Andhra teen becomes youngest female climber to scale Mount Everest

Andhra teen becomes youngest female climber to scale Mount Everest
Purna was accompanied by Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar (16), a Class IX student from the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh, and completed the feat on Sunday morning.

Anand and Purna are both students of Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Educational Society.

"They climbed Everest at 6am today after a 52-day long expedition," he said.

"Purna created a record by becoming by youngest girl to climb the Everest," he said.

The duo were selected among about 150 children who were initially chosen for adventure sports as part of the society's initiative to promote excellence in the students of the society, he said.

Twenty of them were sent to a prestigious mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling for training and nine among them were sent on expedition to Indo-China border earlier.

The two students with a higher degree of toughness and endurance were sent to the Everest Expedition in April, he said.

The two students were now returning to the base camp, the official added.

Biofuel production from oilseed is the future

Biofuel production from oilseed is the future
Straw from crops such as wheat, barley, and oats is seen as a potential source of biomass for second generation biofuel production. With new findings, scientists have now come closer to making the production more efficient. 

Researchers at the Institute of Food Research in Britain looked at the steps needed to unlock the sugars tied up in the tough straw structure.

They discovered the key factors that determine the efficiency of saccharification — the process that converts enzymes into glucose.

"The sugars in the straw are in a form that makes them inaccessible to the enzymes that release them for conversion into biofuels, so pre-treatments are needed," the researchers said.

The pre-treatments make the complex carbohydrates more accessible to enzymes that convert them to glucose which is then fermented by yeast into ethanol.

In the pre-treatment stage, the researchers focused on steam explosion, which involves 'pressure-cooking' the biomass, to drive a number of chemical reactions.

A rapid pressure-release then causes the material to be ripped open, to further improve accessibility.

They varied the temperature and duration of steam explosion and then used a variety of physical and biochemical techniques to characterise what effects varying the pre-treatments had on the different types of sugars before and after saccharification.

The amount of cellulose converted to glucose increased with the severity of the pretreatment.

Saccharification efficiency is also associated with the loss of specific sugars, and subsequent formation of sugar breakdown products.

In a further study, the scientists discovered the key factors that determine the efficiency of saccharification.

Singapore replaces Mauritius as top source of FDI in India

Singapore has replaced Mauritius as the top source of foreign direct investment into India, accounting for about 25 per cent of FDI inflows in 2013-14. 

During the last financial year, India attracted $5.98 billion in FDI from Singapore, whereas it was $4.85 billion from Mauritius, according to the data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

According to experts, the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Singapore incorporates Limit-of-Benefit (LoB) clause which has provided comfort to foreign investors based there.
"LoB clause in India-Singapore treaty justifies the substance in Singaporean entities, bringing certainty and avoiding chances of litigations," head of Tax and expert on FDI with corporate law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas Krishan Malhotra said.

FDI inflows from Mauritius have started drying up on fears of the impact of General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) and possible re-negotiation of the tax avoidance treaty, he added.

The inflows from Mauritius in the last fiscal are lowest since 2006-07. On the other hand, FDI inflow of $5.98 billion in 2013-14 is the highest ever received from Singapore since 2006-07.

The controversial General Anti Avoidance Rules provision, which seeks to check tax avoidance by investors routing their funds through tax havens, will come into effect from April 1, 2016 in India.

The GAAR provision will apply to entities availing tax benefit of at least Rs 3 crore.

It will apply to Foreign Institutional Investors that have claimed benefits under any DTAA.

The India-Mauritius DTAA is being revised amid concerns that Mauritius is being used for round-tripping of funds into India even though that country has always maintained that there have been no concrete evidence of any such misuse.

Foreign investments are crucial for India, which needs about $1 trillion by March 2017 to overhaul infrastructure such as ports, airports and highways and boost growth.

Overall FDI into India grew by 8 per cent year-on-year to $24.3 billion in 2013-14.

Zuma sworn in as South Africa's President for second term

Jacob Zuma was on Saturday sworn in as South African President for a second term in the presence of thousands of guests in Pretoria.

Mr. Zuma, whose African National Congress won the May 7 elections with 62 per cent of the vote, was sworn in by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng at the government complex Union Buildings.

More than 40 foreign leaders in attendance included the Presidents of Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, Madagascar and the Vice-Presidents of Gambia, Angola, Sudan and Gabon.

