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2082014Train collision in Germany leaves dozens injured
A freight train has collided with a EuroCity passenger line in Mannheim, Germany. Nobody was killed in the crash, but at least 45 people were injured as two of the passenger train’s carriages, carrying 110 people on board, were overturned. Five of the victims are in serious condition. Mannheim’s fire department said the collision could have taken a more serious toll, if the trains were not traveling at a relatively slow speed due to proximity to the central station.
US launches advanced GPS 2F satellite
The US Air Force launched an Atlas 5 rocket carrying an advanced GPS 2F satellite, the seventh in a series of 12 spacecraft scheduled to replace the older GPS satellites currently in orbit. The GPS constellation, which along with ground stations provides global positioning signals for military and civilian users throughout the world, currently includes 31 satellites, with 24 needed to be fully operational. The first GPS 2F was launched in 2010. The $245 million spacecraft are designed to serve for at least 12 years.
Soviet satellite ‘Cosmos-903′ to fall back to Earth on 2 August
An old Soviet military satellite “Cosmos-903″, which was a part of an early missile attack warning system, will fall back on Earth on August 2, Itar-Tass reports citing representative of Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces, Colonel Aleksey Zolotukhin. The satellite is expected to land in the Indian Ocean, near the Bay of Bengal. It is expected that most of the Cosmos-903 will be incinerated when entering the Earth’s atmosphere and only some debris is expected to reach the Earth’s surface. The Soviet satellite was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome April 11, 1977.
African leaders ready $100mn emergency response to Ebola outbreak
The World Health Organization warned west Africa’s Ebola-hit nations on Friday that the epidemic was spiraling out of control, AFP reported. The outbreak was “moving faster than our efforts to control it,” WHO chief Margaret Chan told the leaders of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia at a regional summit. The response to the epidemic had been “woefully inadequate,” Chan said. The leaders were in Guinean capital Conakry to organize the deployment of hundreds of extra medical personnel as part of a $100 million emergency plan. The epidemic has so far claimed more than 700 lives.
Panic in Algerian capital after quake, 6 dead
At least six people died after a magnitude 5.5 earthquake hit southeast of Algiers on Friday, officials say. The US Geological Survey said the quake had struck 14km southeast of the Algerian capital, Reuters reported. There were no reports of major damage to buildings, but four people died trying to jump from windows or escape buildings in panic. Another two died of heart attacks, a health official said.
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Categories : Business, Uncategorized
2082014
Gas explosions kill 24, injure 271 in Taiwan
Nearly 24 people were killed and 271 others injured when several underground gas explosions ripped through Taiwan’s second-largest city on Thursday night, hurling concrete through the air and blasting long trenches in the streets, authorities said.
The series of explosions about midnight yesterday and early today struck a district where several petrochemical plans operate pipelines alongside the sewer system in Kaohsiung, a southwestern port with 2.8 million people.The fires were believed caused by a leak of propene, a petrochemical material not intended for public use, but the source of the gas was not immediately clear, officials said.Video from the TVBS broadcaster showed residents searching for victims in shattered storefronts and rescuers pulling injured people from the rubble of a road and placing them on stretchers while passersby helped other victims on a sidewalk.
Broadcaster ETTV showed rows of large fires sending smoke into the night sky. Four firefighters were among the 24 dead and 271 people were injured, the National Fire Agency said.
The firefighters had been at the scene investigating reports of a gas leak when the explosions occurred, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.
At least five blasts shook the city, Taiwan’s Premier Jiang Yi-huah said.
Chang Jia-juch, the director of the Central Disaster Emergency Operation Center, said the leaking gas was most likely to be propene, meaning that the resulting fires could not be extinguished by water.
He said emergency workers would have to wait until the gas is burnt away. The source of the leak was unknown. Chang said, however, that propene was not for public use, and that it was a petrochemical material.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu said several petrochemical companies have pipelines built along the sewage system in Chian-Chen district, which has both factories and residential buildings.
“Our priority is to save people now. We ask citizens living along the pipelines to evacuate,” Chen told TVBS television.
Power was cut off in the area, making it difficult for firefighters to search for others who might be buried in rubble.
CNA said the local fire department received reports from residents of gas leakage at about 8:46 pm (local time) and that explosions started around midnight.
Closed-circuit television showed an explosion rippling through the floor of a motorcycle parking area, hurling concrete and other debris through the air.
Mobile phone video captured the sound of an explosion as flames leapt at least 30 feet (9 meters) into the air.
