Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 July 2014

Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal transferred

Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal transferred to Mizoram for the remainder of her term.
Vakkom Purushothaman, Governor of Mizoram, was shifted and appointed as Governor of Nagaland for the rest of his term. However, Mr. Purushothaman will continue to hold the additional charge of the office of the Governor of Tripura.
According to the communiqué, Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva will discharge the functions of the Governor of Gujarat, in addition to her own duties, until regular arrangements are made. Her tenure finishes in August.
Among the names doing the rounds for appointment as Governors are BJP leaders Kesri Nath Tripathi, Lalji Tandon from U.P., Kailash Joshi from Madhya Pradesh, V.K. Malhotra from Delhi, O. Rajagopal from Kerala and Balramji Dass Tandon from Punjab. Eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee, who served as the Attorney-General during NDA rule, was also said to have been shortlisted.

German ministers called for a swift response from the U.S. to allegations of spying by a suspected double agent, which have raised fears of fresh tensions between the two allies.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere in pre-released excerpts from Monday’s Bild newspaper called for a “quick and clear” statement by the U.S. on the allegations.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a tweet, following reports of U..S spying that have sparked anger in Germany after revelations the NSA allegedly tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone. The U.S. ambassador, who was called to a meeting at the foreign ministry late on Friday, had been told Washington is expected to shed light on the reports “as quickly as possible.
The 31-year-old employee of the German foreign intelligence agency known as the BND arrested last week had been working for the CIA for around two years.
“All signs indicate that he was acting for the Americans,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS ) Sunday newspaper quoted an unnamed senior official at Germany’s foreign intelligence service as saying.

Iraqi officials are working to determine the authenticity of a video that purportedly shows the leader of the Islamic extremist group that has seized large swaths of the country delivering a sermon this week in the nation’s second-largest city, authorities.
The 21-minute video said to show Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State group, was reportedly filmed on Friday at the Great Mosque in the northern city of Mosul. It was released on at least two websites known to be used by the organisation and bore the logo of its media arm.

Alang se palang” (from Alang to the deathbed) is a grim saying among workers at the ship breaking yard in Alang in Gujarat. This proved true for five workers who died in a gas explosion on June 28, sparking fresh concern on environmental and safety standards.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had commissioned a study on Alang in 2013 by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Preliminary findings indicate that conditions have hardly improved despite official claims to the contrary. The final report is due for submission by July 30. The study is based on intensive year-long field work at Alang Sosiya from April 21, 2013

Two great players nudged each other to even greater heights to produce a Wimbledon final that will go down as one of the finest in its history. One of them, Novak Djokovic, would eventually lift the trophy having beaten his opponent Roger Federer in five close sets 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4.
But the scoreline and the victory seemed to pale before the tennis itself, which was the real winner as these two champions outplayed themselves. This was a match that was undeserving of being assessed by the twists and turns and the thrills and spills, even if there was enough of that edge-of-the-seat suspense which left the audience gasping.
When remembered as a great tennis match, the Federer-Djokovic final will not be read like an exciting pot-boiler, but like a literary novel that produced classical tennis of great quality and refinement. Every shot in the book was used and the exchanges forced the two players to constantly innovate, take risks and play boldly, often in an audacious manner.