1. Blue diamond fetches $57 mn, smashes previous auction records
The world's largest blue diamond
known as "The Oppenheimer Blue" sold to a private collector at
Christie's here. The buyer's identity was not disclosed.
Mounted
on a platinum ring and flanked on either side by a trapeze-shaped
diamond, the rare rectangular-cut Fancy Vivid stone had a pre-sale
estimate of USD 38-45 million.
The diamond was named in honour
of its previous owner Philip Oppenheimer, a diamond dealer whose family
owns the influential diamond company De Beers, CNN reported.
The
Oppenheimer steals the title of world's most expensive diamond from the
12.03 carat "Blue Moon of Josephine," which held the previous record at
USD 48.4 million.
2. Indian-American, Pakistani-American honoured by Obama
U.S. President Barack Obama has felicitated an Indian-American scientist and a Pakistani-American doctor with the nation’s top honours on the field of science, technology and innovation respectively.
65-year-old Rakesh K Jain of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital was presented with the National Medal of Science for his role in developing novel strategies for manipulating tumours and translating those strategies into improved cancer detection, prevention, and treatment in humans.
53-year-old Humayun, who is a grandson of personal physician of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for invention, development, and application of bioelectronics in medicine, including a retinal prosthesis for restoring vision to the blind, thereby significantly improving patients’ quality of life.
3. President of India inaugurated Intelligent Operations Centre in Rashtrapati Bhavan and launched a mobile app for transformation of President’s Estate into a smart township
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated an Intelligent Operations Centre (IOC) in Rashtrapati Bhavan and launched a Mobile App ‘Monitor’ for transformation of President’s Estate into a smart township at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow (May 19, 2016).
The IOC is a software solution designed by IBM which helps collect and make sense of the rich data streaming in from several sources within the Estate to provide intelligent insights. It offers integrated data visualization, near real-time collaboration and deep analytics that will help agencies prepare for problems, coordinate and manage response efforts and enhance efficiency of services.
The “Monitor” mobile application is a Residents collaboration tool of the Intelligent Operation Center. This will help residents and domain (Energy, Water, Horticulture, Waste and Security) supervisors to collaborate in a smarter way for their observations. It will enable residents to report issues such as broken street lights, electricity failure, water wastage etc and check resolution status using their mobile devices. This mobile application will allow residents to report these issues using their mobile devices in the Estate on a real time basis. These reported observations can be used to provide enough details such as location coordinates, address etc to concerned departments. This will help the residents of the Estate become more socially responsible, aware and collaborative.
India and Slovenia have signed a Protocol amending the existing Convention and Protocol between the two countries for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income on 17th May, 2016 in Ljubljana. The Protocol was signed by Mr. Sarvajit Chakravarti, Ambassador of India to Slovenia on behalf of India and Mr. Dusan Mramor, the Slovenian Minister of Finance on behalf of Slovenia.
The Protocol will broaden the scope of the existing framework of exchange of tax related information which will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance between the two countries and will also enable mutual assistance in collection of taxes.
5. Google doubles down on artificial intelligence with Home and Allo
The Protocol will broaden the scope of the existing framework of exchange of tax related information which will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance between the two countries and will also enable mutual assistance in collection of taxes.
5. Google doubles down on artificial intelligence with Home and Allo
Alphabet's Google Inc unveiled its answer to Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant along with new messaging and virtual reality products at its annual I/O developer conference on Wednesday, doubling down on artificial intelligence and machine learning as the keys to its future.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai introduced Google Assistant, a virtual personal assistant, along with the tabletop speaker appliance Google Home.
He also unveiled Allo, a new messaging service that will compete with Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger products and feature a chatbot powered by the Google Assistant. Allo, like WhatsApp, will also have end-to-end encryption when it is rolled out this summer.
Amazon's Echo, a surprise hit that has other tech giants racing to match it, uses a virtual assistant called Alexa, a cloud-based system that controls the Echo speaker and responds to voice-controlled commands by users.
Like Alexa, Google Assistant can search the internet and adjust your schedule. However, Pichai said Google Assistant can use images and other information to provide more intuitive results.
For Google Home, the Google Assistant merges with Chromecast and smart home devices to control televisions, thermostats and other products. Google did not offer a specific release date or pricing for Google Home, saying only that it will be available later this year.
