party's bid to attract voters by offering free tea at stalls named after Narendra Modi received a blow on Monday when election authorities ruled free distribution of tea amounted to bribing voters.

In fact, several workers of the saffron party were booked for organising an event in Lakhimpur district, where the participants, while listening to Modi's speeches on LED screens, were offered free tea.

The workers have also been charged with not seeking permission from local authorities for the event.

The EC asked electoral officers in the district to check distribution of NaMo tea at these stalls, following a complaint filed against local BJP leaders, including former chairman of Mohammadi municipality Sandeep Malhotra.

"Anything that is being distributed for free by a political party during election would be construed as an attempt to entice voters, something that is not allowed," said Uttar Pradesh chief election officer.

When contacted, state BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai said, "I am yet to hear about the issue. May be NaMo tea is being taken as an attempt to influence voters. In that case we would consider possibility of putting a price to tea. However, we wish to reinstate that orders of the election commission would be followed in letter and spirit."

UP joint chief electoral officer Ramakant Pandey said all election officers have been directed to film all NaMo tea stalls and keep a watch on the BJP's Chai pe Charcha programme.

Since no legal action would be taken if the tea at NaMo stalls is being sold, the EC's direction in that case would mean that expenditure on running these stalls would be added into the election expense of the BJP and party's Lok Sabha candidate as per the poll watch-dog's norms.

Sensing an opportunity, the Congress has decided to seek action against the BJP on NaMo tea stalls.

"As per electoral laws, it amounts to bribing the voters. We would ask the commission to initiate action against the BJP in this regard," said the party's in-charge of legal cell KC Mittal.

The BJP came up with NaMo tea stalls after Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said Narendra Modi is fit to serve tea at All India Congress Committee (AICC) sessions. The party, however, distanced itself from Aiyar's comments.

Source: Hindustan Times

(2) Missing Malaysian jet: Stolen passports probed, hunt on for Iranian man


There was still no trace of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane on Tuesday, a day after authorities questioned travel agents at a beach resort in Thailand about two men who boarded the flight with stolen passports, part of a growing international investigation.

Three days after the plane with 239 people on board vanished from radar screens between Malaysia and Vietnam, the search effort by at least 34 aircraft and 40 ships was being widened to a 100-nautical mile (115-mile, 185-kilometer) radius from the point the plane was last detected.

Five passengers who checked in for flight MH370 didn't board the plane, and their luggage was removed from it, Malaysian authorities said. Malaysian transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said this also was being investigated, but he didn't say whether this was suspicious.

Two of the passengers were traveling on passports stolen in Thailand and had onward tickets to Europe, but it's not known whether the two men had anything to do with the plane's disappearance. Criminals and illegal migrants regularly travel on fake or stolen documents.

Hishammuddin said biometric information and CCTV footage of the men has been shared with Chinese and US intelligence agencies, which were helping with the investigation. Almost two-thirds of the passengers on the flight were from China.

The stolen passports, one belonging to Christian Kozel of Austria and the other to Luigi Maraldi of Italy, were entered into Interpol's database after they were taken in Thailand in 2012 and 2013, the police organization said.

Electronic booking records show that one-way tickets with those names were issued on Thursday from a travel agency in the beach resort of Pattaya in eastern Thailand. Thai police Col. Supachai Phuykaeokam said those reservations were placed with the agency by a second travel agency in Pattaya, Grand Horizon.

Thai police and Interpol officers questioned the owners. Officials at Grand Horizon refused to talk to The Associated Press.

Malaysian aircraft vanishes

Police Lt. Col. Ratchthapong Tia-sood said the travel agency was contacted by an Iranian man known only as "Mr Ali'' to book the tickets for the two men.

"We have to look further into this Mr Ali's identity because it's almost a tradition to use an alias when doing business around here,'' he said.

The travel agency's owner, Benjaporn Krutnait, told The Financial Times she believed Mr Ali was not connected to terrorism because he had asked for cheapest tickets to Europe and did not specify the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.

Malaysia's police chief was quoted by local media as saying that one of the two men had been identified — something that could speed up the investigation.

Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman declined to confirm this, but said they were of "non-Asian'' appearance, adding that authorities were looking at the possibility the men were connected to a stolen passport syndicate.

Asked by a reporter what they looked like, he said: "Do you know of a footballer by the name of (Mario) Balotelli? He is an Italian. Do you know how he looks like?'' A reporter then asked, "Is he black?'' and the aviation chief replied, "Yes.''

Possible causes of the apparent crash include an explosion, catastrophic engine failure, terrorist attack, extreme turbulence, pilot error or even suicide, according to experts, many of whom cautioned against speculation because so little is known.

