Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 October 2014

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 October 2014

National

Modi, Obama decide to take India-U.S. relationship “to the next level”

• After discussions that ran overtime by about an hour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama decided to take the India-U.S. relationship “to the next level,” saying the “true potential of the relationship has yet to be realised.”
• Mr. Modi, who briefed journalists after the meeting, said: “My discussions have confirmed for me that India and the U.S. are natural global partners.”
• Mr. Obama said he was impressed with Mr. Modi’s interest in not only addressing poverty in India and revitalising the economy there but also his determination that India helped bring about peace and security in the world.
• “I want to wish him luck in what I’m sure will be a challenging but always interesting tenure as Prime Minister in India,” the President said. In the joint statement, while India did not accede to the U.S. request to join the international coalition against ISIS, the two sides agreed on several ways to enhance cooperation on terror.

Special sitting to hear bail plea of Jayalalithaa

• The Karnataka High Court decided to hear the bail application of AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa, When the matter was first taken up by a vacation bench in the forenoon, G. Bhavani Singh, the Special Public Prosecutor in the trial court, told Justice Rathnakala that as there was no official communication that he had been appointed prosecutor in the appeal too, it would not be proper for him to represent the State.
• The judge said as representation on the prosecution side was necessary; the matter could wait for the appointment of a prosecutor.
• She then adjourned the application to, even as Ms. Jayalalithaa’s lawyers submitted that a prosecutor’s presence was not necessary as the trial court sentence was less than 10 years. The judge observed that Ms. Jayalalithaa’s side could approach the High Court Registry if it wanted the case heard before October 6.
• In the meantime, the government also issued a notification appointing Mr. Singh as the Special Public Prosecutor for the appeal.

“Trial in a hurry” at the cost of truth not justice: SC (Register and Login to read Full News..)  

Sports

M.C. Mary Kom entered the final

• Legendary Indian boxer M.C. Mary Kom entered the final of the women’s flyweight category by defeating her Vietnamese rival Le Thi Bang in a semi-final bout at the Asian Games. She is assured of at least a silver medal.
• The 31-year-old Indian outclassed her opponent with speed and technique in the first three rounds, unleashing multiple combination punches. Le fought back in the fourth, but Mary Kom had already sealed the duel by then. A five-time world champion, Mary Kom won a historic bronze for India in the 2012 London Olympics.

17th Asian games: day 11

• Chennai girls Varsha Gautam, 16, and Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan, 18, made history by becoming the first Indian women to win a sailing medal at the Asian Games. They took the bronze in 29er women’s two-person dinghy event at Incheon.
• Distraught after losing her controversial semifinal bout, Indian boxer L. Sarita Devi stunned officials and spectators by refusing to accept the bronze medal, which is now in the custody of organisers.

Akashdeep Singh ends India’s 12-year final jinx in Asiad hockey (Register and Login to read Full News..)  

Business & Economy

RBI’s monetary policy statement

• The key take-away from the Reserve Bank of India’s fourth bi-monthly monetary policy statement, released on 30 September is the central bank’s projections on the economy’s revival, a key element on the agenda of the Modi government. The RBI did not raise its growth projection for 2014-15, retaining it at the pre-elections level of 5.5 per cent, thereby, refusing to buy into the sharp surge in business sentiment and consumer confidence that its own surveys are capturing.
• Quelling all hopes of a quick turnaround of the economy, it said, the momentum of activity across the economy is yet to stabilise and that the monsoon deficiency will dampen agricultural growth, which, in turn, will spill over to the rest of the economy as lower demand for the farm sector’s produce.
• Business expectations of corporates for the third quarter, surveyed by the RBI, are at a eleven-quarter high, it said in its monetary policy report, ascribing the upbeat sentiment to the formation of a stable government at the Centre and the greater certainty about the policy environment, improvement in twin deficits, buoyant foreign capital inflows, a stable exchange rate and improved financial market conditions.

Microsoft announced its 'Windows 10' Operating System (Register and Login to read Full News..)  

Persons in news

Oprah Winfrey and Harry Belafonte honored at Harvard University

• Oprah Winfrey and performer-activist Harry Belafonte were among those honoured at Harvard University at its annual celebration of African American culture.
• The university’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research presented its annual W.E.B. Du Bois Medals to eight people at the ceremony. Other recipients included British architect David Adjaye, civil rights hero U.S. Rep John Lewis; 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen, Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes, and movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
• The medal has been awarded since 2000 and is Harvard’s highest honour in the field of African and African American Studies. Ms. Winfrey also accepted a posthumous award for author and poet Maya Angelou, whom she has called a mentor.

International

First case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S

• The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. was confirmed in a patient who recently travelled from Liberia to Dallas — a sign of the far-reaching impact of the out-of-control epidemic in West Africa.
• The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, federal health officials said. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
• Authorities have begun tracking down family and friends who may have had close contact with him and could be at risk for becoming ill. But officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
• There was no risk to any fellow airline passengers because the man had no symptoms when he was travelling, said the doctors. Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.

Afghanistan U. S. signed security pact to let troops stay

• Afghanistan and the United States signed a security pact to allow U.S. forces to remain in the country past the end of year, ending a year of uncertainty over the fate of foreign troops supporting Afghanis as they take over responsibility for the country’s security.
• Afghan, American and NATO leaders welcomed the deal, which will allow about 10,000 American troops to stay in the country after the international combat mission ends on December 31.
• Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai had refused to sign it despite U.S. threats of a full withdrawal in the absence of legal protections for American forces. U.S. officials have said that the delay in the deal’s signing does not affect plans for next year.
• President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, who was sworn into office a day earlier, told a crowd assembled at the presidential palace in the capital Kabul for the signing ceremony that the agreement signalled a fundamental shift for the positive in the country’s relations with the world.
• “This agreement is only for Afghan security and stability,” he said in comments broadcast live on state television. “These agreements are in our national interest. The Bilateral Security Agreement will pave the ground for Afghanistan to take control,” he added.

US will help India to develop three smart cities

• In a boost to India's 100 smart city programme, the US will help India in developing three such cities apart from joining hands with civil society and authorities to provide clean water and sewage facilities in 500 cities in the country.
• The three cities are Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam.
• This announcement was made after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama. The Indian government plans to develop 100 smart cities and in this regard an allocation of Rs 7,060 crore was proposed in the Union Budget.
• Winding up his whirlwind five-day US visit on 30th september, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "thanked" America and called his trip a highly "successful and satisfactory".

“Citizenship if Rohingya identify as Bangladeshi origin”: Myanmar (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Science & Technology

Preterm birth kills most children under 5 years in India

• Of the 6.3 million deaths in children under the age of five years, nearly 52 per cent of deaths during 2000-2013 occurred during the neonatal period (0-27 days after birth). Preterm birth complications, pneumonia and intrapartum-related complications have been found to be the three main causes of death in children globally.
• According to Li Liu from the Institute of International Programs and the first author of the paper, there will be 4.4 million deaths in children younger than five years even in 2030 if the present trend continues.
• In 2013, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and China together accounted for half of deaths in the world in children aged under five years, and 52.5 per cent of all neonatal deaths. In the case of India and Pakistan, the three leading causes were preterm birth complications, pneumonia and intrapartum-related complications.

Measles will be the Target After eliminating polio  (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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