Current Affairs Update – 5-6 Oct, 2014

• ·        
  The World Bank has trimmed its growth
  forecast for developing East Asian economies this year to 6.9 per cent and
  urged governments to improve conditions for investment and exports.
• ·        
  Monday’s forecast said Asian growth should pick
  up next year, with the exception of China, as a recovery in developed markets
  increases demand for exports.
• ·        
  The latest growth outlook is down from the
  bank’s 7.1 per cent forecast for the region that includes China, Southeast Asia
  and Pacific Islands. But the region still has the world’s fastest growth.
• ·        
  The bank said the region has the potential to
  grow faster than other developing regions if governments implement an
  “ambitious domestic reform agenda” including removing barriers to investment
  and improving export competitiveness.

• ·        
  Eid-ul-Azha or the festival of sacrifice was
  celebrated across the nation on Monday as Muslims offered special prayers in
  Eidgahs and mosques and sacrificed animals.
• ·        
  It is also known as Eid-ul-Zuha and Bakr Eid
  and is one of the important festivals in the Muslim calendar.
• ·        
  Eid-ul-Azha commemorates the willingness of
  Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah.
• ·        
  The sacrifice of animals such as sheep, goat
  or camel is done after prayers and the meat is distributed among family members,
  neighbours and the poor.
• ·        
  President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister
  Narendra Modi Sunday greeted the nation on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha and urged
  people to imbibe the spirit of love and service.

• ·        
  A Supreme Court-appointed high powered
  committee has recommended that names and pictures of political parties and
  their office bearers like presidents not be mentioned in government
  advertisements.
• ·        
  Holding that there had been “misuse and abuse”
  of public money on such advertisements, the three-member committee headed by
  eminent academician Professor N R Madhava Menon has framed guidelines to
  regulate expenditure and contents of such advertisements paid out of tax
  payers’ money.
• ·        
  The report, submitted to the apex court, has
  emphasised that only pictures and names of the President, the Prime Minister,
  Governor and Chief Ministers be published to “keep politics away from such
  ads“.
• ·        
  Sources said the Committee has also endorsed
  the suggestions of the Election Commission that there must be “severe”
  restrictions on such advertisements six months prior to elections.
• ·        
  It recommended that a deadline should be
  fixed for prohibiting their publication and the poll panel should be authorised
  for the purpose.

• ·        
  The site of the country’s largest e commerce
  company Flipkart crashed within hours of launching its much touted Big Billion
  Day sale event on Monday.
• ·        
  Flipkart had announced earlier that it would
  launch its biggest sale ever in its short history, which would offer discounts
  up to 50 per cent on a wide range of products. But the demand from customers
  seems to have been so huge, that its site could not withstand the sudden surge.
  A few of the customers told Business Line that they were unable to place orders
  on the website.
• ·        
  As per an earlier press statement, Flipkart
  said customers could pick up multiple items at up to 30 per cent off on
  smartphones, laptops starting Rs. 15,000 and fashion and perfumes at 50 per
  cent off. In addition to these offers and discounts, the e-commerce company
  said it will have lucky draws throughout the day.
• ·        
  Flipkart did not respond to queries regarding
  the site crash.

• ·        
  Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and
  Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS Genco) have entered into a
  memorandum of understanding to work together and establish thermal power
  generation capacity of about 6,000 MW in the new State.
• ·        
  The memorandum was signed between the
  Chairman and Managing Director of TS Genco D. Prabhakar Rao, and Bharat Heavy
  Electricals Limited Chairman and Managing Director, B. Prasad Rao, on Saturday
  in the presence of State Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
• ·        
  BHEL will facilitate setting up of 6,000 mw
  of thermal power plant capacity as an EPC contractor. As one of the largest
  engineering and manufacturing enterprise in India and a top power plant
  equipment maker, BHEL’s range of services extend from project feasibility
  through design, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning to after sales
  service.
• ·        
  At present, TS Genco has an installed power
  generating capacity of about 4,364 mw both thermal and hydel. It has the technical
  capability and expertise in the area of installing, owning, operating and
  maintaining the power plants.
• ·        
  BHEL has earlier executed thermal power
  projects in Telangana in Bhupalapally, Singareni Colleries and Kothagudem and
  their performance is above the national average of the plant load factor.

