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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 06 December 2015

:: National ::

Two more US satellite launch contracts have come the way of ISRO’s PSLV rocket, this time from commercial weather satellite company PlanetiQ.
PlanetiQ, the Maryland based commercial weather satellites operator, recently signed a deal with Antrix Corporation, ISRO’s marketing arm, for launching its first two weather satellites. Its final fleet totally will have 12 to 18 satellites.
The two spacecraft, just 10 kg each and carrying a special sensor to glean weather data globally, are planned to be put in space in the last quarter of 2016 as secondary passengers of a PSLV
Until about a year ago, US satellite operators could not conceive of launching from India because of a longstanding US policy bar. In recent years, established US launch companies have moved on to lifting far heavier satellites [ten tonnes and beyond], leaving a demand for launchers that can put smaller satellites in space.
In September, US operator Spire Global became the PSLV’s first US customer by getting four 4-kg-each Lemur satellites from Sriharikota. Antrix, which has won around 55 foreign launch orders to date, a bulk of them small ones

The final draft of the Paris Climate agreement, was released by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
French President Francois Hollande said instituting a review mechanism to monitor compliance on carbon emissions by countries, and transfer of climate friendly technologies to developing nations continue to be hurdles, but they could be resolved by “pushing ahead”.
The overall goal of the Paris agreement, to keep global temperature rise to a specified quantum compared to pre-industrial levels, is pegged at either “below 1.5 degrees C”, or, as “well below 2 degrees C.”

India is planning to ban imports of 24-carat gold jewellery in an attempt to curb the misuse of free trade agreements (FTAs) with Asian countries
The world's second biggest gold consumer raised the import duty on the metal to 10 percent in 2013 to curb demand but that has boosted smuggling and prompted some importers to use India's FTAs with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to import 24-carat gold jewellery at just two percent import duty.
The government is now planning to change existing rules to allow imports of only lower-quality 18 and 22-carat jewellery

Members of OPEC failed to agree an oil production ceiling on Friday at a meeting that ended in acrimony, after Iran said it would not consider any production curbs until it restores output scaled back for years under Western sanctions.
Oil prices have more than halved over the past 18 months to a fraction of what most OPEC members need to balance their budgets. Brent oil futures fell by 1 per cent on Friday to trade around $43, only a few dollars off a six year low.
Banks such as Goldman Sachs predict they could fall further to as low as $20 per barrel as the world produces more oil than it consumes and runs out of capacity to store the excess.
OPEC's secretary general Abdullah al-Badri said OPEC could not agree on any figures because it could not predict how much oil Iran would add to the market next year, as sanctions are withdrawn under a deal reached six months ago with world powers over its nuclear programme.
Iran has made its position clear ahead of the meeting with Zangeneh saying Tehran would raise supply by at least one million barrels a day — or one per cent of global supply — after sanctions are lifted.
The world is already producing up to 2 million bpd more than it consumes.

Shahzar Rizvi of the Indian Air Force (IAF) beat Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar to the gold in men’s air pistol in the 59th National shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad