6 to 11 June

1. UN Sanctions against Iran:

- prohibit Iran from purchasing heavy weaponry, of various types, including attack helicopter and missiles
- Banning licences of banks suspected of funding nuclear activities
- head of Iran's Esfahan Nuclear Centre, Javed Rashiqi, added to list of 40 Iranians subject ot asset freeze and travel ban
- Ban on dealing with 23 companies involved in nuclear ballistic missile activities - including Khatam al-Anblya COnstruciton - and 15 others linked to Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps
- It recommends all countries to inspect cargo from Iran, suspected of containing banned items at their ports and airports
- restriction on arm sales to Iran to include eight new categories including tanls, figher planes and missile systems

Vienna Group - Russia, France and the United States


2. Global Peace Index Report (GPI) - an annual publication by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP):

India- 128th, Pakistan - 145, Afghanistan - 147th
Srilanka - 133rd, Nepal -82nd, Bhutan - 36th
New Zealand - the most peaceful nation globally

3. New developments in India-Srilanka ties:

- India has agreed to extend a credit of $1 billion for funding Sri Lanka's infrastructure projects, mainly in the former civil war zones in the north and east of the country
- Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters and Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners
- India agreed to assist in the reconstruction of the Palaly Airport and the Kankesanthurai Harbour and also help in the renovation of the Duraiappah Stadium and construction of a cultural centre in Jaffna.

4. A breakthrough in cancer research:

- A protein known as 'Delta-like ligand 4' (DLL4) has recently been identified as an important component in regulating the formation of new blood vessels in a cancer tumour

- A research group at Karolinska Institutet has developed a DNA-vaccine against DLL4 and the blood vessel tip cells. They have shown that vaccination against DLL4 causes an immunological antibody response to DLL4, and this hinders the growth of breast cancer in mice

5. Research on nanoparticles by NIST:

Nanoparticles designed for use in drug therapy or as contrast agents for medical imaging typically are coated with molecules to prevent the particles from clumping together, which would reduce their effectiveness. But the efficacy of the anti-clumping coating often depends on the pH of the environment.

So what is the breakthrough?

There are certain nano particles which turn acidic when exposed to light. Their results demonstrate that under certain conditions, the stability of the nanoparticles-their tendency to resist clumping-becomes very sensitive to pH

What is its usefulness: Studies such as these could provide a stronger foundation to design nanoparticles for applications such as targeting tumor cells that have levels of acidity markedly different from normal cells.

6. India's largest life insurance company, state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India, has tied up with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to share its data base of more than 21 crore customers

7. GE has developed the world's first two-stage turbocharged gas engine in response to growing global demand for high-efficiency power generation

8. Barbara Kingsolver - winner of Orange Prize for fiction, Britain's highly-regarded literary honour for women writers

9. Amendments to Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act and Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act: These two sections pertain to dissolution of marriage by mutual consent. The recent amendment is addition of another clause to the existing grounds for divorce that include adultery, cruelty, desertion, conversion to another religion, unsoundness of mind, virulent and incurable form of leprosy, venereal disease in a communicable form, renouncement of the world and not heard as being alive for a period of seven years.

The additional clause is :‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage'

What does this mean?

Irretrievable breakdown of marriage can be defined as such failure in the matrimonial relationship or such circumstances adverse to that relationship that no reasonable probability remains of the spouses remaining together as husband and wife for mutual comfort and supportIt is the situation that occurs in a marriage when one spouse refuses to live with the other and will not work towards reconciliation. When there is not an iota of hope that parties can be reconciled to continue their matrimonial life, the marriage can be considered as Irretrievable Breakdown of marriage

10. Minimum Support Price:

Minimum price for a product, established by a government and supported by payments to producers in the event that the market price falls below the specified minimum.

- To encourage cultivation of pulses, the Union government on Thursday increased the minimum support prices by up to 33 per cent, but did not extend the favour to other kharif crops.

11. State Bank of India Chairman O. P. Bhatt has been elected the new Chairman of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) for 2010-11

HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri, Bank of Baroda Chairman and Managing Director M. D. Mallya and Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director A. C. Mahajan were elected deputy chairmen

12. The former Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Makani Narayana Rao, has assumed charged as Chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes

13. Garuda - Indo-French air combat exercise will take place at Isteres air base in France from June 14 to 25

- The Garuda series between India and France started in 2003 aiming to enhance military ties and allow their air forces to understand each other's capabilities

- For the first time the two air forces would be joined by the Singaporean Air Force with its American-origin Block 52 F-16s

14. Bengal flavour in FIFA World Cup South Africa -

100 tonne of lakshmanbhog variety of mangoes from Malda will be sold at the food court counters in the village setup to house the football stars and other guests.


Malda - One time capital of Bengal, the district maintains the tradition of the past in culture and education. It lies just east of the confluence of the Mahananda and Kalindri rivers. It is part of the English Bazar urban agglomeration. The town rose to prominence as the river port of the Hindu capital of Pandua. During the 18th century it was the seat of prosperous cotton and silk industries. It remains an important distributing centre for rice, jute, and wheat.


15.Objective of water mission,2010:
water conservation, minimising wastage and ensuring equitable distribution both across and within States through integrated resource development and management

Principles:
- comprehensive data base in public domain;
- public participation through promotion of citizen-State interaction;
- integrated basin-wide management;
- enactment of State-wide legislation through persuasion;
- review and adoption of a National Water Policy by March 2013

Goals:
expanding monitoring network; expeditious formulation of river-interlinking project; and implementing rainwater harvesting and augmentation of artificial recharge in all Blocks by 2017.

16. Abu Dhabi tower has been recognised as the “furthest-leaning man-made tower” in the world by Guinness World Records. The 160-metre Capital Gate tower, developed by the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company, leans at 18 degrees — over four times the angle of Italy's famous Leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Alarmed by the dwindling population of Olive Ridley Turtles in Orissa, the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India has set up a temporary study camp at Ganjam district of the state to monitor their nesting, breeding and migration.

There are three major nesting sites of Olive Ridley Turtle in Orissa -- the Nasi Islands in Gahirmatha, the Devi river mouth and the Rushikulya river mouth. From January to March, half a million turtles nest here. A single female adult lays around 100-140 eggs at a time.

18. Vapi, Gujarat - one of the 10 most polluted towns in the world as per Time and Fobes

As per Forbes, Vapi’s groundwater is reported to be polluted 96 times higher than the World Health Organization’s health standards; in addition, local agricultural produce can contain up to 60 times more heavy metals