1. Attornity
general suggests cancellation of coal allocations since 2005 : AG suggests
cancellation of coal allocations since 2005
Attorney general G E Vahanvati has advised the
government to cancel coal block allocations to private firms since 2005.
2.Cabinet
nod for 10K more MBBS seats : The Cabinet on Thursday cleared a proposal to
create 10,000 more MBBS seats in government medical colleges. At present, there
are around 22,500 MBBS seats in government colleges.
3.India
ranks below Pakistan in n-safety index :India has been ranked below its two
nuclear-armed neighbours — Pakistan and China — in the list of countries with a
weak nuclear material security in the world, according to a U.S.-based
think-tank.India received 41 out of 100 points, which is improvement by one
point from the 2012 score.
For
comparison, China received 64 points and has been ranked at 20th spot, while
Pakistan with 46 points stands at 22nd place.
4.Japan
wants India’s support on disputes with China : Engaged in a territorial dispute
with China, Japan on Thursday sought to rope in India’s support over “the
recent Chinese provocative actions” saying a message needs to be sent to it
collectively that status quo cannot be changed by force.
Japanese
Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said dialogue is the only way to resolve the
row created by imposition of restrictions by China in the East China Sea and
other areas.
“For both
India and Japan, China is an important neighbouring country. Both countries
have important economic linkages with China. However, after the recent Chinese
provocative actions, entire international community will have to send a message
to China,” he told PTI in an interview in New Delhi.
5.NASA
Discovers New Potentially Hazardous Asteroid :NASA's latest sky-mapping
spacecraft has discovered a new potentially hazardous asteroid, 43 million
kilometres from Earth. It is the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey
Explorer (NEOWISE)'s first such discovery since coming out of hibernation last
year.
The
spacecraft discovered a near-Earth asteroid designated 2013 YP139 on December
29. The mission's sophisticated software picked out the moving object against a
background of stationary stars.As NEOWISE circled Earth scanning the sky, it
observed the asteroid several times over half a day before the object moved
beyond its view.