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2082014
Obama spoke to Putin on rebels
Posted on August 2, 2014
Obama talks to Putin over Russia” alt=”” />US President Barack Obama called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to express his “deep concerns” over Russia’s increased support for the separatists in Ukraine on Friday.
“President Obama reiterated his deep concerns about Russia’s increased support for the separatists in Ukraine,” the White House said.Obama reinforced his preference for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine, and the two leaders agreed to keep open their channels of communication, the White House statement said.Obama also reiterated his concern about Moscow’s alleged breach of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, under which the US and Russia agreed not to develop medium-range cruise missiles.
“President Obama reiterated his deep concerns about Russia’s increased support for the separatists in Ukraine,” the White House said.Obama reinforced his preference for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine, and the two leaders agreed to keep open their channels of communication, the White House statement said.Obama also reiterated his concern about Moscow’s alleged breach of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, under which the US and Russia agreed not to develop medium-range cruise missiles.
Meanwhile US Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko today regarding the political situation in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government’s efforts to ensure unhindered access to the MH-17 crash site, and Russia’s destabilizing actions in eastern Ukraine.
Biden also announced approximately USD 8 million in new assistance to the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, the White House said.
This additional assistance includes engineering equipment for improving infrastructure along Ukraine’s borders, transport and patrol vehicles, surveillance equipment to extend the visual range of border security patrols, and small boats to conduct maritime patrol and interdiction operations.
Biden congratulated Poroshenko on the Ukrainian parliament’s confidence vote in Prime Minister Yatsenyuk as well the passage of important economic reform bills and the ratification of agreements with Australia and the Netherlands for security personnel to access the MH17 crash site in support of the international investigation.
“Poroshenko informed the Vice President that access to the crash site had been secured both yesterday and today despite continued separatist attacks in the vicinity,” the White House said.
“The two leaders also discussed Russia’s deeply destabilising efforts to continue supplying weapons to its proxies in eastern Ukraine and the increasing prevalence of artillery and rocket fire coming from the Russian side of the border,” it said.
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Israeli shelling kills Palestinians truce collapses
2082014
Massive shelling by Israel on Friday killed at least 160 people across the Hamas-ruled Gaza following the collapse of a 72-hour truce shortly after it began, while two of its soldiers died and another was believed to have been abducted by the Palestinian militant group.
The humanitarian ceasefire – brokered by the US and the UN to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip – collapsed just two hours after it began Friday morning.
The humanitarian ceasefire – brokered by the US and the UN to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip – collapsed just two hours after it began Friday morning.
Within hours, heavy shelling resumed in Rafah and air raid sirens were heard on the Israeli side.
Across Gaza, 160 people were killed or died of their wounds on Friday, including 65 in Rafah and 50 in Khan Yunis, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.
The hostilities on Friday took the Palestinian death toll to over 1,600, mostly civilians.
Israeli forces also shot dead two Palestinians during separate clashes in the northern and central West Bank. The attacks have injured more than 7,000 Palestinians.
The Palestinian toll in the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has surpassed that of Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 as the conflict entered its 25th day on Friday.
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 1,417 Palestinians were killed during Operation Cast Lead, which was the longest conflict between the two sides lasting 22 days, before the current fighting began.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said 51 rockets and mortar rounds hit Israel on Friday, with another nine rockets shot down by the Iron Dome missile defence system.
Israeli army said two of its soldiers were killed and a third one may have been abducted by militants in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, raising the death count to 63 soldiers, including two Indian-origin, as compared to 10 in 2008-09.
Nearly 400 soldiers have been injured. Three Israeli civilians and a Thai national also died in rocket and mortar attacks.
“Initial indications suggest that a soldier has been abducted by terrorists in an incident where terrorists breached the ceasefire,” Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner told reporters on Friday.
Hamas, which rules the narrow coastal strip, neither confirmed nor denied the abduction of the Israeli soldier.
But it said Israel’s announcement of the abduction was simply an excuse to “justify Israel’s retreat from the truce.”
Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the collapse of the fragile ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Obama asked Hamas to show it is serious about wanting a ceasefire and for the release of the Israeli soldier reported captured earlier in the day.
“I think it’s going to be very hard to put a ceasefire back together again if Israelis and the international community can’t feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a ceasefire commitment,” Obama told reporters.
He said the United States “unequivocally condemned Hamas and the Palestinian factions that were responsible for killing two Israeli soldiers, and abducting a third almost minutes after a ceasefire had been announced.”
“I want to make sure that they are listening,” Obama said, addressing Hamas. “If they are serious about trying to trying to resolve this situation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released, as soon as possible,” he said.
