Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam

14 April, 2014

Interceptor missile test

• India for the first time will be testing a state-of-the-art interceptor missile at supersonic speed that will seek to engage and destroy an incoming target missile at a very high altitude of 120-140 km over the Bay of Bengal. Entirely new interceptor and target missiles have been developed by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the upcoming engagement, to be conducted in exo-atmosphere (altitude above 40-50 km) on April 27 or 28. The test was originally planned to be conducted in November, 2013 but had been delayed since then.

• Describing it as a “big challenge,” they said the interceptor’s “kill vehicle,” equipped with a dual seeker, would attack the payload (warhead portion) as it descends towards its intended target. The advantage of intercepting an incoming missile at such a high altitude was that the debris would not fall on the ground and there would be no collateral damage.

• After some more trials, India plans to deploy a two-tiered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system to protect important cities from external threats. In the first phase, incoming enemy missiles of 2,000-km range are envisaged to be waylaid and destroyed, while those with about 5,000-km range would be tackled by the interceptors in the second phase.

• So far, six of the seven interceptor missile tests, carried out by the DRDO, have been successful. While two interceptions were conducted in exo-atmopshere (altitudes between 47 and 80 km) the rest were in endo-atmosphere (below 40 km altitude).

The recent U.N. Security Council meet

• The U.N. Security Council recently metin emergency session amid growing violence in eastern Ukraine, with Western powers and Russia blaming each other for the deepening crisis.

• Russia called the meeting hours after Ukrainian special forces exchanged gunfire with a pro-Russia militia in an eastern city, and at least one security officer was killed and five others wounded. Ukraine’s president accused its powerful neighbour of fomenting unrest, and announced that it would deploy armed forces to quash an increasingly bold pro-Russian insurgency.

• Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin denied Western and Ukrainian claims that Moscow was behind the violence, and told U.N. diplomats that Ukraine has been using radical neo-Nazi forces to destabilize its eastern region.

• Russia has tens of thousands of troops massed along Ukraine’s eastern border, and there are fears that Moscow might use the violence in the mainly Russian-speaking region as a pretext for an invasion, in a repeat of events in Crimea earlier this year.

India- China Strategic Dialogue

• India has assured China of its commitment to consolidate strategic bilateral ties based on mutual trust as well as sensitiveness to each other's concerns and aspirations, as their top diplomats held the annual strategic dialogue here amid the Indian general elections.

• Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh co-chaired the sixth round of the Strategic Dialogue with her Chinese counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin at the picturesque Diaoyutai guest house.

• The talks were held as the long-running Lok Sabha elections, hailed as the world's biggest democratic exercise, got underway in India that will form a new government at the Centre.

• Stating that the annual Strategic Dialogue is being held in less than a year, she told Liu that "it is symbolic of the fact that our relations are growing and our interactions are increasing".

• China said it was "confident" that India will stay committed to strong bilateral ties irrespective of whichever party comes to power after the polls.

Texas Open squash final

• Deepika Pallikal stumbled on the final hurdle against Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini in the title clash of the Women's Champion Fiberglass Texas Open.
• Eyeing maiden major title of her career, world No 12 Deepika faltered against the 18-year-old qualifier 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 to lose in 48 minutes.
• The 22-year-old Deepika was celebrating the biggest Tour final of her career - while world junior champion El Sherbini was continuing the form of her life which had seen the youngster reach last month's WSA World Championship final after upsetting world No 1 Nicol David.

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