Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 30 October 2015

:: India & world ::

India-Africa summit: PM seeks cooperation on climate change, terror

India and African nations decided on Thursday to step up cooperation to fight climate change and terrorism, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for partnership in these key areas amid shared concerns about global warming and extremist groups like Boko Haram.
At the third India-Africa summit in Delhi, visiting leaders backed Modi’s call for a “comprehensive” agreement on climate change at a UN conference to be held in Paris, while the PM pointed out that India and Africa contribute very little to global warming.
Delegates from about 190 countries are slated to attend the Paris meet with the aim to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2°C above pre-industrial levels and move the world away from fossil fuels.
India has opposed the binding nature of the proposed treaty to be implemented from 2020 and repeatedly said only rich countries are required under a previous UN climate convention to reduce carbon emissions.
“For India, 175 GW of additional renewable energy capacity by 2022 and reduction in emission intensity by 33-35% by 2030 are just two aspects of our efforts,” the Prime Minister said, adding that India was making “enormous efforts” with its “modest resources” to combat climate change.
Leaders at the India-Africa summit also agreed to boost cooperation in counter-terrorism and maritime security against the backdrop of the growing menace of outfits like Boko Haram, the terror group based out of north-eastern Nigeria which is a threatening presence in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon.
The CCIT is a treaty proposed by India which is deadlocked at the United Nations for close to two decades. It aims to criminalise all forms of international terrorism and deny terrorists, their financiers and supporters access to funds, arms and safe havens.
The participants called on all countries to ensure their territories were not used for cross-border terrorist activities, while acknowledging that the menace of non-state actors, including armed groups, had acquired “a new dimension”.

China changed one child policy

For the first time in more than three decades, all Chinese parents will have a choice. They can decide, unencumbered, if they want to have a second child.
The biggest social experiment in human history is finally being unwound but don't expect a baby boom.
China has changed since 1980 when the one-child policy was formally introduced to hasten economic development and reduce poverty. Draconian family planning controls are not the only consideration for couples looking to expand their families.
Wealthier and more educated than their parents, Chinese couples now weigh up the cost of raising a second child, the time and effort required to ensure they are accepted into a good school and the extra care that will be needed at home if both decide to return to work.
These considerations are what has kept the birth rate in Taiwan, which has no restrictions, at around 1 for the past six years - among the lowest in the world. And they are likely to mute any response to the new two-child policy announced on Thursday night.
Still, most demographers do expect a bump. Under the current system, more than 16 million babies are born every year. Estimates of the new policy's impact range from one million to eight million additional births a year.
Liang Jianzhang, an economics professor at Peking University, expects there will be another 2.5 million babies born a year and that will boost spending by an annual 75 billion yuan ($16.7 billion) as parents splurge on everything from infant formula to baby prams.
UBS says that if China manages to increase the birth rate from the current 1.2 per cent to 1.4 per cent a year and sustain it at that rate, it would significantly slow the country's aging process. Population would peak at close to 1.6 billion people around 2050 instead of 1.4 billion around 2025 to 2030.
However, there is a big question mark over whether any bump in the birth rate will be sustained.

:: Prize ::

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi wins EU's Sakharov rights prize

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for insulting Islam and for cyber crime, was awarded the European Union's prize for human rights and freedom of thought on Thursday.
Badawi received the first of his 50 lashes in January, prompting strong criticism in Western countries of the kingdom's human rights record, including its restrictive laws on political and religious expression and the status of Saudi women.
This month in London, he was given the International Writer of Courage award and was co-recipient of the PEN Pinter Prize.
Saudi Arabia's ambassador in London on Monday threatened "potentially serious repercussions" for its ties with Britain unless a more respectful discourse developed.
British lawmaker Syed Kamall, a member of the European assembly who nominated Badawi for the EU prize, said, "Saudi Arabia can lock up the man and they can lash him, but they will only strengthen amongst his countrymen the yearning for free speech and debate that he stands for."
A Jeddah court handed Badawi his sentence in 2012 after he criticized the Saudi clergy in a blog and called for changes in the way religion is practiced in Saudi Arabia.

:: Sports ::

Bangladesh to host 2016 Asia Cup

Bangladesh will host the Asia Cup cricket for the third time running in February and March despite recent security fears which prompted Australia to cancel a tour, the national cricket chief said.
At a meeting in Singapore this week, the Asian Cricket Council decided Bangladesh will hold the tournament, to be played in the Twenty20 format for the first time, just before the ICC World T20 in neighbouring India.
Test nations Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will get direct entry. Afghanistan, Oman, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates will play a qualifying tournament in November in the UAE for the fifth place.
Bangladesh also hosted the tournament in 2012 and 2014, along with 2000 and 1988.
Australia’s cricketers had been due to play a two-Test series in Bangladesh this month but the tour was scrapped after official Australian warnings that militants may attack Western interests.
Safety fears for foreigners have heightened in Muslim-majority Bangladesh after the recent murders of an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Indian Badminton League season 2 launched

Badminton Association of India's (BAI) grand plans to revive the Indian Badminton League (IBL) might not be as smooth as expected.
On the day the sport's governing body in India announced that IBL 2 will return with a stronger field after a two-year gap, the league's former commercial partner Sporty Solutionz has filed a petition in the Delh High Court to 'protect its intellectual property rights.
IBL 2 is scheduled to be held from January 2 to 17.
BAI had terminated the contract with Sporty Solutionz last year citing 'contractual issues' after the inaugural edition of the IBL in 2013.
An annoyed BAI president Akhilesh Das Gupta termed Sporty Solutionz's action a way to create 'dirty sensation'.
"Anybody can file a case and it's one's right. But there is no substance in it. Badminton in India is solely BAI's intellectual property, since we are the recognized federation by the government and come under RTI.
They have filed a case to create dirty sensation. They didn't reply to our termination letter for more than six months.