Malaysia's air force chief, Rodzali Daud, has said radar indicated that before it disappeared, the plane may have turned back, but there were no further details on which direction it went or how far it veered off course.

On Sunday, a Vietnamese plane spotted a rectangular object that was thought to be one of the plane's doors, but ships could not locate it. On Monday, a Singaporean search plane spotted a yellow object 140 kilometers (87 miles) southwest of Tho Chu island, but it turned out to be sea trash.

Malaysian maritime officials found oil slicks in the South China Sea, but lab tests found that samples of it were not from an aircraft, Azharuddin said.

Selamat Omar, a Malaysian whose 29-year-old son Mohamad Khairul Amri Selamat was a passenger on the flight, told of getting a call from the airline saying the plane was missing.

"We accept God's will,'' Selamat said. "Whether he is found alive or dead, we surrender to Allah.''

Source: The Times of India

(3) IRDA arm creates hospital registry


The Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) - a body created by insurance regulator IRDA - has created a registry of healthcare providers and assigned them unique IDs. Creation of this database is the regulator's first step in building an analytics capability for detecting endemics, assessing medical cost inflation, and in detecting fraud.

Speaking to TOI, R Raghavan, head of IIB, said that the unique hospital ID registry is a compilation of all the hospitals that are currently in the provider network of health insurance. "The intention is to make the registry open to all hospitals who would like to enrol for future association with health insurers or third-party administrators."

The IIB is also part of a panel under the ministry of health and family welfare, which is developing a template for standard procedures for various ailments. Along with the standardization of procedures, the ministry is also coming out with a costing template. With insurance companies submitting claim data incorporating disease codes, procedure codes and hospital IDs, the regulator would be able to run its fraud analytics software.

Last month, the regulator had made out a request for proposal from providers of fraud detection software. Health insurers say that the software should throw up hospitals where billings are out of kilter or there is a pattern.

According to Sandeep Patel, MD & CEO of Cigna TTK Health Insurance, there is no standardization at present in India with respect to procedures. "The creation of this database will help to analyze and determine the consistency in pricing by hospitals and in turn help us determine how much leeway we can give in terms of pre-authorization," said Patel.

Other health insurers are also very positive on the move to build the hospital registry since there is no accreditation of hospitals in India. "This is a very good initiative. With this as the base, we can start having physical inspections and even map hospitals with GPS," said Segar Sampathkumar, general manager, New India Assurance. At present, insurers know of the existence of many healthcare providers only on paper.

Source: The Economic Times

(4) China to set up five private banks on trial basis


China will set up five private banks on a trial basis before the practice is extended to more places, the chief of the country’s banking regulator said on Tuesday.

The first batch of the five banks will be in Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang Province and Guangdong Province, Shang Fulin, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.

Ten private companies, including Internet firms Alibaba and Tencent, have been selected to take part in the preparation work for setting up the banks, Mr. Shang said.

He said their eligibility as shareholders will be subject to further examination.

Each of the banks will be co-sponsored by at least two private capital providers, he said.

Mr. Shang, however, did not provide a timetable for the launch of the banks, saying that they will be approved when “conditions are ripe”.

Setting up private banks in China was written into an ambitious reform package rolled out after a key plenum of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in November, representing further opening up of the country’s banking sector.

Compared with existing commercial banks, the private banks will be subject to the same regulation and supervision, Mr. Shang was quoted by state—run Xinhua news agency as saying.

Financial services of private banks will be oriented towards small and micro businesses as well as residential communities, Mr. Shang said.

Risk monitoring will be strengthened and shareholders’ behaviours will be regulated, he added.

Source: The Hindu

(5) FDI in India: Overseas investment in services drops 60% to $1.59 billion in April-Dec


Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the services sector declined by about 60 per cent to USD 1.59 billion in the first nine months of this financial year.

The services sector, which includes banking, insurance, outsourcing, R&D, courier and technology testing, had received FDI worth USD 4.04 billion in the April-December period of 2012, according to data with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

An industry expert said foreign investors are waiting for the next government.

"Worldwide, foreign investors are eagerly waiting for elections. They want to take a call after the formation of the new government," said Krishan Malhotra, head of the tax division at corporate law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas.

The month-long general election will start on April 7, with polls staggered over nine stages.

With the drop in FDI in services, overall foreign inflows in the country dipped by 3 per cent to USD 22 billion during the nine-month period. Investments of USD 22.78 billion were made in April-December 2012.

The services sector contributes over 60 per cent to India's GDP.

Other sectors where inflows have declined include construction development, metallurgical industries and hotel and tourism.

Foreign investment is considered crucial for India, which needs about USD 1 trillion in the five years ending March 2017 to develop infrastructure such as ports, airports and highways and boost growth.

A decline in foreign investment could affect the country's balance of payments and the rupee.

Source: The Indian Express

Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.