National:

Genetic changes protect primitive Indian tribes from malaria

Certain genetic variations among primitive Indian tribal populations were found to be shielding them against
malaria. Malaria claims thousands of lives across the globe annually and is caused by parasite Plasmodium
through the bite of an infected mosquito. While it is known that mutations in genes could lead to genetic
diseases, scientists have studied whether genetic variations would lead to either susceptibility to malaria or
resistance against the disease. Samples were collected from patients suffering from the disease from
malaria-endemic regions of Chhattisgarh and Odisha as also from normal population in those areas to see if
there were any differences among them at genetic level. Although genetic variations in Interleukin-4 (IL-4),
an anti-inflammatory gene have been reported to affect the risk of infectious and auto-immune diseases, this
was the first study to look into its contribution in malaria, according to Kumaraswamy Thangaraj, Deputy
Director, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.
UoH doctorate for Nobel laureate
University of Hyderabad will award honorary doctorate to Rudolf A Marcus, Nobel laureate in Chemistry, on
November 11. The 89-year-old Prof. Marcus was conferred honorary doctorate in absentia held on October
1. Rudolph A. Marcus was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in
1992 for advancing the theory of electron-transfer reactions in chemical systems.
Indian surgeons cheaper kidney transplant protocol
A treatment protocol that drastically reduces the cost of kidney transplants, developed by a Hyderabadbased nephrologist, has been adopted successfully in several developing countries. The Philippines, Cuba,
Guatemala and the Dominican Republic have already implemented Dr. K.S. Nayaks treatment approach,
while several other Latin American countries are in talks with him to firm up the modalities to incorporate it in
their surgery protocols. According to him, drugs account for the high cost of kidney transplants. To ensure
that the body accepts a foreign organ and to avoid rejection, patients are given antibodies that suppress
immunity. Right now, these antibodies are usually derived from horses and rabbits. The rabbit-origin drugs
are expensive and multiple doses are usually given. If the same antibodies derived from horses are given,
the cost would come down drastically and a single dose would be sufficient. In India, there are only four or
five centres that employ this method.
IAF to acquire air version of BrahMos
BrahMos Aerospace firmed up a contract worth Rs. 6,515 crore with the Indian Air Force for manufacturing
the air version of the supersonic cruise missile, a product of Indo-Russian collaboration. The contract was
signed close on the heels of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) endorsing the Air Force requirement
for the missile under development, which will be deployed on the Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft. The missile, with a
take-off mass of 2,500 kg and a stand-off range of 290 km, is already in operation with the Army and the
Navy. The air version, though, will be lighter and a tag shorter than the existing missile so that it can be
gravity-dropped from the aircraft and fired. It will still be the heaviest of all missiles carried by the Russianorigin aircraft.

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International:
Rare diamond of Indian-origin to fetch over USD 15 million
One of the world's most historic diamonds, the 76.02 carats Archduke Joseph, from India's Golconda mines,
is expected to fetch much over USD 15 million when it goes up for auction. It's a 76.02 carat cushion-shaped
D-colour diamond (considered to be the most flawless), from the famous Golconda mines in India. The
diamond is of the size of a domino and more than half an inch thick. It will be auctioned in Switzerland on
November 13. The diamond has the same provenance as other illustrious jewels including the Koh-i-noor,
part of the crown jewels held in the Tower of London, and the Regent, believed by many to be the finest
diamond in the French crown jewels and now in the Louvre museum in Paris. All three jewels come from the
now closed Golconda mines, which produced the purest gems. The jewel belonged to Archduke Joseph of
Austria (1872-1962).
Indian American on cusp of House victory
Dr Ami Bera, the Indian-American physician and educator from California, appeared poised to enter
the House of Representatives, but the authorities were still to declare the result because of the
narrow winning margin. When the counting ended, Bera, a Democrat, led with 88,406 votes against sitting
Republican member Dan Lungrens 88,222 - a difference of just 184 votes. Since the winning margin is less
than two per cent of the votes cast, the State authorities have refrained from declaring the result right away,
instead putting it in the close contest category. It was not immediately clear if they planned to order a
recount. If Bera is declared the winner, he will be only the third Indian-American to make it to the 223-yearold House of Representatives. The first was Dalip Singh Saund, a Democrat elected thrice back in the
1950s, and the second was Bobby Jindal, a Republican, elected twice in 2004 and 2006.

Business & Economy:

Panels to deal with CST compensation, GST framework issues
With the States firm on seeking a settlement on the Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation issue before
moving ahead with rollout of the Goods and Service Tax (GST), Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has
announced that two committees would be constituted to address the contentious issues and move ahead on
implementation of the indirect tax regime. While one committee would deal with the CST compensation
issue, the other would deliberate on the design of the GST framework. The committees will submit their
reports by December 31. As per the plan worked out, the two sub-committees are to be constituted by
Empowered Committee Chairman Sushil Modi, the Centre will nominate its members to both the committees
to be headed by the Revenue Secretary. On finalisation of their reports by the two sub-committees, the
Finance Minister would then take them up for consideration and approval. Empowered Committee by
Finance Secretary R.S. Gujral, stating that States would not be paid any CST compensation from 2011-12
onwards. Also, the compensation for 2010-11 would be restricted to the total of Rs 6,394 crore that had
already been paid.
Cabinet okays one-time fee on telcos
Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accepted an Empowered Group of Ministers
recommendations that mobile phone companies be charged a one-time fee for the excess spectrum they
owned beyond a cap set by the telecom regulator. Spectrum will be charged for holdings beyond 4.4 (Mhz) in
GSM on auction-determined price. For GSM above 6.2 (Mhz), a one-time charge will be levied from July,
2008, onwards. The ministerial panel had suggested that GSM-based telecom operators be asked to pay for
airwaves they hold beyond 4.4 Mega-Hertz (Mhz) at an auction-determined price, while CDMA carriers pay
for holdings beyond 2.5 MHz for the remaining validity of their permits.

