Today's Hot Stories - April 01, 2014
10 Headlines for Today(1) Supreme Court commutes Bhullar’s death sentence
(2) 12,000 detonators recovered in Bihar
(3) Mass surge to sign up for Obamacare
(4) In a fresh price war, SpiceJet goes for Re 1 base fare
(5) Rajan delivers no surprises, holds interest rates
(6) Asian growth to pick up even as China slows: Asian Development Bank
(7) Golf: Aussie Steven Bowditch wins Texas Open
(8) NBA: Spurs pound Pacers to win record 18th
(9) Sports ministry derecognizes IABF
(10) Flash strike in Mumbai: BEST buses off roads
5 Stories for Today
(1) President presents Padma awards
(2) Emergency crews face toxic challenge in Washington state mudslide
(3) Top Indian companies shy off home turf, look abroad for growth
(4) Russia's Gazprom announces big gas price rise for Ukraine
(5) India's potential economic growth rate in India below 6%: RBI report
(1) President presents Padma awards
President Pranab Mukherjee presented the civilian awards - the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri - at an investiture ceremony in New Delhi at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.
India’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan was presented to noted scientist Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, while 12 individuals were decorated with the Padma Bhushan and 53 with the Padma Shri at the ceremony attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari and several Ministers.
Actor Kamal Hasan, Prof. Susanne H. Rudolph and Prof. Llyod I. Rudolph both distinguished professors of Political Science from the University of Chicago, Dr. Neelam Kler, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India VN Kaul, badminton player and coach Pullela Gopichand, writer-lyricists and renowned Tamil literary figure Vairamuthu, Prof. Emeritus University of Dhaka Prof. Anisuzzaman, scientist Prof. Jyeshtharaj B. Joshi, vocalist Begum Parween Sultana, percussionist T.H. Vikku Vinayakram and Dr. Anumolu Ramakrishna (posthumous) were among the 12 presented the Padma Bhushan.
Actor Vidya Balan, Sanskrit scholar Dr. Naheed Abidi, renowned poet Ashok Chakradhar, Bengali actor Sabitri Chatterjee, Mizo writer Chhakchhuak Chhuanvawra, Manipuri artiste Elam Indira Devi, Literary theorist Prof. G.N. Devy, social activist Dr. Brahm Dutt, medical practitioner Dr. Pawan Raj Goyal, former Secretary Prof. Ramaswamy R. Iyer, Prof. IIS, Bangalore, Prof. Eluvathingal Devassy Jemmis, theatre personality Bansi Kaul, well know activist for the visually challenged Jawahar Lal Kaul, Sarangi player Ustad Moinuddin Khan, dancer Geeta Mahalik, poet and critic Prof. Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri, squash player Dipika Rebecca Pallikal and designer Wendell Augustine Rodricks were among the Padma Shri.
Source: The Hindu
(2) Emergency crews face toxic challenge in Washington state mudslide
Recovery teams struggling through thick mud up to their armpits and heavy downpours at the site of a devastating landslide in Washington state are facing yet another challenge - an unseen and potentially dangerous stew of toxic contaminants.
Sewage, propane, household solvents and other chemicals lie beneath the surface of the gray mud and rubble that engulfed hundreds of acres of a rural community on March 22 and left dozens of people dead or missing, authorities said.
The official death toll rose to 24 on Monday - up from 21 a day earlier, nine days after a rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, northeast of Seattle. The dead included a 4-month-old infant and two older children, ages 5 and 6.
Authorities said the number of people still listed as missing had been cut to 22 from 30. It was not immediately clear if that number was lowered through the identification of bodies. Of the 24 dead, 18 have been identified by medical examiners.
Meanwhile, managers of the recovery operation were taking special measures to protect the hundreds of workers on the scene from chemical exposure and to prevent toxic sludge from being carried offsite.
"We're worried about dysentery. We're worried about tetanus. We're worried about contamination," local fire Lieutenant Richard Burke, a spokesman for the operation, told reporters visiting the disaster site. "The last thing we want to do is take any of these contaminants out of here and take them into town, back to our families."
The torrent of mud released by the slide roared over both stream banks of the Stillaguamish river and across state Highway 530, flattening dozens of homes on the outskirts of the town of Oso in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.
