National:

Pneumonia No. 1 killer of children under 5: Report

Pneumonia continues to be the leading cause of deaths among children under five years of age in
India. According to the Pneumonia Progress Report 2012 brought out by the International Vaccine
Access Centre and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in 2010, India recorded
the highest under-five mortality from the dreaded disease. Though in the period 2000-10, the overall
child mortality dipped from 9.6 million to 7.6 million across the world, the disease continues to be
the number one killer, taking the lives of 1.3 million in 2011 alone. More than 99 per cent of all
pneumonia deaths occurred in developing countries and three-quarters of it in 15 countries, among
which India tops the list. Bangladesh and Tanzania which used to rank 12th and 15th, respectively,
are no longer in the list.
CISF to get commando training to guard vessels
The Central Industrial Security Force, which got a nod from the Shipping Ministry for deployment
on merchant vessels on piracy prone sea routes, will be trained with the Marine Commandos
(MARCOS) of the Navy. Initially, the state-owned merchant vessels will be given a preference in
the deployment process. The CISF is preparing a batch of 150-200 personnel to be deployed on
merchant vessels. These personnel will be also trained to cope with sea-sickness and taught
international laws and marine science. Before they undergo training, they will face an interview that
will determine their mental strength.
50 million people in India have diabetes
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that nearly 200 million people all over the world
suffer from diabetes and this number is likely to be doubled by 2030. Even as nations prepare to
mark World Diabetes Day on November 14, WHO says about 80% of the diabetes deaths occur in
middle-income countries. In India, there are nearly 50 million diabetics, according to the statistics
of the International Diabetes Federation.

Page 1 of 5
14th November 2012

International:
After four decades, Suu Kyi comes to India

Myanmars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in New Delhi after a gap of nearly four
decades as part of New Delhis ongoing engagement with the democratic and multi-party polity in
Nay Pyi Taw. Ms. Suu Kyi, who is visiting India on the invitation of UPA Chairperson Sonia
Gandhi, will deliver the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture.

Afghan women learn literacy through mobile phones

Afghanistan has launched a new literacy programme that enables Afghan women deprived of a
basic education during decades of war to learn to read and write using a mobile phone. The phone is
called Ustad Mobile (Mobile Teacher) and provides national curriculum courses in both national
languages, Dari and Pashto, as well as mathematics. All the lessons are audio-video, with writing,
pronunciation and phrases installed in Ustad Mobile phones -- and they are distributed free to
students. The Mobile Teacher software was developed by Paiwastoon, an Afghan IT company.
Despite millions of girls now attending school, Afghanistan's literacy rate among women remains at
just 12.5 per cent, compared to 39.3 per cent for Afghan men, according to United Nations figures.
Obama invites Indra Nooyi for consultation

United States President Barack Obama has invited at least three Indian-Americans, including
PepsiCo Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi, as part of his wider consultations with leaders from
business, labour, civic community and Congress on the current economic crisis. Neera Tandon,
president of the Centre for American Progress, an eminent U.S. think-tank based in Washington;
and Deepak Bhargava from the Centre for Community Change are the other Indian-Americans to
have been invited for consultation.

T.S. Eliots wife, Valerie Eliot, is dead; she edited an edition of The Waste Land

Valerie Eliot, who married the poet T.S. Eliot near the end of his life and steadfastly guarded his
literary legacy for nearly half a century, has died in London. She was 86. Ms. Eliot, who was almost
38 years younger than her husband, had been his secretary for several years at the publishing house
Faber & Faber when they married in 1957. Ms. Eliot, who guarded his privacy fiercely, died in
1965, having stated his wish to keep biographers from stirring the ashes of his life. She herself,
however, edited a much-admired edition of The Waste Land , consisting of a facsimile and
transcript of its original drafts and edited annotations by Ezra Pound. And she approved a
theatrical adaptation of her husbands book of poems for children, Old Possums Book of Practical
Page 2 of 5
14th November 2012

Cats , which became the musical Cats , bringing her and the estate great wealth, from which she
created a charitable trust.

