Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 07 November 2014

National

Piyush Goyal voices caution on Nuclear power

• Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said that nuclear energy offered potential but the government would remain “cautious” about tapping it for power generation.
• Speaking at the India Economic Summit, Mr. Goyal reiterated the government’s aim of providing 24x7 power supply to all citizens by 2019, adding that the sector was likely to attract investments of around $250 billion in the next four to five years.
• Mr. Goyal’s comments seemed to be at odds with the current negotiations by the government, particularly in the field of nuclear technology, where India is negotiating with France and the U.S. for the latest “cutting edge technology.”
• On nuclear energy, Mr. Goyal pointed out that the U.S. and many European nations had stopped setting up nuclear plants.

PM Modi among world’s most powerful people, ranked 15th: Forbes

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his debut among the world’s most powerful people, ranked 15th on the Forbes list topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin who pipped his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama for a second year in a row.
• The list of 72 most powerful people in the world also included the names of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani at 36th, ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal at 57th and Microsoft’s Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at 64th.
• On Modi, Forbes said “India’s newest rock star doesn’t hail from Bollywood. He is the newly elected Prime Minister who sailed into office in May with a landslide victory, ushering the BJP into power after decades of control by the Gandhi dynasty.”
• Forbes described him as a “Hindu nationalist” and referred to the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the State’s Chief Minister.

Navy’s torpedo recovery vessel TRV72 sinks off Vizag (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Blue Revolution can start from Kerala: Radha Mohan Singh (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

International

Indian Mujahideen is in touch with al-Qaeda: NIA

• After a powerful blast by terror outfits on the Pakistani side of the Wagah border claimed more than 60 lives, Indian intelligence agencies are concerned about possible terror attacks following reports of a growing proximity between Indian Mujahideen (IM) and the al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
• The National Investigation Agency probe into IM operations shows key members of the terror outfit in contact with the al-Qaeda to carry out terror attacks in India.
• Internet chats of IM cadres in coded terms, accessed by the agency, revealed that the al-Qaeda had assigned them two tasks: kidnapping Jews and creating a terror network in Myanmar.

President Obama writes rare letter to Iran's supreme leader A. Ali Khamenei

• In a rare outreach to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Barack Obama has written a letter about the fight against Islamic State militants, according to diplomatic sources.
• Mr. Obama’s letter to Mr. Khamenei comes against the backdrop of the looming November 24 deadline in nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, as well as five other world powers.
• The Wall Street Journal, which first reported that Mr. Obama had sent the letter, said it described a shared interest between the U.S. and Iran in fighting Islamic State militants and stressed that any cooperation on that would be largely contingent on Iran agreeing to the nuclear deal.
• “The United States will not cooperate militarily with Iran in that effort,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “We won’t share intelligence with them.”
• Mr. Obama authorised a U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State fighters in Iraq in August and expanded the mission the following month to neighbouring Syria. Iran is not part of the U.S. coalition, but it has also been fighting the Islamic State group on the ground.

Ebola cases surging in Sierra Leone: UN (Register and Login to read Full News..)

US Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden revealed (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Science & technology

Nod for new solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram

• The Kochi Corporation council voted for establishing a solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram.
• Though the LDF councillors demanded at the meeting that the agenda regarding the plant should be discussed at a special meeting of the council, Mayor Tony Chammany refused to budge.
• His arguments that the council needs to take a decision on the pressing issue of waste management and approve the agenda for setting up the plant at Brahmapuram without delay didn’t find any takers from the Opposition camp.
• As the Opposition councillors increased the pitch of the protest, Mr. Chammany announced that the agenda shall be put for voting. While 18 councillors of the Opposition raised their hands saying Ney, the majority councillors shouted aye and Mr. Chammany declared the agenda passed.
• It was after a long debate that the council decided on setting up the plant. Several opposition members, including K.J, Jacob, K.N. Sunilkumar, C.A. Shakkeer, M.P. Maheshkumar and P.R. Renish, argued that the councillors needed to be apprised of the details of the project. They demanded that the agenda should be dropped from the day’s proceedings and discussed separately.

Flight-tests of Agni, Prithvi missiles soon: DRDO

• The missile cluster of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Services will have their hands full in the next few weeks with the flight-tests of Agni-II, Agni-IV, Prithvi-II and Dhanush missiles.
• The Agni-II, IV and V, Prithvi-II and Dhanush are all surface-to-surface missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads. But in the coming flights, they will carry dummy payloads. Dhanush is a naval variant of Prithvi and launched from ships.
• Weather permitting, the first off the block will be Agni-II from a mobile launcher on Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast. Agni-II is an intermediate range ballistic missile that can hit targets about 2,500 km away.
• Since Agni-II has already been inducted into the Army, the SFC will test-fire it. The SFC’s missile unit is tasked with launching missiles armed with nuclear warheads.
• The SFC will next launch a two-stage Agni-IV missile that has a range of about 4,000 km. With three successful flights in a row in November 2011, September 2012 and January 2014, Agni-IV has already been inducted into the Army.

