Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 08 July 2016

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 07 July 2016

:: National ::

Nuclear security group membership is focus of PM's Africa visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Pretoria, on a visit that will see both economic ties and an address to the Indian diaspora as highlights, it will also be a chance for India to kick-start of talks in its campaign for NSG membership.
South Africa is the first NSG country that Mr. Modi is visiting since India failed to have its membership decided at the plenary session in Seoul.
Just prior to that session, Mr. Modi had personally discussed the issue in Switzerland, U.S., and Mexico, winning from each visit an assurance of support.
However in Seoul, many countries, including Switzerland and South Africa are believed to have raised procedural concerns over the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
India has now pinned its hopes on an informal process initiated by the NSG to evolve a consensus on its membership to a possible NSG session later this year.
The issue would be taken up when Mr. Modi meets the South African President. In a pre-departure media briefing the MEA also rejected reports that South Africa had opposed India’s membership at any point.

PM focuses on terror in his Africa's visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said terrorism was the “gravest threat” to the world, “equally impacting” India and Mozambique which agreed to strengthen security and defence ties and bolster cooperation in food security.
After Mr. Modi’s wide-ranging talks with Mozambique President, the two countries signed three pacts, including a significant long-term agreement under which India will buy pulses from this African nation to meet its shortfall.
Declaring India as a “trusted friend” and a “reliable partner” of Mozambique, the Prime Minister also announced that essential medicines, including those for treating AIDS, would be donated to this country as part of efforts to strengthen its public health system.
India will also help build capacities of Mozambique’s security forces, Mr. Modi said with a vow to “walk every step” with this country on its path of development and progress.
While talking about the challenges, Mr. Modi said “President Nyusi and I recognise that terrorism is the gravest security threat facing the world today. Mozambique and India are no exceptions. Terrorism impacts India and Mozambique equally.”
India and Mozambique agreed to cooperate to meet “strategic and security challenges” emerging in mainland Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
The declaration of this new generation of partnership was made by the Prime Minister at the Mozambique capital Maputo which is the first stop in his four-nation Africa visit.

Volcanic eruptions in India and asteroid in Mexico brought end to dinosaurs

Combined impacts of volcanic eruptions in India and the impact of an asteroid in Mexico brought about one of the Earth’s biggest mass extinctions of dinosaurs 66 million years ago, a new study has confirmed.
Researchers used a recently developed technique called the carbonate clumped isotope paleothermometer to analyse the chemical composition of fossil shells in the Antarctic Ocean.
This analysis shows that ocean temperatures rose approximately 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and links these findings to two previously documented warming events that occurred near the end of the Cretaceous Period, researchers said.
One event was related to volcanic eruptions in India, and the other, tied to the impact of an asteroid or comet on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, they said.
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary is widely associated with the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
It is actually a physical boundary usually marked by a thin band of rock found in geological structures all around the world, researchers said.

Upgraded Soyuz spacecraft starts journey for ISS

Three astronauts blasted off in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrom, heading towards the International Space Station.
Features of the new Soyuz series include upgraded boosters, an improved navigation system, strengthened shielding from debris and more cells on the craft’s solar panels.
The trio’s launch was delayed by two weeks as Russian space officials carried out further software tests on the modified vehicle.
The craft’s journey to dock at the ISS will take two days — longer than the usual six-hour flight — to give ground control more time to monitor the tweaked system’s performance.
NASA’s Kate Rubins will be the first woman aboard the ISS since Italian Samantha Cristoforetti returned to earth with the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (199 days) in June last year.
The molecular biologist-turned astronaut will also become the first person to sequence DNA in space during her mission.
The ISS space laboratory has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometres per hour since 1998.

