Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 27 June 2015

::International::

The U.S. Supreme Court declared on Friday that same-sex couples had a right to marry anywhere in the country, in a culmination of two decades of litigation over marriage and gay rights.
Gay and lesbian couples already could marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court’s 5-4 ruling means the remaining 14 States, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.
The ruling will not take effect immediately because the Supreme Court gives the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration.

The emerging market BRICS nations will have their own development bank by the end of the year, South Africa said on Saturday.
The BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa -- which represent 40% of the world's population and a quarter of its economic output, decided in 2013 to create their own development bank to step up lending for the infrastructure projects needed to close the gap with the industrialised world.
The bank, which will be headquartered in Shanghai, is expected to have up to USD 100 billion in capital.
The inaugural meeting of the board of governors of the New Development Bank will be held in the Russian city of Ufa on July 7 to confirm the appointment of the management of the lender.
Maasdorp, who heads up southern African operations for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was formerly an advisor to the current head of South Africa's central bank, Tito Mboweni, and supervised the government's privatisation programme from 1999 to 2002.

A ranking of destinations for attractiveness to foreign investors has placed India at the top among 110 countries. China has secured the 65th position and the U.S. is at the 50th. In the 2014 index, India was at the sixth position and Hong Kong was number one.
The ranking is based on an index for baseline profitability that assumes that three factors affect the ultimate success of a foreign investment: how much the value of an asset grows; the preservation of that value while the asset is owned; and the ease of repatriation of proceeds from selling the asset.
The index combines measures for each of these factors into a summary statistic that conveys a
A high ranking indicates high returns and improving economic institutions. The index, thus, compares how local policies and conditions affect the same investment in different countries. Or how the value of the principal and the return will change depending only on where the investment is made.
Local factors can erode profits. These include payment of bribes and kickbacks, the risk of which is compared across countries using the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, a measure for the perceived levels of public-sector corruption worldwide. In 2014, the country was at the 85th position out of 175 countries as compared to its ranking of 94 out of 177 in 2013.

BPI calculation also uses an index of investor protection compiled by the World Bank. In 2014, the average BPI score across all countries was 0.99; this year it is 1.03 — meaning the expected returns over the next five years are about three-quarters of a per cent higher a year.

Ramandeep Singh scored two fine goals as the showpiece sub-continental hockey encounter between India and Pakistan ended in a thrilling 2-2 draw in the World League Semifinals at the KHC Dragons Stadium here on Friday.
Asian Games champion India threatened to score a late match-winner when its strikers thrice took shots at the rival citadel in the last three minutes during a surcharged encounter played at a brisk pace.
After opening the scoring in the 13th minute, Ramandeep came back to score the eventual equaliser with an opportunistic flick into the net in the 39th minute after Pakistan captain Muhammad Imran scored twice.
The draw gives India seven points from three outings in Pool A ahead of the fixture against World champions Australia.
Pakistan now have four points from three matches, having lost the match against Australia.

ICC took a major step in trying to re¬store some balance bet¬w¬e¬en bat and ball in ODIs when on Friday they announced the scrapping of batting powerplay and allowing five fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the last ten overs.
The requirement to have two fielders in catching positions in the first ten overs in ODIs was also done away with, but only two fielders can man the boundaries for the first ten overs, while overs 11 to 40 would have four fielders outside the circle.
It was also decided at the ICC annual conference in Barbados that there would be free hits for all no-balls.
The pros and cons of the DRS as well as the possibility of implementing it in all international matches were also discussed, but there was no change in the stance on the part of the ICC: the decision to use or not use DRS in bilateral series would still be up to the host board.