German to be taught again in Central schools

Students in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools (KVs) will be able to opt for German as an additional foreign language, in conformity with the National Education Policy, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development announced on Monday, after signing a joint declaration of intent with Germany.

Through collaboration between Max Mueller Bhavan and the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, German as a foreign language will be promoted in India while modern Indian languages will be taught in Germany.

First U.K. cyber-security delegation to visit India

The mission is a sign of Britain’s increasing focus on developing and exporting its high-end cyber security expertise

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.K. next month, the British government will send the country’s first cyber security delegation to India later this week. The mission is a sign of Britain’s increasing focus on developing and exporting its high-end cyber security expertise, which coincides with Mr. Modi’s current push of digitising India.  

The delegation, led by Stephen Phipson, head of the U.K. Trade and Industry’s Defence and Security Organisation, will comprise heads of eight private companies which include large firms like BAE Systems as well as small enterprises. Briefing Indian journalists, Mr. Phipson said that as a major actor in the global cyber security industry, Britain was keen to share that experience with countries such as India.

Germany returns idol stolen from Kashmir

Germany on Monday returned to India a 10th century Durga idol that had gone missing from a temple in Kashmir over two decades ago.

The idol was handed over by visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their talks here, three years after it was spotted in a museum in Stuttgart. Mr. Modi thanked Ms. Merkel and the people of Germany, saying: “The statue is from Jammu and Kashmir and is a symbol of victory of good over evil.”

The idol in Mahishasuramardini avatar was stolen from a temple at Pulwama in Kashmir in the 1990s, sources said. An FIR was registered in connection with the theft.

In 2012, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) received a tip-off that the idol was at the Linden Museum, Stuttgart. Two ASI officials visited Stuttgart to begin the process of recovering the idol last year.

With the FIR, which is crucial evidence that the idol belonged to India, the government took up the issue with the authorities in Germany.

Notorious art dealer Subhash Kapoor is said to be behind the smuggling of the idol.

Germany won’t sign MLAT, cites death penalty

Germany has expressed its inability to sign the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with India, citing its provision for “death penalty” for heinous crimes and terror activities.

India has signed MLAT with 39 countries, including the United States. This is perhaps the first time a country has refused to sign the treaty on grounds of the death penalty provision.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju signed a memoran-dum of understanding (MoU) with Gunte Krings of the Federal Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Germany on security cooperation and disaster management. Dr. Krings is part of a delegation which has come to India with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

An MLAT is an agreement between two or more countries for gathering and exchanging information to enforce public or criminal laws.

India, Germany launch tie-up for clean energy

Berlin to extend 2 billion Euros in aid for green corridor, solar projects

Three days after India declared its pledge to expand the share of non-fossil fuel energy to 40 per cent by 2030, India and Germany formed the Climate and Renewable Energy Alliance, with the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in India on Monday.

The two countries agreed on the India Germany Climate and Renewable Energy Alliance â�� a comprehensive partnership to harness technology, innovation and finance in order to make affordable, clean and renewable energy accessible to all and to foster climate change mitigation efforts in both countries with a long-term vision and a comprehensive agenda of combating climate change. Germany has committed to providing an assistance of over 1 billion Euros for India’s Green Energy Corridor and a new assistance package of over 1 billion Euros for solar projects in India. The partner country also intends to deepen research cooperation in clean and renewable energy, and energy efficiency.

Common entrance test for MBBS, PG courses gets MCI nod

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has given its nod to the proposal for holding common entrance test for MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses, and has sent its recommendation to the Health Ministry.

ISRO develops hailstorm app to assess crop damage

To fasten payment of crop insurance claims to farmers, the Centre on 5^th October launched a pilot programme Kisan, which will use satellite and drone-based imaging and other geospatial technology to get timely and accurate data on crop yields.

Also to access large-scale damage to standing crops, it launched an Android-based app for collection of data of hailstorm.

The app will be used by State agriculture officials and the data will help the Union Agriculture Ministry in having very fast assessment of damage to crops because of hailstorm.

HDFC cuts lending rate by 0.25 per cent

HDFC Ltd on Monday announced a reduction in its retail prime lending rate (RPLR) by 25 basis points, with effect from October 06 2015.

“This reduction would benefit all customers,” HDFC said.