:: International ::

Bangladesh says terrorist attack was conducted by homegrown terrorism

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has reiterated that radicalised home-grown elements were behind the recent terror attacks in the country, not the West Asia-based terror group.
After the July 1 attack on an upmarket café in Dhaka where militants killed 20 visitors, the IS had claimed responsibility. In another video, the group said that the café attack was only a “glimpse” of what’s to come.
“Police have done a remarkable job. They stopped the militants at least a kilometre before the historic Eidgah Maidan [field] of Sholakia, where lakhs of people assembled for prayer,” Mr. Khan said.
He added that the attackers are “not real Muslims who have engaged in un-Islamic act on Eid” targeting innocent civilians. “They do not have a religion.”

The Prime Minister to lead Britain out of the EU will be a women

The Prime Minister to lead Britain out of the EU will be either Cabinet veteran Theresa May or political newcomer Andrea Leadsom after Conservative MPs voted for a two-woman shortlist.
One of the two will become Britain’s second woman Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher.
The third challenger, Justice Minister Michael Gove, who announced his surprise bid last week after initially supporting former mayor of London Boris Johnson for the post, was rejected after winning just 46 votes.
The party’s 150,000 members will now choose between Ms. May and Ms. Leadsom in a postal ballot and the winner, who becomes Prime Minister without need for a general election, is due to be announced on September 9.

:: Business and Economy ::

Airlines not happy with passenger centric rules

India’s leading airlines including IndiGo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways have termed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s rule to reduce fee for carrying five-kg baggage on flights as “illegal.”
The airlines have also opposed most of the other proposed ‘passenger-centric’ norms such as enhanced compensation for denying boarding and flight delays and demanded a higher cap on ticket cancellation fee.
Additionally, the airlines have requested the government to allow them to charge a fee for providing equipment such as wheelchair for people with reduced mobility.
The airlines also threatened to increase the airfares as the move may impact their operating viability due to consumption of more fuel by carrying excess baggage, they said.
A DGCA directive had allowed passengers to carry five kilos extra baggage over the free allowance of 15 kg on a flight, by paying Rs.100 a kg to the airline. Private airlines presently charge passengers Rs.250-Rs.350 for each extra kg.
Airlines claimed the DGCA didn’t consider the objections raised by airlines during its discussion with the government via exchange of e-mail letters.
The airlines said the proposed multi-fold increase in compensation for denial of boarding, flight delays and cancellations lacked “quantitative analysis that assesses impact on the airline industry” and “unfairly penalise airlines.”

ILO's Director General concerned over the widening gender gap in Indian workforce

International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director General Guy Ryder has expressed concerns over the widening gender gap in workforce in India.
“One of the issues which have come to my attention since I have been in India is gender and the question of women participation,” Mr. Ryder, who is on a three-day India visit.
In international comparison, the gap in India is very big and the level of women’s participation is going down which is a source of concern.
While there is a difference of 25 per cent in workforce participation rate of men and women worldwide, in India it is up to 40 per cent, Mr. Ryder said.
He said the ILO will work with the government in its labour reform process by bringing in international experience and setting international labour standards.
India will ratify two core ILO conventions soon by amending the Child Labour Act. There were some issues related to ratifying the other two conventions related to right of forming unions and collective bargaining.

India Sri Lanka wants to expedite ETCA

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Development Strategies and India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry have urged to expedite negotiations on the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA).
India, accounting for 23 per cent ($ 4,268 million in 2015) of Sri Lanka’s total imports, has been negotiating with the island nation on the ETCA, an extension over the existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Last year, exports to India accounted for a little over six per cent of Sri Lanka’s overall exports with $ 643 million. Of this, 63 per cent was under the FTA.
The first round of bilateral talks on the ETCA began in December last. Even as certain sections in Sri Lanka nurse reservations, the government in recent months had organised a campaign to counter the anti-ETCA drive.
Though Colombo depends upon Beijing for 20 per cent of its imports, there is no bilateral FTA. The two are yet to finalise the rules of origin and the product list.
Under the FTA with Pakistan, signed in July 2002, Sri Lanka exported goods worth $ 59 million to the former last year, which was about 81 per cent of the total exports to that country.