Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 25 September 2015

:: International ::

China to launch 'national system to limit greenhouse gases'

China will announce plans to launch a national system to limit greenhouse gases and force industries to purchase pollution credits on Friday, USofficials have said.
Beijing plans to put the system known as cap-and-trade into place in 2017 as part of measures aimed to address climate change in cooperation with the US and others, officials said.
A statement to be released following Friday's summit between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping aims to flesh out how their two countries plan to achieve targets for cutting emissions set at a bilateral summit in Beijing last year.
The officials said it was hoped the announcement will give impetus to a broader global treaty on climate change in December.
Mr Obama and Mr Xi are expected to release a joint statement on climate change fleshing out how they plan to achieve targets for cutting carbon emissions set at a bilateral summit in Beijing last year.
Climate change is one of the few areas where bilateral cooperation has proceeded smoothly in recent months, largely because Beijing has struggled to contain heavy air, water and soil pollution that has destroyed farmland, sent cancer rates soaring and left its cities cloaked in dense smog.

:: Business ::

India set to amend Income-Tax Act 1961, w.e.f. April 1, 2001

After due consideration of various aspects of the matter, the government has decided that with effect from April 1, 2001, the provisions of Section 115JB of the Income Tax Act, 1961, shall not be applicable to a foreign company if –
The foreign company is a resident of a country having DTAA with India and such foreign company does not have a permanent establishment within the definition of the term in the relevant DTAA
The foreign company is a resident of a country which does not have a DTAA with India and such foreign company is not required to seek registration under Section 592 of the Companies Act 1956 or Section 380 of the Companies Act 2013.
An appropriate amendment to the Income-tax Act in this regard will be carried out.
Earlier, the issues relating to taxation of foreign companies, having no permanent establishment in India, have been under consideration of the Government. In this regard, the Centre has already clarified the inapplicability of MAT provisions to FIIs/FPIs.

:: Science & Technology ::

90 percent of the viruses in the soft palate had the reverted form of the virus.

Flu viruses come in many strains, and some are better equipped than others to spread from person to person.
Scientists from MIT and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have now discovered that the soft palate -- the soft tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth -- plays a key role in viruses' ability to travel through the air from one person to another.
The findings should help scientists better understand how the flu virus evolves airborne transmissibility and assist them in monitoring the emergence of strains with potential to cause global outbreaks.
Researchers made the surprising finding while examining the H1N1 flu strain, which caused a 2009 pandemic that killed more than 250,000 people.
Ram Sasi sekharan, one of the study's senior authors, has previously shown that airborne transmissibility depends on whether a virus' hem agglutinin (HA) protein can bind to a specific type of receptor on the surface of human respiratory cells.
Some flu viruses bind better to alpha 2-6 glycan receptors, which are found primarily in humans and other mammals, while other viruses are better adapted to alpha 2-3 glycan receptors, found predominantly in birds.
The 2009 strain was very good at binding to human alpha 2-6 receptors. In the new study, the researchers made four mutations in the HA molecule of this virus, which made it better suited to bind alpha 2-3 receptors instead of alpha 2-6.
They then used it to infect ferrets, which are often used to model human influenza infection.
The researchers believed the mutated virus would not spread, but to their surprise, it traveled through the air just as well as the original version of the virus. After sequencing the virus' genetic material, they found that it had

:: Miscellaneous ::

3rd World Tea & Coffee Expo to in Mumbai from October 1

Enhancing business opportunities in the Tea & Coffee sectors, the World Tea & Coffee Expo is to be held at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai India from October 1- 3, 2015.
This three-day trade fair will provide the perfect environment for the hot beverage industry to meet face-to-face and develop real business opportunities.
The Current edition has 50 plus exhibitors from six countries including pavilions from Tea Board of India and Sri Lanka Tea Board as also participation from Coffee Board of India.
On display are new-age tea and coffee products and brands, vending solutions, premixes, machineries, retail chains, technologies, accessories, ingredients, certifications etc.

:: Sports ::

Sourav Ganguly: Confident I’ll be up to it as CAB President

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly was appointed the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB) President, following the demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya on Sunday night.
A year back, Ganguly was appointed the joint secretary of CAB, a post which will be held by Dalmiya’s son Avishek. Ganguly, who is often credited for bringing a positive and aggressive change in Indian cricket in 2000s, was already a favourite even before the announcement was made.
It was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who made the announcement.
Following which there have been a ruckus in the involvement of a politician or government over the appointment of CAB President. However, Ganguly cleared the air, stating that there was no politics involved