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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 September 2014

National

Deoband condemns ‘love jihad,’ says such marriages are illegal

Darul Uloom Deoband, one of the most influential Islamic seminaries in South Asia, condemned “love jihad,” a headline-grabbing name given by Sangh Parivar organisations for inter-religious marriages that are allegedly a ruse for conversion .
Without naming any political party, the seminary said the “bogey of ‘love jihad’” was being raised by people with vested interests.
The Islamic seminary termed “illegal” marriages with Hindu girls after their forcible conversion to Islam.

Axe 72 obsolete laws urgently: Law Commission

Even as the Union government prepares to bring in a comprehensive law during the winter session of Parliament to weed out obsolete laws, the Law Commission identified 72 outdated laws which required urgent repealing.
The oldest among them is the Bengal District Act, 1836, which relates to the administration and development of local areas.
Second in line is the Bengal Bonded Warehouse Association Act, 1838, which mandates that only “residents of the presidency of Fort William in Bengal can be directors of the Bengal Bonded Warehouse Association and that the association can sell property only to the East India Company.”
The Sheriffs Fees Act, 1852, is another antique law which needs to be axed. The Act deals with payment to the sheriffs of the “presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.”
The 72 laws are part of the 261 statutes that “prima facie require repeal as they are inconsistent with modern times” as recommended in an interim report handed over by the Law Commission to the government.
Other laws identified have been enacted from 1838 to 1898.
The commission said it found during its research that 34 repealed laws still remained on the government website.

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International

Kerry presses Turkey to join anti-IS coalition

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Ankara for talks aimed at building a coalition against Islamic State (IS) jihadists, a visit that comes after Turkey said it would not allow its air bases to be used for strikes on the extremists.
The top U.S. diplomat, touring the Middle East to establish a coalition of more than 40 countries, was meeting with Turkey’s leaders including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on measures to defeat the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey, a NATO member and Washington’s key ally in the region, is reluctant to take part in combat operations against Islamic State militants, or allow a U.S.-led coalition to attack jihadists from its territory.
Mr. Kerry’s visit comes a day after 10 Arab states, including heavyweight Saudi Arabia, agreed in Jeddah to rally behind Washington in the fight against IS.

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India and the World

Developed nations back India’s stand at WTO

India said it has won the support of major developed countries, including the U.K. and Germany, as also the European Commission, for its stand at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) demanding that the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) be kept pending unless its apprehensions on the issue of food security are addressed.
Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram was leading the Indian delegation as Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is indisposed.
“Many countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and the European Commission emphasised on the need for expressing deep concern on non-implementation of TFA without mentioning India’s concern on the issue of food security,” the release said.
He also garnered the support of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Russia for India’s standpoint, it added.
India is not opposed to the TFA as it increases the ease of doing business but wants its adoption postponed till there is “satisfactory” progress on finding a permanent protection for its minimum support prices to farmers against the WTO’s agriculture subsidy caps that are benchmarked to food prices of the 1980s.
At the WTO’s General Council meeting in Geneva on July 31, India stalled the ratification of the TFA owing to these concerns.
India got a reference to BRICS and disappointment with poor progress on the IMF quota reforms also included in the ASEM communiqué.
The communiqué talks about enhanced cooperation between countries of Asia and Europe to create sustainable and profitable growth.

Business news

Facebook set to take on YouTube

Get ready for a fierce content war between YouTube and Facebook.
The social networking site is in talks with some of the biggest video content producers of YouTube to test videos directly on Facebook.
Currently, content creators use Facebook to promote their programming but prefer people to watch the videos on YouTube and other platforms where they can make money through advertisements sales easily.
Facebook and video content producers are now discussing how advertising might be incorporated into these videos, according to The Wall Street Journal . Facebook has been involved in this video initiative for at least six months, it said. — IANS

Global auto makers seek friendly policy

As India moves towards becoming a hub for production and exports for global car manufacturers, the latter said India needed to make more business-friendly policies if the country wanted foreign companies to invest here.
Chairman of Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) Fumihiko Ike, who is also the Chairman of Japan’s Honda Motor Co, added another major challenge was to improve the business environment for investing into India.

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Sports

Field Marshal wins Maharaja’s Cup

Field Marshal (Ranjeet Singh up) won the Maharaja’s Cup (1,600m), the chief event of the races .
The winner is owned by M/s Harresh N. Mehta and Manav H. Mehta rep. Rohan Bloodstock Pvt. Ltd. and trained by S. Padmanabhan.

Subroto Cup from September 16

The 55th Subroto Cup international football tournament kicks off on September 16 this year, with 94 participating teams across three categories.
The tournament, organised by the Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society under the aegis of the Indian Air Force, will finish on October 20 with the junior boys’ (under-17) final at the Ambedkar Stadium.
The major attraction in the junior boys’ section will be the Brazilian side Colegio Estadul Santo Antonio. The players from the club regularly train at the Fluminense Academy.