WEST BENGAL

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had requested the Bengal government to conduct elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) by December this year.

The GNLF has already termed the GTA unconstitutional and illegal and wants the erstwhile DGHC to be reinstated until Sixth Schedule status is implemented in the hills. Given this stand the GNLF would find it difficult to contest the GTA elections.

INTERNATIONAL

· India and Morocco signed the revised Air Services Agreement

The agreement will enable the airlines of each side to enter into code sharewith airlines of other party.
It will also provide greater freedom in mounting direct flights.
The revised Agreement is the outcome of three meetings of delegation from two countries who had worked towards liberalization of marketsbetween the two countries and updating of the existing Air Services Agreement.

· In a first, Japanese robots land on moving asteroid

A pair of robot rovers have landed on an asteroid and begun a survey, Japan’s space agency said, as it conducts a mission aiming to shed light on the origins of the solar system.

The rover mission marks the world’s first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid surface, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Gk bit – Asteroid, Aeteor, Meteorite and Meteoroids

An asteroid is a rocky object in space that’s smaller than a planet — they’re sometimes called minor planets or planetoids.

A meteor is an asteroid or other object that burns and vaporizes upon entry into the Earth’s atmosphere; meteors are commonly known as “shooting stars.”

If a meteor survives the plunge through the atmosphere and lands on the surface, it’s known as a meteorite.

Meteoroids is a general term describing small particles of comets or asteroids that are in orbit around the sun.

NATIONAL

The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) has become the first ever metro rail corporation from India to bag the International ‘Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents’ (RoSPA) Award.

LMRC has been given the Silver Award for its Phase 1A (North-South Corridor) in the Project/Infrastructure category for the year 2018.

India’s biggest cyclotron facility named Cyclone-30that will produce radioisotopes vital for diagnosis and treatment of cancer became operational at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) in
Cyclone-30 will become the first and only facility in the country to produce Germanium 68 isotopes, which is used in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
At present, many radioisotopes are imported while some are produced in nuclear research reactors such as the Apsara at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), and remaining in cyclotrons facilities run by large private hospitals.

A deal to procure the Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel through the government-to-government route has been brought before the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) for approval.

Spike is a third-generation, fire-and-forget, man-portable missile manufactured by Israel’s Rafael.

In all, nearly 40,000 missiles are required to equip the Army’s 382 infantry battalions and 44 mechanised regiments.

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the continued existence of Article 370, which gives a temporary autonomous status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir and restricts the power of Parliament to make laws for the State.

The petition especially challenges a particular proviso in Article 370 which mandates that the President should first get the permission of the ‘Constituent Assembly of the State of Jammu and Kashmir’ before declaring the Article null and void.