Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 April 2014

Agreement between TCS and Mitsubishi

India’s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed an agreement with Japanese major Mitsubishi Corporation to form a single IT services unit.
The merger, in which TCS will hold 51 per cent stake and Mitsubishi 49 per cent, will create a new IT services company of significant scale in the Japanese market with annual turnover of over $600 million.
ITF brings its long-standing relationships with Japanese corporations, talented workforce and competencies in industries like retail, distribution and trading.
This will complement TCS’ deep domain knowledge, technology expertise and strong execution track record.
TCS’ Global Network Delivery Model (GNDMTM) capabilities will also enable the Japanese corporations’ globalisation ambitions.
The company will provide tremendous additional value to clients in Japan, while employees will secure the advantages of building their careers in a global organisation.

Three rockets from Gaza were fired into Israel recently.
The projectile struck uninhabited areas in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council and set off sirens.
Few days back, Israel Air Force jets struck five terror targets in the Gaza Strip, following rocket attacks on southern Israel the previous night. The IAF hit sites in northern and central Gaza, including two Hamas posts. .
Also last week, a rocket siren went off in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, but an army spokeswoman later said no projectiles were detected in Israeli territory.
Last month, the air force stuck 29 targets across the Gaza Strip in response to Islamic Jihad rocket attack on the South. More than 30 rockets – fired in simultaneous barrages from northern and southern Gaza – exploded in Israeli territory. The Iron Dome anti-rocket battery stationed in Sderot shot down three projectiles over the town. The bombardment of the western Negev in March marked the largest flare-up of Gazan terrorism since 2012.

Joshna Chinappa ended a career-long losing run to Australia's former world champion Rachael Grinham when she upset the top seed in straight games to win the inaugural $10,000 Richmond Open.
World No.21 Chinappa beat her 16th-ranked opponent 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 for the first time in six meetings to bag her ninth Women's Squash Association (WSA) tour title at the Country Club of Virginia.

France has ‘information’ but no firm proof that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is still using chemical weapons,according to President Francois Hollande .
There are conflicting accounts about one attack that happened in the town of Kafr Zita in the central Hama province earlier in April, with both the government and the opposition accusing each other of being responsible.
Activists in the area accused the regime of using chlorine gas, saying it caused ‘more than 100 cases of suffocation’.
Throughout Syria's conflict, the Assad regime has sought to portray itself as the protector of the country's religious minorities against a revolt it says is led by foreign-backed extremists.
The Syrian opposition dismisses such claims as part of a divide-and-rule strategy which is also aimed at deterring the West from providing greater support to the rebels.
Syria's uprising began in March 2011 as a peaceful revolt against the Assad family's four-decade rule but escalated into an insurgency and then a civil war when the regime launched a brutal crackdown.
As the war has intensified, claiming an estimated 150,000 lives, it has also grown more sectarian, with jihadists flocking to the ranks of the Sunni-led rebellion and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement fighting alongside the regime.

Cadbury India, a subsidiary of Mondelez International, today changed its name to Mondelez India Foods Limited.
The change in name of Cadbury is in line with the gradual changeover of the name of all subsidiaries of Mondelez International globally, the company said in a statement.
However, the company said change in name of the company will have no impact on the names or packaging of its products like Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Gems, Bournville, Perk, Celebrations, Choclairs, Halls, Bournvita, Tang and Oreo, which will continue to be sold under the same brand names as before.
From now onwards, the new name of the company will appear on the back of the products