TOP -10 HEADLINES –21.07.2014 1. Canara Bank signed an agreement with the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd on 20th July for a loan of Rs.1,170 crore to the Rs. 5,200-crore Kochi Metro project. This is the largest loan offered by Canara Bank, which is Kerala’s lead bank, to a single entity in the State. RK Dubey, CMD of Canara Bank, who signed the agreement with KMRL Managing Director Elias George, said the bank was willing to support the project further. 2. The Justice MB Shah Commission on illegal mining has recommended that iron and manganese ore miners of Jharkhand be asked to disgorge Rs.14,403 crore and Rs. 138 crore, respectively, for environmental violations. 3. As a debate continues on alleged black money of Indians in Swiss banks, the authorities in Switzerland have come across a significant quantum of fake Indian rupee notes in their country — the third highest for any foreign currency after Euro and the US dollar. 4. The Philippines has removed restrictions on foreign ownership of banks in the country under a new law that allows 100-per-cent foreign control. The statute allows foreign banks to own 100 per cent stock of an existing domestic bank or to open a fully owned subsidiary incorporated under Philippines laws. It replaces a cap of 60 per cent on foreign ownership and abolishes previous rules that allowed just 10 foreign banks in the country. 5. Retired US astronaut Henry “Hank” Hartsfield Jr, who flew on three shuttle missions including as commander of the Discovery’s maiden flight, died after an illness at age 80. 6. India has been the worst performer in the 2014 Global Innovation Index (GII) which has slipped 10 places compared to last year to reach at 76th place. Released annually since 2007, the GII is published by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). 7. India’s demand that food procurement subsidies at the World Trade Organization be considered permissible is now being backed by the entire G-33 group of developing countries that has expressed the same view in a fresh proposal. With the exception of Pakistan, all in the 46-member G-33, such as Indonesia, Venezuela, China, Peru, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, are in agreement that food aid and procurement programmes should be considered as ‘Green Box’ incentives that are not subjected to caps. 8. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. Forty-five years later, NASA will celebrate on Monday the giant leap by honouring Armstrong, who died in 2012, with a renaming ceremony of the historic “operations and checkout building” at Cape Canaveral in Florida, the launch site. Both Aldrin and Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot who orbited the moon, will be there. 9. A four-member delegation from Pakistan will visit India to study the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project (SRDP), one of the major developmental initiatives of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. 10. Continuing to bet on the reforms agenda of the government, overseas investors have poured in a little over Rs 22,000 crore in the Indian markets since the beginning of the June month.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 15:56:16 +0000