National:

Judicial panel to probe death The Tamil Nadu government has ordered a judicial enquiry to probe the cause of the death of Dharmapuri Dalit youth E. Ilavarasan, whose body was found near a railway track. The Commission of Inquiry would be headed by S.R. Singaravelu, former Judge of the Madras High Court. The probe panel would ascertain truth behind the death.

Food Security Ordinance notified The Union government has notified the National Food Security Ordinance, 2013, which entitles 67 per cent of the population to receive subsidised grains from the government every month. The ordinance places the responsibility of implementation and monitoring of the scheme under the Targeted Public Distribution System on the States. It gives them six months to put the systems in place to deliver the programme. Delhi is vying to be the first to launch the scheme.

New Lt- governor for A&N Lieutenant-General (retd.) A.K. Singh is sworn in as the 11th Lieutenant-Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by Justice Arun Mishra, Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, in Port Blair.

Health Ministry panel to look into PET peeve on NGO plaint Is the plastic or Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle containing your cough syrup or antacid really safe? The Union Health Ministry has decided to find it out. It will soon set up a high level panel to look into the safety aspects of the material, following complaints that the packaging of pharmaceutical products in PET and plastic bottles poses environment and health hazards. PET bottles are widely used by the pharma industry for packaging purposes. Directorate General of Health Services Chairman Jagdish Prasad confirmed the move and said that the issue pertains to the Drug Controller General of (DCGI) which will scientifically look into the health impact of such packaging of pharma products.

Shimla tops list of highest ranked hotels in India Shimla, the enchanting hill station in Himachal Pradesh, leads the list of Indian cities with the highest ranked hotels, earning an overall 95.36% score from visitors in terms of reputation. This Himalayan splendour was given the rating both by Indian and as well as foreign tourists, according to the reputation index put together by the global hotel search portal Trivago. Shimla was followed by Udaipur in the list.

International:

23-million-year-old lizard fossil found Mexican scientists are studying a complete fossil of a lizard that lived some 23 million years ago and whose soft tissue remains have been preserved in amber. The small piece of fossil resin, which is in the shape of a trapezoid and entombs the skeleton, was found several months ago in the Simojovel amber deposits of the northern part of the southeastern state of Chiapas. Amber often contains small remains of plants and animals, but it is rare to find complete vertebrates such as this lizard, preliminarily identified as a new species of the genus Anolis and currently on display at the Amber Museum in San Cristobal de las Casas.

China's ex-minister sentenced to death for graft, power misuse China's former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun was given a suspended death sentence by a court for corruption and abuse of power. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, which is conducting the trial, announced the stiff verdict handing down death sentence to 60-year-old Liu. He was accused of accepting bribes to the tune of USD 10.53 million over 25 years. He headed the railways from 2003 to 2011, during whose tenure China had embarked on the high speed network linking different parts of the country.

UK to ban two Islamist extremist groups Two Islamist extremist groups, UK-based Minbar Ansar Deen and Nigeria-based radical sect Boko Haram, are to be proscribed in Britain under terrorism laws, making membership and support for them a criminal offence. The penalties for proscription offences can be a maximum of 10 years in prison or a 5,000 pound fine. Page 1 of 3 9th July 2013

Business & Economy:

Asset financing NBFCs allowed to access ECB market Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) involved in asset financing have been allowed to access the external commercial borrowing (ECB) market. The access is subject to certain conditions, including availing of ECB under the automatic route with minimum average maturity of five years to finance import of infrastructure equipment for leasing to infrastructure projects. Among others, NBFC-AFCs availing of ECB through foreign currency bonds (FCB) will be allowed to raise capital only from markets, subject to regulations by the host country complaint with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines. Such ECBs can be availed up to 75 per cent of owned funds of NBFC-AFCs, subject to a maximum of $200 million or its equivalent per financial year.

Union Bank cuts Base Rate Union Bank of India has reduced its minimum lending rate or Base Rate by 0.25 percentage points to 10 per cent effective July 8. The card rate for home loans has come down to 10 per cent, while the same for auto loans would be 10.45 per cent.

Novartis, BioE join hands for typhoid, paratyphoid vaccines Switzerland-based drug major Novartis said it has entered into a development and licensing agreement with Biological E (BioE) for two vaccines against typhoid and paratyphoid fevers. Under the licence, Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health (NVGH) will transfer technology to Hyderabad-based BioE, which will have financial and operational responsibility for manufacturing, further clinical development, approval and distribution in the developing world. The typhoid vaccine (Vi-CRM197) has achieved 'Proof of Concept' and has successful Phase 2 results. It will be transferred to BioE.

Ganesha coins minted in Dubbed as the first "currency coin" on Lord Ganesha, a limited collectors' edition minted in Germany is being issued by the government of the Ivory Coast in West Africa. The coins from Germany's Mayer mint are made of pure silver with a coloured image of Lord Ganesha on 'peepal' leaves inscribed with the Sanskrit 'sloka' 'Vakratunda Mahakaya'. Weighing 25 gm, the SWAROVSKI crystal studded FRANCS CFA 1001 coin is available for booking at Rs 8,001 and will be delivered on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on September 9. The Ganesha coins have not been issued by any government and are therefore treated as bullion unlike commemorative currency coins which have a much higher value.

India, Albania sign taxation pact India and Albania have signed the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) to facilitate the exchange of banking information and help check tax evasion. The pact incorporates provisions for effective exchange of information between tax authorities of the two counties in line with latest international standards, including exchange of banking information and supply of information without recourse to domestic interest. Besides, it said, business profits will be taxable in the source state if the activities of an enterprise constitute a Permanent Establishment (PE) there. The agreement provides for fixed place PE, building site, construction and installation PE, service PE and agency PE.

Sport:

Shiva Thapa outpunches local favourite for Asian gold It's never easy to beat an opponent on his home ground. And in , it's well known that the local favourite always punches above his weight. However, Indian boxing's new poster boy Shiva Thapa defied all odds to win the bantamweight (56kg) gold medal in the Asian Boxing Championship in , Jordan. Shiva beat home favourite Obada Alkabeh 2-1. And in doing so, the Indian team improved on their last edition's performance of a silver and two bronze.

Page 2 of 3 9th July 2013

Foreign coach for women’s basketball team The Basketball Federation of India has appointed Spaniard Francisco Garcia as head coach of the national women’s team. Garcia had been involved in various women’s professional programmes in Spain, Denmark and Finland. Garcia coached various Spanish development players from 2005, apart from acting as a private development coach for several Spanish national women’s team players, including three-time WNBA champion Amaya Valdermoro.

Punjab to host Kabaddi WC Punjab will host the fourth Kabaddi World Cup in November 2013. The Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, announced that he expected about 25 countries to compete in the fortnight-long prize money event. Punjab was promoting kabaddi in Europe, Africa, America and Australia, in an attempt to take it to the Olympics by 2020. Punjab has three per cent sports quota in government jobs to encourage the youth to take up sports as a career option.

Lifetime Achievement award for Samar Chakraborty The Cricket Association of Bengal, has named former pacer Samar Chakraborty for the Lifetime Achievement award, which will be officially presented during the State body’s annual awards function on July 20. The CAB had previously named batsman Manoj Tiwary ‘cricketer of the year’, while medium-pacer Mohammad Shami was named ‘best bowler’.

Page 3 of 3 9th July 2013