Technology:
'Titan is world's most powerful supercomputer'
A computer called Titan, which is 10 times more powerful than the last lab machine, has claimed
the title of the world's most powerful supercomputer. Titan uses microchips more usually used for
video-gaming to crunch numbers for climate studies, models of advanced materials and alternatives
to petrol. The machine has seized the top spot in the Top500 a closely-watched global league of
the fastest supercomputers. Built by Cray at the US government's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in
Tennessee, Titan is 10 times more powerful than the lab's last supercomputer, Jaguar, which led the
world as recently as 2009. Titan was measured at 17.59 petaflops or 17.59 thousand trillion
calculations per second beating the previous record of 16.32 petaflops, held by Sequoia, a
supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which simulates nuclear
attacks.

Business & Economy:

EPFO improving services eyeing ISO 9001 certification

Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) along with a sharp improvement in its services may be a
reality. The countrys largest retirement fund manager is on a drive to implement ISO 9001
standards at all its branches. The EPFO has also directed field offices to update atleast 75 per cent
of its total members PF account details and fully computerise (using CORE banking solutions) all
pensioners bank accounts by March 2013.

UBI ties up with CSE for online trading platform

City-based United Bank of India, and the Calcutta Stock Exchange Ltd., one of the oldest stock
exchanges of the country, has announced the launch of U-CONNECT, an integrated online platform
for buying and selling shares. It would help the bank in augmenting its non interest income,
according to its Chairman and Managing Director Bhaskar Sen. The product would be available in
select branches of UBI in Kolkata and shall soon be extended to the select branches of all major
cities in India.

Page 3 of 5
14th November 2012

ReneSola to supply modules and wafers to Indian market

NYSE-listed ReneSola Ltd, a leading global manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and
wafers will soon introduce its new Virtus multi-crystalline modules to the Indian market. ReneSola
has already started providing locally produced PV modules to Indian market and the expected
quantity for ReneSolas India-made PV modules are expected to reach 250 MW in two years time.
The India launch follows the Virtus solar modules successful introduction in the U.S. and
Australian markets.
Health matters: SES launched
Xcyton Diagnostics, a diagnostic product development company with a focus on molecular biology
has recently launched the Syndrome Evaluation System (SES) that detects an array of diseases
within seven hours, including blood stream infections like dengue and chikungunya. It detects RNA
viruses - which cause seasonal fevers - within seven hours as compared to 72 hours in conventional
tests and has a higher accuracy of 75 per cent. It also works out to be more cost effective as patients
avoid multiple testing and have reduced ICU stay.

Sport:
Djokovic wins Tour Finals, ends the year on a high

Even when Roger Federer had the lead, Novak Djokovic had the answers. The top-ranked Serb
recovered from early breaks in both sets and beat Federer 7-6(6), 7-5 in the championship match at
the ATP finals. Federer broke Djokovics serve to take a quick 2-0 lead in the first set, and then
again to open to the second set, but both times the World No.1 player rebounded to get back into the
match.

Bopanna to partner Rajeev; Bhupathi pairs up with Nestor

Rohan Bopanna has confirmed his partnership with American Rajeev Ram for the next ATP season.
The move comes in the wake of the pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Bopanna deciding to part ways.
While Bhupathi will be partnering Canadian Daniel Nestor, Bopanna will be pairing up with longtime friend Rajeev on the ATP circuit 2013. Bopanna had a successful year with Bhupathi, which
included two titles at Dubai and Paris and a runner-up finish at the season-ending London Masters.

Page 4 of 5
14th November 2012

Felix, Eaton honoured

Allyson Felix and Ashton Eaton were named the winners of the 2012 Jesse Owens Award, given
annually by USA Track and Field to the countrys outstanding athletics performers.

Bhupathi-Bopanna end runners-up at World Tour finale

History slipped out of the hands of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna as the Indian pair lost the
summit clash of the ATP World Tour finale to Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez.
No Indian pair has ever won the year-end finale although Leander Paes and Bhupathi reached the
finals thrice together. Its the fifth time that Bhupathi has ended runners-up at the event, where
world's top-8 teams compete for the championship. With Paes he ended runner-up in 1997, 1999
and 2000 and with Max Mirnyi in 2010. Bhupathi and Bopanna had beaten Paes and his Czech
partner in the semifinals.

Page 5 of 5
14th November 2012