Indo-Bangladesh Joint Power Transmission

• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 5 October jointly inaugurated the India-Bangladesh Grid Inter-connection at Bheramara in Bangladesh.The joint venture was launched through video-conferencing.  
• Capacity: 500 MW of power from India to Bangladesh
• Both the Prime Ministers also jointly laid the foundation stone for 1320 megawatt Maitri Thermal Power Project, being developed by Bangladesh-India friendship power-company which is a joint venture of India’s NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Gambia withdraws from the Commonwealth group

The Gambian government has announced that the former British colony is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect.Gambian President said: "Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism"

Mr Jammeh, who is regularly accused of rights abuses, has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country with an iron fist since seizing power in a 1994 coup. He accused Britain of backing Gambia's political opposition ahead of the 2011 elections. Now 53 members are left.

Gujarati film 'The Good Road', and not 'The Lunchbox', India's entry for Oscar

• Debut feature filmmaker Gyan Correa's Gujarati film "The Good Road" has been chosen to represent India in the best foreign film category at the Academy Awards.
• It is said to be the first Gujarati film to have made it.
• Movie produced by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).
• Had clinched the National Award for Best Feature Film (Gujarati) earlier this year. 
• The movie left behind 21 other contenders, including strong films like "The Lunchbox", "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", "English Vinglish", "Vishwaroopam", Malayalam film "Celluloid" and Bengali film "Shabdo", he said.
• So far in the history of Indian cinema, only three Bollywood films, including Mehboob Khan's "Mother India" (1957), Mira Nair's "Salaam Bombay" (1988) and Ashutosh Gowariker's "Lagaan" (2001), have made it to the nomination stage of the Oscar.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organisation that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations through its own international treaty, the IAEA Statute, the IAEA reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

• The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

News:

• IAEA praises Japan's Fukushima clean-up operation.
• Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant: The plant suffered major damage from the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.The disaster disabled the reactor cooling systems, leading to releases of radioactivity and triggering a 30 km evacuation zone surrounding the plant.

Extradition Treaty between India (Dr. Manmohan Singh) and Thailand (Yingluck Shinawatra)

• To exchange intelligence related to money laundering and terrorism financing.
• Ratified (approved) the Treaty on Transfer of Sentenced Persons.
• Provides the legal framework for seeking extradition of fugitives, including those involved in terrorism, transnational crimes and economic offences. 
• Enforcement of a sentence by one Contracting State and is found in the territory of the other. 
• The Treaty on Transfer of Sentenced Persons enables foreign nationals convicted of a criminal offence to serve the sentence in their own country. It also facilitates their social rehabilitation in their own countries. 
• Yingluck Shinawatra: She is the 28th and current Prime Minister of Thailand following the 2011 general election. Yingluck is Thailand's first female Prime Minister and at 45 is the youngest Prime Minister of Thailand in over 60 years.