“We have also been clear that innocent civilians in Gaza caught in the crossfire have to weigh on our conscience and we have to do more to protect them,” he added.
The announcement of the truce was made in a statement released in New Delhi during US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit.
The US blamed Hamas for the breakdown of the 72-hour humanitarian truce, saying the “barbaric” attack by the Palestinian militant group was an “outrageous violation” of the ceasefire.
“The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s attack, which led to the killing of two Israeli soldiers and the apparent abduction of another. It was an outrageous violation of the ceasefire negotiated over the past several days, and of the assurances given to the United States and the United Nations,” Kerry said.
“Hamas, which has security control over the Gaza Strip, must immediately and unconditionally release the missing Israeli soldier, and I call on those with influence over Hamas to reinforce this message,” he said in a statement on Friday.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned “in the strongest terms” the reported ceasefire violation by Hamas and demanded that an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza be released immediately.
“The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms, the reported violation by Hamas of the mutually agreed humanitarian ceasefire which commenced this morning. He is shocked and profoundly disappointed by these developments,” Ban’s spokesman said in a statement.
UN special coordinator for Middle East peace Robert Serry said the United Nations was informed by Israel of “a serious incident this morning after the start of the humanitarian ceasefire at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) involving a tunnel behind IDF (army) lines in the Rafah area.”
“If corroborated, this would constitute a serious violation of the humanitarian ceasefire… by Gazan militant factions, which should be condemned in the strongest terms,” the statement said.
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Categories : Business
Obama looking forward to set ‘new agenda’ with Modi : Kerry
2082014
President Barack Obama is looking forward to a Summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September to set an “ambitious new agenda” to chart a new course in the bilateral ties, top US functionaries John Kerry and Penny Pritzker said.
Kerry, US Secretary of State, and Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce, conveyed this during a meeting in New Delhi with Modi who said the two countries should prepare for concrete outcomes during the Summit to take the relationship to “an entirely new level on the basis of vision, strategy and action plan.”
Modi is expected to travel to Washington in September- end for his first Summit meeting with Obama.
During the hour-long meeting, the two visiting Secretaries briefed the Prime Minister on the India-US Strategic Dialogue that took place here yesterday.
Conveying that Obama attaches great priority to relations with India, both for bilateral cooperation and global partnership, they said he looks forward to a “productive and fruitful” Summit in September to “set an ambitious new agenda to chart a new course in the relationship”, a PMO statement said.
Modi said there was broad convergence of views and interests between the two countries. He conveyed his appreciation for Obama’s “thoughtful and detailed letter” and asked both sides to prepare for “concrete outcomes during the Summit to take the relationship to an entirely new level, on the basis of vision, strategy and action plan”, the statement said.
Modi outlined his vision for India and for the partnership between the world`s two largest democracies in addressing global challenges, promoting peace and stability in the world and supporting India`s own economic transformation.
The Prime Minister highlighted the opportunities for partnership in trade, investment, clean energy, innovation, education, skill development, agro-processing, youth empowerment, among others.
Modi emphasised the need for developed countries to understand the challenges of poverty in developing countries and their governments’ responsibilities in addressing them, when discussions take place in international forums.
The Prime Minister also talked about the regional situation, including India’s engagement in Asia Pacific region and commitment to bring South Asia together in a united effort to promote regional economic development.
India’s commitment to continue its support to Afghanistan and the need to confront terrorism on the principles of “zero tolerance” and eschewing a selective approach to terrorism was also highlighted by Modi during the meeting with Kerry and Pritzker. The Prime Minister thanked Kerry and Pritzker for visiting India for the Strategic Dialogue although it was the turn of the US to host it.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and other officials were present at the meeting, the PMO statement said.
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Categories : Business, Opinion, Politics, world News
Museum in Rashtrapati Bhavan opens to public
2082014
The museum will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9am-4pm, except on gazetted holidays. Entry to the new facility will be free for the first three months.The museum was inaugurated recently by President Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of completing his second year in office.
“Entry and exit for visitors will be through gate no 30 on Mother Teresa Crescent road.
Visits can be booked on-line at the website http://www.presidentofindia.nic.in. Contact details of the Visitors’ Management Cell are 011-23013287, 23015321 Extn. 4662, Fax no 011-23015246 and email: reception-officer@rb.nic.in for any further assistance which may be required,” the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.
From November 1, the statement said, there will be a charge of Rs 25 per head (children below 12 years will be exempt from these charges). The statement said these charges are meant to enable Rashtrapati Bhavan maintain and improve services to public.
The museum is established in an erstwhile stable of the Rashtrapati Bhavan which housed horses and ceremonial coaches.