Following the reduction, the effective home loan rates for new customers would be 9.65 per cent per annum and for women it will be 5 basis points lower at 9.60 per cent per annum. The reduction in the RPLR will also be applicable on loans to Non-Resident Indians and PIO card holders, the lender said.

HDFC said it has recently made similar reduction in its deposit rates across all maturities.

Twitter gives co-founder Jack Dorsey a 2nd chance as CEO

Twitter is embracing Jack Dorsey as its CEO in hopes that its once-spurned co-founder can hatch a plan to expand the short messaging service’s audience and end nearly a decade of financial losses.

The hiring revealed on Monday in a regulatory filing ends Twitter’s three-month search for a new leader. It marks Mr. Dorsey’s second stint as CEO since he helped start the San Francisco Company more than nine years ago with Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass.

Twitter dumped Mr. Dorsey his first time around, but its board of directors now appears convinced he has the maturity to fix the problems that has caused the company’s stock to lose nearly half its value in the past five months.

Mr. Dorsey, 38, has already had dress rehearsal for the job, having become Twitter’s interim CEO in July after former stand-up comedian and veteran entrepreneur Dick Costolo stepped down amid shareholder discontent.

Twitter is believed to have considered its chief revenue officer, Adam Bain, and several other CEO candidates before settling on Mr. Dorsey. Mr. Bain, 42, was named chief operating officer concurrent with CEO announcement.

Mr. Dorsey will no longer be Twitter’s chairman, but he will continue as CEO of Square Inc., a company he co-founded in 2009, as he prepares that for its initial public offering of stock.

U.S., 11 nations reach historic deal

The trade pact ties together 40 per cent of the world’s economy

The U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations on Monday agreed to the largest regional trade accord in history, a potentially precedent-setting model for global commerce and worker standards that would tie together 40 per cent of the world’s economy, from Canada and Chile to Japan and Australia.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership still faces months of debate in Congress and will inject a new flash point into both parties’ presidential contests.

But the accord â�� a product of nearly eight years of negotiations, including five days of round-the-clock sessions in Atlantaâ�� is a potentially legacy-making achievement for President Barack Obama, and the capstone for his foreign policy “pivot” toward closer relations with fast-growing eastern Asia, after years of U.S. preoccupation with West Asia and North Africa.

President Sirisena launches another land return drive

President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday launched another round of returning lands held by the military in the Northern Province to Tamils, the original landowners.

At a function in Killinochchi , Mr. Sirisena symbolically distributed land deeds for 613 acres in Killinochchi and Mullativu districts. The original owners included individuals and institutions.

This followed the release of 818 acres in Sampur of the Eastern Province and 1,013 acres in the Jaffna district of the Northern Province. Responding to a query by The Hindu, the Army had said in Julythat the troop deployment adjustment and the release of private lands [taken over by the Army during the War] are “continuous and ongoing processes”.  In the last five years, it has released 19,159 acres in the Northern Province, including 6,258 acres in Palaly.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 announced

The Nobel Prize 2015 in Physiology or Medicine jointly went to William C. Campbell and Satoshi �mura, and Youyou Tu.

Mr. Campbell and Mr. Omura won it for \"their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites\", while Ms. Tu won it for \"her discoveries concerning a novel therapy for malaria.\"

Mr. Campbell and Mr. �mura discovered a new drug, Avermectin, the derivatives of which have radically lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, said a press relase. \"The drug also showed efficacy against an expanding number of other parasitic diseases,\" it added.

Youyou Tu discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from Malaria.

Campbell is a research fellow emeritus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Omura, 80, is a professor emeritus at Kitasato University in Japan and is from the central prefecture of Yamanashi. Tu is chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The medicine award was the first Nobel Prize to be announced. The winners of the physics, chemistry and peace prizes are set to be announced later this week. The economics prize will be announced next Monday. No date has been set yet for the literature prize, but it is expected to be announced on Thursday.

The winners will share the 8 million Swedish kronor (about $960,000) prize money with one half going to Campbell and Omura, and the other to Tu. Each winner will also get a diploma and a gold medal at the annual award ceremony on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel.

Last year’s medicine award went to three scientists who discovered the brain’s inner navigation system.

Abbreviations:

MLAT  : Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty

RPLR  : Retail prime lending rate