CONFLICTING NUMBERS
The death toll in the disaster has been somewhat of a moving target in recent days as county officials have reported locating a number of bodies without adding them to their fatality toll.
Search crews, with the help of dogs, have been regularly finding and retrieving more remains, at least four to six times a day on the eastern half of the massive debris pile, recovery team supervisor Steve Harris told a news conference.
But authorities have said the process of accounting for the number of dead has been complicated by the fact that the bodies are not always found intact.
Harris said the mudslide struck with such force that whole cars were "compacted down to about the size of a refrigerator, just smashed to the point where you can hardly tell it was a vehicle."
No one has been pulled out alive and no signs of life have been detected in the disaster zone since the day the slide hit, when eight people were injured but survived.
Officials have conceded it may be impossible to account for everyone lost in the disaster, and that some victims might end up being permanently entombed under the giant mound of muck and debris covering about a half square mile (1.3 square km).
Asked how much longer the search efforts would continue to be formally treated as a rescue operation, Harris said, "I can't answer how long this is going to go on. There's a lot of work to be done yet."
Jaime Smith, a spokeswoman for Governor Jay Inslee, said that decision would ultimately be made by the joint incident command, consisting of the on-site leaders of the various local, state and federal agencies involved in the search.
DRY FORECAST
Scores of recovery workers, including National Guard troops just back from Afghanistan, picked through the swampy, rubble-strewn mud on Monday under bright, sunny skies that provided a welcome respite from heavy rains of last week.
Weather forecasts for the week ahead showed a continued drying trend, "which will help crews and reduce the risk of flooding and additional slides," the county said in a statement.
The break in the weather means less logistical work, such as pumping out water, and more actual searching, Burke said.
But about a third of the site remained buried beneath 60 to 80 feet (18 to 24 meters) of mud, twisted tree trunks and wreckage, making it too unstable to safely enter, he told reporters.
Like most workers at the site, Burke's boots were sealed to his trousers with duct tape, a precaution to keep toxic sludge out of his clothing. National Guard troops also set up a decontamination station where workers scrubbed themselves with soap and hot water before leaving the site.
"This is going to be a hazardous materials site for many years while we try to get this cleaned up," Burke said.
Governor Inslee, who toured the disaster zone by helicopter on Sunday, asked President Barack Obama on Monday for a major disaster declaration that would make federal programs available to assist people, households and businesses affected by the slide.
The request followed the approval of a federal emergency declaration last week that paved the way for the U.S. government to send in its own disaster team and specialized personnel.
In a bid to boost gloomy spirits in the community, members of two of Seattle's professional sports teams, the Seahawks of the National Football League and the Sounders Major League Soccer team, planned to visit the area later on Monday.
Dennis Smith, chief executive of the county's United Way chapter, said his nonprofit charity organization had raised an unprecedented $1.2 million with a special campaign benefiting victims and survivors of the Oso landslide.
Source: The Times of India
(3) Top Indian companies shy off home turf, look abroad for growth
Policy flip-flop and delay in approvals is causing India’s top private and public sector companies including Tata Power, Reliance Industries and Bhel to look outwards and to invest in countries that offer stable policy regimes and higher returns than at home.
HT spoke to the management of the three companies — leaders in their respective territories — and was told that they are scouting for opportunities outside due to regulatory and policy delays.
The Rs. 33,000 crore-plus Tata Power is clearly focusing on growth outside the country. The company has added 8,500 mw since its inception within India, but has added projects worth 3,000 mw across the globe in its short two-year journey.
“We went international in last 2 years and clearly we no longer consider India as the only turf anymore… I have teams investing globally in four blocks including Africa, West Asia and Turkey, Saarc (including India) and South East Asia... whichever offers us a better option to grow, we will grow there,” Anil Sardana, MD, Tata Power told HT.
Tata Power is planning to add 26,000 mw capacity in 6-7 years, and a major chunk of its planned capacity expansion is expected to come from global projects.
“We have diversified in geographies and all of our investments made globally are offering higher returns than what you get in India…In India growth will depend on how fast clearances come… as and when India offers us the opportunity, we will continue to grow in India,” he added.
