Daily News Notes

· Although coal is the main sources of power generation, it is not a clean energy, thus government has opted for generation of nuclear power to bring down the power deficiency in the country. Referring to Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu, the Minister said the plant is being set up on a barren land and people are not living there.
· The government intends to increase the country's LPG coverage by releasing 5.5 crore LPG connections till 2015 under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaran Yojana, covering the rural and uncovered areas.
· The right has been conferred on the NRIs by the Representation of the People Amendment Act of 2010 which is effective from February this year by which they can now register themselves in the electoral rolls of their constituency by furnishing self-attested copies of the Indian Passport and valid visa.
· The Government is closely watching China’s military modernization programme and infrastructure development projects in border regions in Tibet and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions. Both New Delhi and Beijing have maintained peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India - China border areas since 1993.
· The Centre has decided to set up a new Ammonia-Urea Plant at Namrup in Assam in the 12th Five Year Plan beginning next year.
· Domestic passenger Car sales, Motorcycle sales and total two-wheeler sales in the country have increased by 7%(1,71,000 units), 22%(8,69,000 units) and 25%(7,80,000) resp. this year.
· Harvard University in the United States has decided to remove two economics courses taught by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy at its annual summer school session for his controversial views about Islamic terrorism in India which he wrote are reprehensible. Meanwhile, Delhi court today allowed him to become a witness in his private complaint against Home Minister P Chidambaram in 2G case.
· Railways have selected a Japanese consortium to explore the possibility of running a high speed rail corridor (bullet train) on the 664 km long Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai route.
· Supreme Court today directed all states to ensure vehicles carry tamper-free high security number plates within four weeks contempt proceedings will be initiated against the states who are non-compliance with the scheme.
· The Centre has given West Bengal a special package of 8,750 crore rupees for development of backward region of the state affected by naxalism. The package is expected to cover aspects like rural employment, safe drinking water, watershed and rural road construction.
· In US, the latest court documents reveal that the separatist Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai and his Kashmiri American Council were under full control of Pakistan's spy agency ISI, and American Kashmir council was being run as an extension of ISI to convince US lawmakers, officials and think tanks about their viewpoint on Kashmir. The US-based Kashmiri separatist pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges of spying for the ISI, illegally lobbying the Congress to influence the American policy on Kashmir and clandestinely receiving money from the ISI.
· The 27th Charter Day of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, SAARC, is being observed today. A seven member-states, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bhutan was formed in Dhaka on 8^th Dec, 1985 with Afghanistan joining in 2005. On this occasion National Sports Council organized a marathon in Kathmandu this morning.
· Turkey has announced to impose 30 % tax on goods coming from Syria as a new set of sanctions against Syria. The move is being seen as a response to Damascus imposing 30 % customs duty on goods imported from Turkey besides suspending the free trade agreement with Ankara. Turkey has also been seeking alternative routes through Egypt’s Alexandria, Lebanon and Iraq to bypass Syria for trade with the Middle East.
US has condemned Iran's blockage of an interactive online “Virtual U.S. Embassy Tehran,” in less than 24 hours after it was officially launched in Washington and said the Iranian government has once again demonstrated its commitment to build an electronic curtain of surveillance and censorship around its people.