VIRTUAL REALITY
Google's other big announcement at Wednesday's event, held at an outdoor amphitheatre near Google's headquarters, was a virtual reality platform called Daydream designed to work with the Android mobile operating system.
Daydream addresses latency and other issues affecting playback on smartphones, according to Clay Bavor, Google's vice president of virtual reality.
Bavor also announced a virtual reality headset powered by a smooth, two-button controller with orientation sensors that help determine positioning in virtual environments. Facebook is also making a big push in virtual reality with its Oculus headset, and Apple has indicated its interest in VR technology as well.
6. Pakistan-China 820-kilometre-long optical-fibre cable project launched
Pakistan
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif performed the ground-breaking ceremony of
the Pakistan-China Optical Fibre Cable Project which is part of the
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Radio Pakistan reported.
The $44 million, 820-kilometre-long cable project stretching from Rawalpindi to Khunjerab in Gilgit-Baltistan, will be completed by the Special Communication Organisation in two years.
The project, which will provide an alternate telecommunication route between Pakistan and China, will also bring 3G and 4G connectivity to Gilgit region, Sharif said while addressing the ground-breaking ceremony function in Gilgit.
India has already expressed its objection to the proposed corridor as it will pass through Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a region which is disputed between the two south Asian neighbours.
Sharif also inaugurated the Gilgit-Baltistan CPEC patrolling police headquarters in Gilgit.
The patrolling force comprising 300 personnel will help regulate traffic along a 439 km stretch of the CPEC in the area. China has provided 25 vehicles for the patrolling force.
The premier announced the establishment of a technical training institute in the region. "We will initially set aside Rs.100 million for this project," he said. ..
7. Turkey names new Prime Minister
Turkey's ruling party named a loyal ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the new prime minister.
The ruling Justice and Development Party ( AKP) appointed Transport Minister Binali Yildirim as its chairman, meaning he will automatically become prime minister.
Yildirim is poised to replace Ahmet Davutoglu, who stepped down after a power struggle with Erdogan.
8. RBI aligns rules for FDI in CICs
Seeking to attract more foreign investment, the Reserve Bank laid down rules allowing FDI up to 100 per cent in credit information companies (CICs) if ownership of the investor company is well diversified.
However, the FDI cap will be 49 per cent if the ownership is not well diversified.
A diversified company is one in which where one or more shareholder each holds more than 10 per cent of voting rights.
9. US House approves move to bolster defence ties with India
The US House of Representatives has approved a bipartisan legislative move to bolster defence ties with India and bring it at part with other NATO allies in terms of sale of defence equipment and technology transfer.
10. Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen takes office as President
Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen takes the reins as president in a grand ceremony celebrating the island's unique identity, likely to raise hackles in Beijing as ties with China rapidly cool.
Tsai becomes Taiwan's first female president after winning a landslide victory in January to defeat the ruling Kuomintang, ending an eight-year rapprochement with Beijing under outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou.
11. Babus rejig: G C Murmu shifted as Addl Secy Financial Services
Gujarat's bureaucrat Girish Chandra Murmu has been shifted from Finance Ministry's Expenditure department to Financial Services as part of senior level bureaucratic reshuffle.
Murmu is among seven Additional Secretary-level officers who have been appointed to central government ministries. Of the total officers, only one belongs to Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) and rest are from Indian Administrative Service.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the appointment of Murmu, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, as Additional Secretary in Department of Financial Services, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.
He is presently working in Department of Expenditure in the same position. Murmu has worked as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was Gujarat's Chief Minister.
12. Pinarayi Vijayan to be next Kerala Chief Minister
CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan will be the next Chief Minister of Kerala. The decision to nominate 72-year-old Vijayan was taken at the state secretariat which met at AKG Bhavan, the CPI (M) headquarters.
13. Ex-finance Secretary, Ratan P Watal, appointed as Niti Aayog's Principal Adviser
Former Finance Secretary, Ratan P Watal has been appointed as the Principle Adviser for social sector in Niti Aayog.
He has been appointed to the post for three years, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.
The new appointment for Watal comes a fortnight after his two-month extended tenure ended in April. He was to retire in February. However, Watal later got a two-month extension as the Finance Secretary.
Watal, a retired IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, had been Finance Secretary between August last year and April this year.