Public sector giant Bhel’s CMD BP Rao said the company has planned new manufacturing units in Dubai, Africa and South East Asia. “A slowdown has hit all sectors…it is not just the growth in the power sector that is seeing a contraction, but other areas where Bhel had planned big expansion, such as transportation,” Rao said, adding that as much Rs. 10,000 crore of investments planned are not happening, and despite follow-ups at the top level, decisions are not forthcoming.
Faced with delay in securing approvals and unstable policy practices, the Rs. 4 lakh crore-plus conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) too is looking for growth outside India for the company’s largest and core business — oil and gas.
A senior RIL official seeking anonymity told HT that the company is focusing on expanding its international oil and gas business following regulatory issues on the home pitch . “We had a portfolio of 45 oil and gas exploration blocks in India in 2010-11 and thanks to the policy and pricing issues, the number is down to six,” the official said. RIL recently bagged two oil and gas blocks in Myanmaar.
“We are clearly focusing on growth outside India..we are in Venezuela and Iraq and will look at expanding there by developing oil blocks and setting up new refineries.
Source: Hindustan Times
(4) Russia's Gazprom announces big gas price rise for Ukraine
Russian natural gas producer Gazprom announced a more than 40 percent increase in the price Ukraine must pay for gas on Tuesday, stepping up economic pressure on Kiev in its political standoff with Moscow.
Ukraine will now have to pay $385.5 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas in the second quarter, an increase form $268.5 that was agreed in December, before the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president and Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Gazprom's Chief Executive Officer, Alexei Miller, said the increase was needed because Ukraine's debt for unpaid gas bills now stood at $1.7 billion.
"The December discount for gas cannot be applied any more," Miller said, adding that the transportation tariff for Gazprom's gas to Europe via Ukraine was increasing by 10 percent, in line with earlier agreements.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in December to cut the gas price for Ukraine and provide a financial lifeline to Kiev after its abrupt decision not to sign a trade agreement with the European Union and rebuild economic ties with Moscow instead.
The discount was subject to a quarterly review.
After Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was deposed in February following months of anti-government protests, Gazprom and Putin said the gas price discount would be scrapped because of the debt.
The price of $385.5 is above the $370 Gazprom charges its clients in the European Union on average, but slightly below the price of $386-$387 which Kiev had said it expected.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk has said the country will need energy from the EU to protect it from the repercussions of its standoff with Moscow, on which it depends for over half its oil and gas.
Source: The Economic Times
(5) India's potential economic growth rate in India below 6%: RBI report
With economic growth rate trending below the 5 per cent mark for three successive quarters, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today pegged expansion at less than 6 per cent from the earlier expectation of over 8 per cent.
"The wide range of estimates using alternative techniques, on balance, suggests that currently the potential growth may be even somewhat lower than 6 per cent," RBI said in its Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments Report released today.
It said a decline in financial savings, sluggish growth in capital formation over successive quarters, persistently high inflation and low business confidence are the major reasons for the revised estimate.
However, it said a modest recovery is likely to take shape in 2014-15.
The document said potential growth, which hovered at 8-8.5 per cent levels in the period from the second quarter of 2005-06 to the second quarter of 2008-09, has gone down to 6 per cent.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's predecessor D Subbarao had once suggested that the potential growth of the economy was 7.3 per cent.
A survey of potential forecasters done by the RBI revised growth for FY15 to 5.5 per cent from the earlier estimate of 5.6 per cent.
On inflation, one of the key factors that forced the RBI to keep a tight monetary policy, which in turn affected growth, the document said that the disinflationary path is moving as expected but stressed on the need to be vigilant.
Warning of upside risks to inflation in FY15, it said the recent declines in CPI inflation were primarily driven by lower food prices, the benefit of which would wear out with seasonal changes.
CPI inflation, which assumed greater focus under Rajan, eased by over 3 percentage points to 8.1 per cent in February, while the RBI is targeting 8 per cent by January 2015.
The professional forecasters also lowered their estimate on the average CPI during FY15 to 8 per cent from 8.5 per cent earlier.
Source: The Indian Express
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
No comments:
Post a Comment