Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 June 2018

::NATIONAL::

Extradition treaty againstNiravModi

The Enforcement Directorate has moved a Mumbai Special Court seeking permission to send a request for extraditing fugitive diamond merchant NiravModi in connection with the Rs. 13,578-crore Punjab National Bank fraudulent Letters of Undertaking case. The application may come up for hearing on Tuesday.
The agency, however, has not confirmed which country it would approach for Mr. NiravModi’s extradition. While his current address is not clear, following reports that he was in the United Kingdom, the Directorate had earlier prepared documents for sending the request to authorities in London through the External Affairs Ministry.
India & Seychelles trying to sort out issues in mutually beneficial ways
India and Seychelles will ensure mutually beneficial steps regarding stalled plans for a military base at the island of Assumption.
Speaking at Hyderabad House here after a bilateral meeting with the visiting Seychelles President Danny Faure, Mr. Modi announced several initiatives for the strategically located country, including the grant of $100 million Line of Credit for the purchase of defence hardware.
Both sides would intensify cooperation to carry out hydrographical studies of the maritime region and have declared exchange of necessary oceanic maps between two sides.
India is ready to finance three civilian infrastructure projects in Seychelles under Special Grant. Government House, New Police Headquarters and the Office of the Attorney General is included in this.

::INTERNATIONAL::

TayyipErdogan re-elected as Turkish president again

Turkish President TayyipErdogan won sweeping new executive powers on Monday after his victory in landmark elections that also saw his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its nationalist allies secure a majority in Parliament.
Mr. Erdogan main rival, Muharremİnce of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), conceded defeat but branded the elections ”unjust” and said the presidential system that now takes effect was “very dangerous” because it would lead to one-man rule.
The elections were held under the state of emergency imposed shortly after the 2016 coup, in which at least 240 people were killed.

India to bid with UAE firms for oil refining pacts

India is considering jointly bidding for oil blocks in the UAE with companies based there.
India would consider leasing a part of its third strategic reserve in Padur if Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) was interested. It had already leased a part of the strategic reserve in Mangalore to ADNOC.
The MoU signed by Saudi Aramco and ADNOC on Monday was to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. The project would be implemented by Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL).
The investment by Saudi Aramco and ADNOC in the $44 billion project will be the highest ever overseas investment in the Indian refining sector.
The strategic partnership brings together crude supply, resources, technologies, experience and expertise of these multiple oil companies with an established commercial presence around the world.

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::ECONOMY::

Hydrocarbons discovered in KG Basin

Oil India Limited (OIL), one of India’s largest public sector oil exploration and production companies, has made its second hydrocarbon discovery in the on-land KG Basin NELP VI Block KG-ONN-2004/1.
The size of the discovery can only be ascertained after further testing of the wells.In 2017-18, OIL produced 3.39 metric million tonnes (MMT) of crude oil and 2.93 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas.

::SPORTS::

Deepika wins gold in women’s single archery worldcup

Top archer DeepikaKumari, a four-time World Cup Final silver medallist, beat Germany's Michelle Kroppen 7-3 to win the gold medal in women’s singles recurve event of the World Cup Stage III.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Air pollution causing malnutrition in trees

Besides affecting human health, air pollution is also causing malnutrition in trees by harming a fungi that is important for providing mineral nutrients to tree roots.
Mycorrhizal fungi is hosted by the trees in their roots to receive nutrients from the soil. These fungi provide essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from soil in exchange for carbon from the tree.
The signs of malnutrition can be seen in the form of discoloured leaves and excessive falling of leaves. “There is an alarming trend of tree malnutrition.
Ecosystem changes can negatively affect tree health. Further, they found that the characteristics of the tree — species and nutrient status — and the local environmental conditions like the atmospheric pollution and soil variables were the most important predictors of which species of mycorrhizae fungi would be present and their numbers.
Advanced technologies to deal with air pollution incidents
A meeting with expert institutions was held in the Environment Ministry to discuss application of advanced technologies to deal with air pollution incidents and improve the overall air quality management framework.
The issues taken up for discussion included - use of satellite-based Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data for estimating groundbased PM2.5 levels, establishing early warning system and dissemination protocol to inform public and enforcing agencies about episodic high pollution events in advance.
It also discussed the setting up of a system for certification of air quality emission monitoring instruments. This will provide a boost to local manufacturing of air quality monitoring instruments, since calibration and certification could be done domestically.