Assets of Chinese companies frozen in money laundering case:
- The Enforcement Directorate has frozen new assets of some Chinese-linked shell companies in India and Dubai in a money laundering case related to the ‘HPZ Token’ app that allegedly defrauded a large number of investors.
- The Directorate General of Economic Enforcement or Enforcement Directorate is responsible for monitoring and enforcing economic laws such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 in India.
- The Enforcement Directorate is an investigative and law enforcement agency under the Department of Revenue, which operates under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
- The Enforcement Directorate comprises officers from the Reserve Bank of India, SEBI, Income Tax, Customs and Excise.
- It was established by the Government of India on 11 May 1956.
- The Enforcement Directorate is tasked with implementing the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, which were enacted to monitor foreign exchange transactions.
- The three primary functions of the Enforcement Directorate are to enforce the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, and to eradicate black money in the country.
- Headed by a Director General, the Enforcement Directorate is headquartered in New Delhi and has ten regional offices headed by regional directors in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi and Hyderabad.
136 Vande Bharat trains are being operated:
- 136 Vande Bharat trains are being operated on various routes in the country.
- Vande Bharat trains feature a safety feature called ‘Kavach’ and the doors of the train are set to operate automatically.
- Vande Bharat Express is a medium-distance superfast express service operated by Indian Railways.
- On 15 February 2019, the first Vande Bharat Express between New Delhi and Varanasi was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the New Delhi Railway Station.
Indian AI lab to be launched soon in space:
- Hyderabad-based innovation firm ‘Take Me 2 Space’ will set up an artificial intelligence lab in space.
- The company said that it will launch an ISRO PSLV rocket into space next month for this.
- The AI lab, called Orbital Infrastructure-Technology Demonstrator (MOI-TD), will be set up to make space exploration easier and cheaper.
- This will be the first AI lab to be set up by India in space.
- MOI-TD will be launched into space in December by ISRO’s PSLV-60 rocket.
- Due to various reasons including cloud cover, 40 percent of the data sent by the satellites cannot be accessed.
- At the same time, there is a situation where the data is sent to centers on Earth and only then is it received.
- This laboratory will be established to access this data directly in space and provide accurate information to users and reduce the cost and delay of data transfer.
‘OrbitLab’:
- Users can access the satellite platform through OrbitLab, a web based console to upload AI models for application such as environmental monitoring, deforestation tracking, maritime activity observation, greenhouse gas emission detection and custom earth observation use cases.
- In the first phase of the work of conducting research in this laboratory, a leading university in Malaysia and a team of 9th and 10th grade students from India have joined. This laboratory will be a pioneer in setting up a data center in space in the future.
- While currently only Earth observation studies are being conducted, it will be designed to be useful for various sectors in the future.
- The tests and evaluations of this laboratory were carried out by the ‘In-Space’ organization, a branch of ISRO created to promote private sector participation in space.
India Tests 3,500-km Range Nuclear-Capable Missile, Launched From Submarine
- India successfully tested a ballistic missile that can fly up to 3,500 km from a submarine and hit the target.
- This missile, belonging to the K4 category, can carry nuclear weapons.
- With this, India has joined the ranks of a few countries that have the ability to attack nuclear missiles from three places – land, air and deep sea.
- India has reached an important milestone in strengthening the country’s security.
- The missile was successfully test-fired from the INS Arihant submarine off the coast of Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
- This is the first time India has test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine. Such missiles have been tested from underwater platforms in the past few years.
ISRO to Launch European Satellite Proba-3 Into Space for Solar Study:
- The PSLV C-59 rocket is being launched with the European Space Agency’s ‘Proba-3’ satellites, which were created to study the outer space of the Sun.
- ‘New Space India Limited’, a company operating under the Indian Space Research Organisation, is carrying out commercial activities to send foreign satellites into space.
- So far, New Space has successfully launched more than 430 foreign satellites.
- While ISRO has been contributing to the space exploration activities of most of the countries of the world, New Space India recently signed a new agreement with the European Space Agency.
- Two satellites of the ESA company called ‘Propa-3’ will be placed in an orbit 60,500 km from the Earth by the PSLV C-59 rocket. The outer rays of the Sun will be studied by placing them in an orbit at a distance of 60,500 km.
- The two satellites will travel side by side at a distance of 150 meters, conducting research activities around the Sun’s outer space and sending data to the control room.
November 29: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
- The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed on November 29 every year.
Important Facts:
- The three-day conference of DGPs and IGPs in Odisha is being held. Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other dignitaries are expected to attend the conference.
- The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Manmohan Singh as a Supreme Court judge to the central government.
- A new agreement has been signed between the Kerala state government and Adani-Vizhinjam Ports Company to enhance Vizhinjam International SeaPort.