Daily News Mail - News of 25/06/2015

Australia to join China-led infra bank
Australia, recently, announced that it would join the new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding member, contributing about $930 million to the financial institution of which India will be the second largest shareholder.

AIIB

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution proposed by China. The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region.
• AIIB is regarded by some as a rival for the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which the AIIB says are dominated by developed countries like the United States and Japan.
• The authorised capital of AIIB will be $100 billion. AIIB’s headquarters is to be located in Beijing.
• India is the second largest shareholder in the Bank after China.
• In October, 21 countries signed the memorandum of understanding establishing the bank.
• It now has more than 40 members, including South Korea, Austria and Spain.
• It is being called as a very positive development in the sense that it opens up more borrowing opportunities.

Rosetta comet mission extended

Europe recently announced that its comet-chasing mission Rosetta would be extended until September 2016 and may end with the dying mothership touching down on the comet.

Rosetta

Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004 on an Ariane 5 rocket and reached the comet on 6 August 2014, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a comet. Rosetta took off from Earth 10 years ago carrying Philae and traveled 6.4 billion miles before arriving at the comet.

Philae

• Philae ’​s mission was to land successfully on the surface of a comet, attach itself, and transmit data from the surface about the comet’s composition. It is a robotic European Space Agency lander.
• It landed on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, more than ten years after departing Earth.
• The mission seeks to unlock the long-held secrets of comets — primordial clusters of ice and dust that scientists believe may reveal how the Solar System was formed.
• The scientific goals of the mission focus on “elemental, isotopic, molecular and mineralogical composition of the cometary material, the characterization of physical properties of the surface and subsurface material, the large-scale structure and the magnetic and plasma environment of the nucleus.”
• Sensors on the lander will measure the density and thermal properties of the surface, gas analyzers will help detect and identify any complex organic chemicals that might be present, while other tests will measure the magnetic field and interaction between the comet and solar wind.
• Philae is equipped with an array of experiments to photograph and test the surface of Comet 67P as well as to find out what happens when the roasting effect of the sun drives off gas and dust.

Setting up of a National Memorial at the birth place of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan in Bihar

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has given its approval to the proposal of the Ministry of Culture for setting up of a National Memorial at Lala Ka Tola, Sitab, Diara, District Chhapra (Saran) in Bihar. It is the birth place of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan.

Jai Prakash Narayan

• He was an Indian independence activist, social reformer and political leader. He is popularly called “LokNayak”.
• He participated in Non Cooperation movement (NCM), Civil disobedience movement (CDM) and Vinoba bhave’s Sarvodaya and Bhoodan movement.
• In 1999, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in recognition of his social work. Other awards include the Magsaysay award for Public Service in 1965.
• The Patna airport is also named after him.