Delhi, Beijing bid to move ties to pre-2020 normal: China officials

Underlining that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have met during their meeting in Kazan, senior Chinese officials have said that the two sides are discussing a slew of measures to bring ties back to "normal" - as it was before the face-off started in April- May 2020 along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Beijing expects that the "wish list" will materialise soon and it includes "direct flights" between the two countries, easing of visa curbs on Chinese nationals including diplomats and scholars, lifting of the ban on mobile apps, letting Chinese journalists come to India and report, allowing more Indian movies in Chinese theatres, among others. 

Cyber crimes: 4.5 lakh 'mule' accounts frozen, many in public sector banks

The Centre has frozen around 4.5 lakh "mule" bank accounts, typically used for laundering proceeds of cyber crimes, in 2023. 

While such accounts operate across the banking system, most were found with the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Airtel Payments Bank, sources said.

Officials of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C), which reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs, recently conveyed this to the Prime Minister's Office in a meeting, where shortcomings of the banking system were discussed. 

They also highlighted that fraudsters are nowadays withdrawing payments from such "mule accounts" which are usually created using KYC documents of another person - through cheques, ATMs, and digitally. 

Tackling case pendency priority for CJI Khanna

Justice Sanjiv Khanna took oath as the 51st Chief Justice of India, succeeding Justice DY Chandrachud. 

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Khanna at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Justice Khanna has been a part of several important rulings. In the case against a journalist over remarks during a TV show, a bench presided by him refused to quash the FIR saying Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution cannot be pressed into service for defeating the fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 21; if one claims to the right to speech, the others have the right to listen or decline.

War emissions are on the table as COP29 kicks off

Besides Resulting in human tragedy and large-scale destruction, the two ongoing wars have also been exacerbating the climate change problem, adding significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. 

Emissions from conflicts is an issue that has largely been overlooked in the climate change conversation but may find some resonance in Baku's climate conference.

Latest estimates suggest that the first two years of the Russia- Ukraine war, which began in February 2022, would have contributed over 175 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent of emissions, including projected emissions estimated from reconstruction. 

The conflict in West Asia could have added at least another 50 million tonnes. Together, emissions from these two wars are comparable to annual emissions from Ukraine, Italy or Poland.

Pushed by El Nino, 2024 set to become warmest year: WMO

The Year 2024 is set to become the warmest year ever, marked by exceptionally high global mean temperatures, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said in its latest report. 

It also said that the 2015- 2024 decade was on its way to becoming the warmest decade ever on record. 

The WMO report, titled 'Statement of Climate 2024', was released at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) that got underway at Baku, Azerbaijan. 

"The January-September 2024 global mean surface air temperature was 1.54 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average. This was boosted by a warming El Nino event," said the WMO report.

THE TRADE DEBATE

In November 2019, India chose to stay out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) a trade agreement that includes 15 countries accounting for 30 per cent of global GDP, and around a quarter of world exports. 

The argument was that staying out of such trade agreements, not being deeply integrated with the global value chains that run through these regions, was difficult to reconcile to become a global manufacturing hub, capturing export opportunities and foreign capital. 

There were concerns that the protectionist impulses that seemed to guide policy, tariff and non-tariff barriers, and other country-specific limitations would restrict the gains that could potentially flow from the escalating trade tensions between China and the US, and the China plus one strategy.

LIGNOSAT: THE WORLD'S FIRST SATELLITE MADE OF WOOD

The world's first satellite with wooden components was launched aboard a SpaceX rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States. 

The intention is to establish that wood is a space-grade material. 

Built by researchers at Japan's Kyoto University and the Tokyo-based logging company Sumitomo Forestry, LignoSat has been flown to the International Space Station (ISS). 

What is LignoSat?

LignoSat named after the Latin word for wood, lignum - is a satellite that weighs just 900 grams, and is the size of a coffee mug. The wooden box-like satellite has 10-cm-wide panels and small plastic and silicon parts. 

It has been constructed using a traditional Japanese crafts technique without screws or glue to hold it together, according to a report by DW. 

The satellite has been specifically developed to test the durability of wood in the extreme environment of space where temperatures fluctuate from minus 100 to 100 degrees Celsius every 45 minutes, as objects traverse through sunlight and darkness.

Centre nudges ministries to step up spending; may relax cash limits

Amid concerns over slow capital expenditure by departments and ministries so far this financial year, the Centre has directed them to speed up the pace of spending in the ongoing quarter "as much as possible", a senior government official said. 

The government has nudged the ministries to expedite the pace of capital expenditure to avoid bunching up of capex in the January-March quarter, the official said.

The pace of capital expenditure has been slow this year, particularly coming in the backdrop of Lok Sabha elections. "Capital expenditure takes time to take place. 

The process of issuing tenders for projects takes time. Even though the core infrastructure ministries are picking up pace towards capex, the government wants the departments and ministries to speed up capital spending as much as possible. 

Urgent redressal of India-Russia 'one-sided' balance of trade needed, says Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made a strong pitch for urgent redressal of the "one-sided" balance of trade between India and Russia and argued that "non-tariff barriers and regulatory impediments must be speedily addressed for this to happen". 

Jaishankar said mutual settlement of trade in national currencies is of great importance, especially in the current circumstances. 

While special rupee Vostro accounts are right now an effective mechanism, even in the short run, a better trade balance with national currency settlements is the answer, Jaishankar said at the India-Russia Business Forum in Mumbai.