National:

National Green Tribunal bans sand mining across country The National Green Tribunal has banned mining or removal of sand from river beds across the country without an environmental clearance amid the uproar over suspension of an IAS officer who had cracked down on sand mafia in Uttar Pradesh. In its order, the Tribunal noted that the loss caused to the state exchequer due to illegal sand mining may run into lakhs of crores of rupees. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said its order would be applicable across the nation as the petition raised substantial environmental issues. Initially, the bench banned illegal sand mining on the beds and banks of rivers Yamuna, Ganga, Hindon, Chambal, Gomti, amongst others, but later modified its order saying the issue of illegally removing sand has nationwide implications.

Excavations reveal Khirsara a major industrial hub of Harappan era January 2, 2011 was a golden day in the second season of excavation at Khirsara village, 85 km from Bhuj town, Gujarat. Nearly 30 trenches had been dug that season, each 10 metres by 10 metres. One of them yielded two miniature pots, which a labourer rushed to S. Nandakumar, a site supervisor in his 20s. He took them to Jitendra Nath, Superintending Archaeologist, Excavation Branch, Vadodara, Archaeological Survey of (ASI). One of the pots contained 26 disc-shaped beads, micro beads and a ring, all made in gold, and steatite beads. Gold beads are not found in big quantities in the Harappan sites. Some disc-shaped gold beads had been found at Lothal, another famous Harappan site in Gujarat. More than 4,200 years ago, Khirsara was an important trading outpost in western Kutch in Gujarat on the way to Sind in present-day Pakistan.

Jalaj Shrivastva sworn in as NDMC Chairman Indian Administrative Officer (AGMU – 1984) Jalaj Shrivastva took oath of office as Chairman of the Municipal Council. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who serves as the presiding officer of the civic body, administered the oath of faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India to Mr. Shrivastva.

Pay Rs 10L to gang-rape victims The Supreme Court has directed the Madhya Pradesh Government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation separately to two gang-rape victims and sought the response of a top police official in the state for naming the victims in an affidavit filed before Court. The bench of Justices RM Lodha and Madan B Lokur asked the concerned ASP of Indore to state why no action be not initiated against him under Section 228A of IPC that prohibits disclosure or publication of name of a rape victim.

International:

11-year-old girl has higher IQ than Einstein An 11-year-old schoolgirl in the U.K. has achieved the highest possible score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test, making her brainier than scientists Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. Cerys Cooksammy-Parnell, a grade six schoolgirl took up the test with the aim of beating her father’s score of 142. She also scored the highest mark possible in the test, scoring 162 on the Cattell B scale.

China-funded port opens in Sri Lanka A Chinese-built container terminal opened in Colombo giving a new sea route for mega vessels from China. This is a major breakthrough for Beijing, which has been trying to access the east-west route through Sri Lanka in order to reduce its dependence on the congested and risky Malacca Straits near . China funded a deep sea port in the southern Sri Lankan city of Hambantota, which opened in 2012. The new terminal in Colombo has been built and will be operated by China Merchants Holdings International Co. The terminal regarded to be as sophisticated as the container terminal at the Singapore port is capable of handling 2.4 million containers a year. China is building a $14 million dry port in Larcha in Nepal and trying to enhance its presence in Myanmar. It earlier funded and built the Gwadar port in Pakistan suggesting a larger program of connectivity in South Asia.

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Eshaq Jahangiri appointed Iran's first vice president Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani has appointed reformist politician Eshaq Jahangiri as his first vice president. The 56-year-old has been the country's minister for industries and mines in the administration of ex-reformist president Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005.

FARC for independent panel on reparation Colombia’s leftist FARC guerrillas said that the issue of reparations for victims of their almost 50-year armed conflict with the state should be decided with the help of an independent panel of experts. The proposal came at peace talks aimed at ending Latin America’s longest guerrilla war. The peace negotiations have been under way since November 2012. The FARC, founded in 1964, is the country’s largest guerrilla group with an estimated 8,000 fighters. Fighting has continued in various parts of the country during the talks, with the government refusing to call a cease-fire for fear the rebels would use it to regroup and prolong the war.

First lab-grown burger served up The world’s first lab-grown beef burger, costing a whopping 215,000 pounds, was cooked up and tasted in public and experts say it is “close to meat” but lacks fat and flavour. The “cultured beef” burger in a petri dish, was created after five years of research at an institute in the Netherlands by taking cells from a cow, which experts say could start a food revolution. The 5oz patty, dubbed ‘Frankenburger’, was unveiled for the first time by creator Professor Mark Post from Maastricht University, in west London. The scientist-turned-chef made the most expensive beef burger in history from 20,000 tiny strips of meat grown from cow stem cells over a three-month period.

Life for ex-army chief A Turkish court sentenced a former army chief and other top brass to life in prison in a high-profile trial of 275 people accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted Government. Ex-military chief Ilker Basbug, with several other army officers, were sentenced to life, while 21 people were acquitted.

Business & Economy:

FDI into India rises 24% to $3.95 bn in April-May Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India increased by 24.2 per cent year-on-year to $3.95 billion in April- May. According to data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the country had received $3.18 billion of FDI in April-May 2012. FDI inflows have a positive impact by supplementing domestic capital, technology and skills of existing companies as well as through establishment of new companies, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. The most inflows came from countries including Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands and the US.