The ceremony began with a gun salute and inter-faith prayers, followed by a recital of the preamble of the Constitution.

Only 200 Great Indian Bustards left: WWF

Only 200 Great Indian Bustards left: WWF
Government urged to evolve an action plan to protect the bird, which is on the verge of extinction.

“We are losing our Great Indian Bustard,” WWF-India Secretary-General and CEO, Ravi Singh told The Hindu here on Friday. The total number of birds now was as low as 200, he said, calling for quick efforts to protect the species.

“Otherwise, we will lose this bird in the wild,” he added.

Mr. Singh wanted the Government of India to evolve an action plan to protect the bird, which is on the verge of extinction.

He said the breeding of these birds was under threat. According to anecdotal estimates, the largest population (110) of this bird was in Rajasthan, while it was also found in Gujarat and Karnataka. Around 10 birds were sighted five to six years ago at Rollapadu in Andhra Pradesh.

Listing destruction of forests, break-up of corridors, illegal trade, poaching and change in land use as reasons affecting conservation of wild life, Mr. Singh said a large amount of illegal trade in lesser species like pangolins and turtles was taking place. Steps taken by the government to prevent poaching have made a difference with regard to lions and elephants, he added

Great Himalayan National Park and Rani-ki-Vav up for world heritage status

The Great Himalayan National Park in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh and Rani-ki-Vav (The Queen's Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat are up for world heritage status next month.
Unesco's World Heritage Committee is meeting in Doha from June 15 to 25 to consider the inscription of 40 sites on Unesco's world heritage list.

Unesco confirmed to TOI that the World Heritage Committee will consider Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) for a world heritage tag for being the most important gene pool of western Himalayan flora and fauna.

The park is home to iconic temples like Kedarnath, has the most important gene pool of western Himalayan flora and fauna and the endangered snow leopard.

GHNP is a major source of water with four major rivulets—Tirthan, Sainj, Jiwa Nal, and Parvati—originating from the glaciers in the Park. These rivulets flow to form the river Beas. A Unesco document has high praise for GHNP's diversity.

It says: "Around 17% of GHNP is under forests. A total of 832 plant species belonging to 427 genera and 128 families of higher plants have been recorded within the Park. The Park falls within one of the globally important Endemic Bird Areas and is home to 183 bird species. Thirty-one mammal species, including the snow leopard, Asiatic black bear, Himalayan brown bear, Grey Goral and Himalayan Musk Deer are found here."

About Rani-ki-Vav, Unesco said, "It is situated about 2km to the northwest of Patan district in Gujarat. It is the most magnificent stepwell in Gujarat built during the 11-12th century. A stepped corridor compartmented at regular intervals with pillared multi-storeyed pavilions is a unique feature. The four pavilions which demarcate the stages along the descent have multiple storeys, two, four, six and seven respectively. Sculptures of deities and other images adorn the walls flanking the staircase.

Japan launches new satellite to survey disasters

Japan launches new satellite to survey disasters
Japan successfully launched a new mapping satellite today that will be used to survey damage from natural disasters and changes affecting rainforests.

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) will be able to see scars left by catastrophes such as Japan’s 2011 tsunami as well as monitor progress made in reconstruction, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

“The satellite was successfully put in orbit,” said an official from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, whose H-IIA rocket was used in the launch from a space centre on the southern island of Tanegashima.

The satellite will provide valuable data for Japan, which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences 20 percent of all major earthquakes.

Memories are still fresh of the deadly 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March 2011 that unleashed a tsunami that devastated the northern Pacific coast, killing more than 18,000 people and triggering the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The island nation is also routinely hit by typhoons while scientists say Mount Fuji could erupt at any time.

The new satellite, nicknamed “Daichi-2″, will “conduct a health check mainly of the Earth’s land areas in detail,” JAXA project manager Shinichi Suzuki said.

The satellite will collect data related to deformation of the Earth’s crust, but also the impact of floods and landslides, he said.

The satellite’s predecessor was used to monitor damage caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The device uses a special radar to observe the planet’s surface at night, during bad weather and even through vegetation.

JAXA plans to use the new satellite to regularly study tropical rain forests, which are difficult to observe because of the thick clouds that frequently cover them. It will also be used to observe snow and ice conditions in polar areas, officials said.