FB launches Ebola charity donation button

• Facebook is stepping up its efforts to fight Ebola by adding a button designed to make it easier for its users to donate to charities battling the disease.
• The social media company is also deploying 100 satellite communication terminals to boost Internet and phone services to affected areas in West Africa, where the disease has killed nearly 5,000.
• The programmes come on the heels of a $25 million donation last month by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention toward the Ebola response.
• Facebook says that, over the coming week, its users will see an option to donate to three nonprofits fighting Ebola. The groups are the International Medical Corps, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Save the Children. Facebook says it chose charities that work directly on the ground and are able to accept money globally.
• In addition, the Menlo Park, California, is donating terminals that communicate via satellite and will provide Internet and voice-calling access to remote areas of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The 100 devices will be used to provide mobile broadband and phone services so that medical aid workers can get access to voice and data services.
• The devices will also help people with Ebola who have been placed in isolation communicate with their families, and health workers who’ve travelled to Africa keep in touch with friends and family back home, said Chris Weasler, Facebook’s head of spectrum policy and connectivity planning, in an interview from Ghana.

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Government ‘cautious’ about tapping nuclear energy for power generation (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Business & economy

Clam fishery of Ashtamudi lake gets global green certification

• The short-neck clam fishery of Ashtamudi Lake was awarded the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. The Marine Stewardship Council is an independent non-profit organisation that sets standards for sustainable fishing around the world.
• The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi, the Kerala State Fisheries Department and the World Wildlife Fund, had joined hands with the local fishing community to achieve the certification. It was for the first time that a fishery in India has been awarded the certification, the organisers said.
• When buyers choose to purchase MSC certified fish, fisheries are rewarded for sustainable practices. In this way, the MSC programme helps to harness market forces to incentivise positive environmental change. Over 3,000 fishers are involved in clam fishery in the lake.

Israel positive about ‘Make in India’ initiative: Netanyahu

• Responding favourably to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu has told visiting Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh that his country is keen to take advantage of the move.
• Mr. Netanyahu said that Israel is ready and willing to discuss transfer and development of technologies with India.
• “Israeli industries, including the defence industries, could ‘make in India’ and thereby reduce costs of manufacturing products and systems developed by Israel”, the Israeli Premier said.
• The Israeli leader also expressed willingness to send a delegation from Israeli industries to visit India to explore manufacturing opportunities in different sectors.
• Mr. Singh, in this context, proposed exploring jointly third country markets in Africa and Latin America, where Indian industry has a strong presence.
• He earlier made a strong pitch for Israeli industries, including those from the defence sector, to take advantage of the investment friendly policies adopted by the new government with special reference to the ‘Make in India’ campaign.

Global NCAP asks Nissan to withdraw the model ‘Datsun GO’ from Indian market (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

Sports

Bjorn Isberg to remain as TD for HHIL 2015

• After successfully overseeing the second edition of the event, Bjorn Isberg will continue to don the hat of Tournament Director (TD) for the third season of Hero Hockey India League (HHIL) scheduled to be held from January 22 to February 22 next year.
• Having worked as the Tournament Director in the second edition, Isberg has been responsible for ensuring smooth functioning of all the technical activities initiated in the HHIL.
• He has also actively conducted many events over the recent years including FIH Men’s World Cup 2014 in The Netherlands, 2012 Olympic Games in London, three FIH Champions Trophy tournaments, including Lahore in 2004, Kuala Lumpur in 2007 and Auckland in 2011 and 2011 FIH Indoor World Cup in Poland.
• “We are very pleased to appoint Bjorn Isberg as the Tournament Director for the third season of the league. He has enormously contributed to the league which has received huge support and exposure in the previous editions. I wish him all the best for his extended service as Tournament Director,” HHIL CEO Elena Norman said in a statement.
• Speaking about his involvement in the HHIL, Isberg said: “I’m very pleased to be able to return and be a part of HHIL 2015. The last season saw some fantastic attacking hockey, with a lot of great hockey profiles participating. We will now build on the success from last season, and I expect this season to be even better.
• “The panels of umpires and other officials are already appointed. One of our targets as officials is to create a good, fair and safe environment for the players, so that they can perform and play their best hockey.”

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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