It is a story-telling showcase which will narrate the story of the Rashtrapati Bhavan using sound-light-video animations.
The museum also has a simulated battlefield with arms mounted on warriors, examples of furniture designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Viceroy’s residence, ceremonial coaches, photographs and memorabilia of the President’s Body Guard, paintings of 19th century and sketches and gifts received by successive Presidents from national and foreign dignitaries among others.
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Developed nations should understand challenges of developing countries: PM
2082014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said developed countries should understand the challenges of poverty in developing nations and their governments’ responsibilities to address them.
Modi conveyed the message to US Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker when they called on him in New Delhi on Friday.
“Prime Minister emphasized the need for developed countries to understand the challenges of poverty in developing countries and their governments’ responsibilities in addressing them when discussions take place in international forums,” a PMO statement said on Friday.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of India taking a tough stance on the issue of foodgrain holding and food subsidy at the WTO talks in Geneva on Thursday night after which the US blamed it for failure of the negotiations.
Asked about this, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said the Prime Minister articulated India’s requirement of ensuring that food security is provided for a significant number of people because of the circumstances in which the country is.
“I think the PM is on record to have said that development challenges that developing countries face are something that should be understood by all.
“India, as a developing country, has challenges and responsibility to ensure food supplies to all its people and that is reflected in our stance. That stance takes into account our needs. If other countries have a different stance, we understand their perspectives because they come from a different direction,” he said.
The spokesman added “our direction is determined by our current circumstances which require us to provide food security for a significant number of people and that is what the PM has said.”
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World Economic Forum @davos 6m
2082014
How can #rawmaterials create wealth? @ricardo_hausman has a surprising answer http://wef.ch/1rTaXmT @GlobalPost #wefpic.twitter.com/7tRTsnwTK4
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Categories : Business, CSR, culture, Trade, world News
Forex reserves stand at USD 304.2 bn at end-Mar 2014
2082014
PHD Research Bureau
To sunitag@phdcci.in
Today at 1:44 PM
Forex reserves stand at USD 304.2 bn at end-Mar 2014
(The Reserve Bank of India released its Half-yearly report on management of foreign exchange reserves and briefs about the developments regarding movement of reserves and information on the external liabilities vis-à-vis the foreign exchange reserves, etc. during the period of Oct 2013 to Mar 2014)
Highlights of the half-yearly (Oct 2013-Mar 2014) report on management of foreign exchange reserves
Foreign exchange reserves – The reserves stood at USD 277.2 bn as at end-September, 2013. During the half year, reserves have risen consistently from USD 281.5 bn as at end-October, 2013 to USD 293.8 bn as at end-December, 2013. It scaled down to USD 291.1 bn as at end-January, 2014 and further increased to USD 304.2 bn as at end-March, 2014.
Foreign exchange reserves (US$ Million)
Source: Reserve Bank of India
International Investment Position of India — India’s International Investment Position (IIP) is a summary record of the stock of country’s external financial assets and liabilities and the net IIP as at end-March, 2014 stood at (-) USD 331.6 bn as against USD (-) 302 bn at end-Sep, 2013, implying that our external liabilities are more than the external assets. The total external assets increased to USD 483.2 Bn in Mar 2014 from USD 436.7 Bn in Sep 2013 and the component of total external assets in Mar 2014 stands atForeign exchange reserves (USD 304.2 Bn), direct investment (USD 128.7 Bn), portfolio investment (USD 1.1 Bn) and other investment (USD 49.2 Bn). While, the total external liabilities increased to USD 814.8 Bn in Mar 2014 from USD 738.7 Bn in Sep 2013 and its component includes direct investment (USD 242.7 Bn), portfolio investment (USD 193 Bn) and other investment (USD 379.1 Bn).
International Investment Position of India (USD Billion)
| Item | Sep-13 (PR) | Mar-14 (P) | |
| 1 | Direct Investment | 120.1 | 128.7 |
| 2 | Portfolio Investment | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| 3 | Other Investment | 38.0 | 49.2 |
| 4 | Foreign Exchange Reserves | 277.2 | 304.2 |
| A | Total External Assets |
| |
| 1 | Direct Investment | 218.1 | 242.7 |
| 2 | Portfolio Investment | 173.9 | 193.0 |
| 3 | Other Investment | 346.6 | 379.1 |
| B | Total External Liabilities |
| |
| Net IIP (A-B) | (-)302 | (-)331.6 |
Source: Reserve Bank of India
Note: P- Provisional, PR- Partially Revised
Warm regards,
Dr. S P Sharma
Chief Economist
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