Daily News Notes (AIR)

· The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Lokpal Bill is studying the civil society's version of the bill. Chairman of the Commitee Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that they will look into all aspects in detail before making their final recommendations to Parliament Committee is looking into the representations being sent by the general public in response to the advertisements issued by the Committee yesterday. Meanwhile social activist Anna Hazare continued his fast at Ram Lila ground on the sixth day.
· The Centre has sanctioned a 1,500 crore rupee Cyclone risk mitigation project for coastal states. It will enable to put in place better cyclone forecasting, tracking and warning systems.The first phase of this National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project is being launched in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. the government also plans to construct multipurpose cyclone shelters, including shelter-cum-godown, approach roads, bridges to habitation and embankments, including construction and renovation of saline embankments.
· India is planning to develop solar-powered unmanned flying machines with the capability of remaining airborne for at least a month in all weather conditions. The UAVs can carry a variety of cameras to look deep into the enemy territory for surveillance and reconnaissance purposes.
· A sharp rally of over 20 per cent in gold prices so far this month has led to a surge of about over 22 thousand crore rupees in the value of gold held by RBI, which acts as a custodian of the yellow metal for the government of India. The experts are anticipating further rise and believe that the gold prices might even touch 30,000 rupee level well before Diwali
· The country has received a total of over 600 millimeters of rainfall as against the average 606 millimeters.
· In Punjab, thousands of acres of land are inundated due to heavy flow of water into the Beas river. In Uttar Pradesh the flood situation is still grim affecting lakhs of people in hundreds of villages in 14 districts. In Uttarakhand, clear weather conditions at most of places in the State have provided the much-desired respite from rain.
· Another round of Pulse Polio Immunization Programme is being launched today to eradicate polio in parts of states including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar , Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi. Children up to the age group of 5 years will be administered anti polio drops @ Special National Immunisation Drive (SNID)
· In Nepal, hectic parleys are continuing among various political parties and within parties today with only hours left for the deadline to select the consensus candidate for Prime Minister's post. Presently caretaker Prime Minister is JhalaNath Khanal.
· Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to address the nation in a television interview today as his forces continued to kill anti-regime protesters. Earlier, activists said tanks rumbled into the central city of Homs, the day after 34 anti-regime protesters were killed.
· Vietnamese police today detained at least 15 anti-China protesters who defied a government order to stop an unprecedented series of weekly gatherings over maritime tensions. . The demonstrations, the 11th since early June, have been held to protest against Chinese actions in the tense South China Sea, where the two nations have a longstanding territorial dispute.
· Srikrishna Janmashtmai is being celebrated today in many parts of the country. The temples are tastefully decorated. A huge rush of worshippers is seen outside the temples for Darshan Pujan since morning.
· In Afghanistan, archeologists have discovered two rare stupas and a Buddha statue in Bamiyan province.