1.
Marcos
clan wins big in Philippine elections
i. The family of dead dictator
Ferdinand Marcos enjoyed easy wins in Philippine elections, official data
showed on Tuesday, with his unrepentant 83-year-old wife leading the clan's
political charge.
ii. Imelda Marcos captured more than 88 percent of the votes cast
yesterday to win a second consecutive term in the nation's lower house
representing the family's northern provincial stronghold, according to the
official tally.
iii. Imelda Marcos's main rival, local lawyer Ferdinand
Ignacio, conceded the race after capturing about 10 percent of the vote.
2.
Britain
launched Super Priority Visa Service for Travellers from India
i. Britain
on 12 May 2013 launched super priority same-day visa service for urgent
travellers from India.
ii. Britain has launched this kind of service
anywhere in the world. The super priority visa service was announced by British
Prime Minister David Cameron during his visit to India in February 2013.
The
Main points of new Visa Service are as following:
i.
For
the first time, Indian visitors will get the option of a same-day visa to the
UK. This new service can be particularly useful for business.
ii. The Super Priority Visa is an optional
service, which costs an additional fee of 600 pounds in addition to the
standard fee for the type of visa which was applied for.
NOTE: As per an estimate, India is considered as
the UK’s biggest visa operation in the world. It processes around 400000
applications each year and most of the applications are approved (97 percent of
UK Business visit visas and 86 percent of visit visas).
3. Harvansh Singh, the
Deputy Speaker of Madhya Pradesh Assembly died
i. Harvansh Singh, the Deputy Speaker of Madhya Pradesh Assembly
died on 14 May 2013 due to cardiac arrest in Barra of Seoni District.
ii. Harvansh Singh, 65, is now survived by his wife Pawan Bai,
a daughter and two sons.
About Harvansh Singh
i. He was born on 11
November 1949 in Bindari Village of Chhindwara
ii. He was a senior congress leader and a former Minister and
held many portfolios in Madhya Pradesh like Public Health Engineering,
Transport and Home departments
iii. He was elected from Keolari Assembly seat of Madhya Pradesh
in 2008, for the first time he was elected as member of Madhya Pradesh State
Legislative Assembly from the same seat in 1993
iv. He served as a Cabinet Minister during the Digvijay Singh
Government in Madhya Pradesh
4. Sharif's PML-N
emerges as single largest party in Pak polls
i. Nawaz Sharif's PML-N has emerged
the single largest party in Pakistan's landmark general elections by bagging
122 of the 272 parliamentary seats that went to the polls on 11th May, the
Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
ii. The PML-N's two closest rivals the Pakistan People's Party
and Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf lagged far behind with 31 and 26
seats, respectively.
iii. Earlier, trends emerging from the counting of votes had
shown that the PML-N led by former premier Sharif was set to bag about 125
seats.
5. India unveils first indigenous
rotavirus vaccine
i.
Indian scientists on
Tuesday unveiled the first completely indigenous and affordable vaccine to
prevent severe rotavirus diarrhoea, which kills more than 1 lakh
children under five in India every year.
ii.
The
results of the Phase III clinical trials of the Rotavac vaccine, a culmination
of efforts spanning 28 years, released at an international conference pegged
its efficacy at 56 per cent in the first year of life.
iii.
However,
commercial production of the vaccine would take some time as it is yet to get
clearance from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)
iv. “The results indicate that the vaccine, if licensed, could
save the lives of thousands of children each year in India,” K. Vijay Raghavan,
Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, said.
v. Rotavac is a oral vaccine administered to infants in a
three-dose course at the ages of six, 10 and 14 weeks alongside routine
immunisations recommended at these ages.