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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 30 May 2016

:: National ::

India’s diplomatic downturn with Africa intensified as the Ministry of External Affairs sent mixed signals on responding to the series of attacks on African nationals.
Though the Delhi police arrested five men for the series of attacks on African nationals, the African Students Association in India announced that it would take out a ‘March for Justice’ rally in the national capital.
Responding to the announcement, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, “I have asked Gen V.K. Singh MoS and Secretary (ER) Amar Sinha to meet African students who have announced demonstration at Jantar Mantar.”
“Had detailed discussion with Delhi Police and media is blowing out of proportion minor scuffle as attack on African nationals in Rajpur Khurd,” Mr Singh said in a tweet.
Gen. Singh’s tweets prompted sharp criticism with opposition parties and the Broadcast Editors Association calling it “absurd” and “irresponsible”, while African students said they disagreed with his comments.

The annual Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, which began in 2003, is meant to mark the anniversary of the first summit of the peak by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.
About 130 foreign runners, including from Britain, United States, China and Australia, joined another 30 from Nepal.
The air at base camp contains only half as much oxygen as at sea-level, leaving many runners gasping for breath on even the slightest incline along the narrow, rocky mountain paths.
The event organisers hailed the large number of participants as a further sign of the recovery of Nepal’s mountaineering industry after two years of tragedy on the 8,848-metre peak.
Only 55 took part last year and it was postponed until October after a massive earthquake hit the Himalayan nation in April, killing nearly 9,000 people and triggering a deadly avalanche on Everest base camp.
An avalanche on Everest in 2014 also claimed the lives of 16 Nepali guides and forced a shutdown of the mountain.

A week of shipwrecks and death in the Mediterranean culminated with harrowing testimony from migrant survivors who said another 500 people including 40 children had drowned, bringing the number of feared dead to 700.
Brought to safety in the Italian ports of Taranto and Pozzallo, survivors told the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and Save the Children how their boat sank.
With some 100 people missing after a boat sank earler, and 45 bodies recovered from a wreck that happened, the UNHCR said it feared up to 700 people had drowned in the Mediterranean this week.
The first boat, carrying some 500 people, was reportedly towing the second, which was carrying another 500. But the second boat began to sink. Some people tried to swim to the first boat, others held onto the rope linking the vessels.
Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that Europe needed “a quick agreement with Libya and African countries” to halt the crisis.
The chaos in the North African country since Muammar Qadhafi’s fall in 2011 has been exploited by people traffickers.
European Parliament President said in an interview that Italy’s “migration compact” idea was “the best proposal so far” for stopping the boat crossings and preventing deaths.

Online education start-up Emeritus Institute of Management is betting on a feedback and outcome-based paid executive learning model to achieve the desired completion rates.
The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has suffered from poor completion rates of 5-7 per cent.
The diplomas will have accreditation of the founding schools unlike the usual MOOCs model which does not have any accreditation to any institute.
The foundation for the model emerged when Mr. Damera first identified the gap in executive training while evaluating training options for 350 global employees at his maiden startup Travelguru.

To encourage solar power generators and equipment manufacturers, the New and Renewable Energy Ministry will unveil a policy on solar zones.
Govt has been working on a new policy for solar zones, which would be spread over one or even more districts of a State to encourage generators as well as equipment manufactures.
The work on the policy is almost complete and it will be launched next month. Under the policy, the developer will be provided with inputs like land availability and power evacuation locations for planning his project.