Current Affairs - 20.08.2010

• Government on Friday faced protests in the Lok Sabha, hours after it decided to raise MPs' salary to Rs 50,000 with several non-BJP opposition members storming the well demanding that it be raised to Rs 80,00
•  Pakistan has finally accepted the USD five million aid offered by India for flood relief victims and said such a gesture was appreciated.
•  The steep hike in H-1B and L1 visa fees, which would cost Indian IT firms an additional USD 250 million annually, has come into effect from August 14, the US said today.
• MUSCAT: An on-flight bomb scare that turned out to be a hoax forced an Air India passenger jet to make an emergency landing at Muscat airport on Friday, Omani police said.
• Corruption in Nigeria's police has become institutionalised and junior officers are expected to share bribes, US-based Human Rights Watch says.
• The discovery of a rare magnetic star - or magnetar - is challenging theories about the origin of black holes.Magnetars are a special type of neutron star with a powerful magnetic field. They are formed by gravitational collapse after the original, or progenitor star, dies and forms a catastrophic supernova.
• A research team at Heriot-Watt University is investigating whether urine could be used as a source of renewable energy.The scientists have developed a system to test whether it can be used in fuel cells as an alternative to flammable hydrogen or toxic methanol.It could offer a non-toxic, low-cost, easily transportable alternative. Dr Shanwen Tao and his research partner, Dr Rong Lan, have been awarded a £130,000 grant to develop it.
• A strange double earthquake was responsible for the tsunami that devastated parts of the South Pacific in 2009, scientists claim.In a rare set of events, an initial 8.1 magnitude earthquake was immediately followed by a second 8.0 shock.The resulting tsunami devastated the South Pacific islands of Tonga and Samoa.