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Centre approves 10 % disinvestment in HAL

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved divestment of 10 per cent equity in
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) out of its holding on 100 per cent through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) in
the domestic market as per the SEBI rules and regulations. A five per cent discount on the issue price will be
allowed for retail investors as well as to eligible employees of HAL applying under the employees reservation
portion. At present, HAL is handling key projects for the armed forces which include the development of
Tejas light combat aircraft, Dhruv advanced light helicopters and indigenous production of Russian-origin
Su-30MKI fighter aircraft.
Banks to usher in cheque standardisation
Banks across the country are in the process of issuing new-look cheques with more security and
standardised features to all its customers by December 31, 2012. From January 1, 2013, cheques which do
not conform to CTS-2010 standards would not be entertained by banks. Cheque Truncation System (CTS)2010 standard is a set of benchmarks towards achieving standardisation of cheques issued by banks across
the country. These include provision of mandatory minimum security features on cheque forms such as
quality of paper, watermark, banks logo in invisible ink, void pantograph and standardisation of field
placements on cheques. The benchmark prescriptions known as CTS-2010 standard are to be implemented
by December 31, 2012.
Ratan Tata steps down as Tata Power Chairman
Tata Power said Ratan Tata has stepped down as chairman of the company. Ratan N Tata has stepped
down as chairman of Tata Power and Cyrus P Mistry, has been appointed chairman. Ratan Tata, who has
been on the company board since 1989, would remain a board member till his retirement in December 2012.
Mistry, who would be succeeding as the chairman of Tata group, was inducted into Tata Power board on
December 23, 2011.
Cipla cuts cancer drugs prices
Cipla has slashed the prices of its three generic cancer drugs - Erlocip, Docetax and Capegard by up to 64
per cent. The drugs are used for treatment of lung and pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, head and neck
cancer, gastric cancer, bladder and colorectal and colon cancers.
Vodafone, ICICI launching m-pesa mobile payment system in India
Vodafone and ICICI Bank has entered into an alliance to launch " m-pesa", a mobile money transfer and
payment service, by the year-end. The service will be launched through Mobile Commerce Solutions, a
Vodafone India subsidiary, and ICICI Bank. It would comprise a mobile money account with ICICI Bank and a
Mobile Wallet issued by MCSL.

Technology:
New planet discovered in habitable zone
An Anglo-German team of astronomers has discovered a new planet orbiting a nearby sun at just the right
distance for an Earth-like climate that could support life. The team actually found three new planets orbiting
the star 44 light years away, but only one of them is in the so-called Goldilocks Zone, the band around a sun
where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist. The star HD 40307 is a perfectly
quiet old dwarf star, so there is no reason why such a planet could not sustain an Earth-like climate, said
Guillem Angla-Escude from Germany's University of Goettingen, who led the research with Mikko Tuomi at
the University of Hertfordshire in Britain. The planet has a mass at least seven times that of Earth but it orbits
at about the same distance from its sun, meaning it receives a similar amount of solar energy as Earth gets.
More than 800 planets have been discovered outside our solar system since the first was detected in the
early 1990s, but only a handful of those have been in the habitable zone.
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HP, Intel unveil Itanium server technology

Intel and Hewlett-Packard Co unveiled new server technology based on the high-end niche Itanium
processors at the center of a recent dispute between Hewlett-Packard and Oracle. The future of servers built
with Itanium chips was thrown into doubt last year due to a bitter legal battle between long-time partners HP
and Oracle and it remains unclear to some experts even after a California state court judge ruled in favor of
HP.

Sport:
Asiad 19 in Hanoi
Vietnams capital city Hanoi will host the 2019 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia announced in
Macau. Hanoi won the right to host the show piece event in 2019 over Surabaya of Indonesia in a two-city
race following a ballot of delegates at the 31st OCA General Assembly. OCA president H.E. Sheikh Ahmad al
Fahad al Sabah congratulated the two bidding nations on their preparations and presentations, and said both
were suitable to host the 18th edition of the Asian Games in 2019.
Abitova banned
Russian long distance runner Inga Abitova has been banned for two years for a doping offence, the countrys
athletics federation announced.
HC sets aside BCCIs lifetime ban on Azharuddin
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has set aside the lifetime ban imposed by the Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) against Mohd. Azharuddin, on charges of match-fixing. A Bench comprising Justices Asutosh
Mohanto and Krishna Mohan Reddy was allowing against the order of the civil court at Hyderabad. The BCCI
passed an order in December 2000 against the Azharuddin based on the report by the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI). Challenging the ban, Mr. Azharuddin filed a suit before the II Additional Chief Judge, City
Civil Court who dismissed his suit. Mr. Azharuddin, then, challenged the judgment in the Andhra Pradesh
High Court. The BCCI had banned him along with another Test player Ajay Sharma, while slapping a fiveyear ban on his former teammates Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar along with physiotherapist Ali Irani.

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