Who is Punjab's deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president who urged prime minister Manmohan Singh to provide security to all witnesses in Sajjan Kumar's and Jagdish Tytler's cases in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots?

Costa Rican Figueres beat fellow short-listed candidate Van Schalkwyk, a former South African environment minister, for the position meant to rally global accord on a successor to the Kyoto protocol after last December's disappointing summit in Copenhagen. Figueres, 53, will take over from Dutchman Yvo de Boer as head of the UN climate change secretariat from July 1.

Sinha, 59, who became the tenth director of the country's premier strategic laboratory, has been closely associated with the design and development of India 's first thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor for the past 15 years. Sinha took over from Srikumar Banerjee, who chairs the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

Paul, whose parents migrated to the United States from Punjab in the 1950s, has been appointed PM-ISE, a role that has gained importance as the administration focuses on organising the huge quantity of data related to terrorism available with various agencies and departments of the US government. Currently, he is the federal chief architect in the office of management and budget.

Rehman Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure as prime minister of Pakistan. He later joined the Pakistan Peoples Party and was the trusted lieutenant and chief security officer (CSO) of Bhutto.

Ashwini Kumar is the current director of India's premier investigating agency. In a blow to investigators in the country, the Supreme Court on May 5 declared illegal the compulsory use of narco analysis, brain mapping, and polygraph tests, saying the use of such techniques amounted to cruel and degrading treatment and unwarranted intrusion into personal liberty.

The Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC), constituted for a year, will advise the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in areas of commercial and general aviation aircraft operations, heliports and aerodromes, air navigation services, air operator certification, maintenance and airworthiness of aircraft, certification of aeronautical products, and human performance and training. The CASAC will have 28 members drawn from airlines, flight operations, and engineering.

The new panel headed by eminent doctor SK Sarin was formed to replace the 76-year-old MCI, which has been discredited by repeated allegations of corrupt practices. The panel has requested the Union health ministry for more time to clear the cases referred to it regarding 87 medical colleges. The previous deadline was June 12. The Sarin panel has asked for an extension till July 15.

The allocation of Rs1,850 crore for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's projects, part of the government's public-sector development programme for 2010-11, came as the country marked the 12th anniversary of its first nuclear tests in 1998. The 1998 tests were conducted as a riposte to India's second nuclear test at Pokhran in Rajasthan ordered by the National Democratic Alliance government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. India's first nuclear test was also conducted at Pokhran in 1974.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, son of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal is the deputy chief minister of Punjab. In a letter to the prime minister Sukhbir Singh Badal also demanded immediate constitution of Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the pattern of Gujarat riot cases, to re-probe Tytler cases besides day-to-day trial in all the anti Sikh riots cases.

Kamala Persad-Bissessar’s People’s Partnership won 29 of the 41 parliamentary seats in the recently held elections in the Caribbean country. She was the first woman attorney general and also served as minister for legal affairs as well as minister for education in T&T. Her ancestors were amongst the 1,48,000 Indian labourers who were brought to Trinidad and Tobago between 1845 and 1917 to work on the sugar and cocoa plantations in the West Indies.