English news - 27.04.2016

1. Sangay re-elected Tibetan PM

Harvard-educated lawyer Lobsang Sangay has been re-elected prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. 

He defeated his only rival, Penpa Tsering, receiving about 57 percent of the 58,740 votes cast across the globe last month.

2. Natekar first non-cricketer added to CCI's Legends Club

Badminton ace Nandu Natekar has been inducted into the Legends Club, founded by the late Cricket Club of India president Raj Singh Dungarpur, as the first non-cricketer, along with 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev.

3. Gujarat Lions bats for Reliance Games

IPL's newest cricket team, Gujarat Lions have entered into a partnership with Reliance Games, a publisher and developer of mobile games. 

With this partnership, Reliance Games becomes the Official Gaming Partner of the Rajkot based team, led by ace batsman Suresh Raina.

4. Giant Mandela statue unveiled in Palestine

A six-metre statue of former South African president Nelson Mandela has been unveiled in Palestine, the first such sculpture of the anti-apartheid icon outside the country. 

The statue was unveiled by Parks Tau, the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, which sponsored it as part of a twin city arrangement signed two years ago.

Palestine also declared April 26 a national day.

5. Chinese sounding rocket launched

Chinese scientists launched a sounding rocket from south China's Hainan Province.

Kunpeng-1B was launched from Danzhou City by the National Space Science Center (NSSC).

The rocket fulfilled its mission of taking measurements in the upper atmosphere that will help with research of rocket sounding, high-speed flight and space tourism, said the NSSC.

6. Bureaucratic rejig: Ashok Lavasa appointed Expenditure Secretary

Senior IAS officers Ashok Lavasa and Ajay Mittal were today appointed as Expenditure and Information and Broadcasting secretaries respectively in a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle. 

In all, 14 new secretaries have been appointed in various central government departments. 

Lavasa, currently Environment Secretary, will take over from Ratan P Watal, who superannuates on April 30, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said. 

Ajay Narayan Jha, Special Secretary in Department of Expenditure, will be new Secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in place of Lavasa, it said. 

Mittal, at present working in his cadre state Himachal Pradesh, will be new Information and Broadcasting Secretary. He will take over from incumbent Sunil Arora, who retires this month end. 

Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Snehlata Shrivastava has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Justice. She is currently Special Secretary in Department of Financial Services, the DoPT said. 

The portfolios of Anuj Kumar Bishnoi and Vijay Shankar Pandey have been swapped. Bishnoi will now be Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, in place of Pandey, who has been named as new Secretary Department of Fertilisers.

7. India to dominate working-age population growth in Asia Pacific by 2050: UN

India is projected to dominate the growth in the working-age population in Asia Pacific by 2050, becoming home to over a billion people eligible to enter the job market, a UN report has said.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) underlined in its latest Regional Human Development Report that Asia-Pacific countries now have more working-aged people and fewer dependents than at any point in history, providing a springboard for growth. 

Region-wide, 68 per cent of people are of working age and only 32 per cent are dependents.

Asia-Pacific’s population size has tripled in the last 65 years, and is expected to reach 4.84 billion in 2050.

The working-age population in the region, comprising 58 percent of the global total, continues to grow, the report said.

China and India comprised 62 per cent of the region’s share in 2015, with a billion and 860 million workers, respectively.

8. Naval Detachment Inaugurated at Lakshadweep

A Naval Detachment (NAVDET) at Androth Island of Lakshadweep was inaugurated by Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, AVSM, VSM, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.

9. New Zealand's $5 named best banknote of 2015

New Zealand's five dollar note has been named the banknote of 2015 -- a "clear winner" among nearly 40 eligible designs from a record 20 countries.

Scottish Clydesdale Bank's five pound note, Sweden's 20 kronor note, Russia's 100 rouble note and Kazakhstan's 20,000 tenge note emerged as runners-up, the Guardian reported.

New Zealand's $5, printed by a Canadian company, shows mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary facing the South Island's Aoraki/Mount Cook and, on the other side, a rare yellow-eyed penguin and local flora.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand had released the new $5 and $10 notes in October last year as part of its Brighter Money range.

10. China human rights campaigner Harry Wu dies

Harry Wu, a longtime Chinese human rights campaigner, and author and founder of the Laogai Research Foundation, has died. He was 79. 

11. IIT scholar, K Ashok Kumar, won International Plant Nutrition Scholar Award

K Ashok Kumar, a research scholar from IIT Kharagpur (KGP), won the prestigious International Plant Nutrition Scholar Award.

Kumar, a research scholar at the department of agricultural and food engineering at the Bengal-based IIT, was recently awarded by the US-based International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI). The award carries a cash prize of 2000 US dollar and a recognition certificate.

Ashok is pursuing his PhD on 'Comparative Assessment of Direct and Residual Effects of Organic and Inorganic Nutrient Management on Rice-Chickpea Production System in Lateritic Soil.'

The objective of this research is to study the soil nutrient dynamics under organic and inorganic nutrient management to improve the crop yield and quality of rice-chickpea cropping system in lateritic soil.