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Aamir
Khan appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
World
> UNICEF
Goodwill Ambassador > Oct 10
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan
has been appointed as UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asian
region. Aamir was present in Nepal to attend UNICEF’s nutrition
programme and promote child nutrition.
Union
Bank launches telephone bill payment service for MTNL subscribers
Corporate
> Union
Bank – MTNL > Oct 13
Union Bank of India has
launched a telephone bill payment service through mobile banking for
MTNL subscribers. The service is now restricted to MTNL’s 16 lakh
landline subscribers in Mumbai and will soon be extended to MTNL
landline subscribers in Delhi and mobile subscribers as well. Union
Bank plans to offer this facility to other service providers as well
in the near future. Under the arrangement MTNL will pay Union Bank a
fee of Rs 2.5 per transaction, creating an opportunity for the bank
to earn a fee-based income.
Kotak
Mahindra Bank launches Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay
Corporate
>
Kotak Mahindra > Oct 13
Mumbai headquartered Kotak
Mahindra Bank has launched KayPay, a bank agnostic payment product
for Facebook users to send money to each other. Users won't have to
depend on net banking or have to know the details of the payee, the
company said. According to the bank, users can transfer funds by
choosing recipients from their Facebook friends list.
KayPay is built on top of
the mobile based Immediate Payment System launched by the National
Payment Corporation of India. Users have to register their bank
accounts once to start using the service. KayPay uses Facebook user
id & password and a One Time Password (OTP) to authenticate a
transaction. Both sender and the receiver receive notification on SMS
and Facebook.
In March, the bank had
launched JiFi, a Twitter based product that lets users receive
banking updates and rewards using the social network.
Binatone
acquires Gecko-maker Connovate for an undisclosed amount
Corporate
> Binatone > Oct 13
Connovate Technologies, the
maker of multifunctional piece Gecko, has been acquired by Hong
Kong-based consumer electronics company Binatone for an undisclosed
amount, heralding a breakthrough for Indian startups in the
internet-of-things (IoT) space. Connovate becomes the first Indian
startup to have an exit in the internet of things domain, a
technology that represents a truly connected world where all devices
talk to one another.
The deal will give Connovate
access to Binatone's shelves in 1,500 stores in the US and 1,000 in
Europe and boost sales by at least 10 times. Gecko, its coin-sized
electronic device, will be bundled with home, pet and baby monitoring
solutions of Binatone, which are sold under Motorola's brand.
Others
82nd
Air Force Day celebrated on 8th October
India
> Air
Force Day > Oct 8
The 82nd
Air Force Day was celebrated by the Indian Air Force on October 8th.
On this day in 1932, the Indian Air Force was officially established.
The day was observed with a grand parade and a spectacular air-show
by a fleet of different fighter aircrafts of the Indian Air Force.
Navy Chief Admiral RK Dhowan, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag and
former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar attended the parade.
Eric
Betzig, Stefan Hell, William Moerner win Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Awards
> Noble
Prize - Chemistry > Oct 8
Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell
and William E. Moerner shared the 2014 chemistry Nobel for the
development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy, which has
enabled the study of single molecules in ongoing chemical reactions
in living cells. Their work has enabled modern chemists to study
molecules and other substances at the nano-scale. Researchers can
now, for example, see how molecules create junctions between nerve
cells in the brain; track proteins involved in Parkinson's,
Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases; and can follow individual
proteins in fertilized eggs as they divide into embryos.
Professor Betzig is Group
Leader at Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, in Virginia.
Professor Moerner is based
at Stanford University.
Professor Hell is Director
at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen
and Division head at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg.
Patrick
Modiano wins Nobel Prize in Literature
Awards
> Noble
Prize - Literature > Oct 8
French author Patrick
Modiano, who has examined memory, identity and loss in the post-war
era with elegant and spare prose, has won the 2014 Nobel Prize in
Literature.
Modiano was born in July
1945 in a Paris suburb during the immediate aftermath of World War
II. He studied at Lycee Henri-IV in Paris where his geometry teacher
was Raymond Queneau, a writer. He has published some 30 books mainly
novels and his storylines usually centre on young men cast adrift
among high-living crooks in 1960s Paris.
Malala
and Kailash Satyarthi win Nobel Peace Prize
Awards
> Noble
Prize - Peace > Oct 8
Pakistani child education
activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child
rights campaigner, have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala is
the youngest ever recipient of the prize.
Malala Yousafzai
Yousafzai came to global
attention after she was shot in the head by the Taliban -- two years
ago Thursday -- for her efforts to promote education for girls in
Pakistan. Since then, after recovering from surgery, she has taken
her campaign to the world stage. She is known mainly for human rights
advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had
at times banned girls from attending school. Yousafzai's advocacy has
since grown into an international movement. She is also the recipient
of the Sakharov Prize for 2013.
Kailash Satyarthi
Kailash Satyarthi is an
Indian children's rights activist. He founded the Bachpan Bachao
Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) in 1980 and has acted to
protect the rights of more than 83,000 children from 144 countries.
World
Post Day observed on 9th
October
World
> World
Post Day > Oct 9
World Post Day was observed
across the world on 9th October,
2014. This day is celebrated to create awareness about the role of
the postal sector in businesses and people’s lives as well as its
contribution to the social and economic development of countries.
US
approves two technology transfer licenses to India
World
> USA > Oct 10
The US Department of
Defence, Pentagon has approved two previously-stalled technology
transfer licenses to India and in an unprecedented move has set aside
$20 million for strategic cooperative science and technology projects
with India. Frank Kendall, Pentagon's point person for the India-US
Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI), however, did not give
details about the two licenses approved by the US. He said he and his
Indian counterpart Mohan Kumar have agreed to establish a written
framework for DTTI and to meet in person every six months. The two
have also agreed to continue efforts to identify specific
co-development and co-production opportunities and that Acting
Assistant Secretary for Research and Engineering Al Shaffer would
continue to work with Scientific Adviser to the Minister of Defence
to develop specific Science and Technology Projects.
Kendall refuted the notion
that DTTI is an attempt to sell defence products to India, saying it
is "just one facet of an initiative to build a deeper, closer,
and broader relationship with one of the most important countries on
earth.”
UK
and India launch new financial partnership for deepening financial
cooperation
India
> UK
India Financial Cooperation > Oct 10
The United Kingdom and India
on Friday launched a new financial partnership which would establish
closer ties and deepen financial cooperation between London and
Mumbai, two important financial hubs. The financial partnership would
be led by Uday Kotak, executive vice chairman and managing director
of Kotak Mahindra Bank from India and Gerry Grimstone, chairman of
Standard Life, from the UK. The partnership would initially focus on
five themes including collaboration to develop the corporate bond
market, mutual sharing of expertise on banking regulation and
capitalization, enhancing financial training and qualification,
financial inclusion and developing programmes to improve cross-border
provision of financial and insurance services.
Future
Group and Amazon sign deal to jointly sell goods over the internet
Corporate
>
Future Group
– Amazon > Oct 13
India’s largest listed
retailer Future group and the world’s largest online retailer
Amazon have entered into a deal to jointly sell goods over the
internet. Future Group will sell more than 45 own labels of apparel
initially, followed by in-house brands in the home, electronics and
food categories, while Amazon will handle order fulfilment and
customer service for the merchandise on its portal. Both firms will
also develop a new line of products across categories to be
exclusively sold at Amazon and Future Group's retail stores.
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