Bank fined £75k for fax blunders In a bizarre case, the Bank of Scotland has been served a £75,000 penalty after customers' account details were repeatedly faxed to the wrong recipients. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) served the hefty fine after repeated warnings failed to get the bank become more careful with private banking information, which included payslips, bank statements, account details and mortgage applications along with customers' names, addresses and contact details. The documents were faxed over a three year period, with the first incident reported in February 2009 by a third party organization.

Ban likely on e-series contracts The government is likely to ban trading in e-series contracts on the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). NSEL offers e-series contracts in gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, nickel and platinum. On July 31, NSEL suspended trade in all contracts except ‘e-series’ following the government’s direction not to launch new contracts because of violation of some rules. Under e-series contracts, retail investors can buy and sell commodities in demat form. This is a unique market segment, which functions like the cash segment in equities, but offers commodities in demat form in smaller denominations.

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Sleuths make first arrest of service tax defaulter The first arrest of a service tax defaulter in the country has been made after government got the powers recently to crack the whip on evaders. A courier company owner was arrested for allegedly evading service tax of about Rs 70 lakh in the first such case after Finance Minister P Chidambaram made applicable provisions of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to arrest such offenders. Sudip Das, proprietor of a courier company in Kolkata, was arrested by service tax officials. Das, who runs a courier agency M/s Blue Bird, collected service tax from various companies to the tune of about Rs 67 lakh but allegedly did not deposit the collected tax to the exchequer. The Finance Minister has proposed provisions for arrest of service tax defaulters in Section 91 of Finance Bill 2013. The Section provides power to arrest a person for non-payment of collected service tax, by an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Central Excise. The officials got the power to arrest a defaulter after the passage of the Finance Bill on May 10, 2013.

Cabinet to soon consider NHPC stake sale Finance Ministry has moved a Cabinet note for selling 11.36 per cent of its stake in hydel producer NHPC, which could fetch over Rs 1,800 crore to the exchequer. The government has selected three merchant bankers - Credit Suisse, HSBC and SBI Cap - for managing NHPC stake sale. The Government plans to sell 11.36 per cent of its stake or 120 crore shares, in NHPC through an Offer for Sale (OFS) in the domestic market. At the current market price of Rs 15.40 apiece, the stake is valued at about Rs 1,850 crore. The government currently holds 86.36 per cent stake in NHPC. The hydro-power generator listed on the bourses in 2009 after the promoter divested a 5 per cent stake and the company issued 10 per cent fresh equity.

LIC investment in Gitanjali The Finance Ministry has sought details from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) pertaining to its investment in Gitanjali Gems. The Department of Financial Services has asked for details of investment in Gitanjali to ascertain if the investment had any ‘malafide intention’. LIC, the biggest domestic institutional investor in the stock market, held 4.36 per cent stake in Gitanjali Gems during the January- March quarter, which rose to 4.89 per cent as of June 30.

Sanofi inks pact with Suzlon Drug firm Sanofi India, said it had inked a pact with Suzlon Energy for a 2.1-MW windmill installation to generate renewable power for captive consumption at its Ankleshwar manufacturing site. The Ankleshwar site produces solid dose formulations and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).

Sport:

Virender Singh only medallist for India at Sofia Deaflympics Virender Singh never gets to hear the national anthem on the podium. But that hasn't stopped the 'Goonga Pehelwan' - as he is known in the wrestling circles - from winning India the only gold medal at the Deaflympics in Sofia ( Bulgaria). Competing in men's 74kg freestyle event in the 22nd Summer Deaflympics, the 28-year-old Virender, defeated Oguz Donder of Turkey to defend his title. The bronze medals went to Hiavorh Adamian and Aleksandr Ochirovich Tsoktoev of Russia.

Award of Rs 5L for junior hockey girls Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a cash award of Rs 1.25 lakh each for the four junior women hockey players of the State who were the part of the historic bronze medal winning Indian women’s junior World Cup squad. Meanwhile, the Hockey India announced a cash award of Rs 1 lakh each for the national squad. India won their first-ever medal in women’s Junior World Cup history. The Indian girls take home the bronze medal with a 3-2 shoot-out victory over England at Mönchengladbach in Germany. Namita Toppo, , Anupa Barla and are the Odisha player in the squad.

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Amritraj releases ‘The Moon Baller’ Former India No.1 and tennis ace Nirupama Vaidyanathan’s autobiographical account ‘The Moon Baller’ was released at a function held at the Madras Cricket Club in Chennai. The book, which goes back in time to chronicle the times when professional tennis for Indian women was quite unheard of, was launched by tennis legend Vijay Amritraj in the presence of Nirmal Shekar, Sports Editor. At the 1998 Australian Open, Nirupama became the first Indian woman to win a round at a Grand Slam.

Stosur clinches title Samantha Stosur defeated top-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-3 to win the WTA Carlsbad title, her first title since the 2011 U.S. Open. Australia’s Stosur, the fifth seed, made a late decision to accept a wild card into the draw pay off, notching up her first victory over Azarenka in their ninth career meeting.

Jairam stuns world No 12 24th-ranked Ajay beats Wong as Kashyap survives a scare in World C’ships. Shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a stunning victory over higher-ranked Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong, while Parupalli Kashyap survived a scare in the opening round of the men’s singles competition in the 2013 BWF World Championships.

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