TOP 20 THIS WEEK

CURRENT AFFAIRS

MADOFF FRAUD CASE

Bernard Madoff wrote a letter describing his fraud for which he got arrested on 11-dec-08.He wrote "I am so deeply sorry and ashamed about my crimes. When I began the scheme I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme. However, this proved difficult, and ultimately impossible, and as the years went by I realized that my arrest and this day would inevitably come. The essence of the scheme was that investments from people were taken for investing in market securities but transferred to my bank account" 

AIG – ISSUING BONUS 

AIG is to distribute Bonuses to its employees despite being a beneficiary of stimulus package. Obama vowed to try to stop AIG from paying out bonuses to executives.

SATYAM CASE

#At least eight serious suitors have entered the bidding fray for Satyam. Bidding by tech Mahindra has however been controversial. As the Indian promoters of the company Mahindra & Mahindra holds 44.18% in the company. And, Deepak Parekh, who is on the board of Satyam as a government appointee is also on the board of M&M. However, US-based outsourcing company iGate sought more clarity on the financials of Satyam before the final bidding.

#To prevent recurrence of Satyam-like frauds, the ICAI on Monday tightened the auditing standards by introducing new guidelines which will enable auditors interlink information and reports of other stakeholders and evaluate them.

UPCOMING ELECTIONS

#Congress and Trinamool Congress reached a seat-sharing accord for Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal. On the other hand, Third Front would not name any leader for the PM post in the run-up to the elections. Third Front was officially launched at an impressive rally with a coalition of Left and major regional parties vowing to defeat the Congress and BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. 

#The 29-year-old son of Maneka and the late Sanjay Gandhi, Varun Gandhi was Sunday issued a notice by the district authorities on his pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim tone that could trigger a communal clash. 

IPL STORY

#The tournament is likely to begin as scheduled on April 10, though the number of venues is likely to increase from eight to 11 or 12. Clouds of uncertainty are still looming large over the second season of IPL as security concerns still need to be addressed. The home ministry told to submit new schedule as revised schedule submitted on March 7 was unfeasible. 

#Bombay High Court has blocked a move by the IPL to remove Sony as its broadcaster and strike a deal directly with World Sports Group (WSG), Sony's rights partner for the tournament.

PAKISTAN POLITICAL EVENTS (in sequence)

#'Long March’ outside the parliament by lawyers and Nawaz Sharif was planned to weaken the rule of the government and to restore a group of judges fired by Musharraf in 2007.

#Pakistan arrested hundreds of opposition activists and banned protests in two regions to curb the opposition.

#Pakistan army and PM Gilani asked Zardari to leave if he does not accept deal hatched by them in consultation with foreign powers. As part of the deal, the PM has been asked to immediately convince Zardari to accept the new constitutional arrangement and restore Supreme Court Justice Ifthikar Chaudhary. 

#Pakistan government offered to challenge the disqualification of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from contesting elections in a bid to defuse the crisis but Sharif rejected the offer. 

#Pakistan's government had put Nawaz Sharif under house arrest.

#Zardari agreed to the terms of the deal hatched by PM Gilani and Pakistan’s chief justice had been reinstated after a two-year struggle

MUMBAI ATTACKS

India provided more evidence, including forensic reports responding to Pakistan's questions on Mumbai attacks, and asked it to proceed fast. However, after political instability the ability of Pakistan to probe into Mumbai Attacks is questioned.

SUBHIKSHA CASE

The Employees Provident Fund Office (EPFO) will initiate action against retail chain Subhiksha following the ending of the 15 day deadline given to the company.

NEWS

POLITICS

1. Indian-American Vivek Kundra, who last week was appointed Federal Chief Technology Officer by Obama, is on leave after the FBI raided his old office. However, Kundra was not suspected of any wrong doing. Two others are arrested under corruption charges.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

1. China is concerned about the “safety” of $1 trillion investment in American government debt. Obama administration offered assurances that the securities would maintain their value. 

2. Obama will ask people who volunteered for his presidential campaign to gather signatures from neighbours to support his budget, which proposes a $1.75 trillion deficit to lift the country out of recession.

3. Liquidity of markets got enhanced. RBI bought back Rs 8,000 crore of bonds and not planned 10000 crore bonds. This probably was because the cut off demanded by the market participants was higher than what the RBI’s 6.33%. Rupee also appreciated as markets surged in India and globally.

4. World Bank, which has decided to step up its exposure to India to $14 billion in the next three years, will soon clear a $2.6 billion special loan package

5. Unwilling to compromise on their demands, producers and distributors have decided not to release their movies from April 4 until multiplexes agree to an equal share in revenue.

SPORTS

1. Virender Sehwag blasted India's fastest ODI hundred off 60 balls and India won maiden one-day series in New Zealand by 3-1.

TECHNOLOGY

1. India is launching its own version of Google Earth for helping scientists and town planners amid worries that it could be misused by terrorists.

2. IBM's Indian research division has developed a new protocol that will help users create "Voice sites" on the Internet called Hyperspeech Transfer Protocol (HSTP) similar to HTTP.

3. Trend Micro, an international content security provider, has warned users against TROJAN vulnerability (a buffer overflow) in versions 9.0.0 and earlier of the Adobe Acrobat family of applications.

OTHERS

1. Nasscom on Tuesday said any proposed amendment restricting the H-1B visa norms would be of “extreme concern” to the industry. It said “Nothing should be done that seem attractive and populist in the short term, but will have a long term negative impact.”

2. An agriculture engineering student in AP was allegedly made to dance nude as part of ragging by her seniors following which the girl attempted to commit suicide. University Grants commission (UGC) has threatened to stop funds if any college is unable to stop ragging.