Pterocarpus santalinus (Red sanders) is a species of Pterocarpus with a common name red sandalwood, and saunders wood.
It is endemic to the southern Eastern Ghats mountain range of South India.
It is listed in the category of “Endangered” by the IUCN because of overexploitation for its timber in South India.
It is also listed in the appendix II of the CITES.
This tree is valued for the rich red color of its wood and it is highly in demand in China.
The wood is not aromatic and it is not to be confused with the aromatic Santalum sandalwood trees that grow natively in South India.
Typhoon Lan
Typhoon Lan, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Paolo was the second largest tropical cyclone in terms of a gale diameter on record.
It is the most intense of the Northwest Pacific Ocean in 2017.
It made a landfall in Japan as a category 2 equivalent typhoon.
The areas affected by this include Caroline Islands, Phillippines, Japan and South Korea.
Gale - The most common way of measuring winds is with the Beaufort scale, which defines a gale as wind from 50 to 102 km/h.
It is an empirical measure for describing wind speed based mainly on observed sea conditions.
Global Investors’ India Forum
It is the global event of investors and investees organized by ASSOCHAM, India’s oldest apex chamber for commerce and industry.
The event is officially supported by the Ministry of External affairs and Department of Industrial policy and promotion, Ministry of commerce and Industry.
It was started in 2015 and this year it is organized with a theme “Ideate, Innovate, Implement and Invest in India”.
Asian Development Bank
India signed a USD 300 million loan pact with ADB for fiscal reforms in West Bengal to improve the quality of public service delivery.
ADB is a regional development bank established in 1966, headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines.
ADB now has 67 members of which 48 from within Asia and Pacific while remaining 19 from outside.
It admits the members of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries.
Its voting system was modeled closely on the World Bank where votes are distributed in proportion with members' capital subscriptions..
It assists its members by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development.
Ban of Pet coke in NCR
The Supreme Court has recently directed the prohibition of industrial use of pet coke and furnace oil in NCR regions from November 1, 2017.
It also imposed a fine of Rs. 2 lakh on the Ministry of Environment for not fixing any emission standards for industries using pet coke and furnace oil in the NCR region.
Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining.
Petcoke is over 90 percent carbon and emits 5 to 10 percent more carbon dioxide (CO2) than coal on a per-unit-of-energy basis when it is burned.
It can contain vanadium, a toxic metal which is toxic in tiny quantities, 0.8 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
It is sometimes a source of fine dust, which can get through the filtering process of the human airway and lodge in the lungs.
