Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 May 2014

Samsung infringed patents of Apple?

A California jury awarded Apple $119 million far less than it demanded in apatent battle with Samsung over alleged copying of smart phone features, and the jury made the victory even smaller by finding that Apple illegally used one of Samsung’s patents.
The verdict was a far cry from the $2.2 billion Apple sought and the $930 million it won in a separate 2012 trial making similar patent infringement claims against older Samsung products, most of which are no longer for sale in the United States.
The jury found that Apple had infringed one of Samsung’s patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5. Jurors awarded Samsung $158,400, trimming that amount from the original $119.62 million verdict. Samsung had sought $6 million.
Unlike the first trial in San Jose federal court in 2012, Samsung lawyers made Google a central focus of their defence. Google makes the Android software that Samsung and other smartphone manufacturers use as their operating systems. Samsung argued that Google was Apple’s real target.
More than 70 percent of smartphones run on Android, a mobile operating system that Google Inc. has given out for free to Samsung and other phone makers
The verdict marked the latest intellectual property battle between the world’s top two smartphone makers. Apple and Samsung have sued each other in courts and trade offices around the world.
Apple and Samsung are locked in a bitter struggle for dominance of the $330 billion worldwide smartphone market. Samsung has become the leader of the sector with a 31 percent share after being an also-ran with just 5 per cent in 2007. Apple, meanwhile, has seen its market share slip to about 15 per cent from a high of 27 per cent three years ago.

Security for World Economic Forum

Nigeria has assured that it will provide adequate security arrangements during the World Economic Forum on Africa, which begins May 7 in Abuja.
The government would provide adequate security for participants.His remark came after some countries expressed concern over security issues, following a blast in Abuja, which left at least 19 people dead.

Jawahar Kaliani

An Indian-American has been appointed to a key post in the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Jawahar Kaliani has been appointed as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Application Services Delivery (ASD) at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Department of Treasury.
Mr. Kaliani will lead the development and implementation of complex applications to deliver secure business solutions that meet organisational priorities and support the agency’s mission of ensuring the safety and soundness of national banks and federal savings associations.

Portugal Open final

Sania Mirza alongwith her doubles partner Cara Black stormed into the finals of the Portugal Open with a straight-set victory over third seeded American pair of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in Oeiras.
Continuing their fabulous run, the top seeded combo of Sania and Cara took an hour and 14 minutes to get the better of their American rivals, 6-4 6-3 at the $250,000 clay court event.

Afghan landslide

Afghan officials gave up hope of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, putting the death toll at more than 2,100, as the aid effort focused on the more than 4,000 people displaced.
Officials expressed concern the unstable hillside above the site of the disaster may cave in again, threatening the thousands of homeless and hundreds of rescue workers who have arrived in Badakhshan province, bordering Tajikistan.
Villagers and a few dozen police, equipped with only basic digging tools, resumed their search when daylight broke but it soon became clear there was no hope of finding survivors buried in up to 100 meters of mud.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said the focus was on the more than 4,000 people displaced, either directly as a result of Friday’s landslide or as a precautionary measure from villages assessed to be at risk.
Their main needs were water, medical support, counselling support, food and emergency shelter, said Ari Gaitanis, a spokesman from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
The impoverished area, dotted with villages of mud-brick homes nestled in valleys beside bare slopes, has been hit by several landslides in recent years.