Sherpa scales Everest for record 23rd time

A 49-year-old veteran Nepali sherpa has scaled Mt Everest for the 23rd time, breaking his own record in reaching the world’s highest peak. Kami Rita Sherpa, who summited Everest for a record 22nd time last year, stood on top of the 8,850-m peak together with other sherpas on May 15. “Kami Rita Sherpa from Thame village of Solukhumbu district successfully climbed Mt Everest at around 7.50 am from Nepal side, breaking his own record for most summits on the roof of the world,” a local daily reported. Kami has been climbing Everest since 1994. He couldn’t climb the peak in 1995 after his client got sick. In 2017, Kami became the third person to climb Mt Everest for 21 times, equalling the achievement of Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa, both of whom have since retired.

India set to export first batch of missiles

India will export its first batch of missiles this year to Southeast Asian and Gulf countries after receiving “increasing interest” from them, a top defence official said. Speaking at the IMDEX Asia 2019 exhibition, Commodore S.K. Iyer, chief general manager for HR at BrahMos Aerospace, said the first missile export contract awaits a government to government approval. “A number of Southeast Asian countries are ready to buy our missiles,” he said. “It will be our first export and we have received increasing interest in the missiles from the Gulf countries.” The Indian defence sector sees good opportunities for exports to Southeast Asian and Gulf countries where slower economic growths have put budgetary pressure on acquiring viable, cost-effective and reliable solutions.

I-T dept again defers GST, GAAR reporting

The income tax department has deferred for the second time the requirement for companies to include in their tax audit report details of GST and General Anti-Avoidance Rules. The reporting requirement of these details in income tax audit form has been kept in abeyance till March 31, 2020. Business entities having a turnover of more than Rs 1 crore (or Rs 2 crore if they have opted for presumptive taxation) and professionals with gross receipts of more than Rs 50 lakh have to comply with the tax audit requirements. In July 2018, the I-T department had changed the tax audit form - 3CD, seeking details under GST and GAAR, which seeks to prevent companies from routing transactions through other countries to avoid taxes. The changes were to come into effect from August 2018.

Former SC judge Sikri named NBSA chief

Former Supreme Court judge A.K. Sikri has been appointed as the chairperson of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) said. The NBSA is an independent body for the self-regulation of 24x7 news channels, who are members of the NBA. Justice (retd) Sikri will succeed Justice (retd) R.V. Raveendran, who completes his term on May 25. Justice Sikri will assume office on May 26. NBA president Rajat Sharma said Justice Sikri’s vast experience in the judiciary will definitely help news broadcasters. The NBSA, he said, is perceived as a self-regulatory body that implements the Code of Broadcasting Ethics in the news industry. It is an independent body completely free from any interference from the NBA, Sharma said.

Navy to conduct entrance test for officers

In a first, the Indian Navy will conduct an entrance test for the selection of direct entry officers after graduation. Currently, officer candidates are shortlisted for interviews by the Services Selection Board (SSB) on the basis of marks scored in graduation or post-graduation for certain entries. “The Navy is introducing computer-based examination for the selection of direct entry officers after graduation. The first Indian Navy Entrance Test (Officers) or INET (Officers) is scheduled in September,” the Navy said in a statement. The INET (Officers) will be used for screening for permanent commission and short service commission officer candidates for all graduate entries, other than those that are screened by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) or the University Entry Scheme, it said.

Govt plans to sell 15% in RITES via OFS

The Centre is planning to divest up to 15 per cent stake in railway PSU RITES through an offer for sale (OFS), which could fetch around Rs 700 crore to the exchequer. Railways consultancy firm RITES got listed on the bourse in July 2018 after it raised about Rs 466 crore through an IPO. “The government is considering to divest 15 per cent paid-up equity share capital of RITES out of its shareholding of 87.40 per cent in the domestic market through OFS of shares by promoters through stock exchanges,” said the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. At the current market price, the sale of a 15 per cent stake would fetch around Rs 700 crore. In this fiscal, the Centre has budgeted to raise Rs 90,000 crore from CPSE disinvestment. It has so far raised Rs 2,350 crore.

