MISCELLANEOUS NEWS OF MAY 2013

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS

VENEZUELA SETS FIRST POST CHAVEZ ELECTION FOR APRIL 14

Venezuelan political parties began registering candidates for a snap election on April 24, setting the stage for a bruising campaign to succeed the late President Hugo Chavez. The National Electoral Council set the poll date one day after Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's handpicked successor, was sworn in as acting President. The main Opposition coalition announced it had unanimously chosen Henrique Caprilies as its Presidential candidate.

IRAN LAUNCHES DESTRPOYER FOR ‘PEACE’ IN CASPIAN SEA

Iran launched a domestic-built destroyer in the Caspian Sea on March 17, 2013, its first deployment of a major warship in the oil-rich  region,  state  TV reported.  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the guided missile destroyer Jamaran-2 in the port city of Anzali, about 250 km northwest of Tehran. He said the deployment aimed to bolster peace and friendship in the region. "The destroyer is there to meet those
who want to jeopardise the security of surrounding nations," Ahmadinejad said, without elaborating.

ANTI-RAPE BILL PASSED IN PARLIAMENT

The anti-rape Bill, providing for enhanced punishment for rape, making stalking and voyeurism criminal offences and fixing age of consent for sex at 18, got parliamentary approval on March 21, 2013 with the Rajya Sabha passing the Bill with voice vote. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was passed by the
Lok Sabha on March 18, 2013. The widely-debated Bill seeks to provide enhanced punishment for crimes such as rape and gangrape, prescribing punishment extending to death sentence for offenders for inflicting any injury which causes death of the victim or causes them to be in persistent vegetative state.

TOP JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE KHIL RAJ REGMI SWORN-IN NEPAL PRIME MINISTER

Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was sworn-in as Nepal's new Prime Minister in March 2013 to head an interim government that will hold elections by June 21, ending months of political and Constitutional crisis in the country. Regmi, 63, was sworn in as the head of interim election government as a part of the eleven point
deal reached among major parties, UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Joint Madhesi Front.
President Ram Baran Yadav administered oath of office and secrecy to Regmi at Sheetal Niwas in the presence of top leaders of the major political parties.
Regmi also inducted two former bureaucrats into the cabinet. The cabinet called on the agitating political parties to get engaged in conducting Constituent Assembly elections, saying that it is the only way to end the political deadlock faced by the country. The cabinet also requested the civil society, media,
press and others to, create a conducive environment for the polls.

SUNDAR DAR PICHAI

Indian-American, appointed head of Google Inc's Android business Born in Chennai in 1972, Pichai graduated from IIT Kharagpur and got his masters from Stranford Joined Google in 2004 as vice president of product management, over seeing various products.
He went on to oversee the development of different apps like Gmail and Google Maps. He was also largely responsible 3 for developing Google Drive On November 19, 2009, Pichai gave a demonstration of Chrome
OS and on May 20, 2010, he announced the open-sourcing of the  4 new video codec VP8 by Google In 2011, he became senior vice president of Google Chrome and Apps, which includes the Chrome browser and operating system, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Drive