Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 18 November 2015

:: National ::

For the first time since October 2014, India has fallen out of favour among emerging market and Asian fund managers with its rating falling to neutral from being the most overweight.
China has replaced India as the economy on which fund managers are most bullish on, as per the fund manager survey released by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The change in view towards India is already being witnessed in the form of an overall slowdown in foreign fund flows into the domestic equity market.
For instance, in 2014, Indian equity markets saw net foreign flows pegged at Rs. 97,054 crore ($14.73 billion), as per data provided by the National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL). The benchmark 30-share Sensex has lost nearly 6 per cent in the current calendar year.

Delhi and Dhaka have agreed to bring border killings to an end and stressed greater awareness among citizens to avert such incidents in the future.
This was decided at the home secretary-level meeting between India and Bangladesh, when the issue of killing along the border came up prominently.
India on earlier occasions announced plans to provide the BSF posted along the Bangladesh border with ‘non-lethal weapons’; but that has not happened yet. At the two-day meeting that ended on Tuesday, India assured Bangladesh of sharing intelligence on militancy.
On the first day of the meeting, India had raised the issues of the influx of fake Indian currency, cattle smuggling, and illegal infiltration, and sought Dhaka’s cooperation to completely stop these, while Bangladesh strongly spoke against the border killings.

The common man does not seem to know much about antibiotic abuse and resistance, and the threat it poses to public health.
In fact, a World Health Organisation (WHO) survey conducted in 12 countries has said that most people don't understand how to keep anti-biotic resistance from growing.
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics causes bacteria to become resistant. The WHO survey points out some of the practices, gaps in understanding and misconceptions that contribute to this phenomenon.
Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of the 10,000 people surveyed across the 12 countries said they knew antibiotic resistance could affect them and their families. However, they do not understand how it affects them and what they can do to address it.
Around 64 per cent of the respondents believe that antibiotics can be used to treat cold and flu. This is despite the fact that antibiotics have no impact on viruses. Close to one third (32 per cent) of those surveyed believe they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better, rather than completing the prescribed course of treatment.

Hours after confirming for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb brought down a Russian charter jet over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt more than two weeks ago, killing all 224 people aboard, Russia joined France in bombing Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria.
Russian news reports said a Russian submarine had fired cruise missiles at IS targets in the same area.
Russia struck Raqqa with advanced Kalibr cruise missiles from a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean.
The strike came after President Vladimir Putin ordered an intensification of attacks following Russian confirmation that the crash of the Airbus A321 in Egypt had been caused by a terrorist attack.

Greece has reached agreement on bailout, including the 48 additional measures. This should allow the €12 billion to be paid out on Friday.
A Greek government source said the compromise reached will protect around 60 per cent of indebted households from having their primary residence seized.
The Greek government had sought to protect more than 70 per cent of families at risk of losing their homes, while creditors had initially been willing to exclude no more than 20 per cent from seizure.
The government is to submit the agreed measures to parliament later Tuesday for a vote on Thursday

It feels frivolous to ask about the cost of terror after the horrific Paris attacks, but it is one of the central issues with which policymakers and investors are grappling.
The conventional wisdom is that an act of terrorism accounts for a mere blip in economic damage.
The aftermath of the November 13 Paris attacks may not in itself prompt extensive market-based volatility,” Citigroup wrote in a report.
The events in Paris could add to the pressure to close borders in the Euro Zone. It is also reigniting a debate about privacy and surveillance that could have big implications for technology companies.
The connection between the terror threat and migration flows threatens to rupture the border-free Schengen zone,” the note said, describing the borderless, passport-free zone known as the Schengen area.

Retiring Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson said he had simply lost the hunger to play Test cricket.
Johnson said he finalised the decision in the first innings in Perth, when he returned figures of one for 157.
While he admitted his body was sore, he said it was the men-tal aspect of Test cricket that prompted the decision. “I just lost that hunger in the end to play on those tough days,” he said.
Johnson said it was a decision which had been on his mind for around 12 months, and especial-ly since Australia's World Cup win.