India to host part of Int’l Army Games

The Army Scout Masters Competition will be held in Jaisalmer from August 6 to 14. The event will be part of the International Army Games that have been taking place since 2015. In 2019, it is proposed that the Army Games organised by the Russian defence ministry will have 32 disciplines to be hosted by 10 countries - Russia, India, China, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Iran, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. “A total of eight countries - Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Belarus, China and India - will take part in the Indian leg. The competition is being held in India for the first time under the aegis of the Indian Army and organised by the Konark Corps at Jaisalmer military station,” the defence ministry said.

Monet’s painting sells for record $110.7 mn

One of the few paintings in Claude Monet’s celebrated Haystacks series that still remains in private hands sold at an auction on May 14 for $110.7 million, setting a record for an Impressionist work. The oil on canvas, titled Meules and completed in 1890, is the first piece of Impressionist art to command more than $100 million at auction, said Sotheby’s, which handled the sale. That also represents the highest sum ever paid at an auction for a painting by Monet, the founder of French Impressionism and a master of “plein air” landscapes who died in 1926, aged 86. Meules was one of 25 paintings in a series depicting stacks of harvested wheat belonging to Monet’s neighbour in Giverny, France. The works are widely acclaimed for capturing the play of light on his subject and for their influence on the Impressionist movement.

UNSC sanctions ISIS’ South Asia Branch

The UN has sanctioned ISIS’ South Asia Branch, a terrorist group formed in 2015 by a Pakistani national and a former commander of the TTP, for its links with al Qaeda and involvement in several deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan that killed more than 150 people. The UN Security Council’s 1267 al Qaeda Sanctions Committee sanctioned Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan (ISIL-K), which is also known as ISIS’ South Asia Branch, ISIL Khorasan, Islamic State’s Khorasan Province and South Asian Chapter of ISIL. The listing comes two weeks after the sanctions committee designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as “global terrorist” on May 1, capping a decade-long effort by India and its allies including the US, the UK, France to sanction the mastermind of several attacks.

WTO members demand end to impasse

Seventeen developing countries made a strong case on May 14 for resolving the impasse over the appointment of members in the WTO’s appellate body, cautioning that a failure to do so would “completely paralyse” the dispute settlement mechanism by December. This was stated in a declaration released after the two-day ministerial meeting of 22 developing and least developed member countries of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO), a body responsible for framing global trade rules. It also said that the flexibilities being provided to developing countries under the WTO’s Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) provisions must be preserved as they are rights of developing members.

India chosen to be a co-chair of GFDRR

India has been unanimously chosen as co-chair of the consultative group for Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery for the 2020 fiscal, the home ministry said in a statement on May 14. The decision was taken during the group’s meeting in Geneva on May 14 on the margins of the 6th session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019. The consultative group’s meeting was co-chaired by the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states, the EU and the World Bank. The GFDRR is a global partnership established in 2006 to support developing countries to understand, manage and ultimately reduce their risk from natural hazards and climate change.

‘GSP countries to benefit from trade war’

The year-long trade war with China is pushing American companies to source more from GSP countries such as India, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Turkey, a latest report said on May 14, warning that cancelling GSP benefits to India would only help China. The Coalition for GSP, a group of US companies and trade associations, said the latest official trade figures shows that the Generalised System of Preference saved US companies $105 million in March, an increase of $28 million (36 per cent) from March 2018. In the first quarter of 2019, GSP saved American firms $285 million. That is $63 million more than the first quarter of 2018. GSP is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme.

Newsmakers

G.S. Lakshmi has become the first woman to be appointed to the ICC’s international panel of match referees. Lakshmi, 51, who first officiated as a match referee in the domestic game in 2008-09, has overseen three women’s ODI matches and three T20I matches.

Aarohi Pandit, a 23-year-old pilot from Mumbai, has become the world’s first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo in a light sports aircraft. She landed her plane in Iqaluit, Canada, after a gruelling 3,000 km long flight, following take-off from Wick, Scotland.

The RBI has appointed its former deputy governor R. Gandhi as an additional director on the board Yes Bank. The move comes against the backdrop of Yes Bank reporting a loss of ₹1,507 crore for the March quarter.