Current Affairs - 18 October 2014

Soon, a PM-led council for nuclear safety

• NEW DELHI: India will set up a new Council on Nuclear Safety to be headed by the Prime Minister, taking a leap forward towards setting stronger safety standards for nuclear reactors.
  
  In the coming weeks, the Union Cabinet is expected to approve a pending legislation to set up a Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (NSRA) for consideration in the coming winter session of Parliament. The new authority will be responsible for regulating radiation and nuclear safety.
  
  The PM-led council will be in charge of policies with regard to nuclear safety and radiation. The NSRA will be the successor body to the present Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) which will be dissolved. However, this body will not have the powers to inspect and regulate the strategic sector including facilities involved in India's nuclear weapons programme.

Jayalalithaa to be released from jail today

• BANGALORE: Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalaithaa, who secured bail from the Supreme Court, will be released from the central jail here on Saturday after the special court issues order on paying surety, a senior prison official said. 
  
  "As the special court has not received the Supreme Court order granting Jayalalithaa interim bail till evening, the judge (John Michael D'Cuna) could not issued the order to release her from jail on Friday," Karnataka's deputy inspector general (prisons) PM Jaisimha said. 
  
  A three-judge apex court bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu stayed Jayalalithaa's four-year jail term in a corruption case that dragged on for 18 years and granted an interim bail till December 18. 
  
  "We will release Jayalalithaa from jail on receiving the special court's order and on paying surety the court will fix Saturday in compliance with the conditions the Supreme Court mentioned in the interim bail," Jaisimha said.

Bangalore, 11 other cities will get new names

• BANGALORE: Karnataka got a festival gift on Friday when the Centre approved renaming 12 cities, including Bangalore and Belgaum.
  
  Bangalore's new name will be Bengaluru. Mangalore will be renamed Mangaluru, and Mysore will become Mysuru. Bellary will be called Ballari in official records, while Belgaum will be renamed Belagavi. Hubli will become Hubballi. The new names of other cities are Tumakuru (Tumkur), Vijapura (Bijapur), Chikkamagaluru (Chikmagalur), Kalaburagi (Gulbarga), Hosapete (Hospet) and Shivamogga (Shimoga).
  
  Union home ministry officials said the Karnataka government, Survey of India, railway ministry, department of posts, ministry of science and technology and Intelligence Bureau gave their clearance to the proposal. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, too, gave his approval, which will now be followed by a final clearance from home minister Rajnath Singh.
  
  The NDA government waited for the Maharashtra assembly elections to conclude because the decision to rename Belgaum could have cost the BJP votes in villages bordering Karnataka.

Now, Modi govt too refuses to name foreign bank account holders

• NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government on Friday endorsed the Congress-led UPA's position that double taxation avoidance treaties with other countries barred it from revealing names of all Indians having accounts in foreign banks. The statement led senior advocate Ram Jethmalani to accuse finance minister Arun Jaitley and attorney general Mukul Rohatgi of diluting the government's stand on black money.
  
  Jethmalani, who is the petitioner in the case, was provoked by an application moved by Rohatgi seeking modification of the apex court's earlier order directing that names of account holders in foreign banks be revealed.
  
  In the application, the government said that while it was ready to disclose to Jethmalani the names of account holders who were to face prosecution for stashing illegal money abroad, it would not share with him the identity of those who had legitimate accounts in foreign banks.

Pankaja Munde jumps into Maharashtra CM race, Fadnavis frontrunner

• MUMBAI: BJP MLA Pankaja Munde on Friday created a stir in political circles by saying that she was willing to head the BJP government to fulfil the "aspirations" of her supporters and her late father's "dream". Pankaja, who is the daughter of the late Gopinath Munde, was talking informally to mediapersons.
  
  After Gopinath Munde's death in a car accident in June this year, Pankaja has emerged as her father's political successor in Marathwada. She dropped the bombshell on the state BJP at a time when party bigwigs, both in Mumbai and New Delhi, were set to okay state BJP president Devendra Fadnavis name for chief ministership, it is learnt.
  
  Fadnavis who has emerged as the strongest contender for CM's post, spent the day holding parleys with party leaders in Mumbai. He also had telephonic talks with the party's central leaders. The BJP central leadership has put its seal of approval to Fadvnavis's name as Maharashtra CM, sources said.
  
  What has surprised BJP watchers is that Pankaja should jump into the CM race even after it is clear that the central leadership favours Fadnavis. This could well be an indication of the simmering internal differences in the Maharashtra BJP. This could augur ill for the party that is widely believed to win power in the state.

Mysterious US space plane lands on California coast

• VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, California: A top-secret space plane landed on Friday at an Air Force base on the Southern California coast. 
  
  The plane spent nearly two years circling Earth on a classified mission. Known as the X-37B, it resembles a mini space shuttle. 
  
  It safely touched down at 9:24am on Friday, officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base said. 
  
  Just what the plane was doing during its 674 days in orbit has been the subject of sometimes spectacular speculation. 
  
  Several experts have theorized it carried a payload of spy gear in its cargo bay. Other theories sound straight out of a James Bond film, including that the spacecraft would be able to capture the satellites of other nations or shadow China's space lab. 
  
  In a written release announcing the return of the craft, the Air Force only said it had been conducting "on-orbit experiments." 
  
  The X-37B program has been an orphan of sorts, bouncing since its inception in 1999 between several federal agencies, NASA among them. It now resides under the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office.