Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 April 2014

Facebook’s list of censorship request and India

The Indian government has topped the list of global governments asking for censorship of content on social network Facebook, according to the ‘Global Government Data requests’ report released by the US-based company. This is the second such report from the world’s largest online social network and corresponds to the time period from July to December last year.
In terms of requests for user data information, the U.S. government topped the list yet again with 12,598 requests for user data. However, when it came to requests to remove content, the Indian government had made 4,765 requests. The Turkish government came second in that list with 2,104 requests.
Recently, almost all the leading online service providers, including Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo! and Microsoft have made an appeal under the collective ‘Reform Government Surveillance’ to ensure that the requests for user data and restrictions of services be done more rationally.

Climate panel on rising emissions

The U.N.’s expert panel on climate change has highlighted the disconnect between international goals to fight global warming and what is being done to attain them.
Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases must drop by 40—70 per cent by 2050 to keep the global temperature rise below the 2—degree C (3.6—degree F) cap set in U.N. climate talks, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.
The opposite is happening now. On average global emissions rose by 2.2 percent or 1 gigaton a year between 2000 and 2010, outpacing growth in previous decades to reach “unprecedented levels” despite some efforts to contain them, the IPCC said.
The graphics divided the world into four categories low, lower—middle, upper—middle and high income countries. Participants in the closed—door session said many developing countries objected to using such income categories.
Counting all emissions since the industrialized revolution in the 18th century, the U.S. is the top carbon polluter. China’s current emissions are greater than those of the U.S. and rising quickly. China’s historical emissions are expected to overtake those of the U.S. in the next decade.
Global temperatures have already risen about 0.8 C since record—keeping started in the 19th century. The IPCC said the goal of keeping the warming below 2 C by 2100 would require a significant shift in the energy system, away from oil and coal, which generate the highest emissions. That would mean a near—quadrupling of energy from zero— or low—carbon sources such as solar and wind power.

Missing plane's black box

Following four strong underwater signals in the past week, all has gone quiet in the hunt for the missing Malaysian airline, meaning the batteries on the all-important black boxes may have finally died.
Despite having no new pings to go on, crews are continuing their search for debris and any sounds that could still be emanating. They’re desperately trying to pinpoint where the Boeing 777 could be amid an enormous patch of Deep Ocean.
No new electronic pings have been heard since April 8, and the batteries powering the locator beacons on the jet’s black box recorders may already be dead. They only last about a month, and that window has passed. Once officials are confident no more sounds will be heard, a robotic submersible will be sent down.

Favourite leader in Pakistan

Fifty five per cent of the people surveyed in a poll by Gallup Pakistan have given the Nawaz Sharif government a favourable rating. The current government gets a Green Card and the favourable
Views exceed unfavourable views in the overall running of the government. The Net Performance Ratings for political leaders rated Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) at the top with a rating of a favourable 18 per cent while Imran Khan (PTI) was rated as minus 5 per cent unfavourable.
Gallup Pakistan in its Annual Public Pulse Report 2014 said that the survey has revealed that the present PML-N government's Performance Ratings are a huge improvement over the
PPP-Zardari-led government a year ago.
For the six key indicators including Economy, Pak-India Relations, Overall Foreign Policy, Terrorism control, Corruption control and Inflation control, the present PML-N government received positive comparative net performance ratings. The economy recorded a positive 48 per cent comparative net performance, Pak India Relations 22 per cent, Foreign Policy 33 per cent, Terrorism control 31 per cent, Corruption control 36 per cent and Inflation control recorded a positive 20 per cent net change.

Denial of Arjuna Award

The Supreme Court issued notice to the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on a petition challenging the withdrawal of the Arjuna Award from a triple jump athlete, Renjith Maheswary, hours before the presentation ceremony based on a news report that he failed a doping test in 2008.
A Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and M.Y. Eqbal was acting on a writ petition filed by the Navalokam Samskarika Kendram, Kottayam.
The petitioner submitted that Mr. Maheswary’s name was on the award list released on August 14, 2013. On August 29, he came to Delhi from Chennai and stayed at Hotel Ashoka, along with other award winners. He was presented a cheque for Rs. 5 lakh towards the cash prize the next day and made to participate in a rehearsal at Rashtrapati Bhavan for the function. The next morning, he was told to stay away from the ceremony as the award had been withdrawn.