• ·        
  In view of the international restrictions on
  Russia over Ukraine, Canada has decided to sign a contract with Antrix, the
  commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for the launch
  of its satellite, industry sources said here on Saturday.
• ·        
  At the inauguration of the International
  Astronautical Congress in Toronto on Monday, Canada announced that Antrix would
  be given the contract for the July 2015 launch of its M3M (Maritime Monitoring
  and Messaging Micro-Satellite) communications satellite.
• ·        
  Confirming the development, the Canadian
  Space Agency’s website said the M3M, built for the Department of National
  Defence, was to be launched with a Soyuz rocket in July this year.

• ·        
  The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid
  Ansari conferred Sir Ross Masood Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in
  Leadership, Education, Community and Public Service-2014 to Shri Saiyid Hamid,
  the Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard and former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim
  University (AMU) at a function here today.
• ·        
  The Vice President presented a Citation for
  Award and an award cheque to Shri Hamid. Addressing after conferring the award,
  Shri Ansari said that the Aligarh Muslim University Alumini Associations have
  been functional worldwide and he himself launched the UAE chapter of AMU
  Alumini Association.
• ·        
  The award has been established by Aligarh
  Muslim University Association Inc. New York (AAANY) with the objective of
  making a very modest contribution by recognizing truly outstanding individuals
  during their lifetimes, who are selflessly dedicated their lives as leaders and
  educators, and in the service of the community and public at large.

• ·        
  India along with Japan, the US, China and
  Canada will start work on the world’s biggest telescope on Hawaii Island that
  will enable to identify an object as small as coin from a distance of 500 kms.
• ·        
  The 30-meter telescope will be established
  near the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano with a cost of $1.4 billion.
• ·        
  The construction is expected to be completed
  by March 2022. Japan is expected to cover about a quarter of the construction
  costs.
• ·        
  To mark the start of construction, 100
  astronomers and officials from the five countries are scheduled to attend a
  ceremony on October 7 at a location 4,012 meters high on Mount Mauna Kea.
• ·        
  The telescope will be larger than Japan’s
  Subaru Telescope, one of the world’s biggest, which was also built on the
  summit of Mauna Kea and started observation in 1999.
• ·        
  The Subaru Telescope’s single main mirror
  measures 8.2 meters in diameter, while the new telescope will be composed of
  492 hexagonal mirrors, each measuring 72 cm across.
• ·        
  The telescope’s light-condensing capabilities
  will be 13 times greater than the Subaru telescope’s, enabling the
  identification of an object as small as a coin from a distance equivalent to
  500 kms.

• ·        
  Pakistan recorded the highest number of polio
  cases in 14 years. This was revealed by the data of polio cases released by the
  National Institute of Health of Pakistan on 3 October 2014.
• ·        
  The data revealed that polio cases in 2014
  reached 202 which was the highest in 14 years. The previous highest was
  recorded in 2000 when it reached 199 polio cases.
• ·        
  One of the prime reasons for the increase in
  the polio cases in 2014 was cited as the rise on attacks on immunisation teams.

• ·        
  The Nobel Assembly on 6 October 2014 decided
  to award the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to John O´Keefe,
  May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser. The award was given for their discoveries
  of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.
• ·        
  The Nobel Laureates of 2014 have discovered a
  positioning system, an inner GPS in the brain that makes it possible to orient ourselves
  in space, demonstrating a cellular basis for higher cognitive function.
• ·        
  The Nobel Assembly on 6 October 2014 decided
  to award the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to John O´Keefe,
  May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser. The award was given for their discoveries
  of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.
• ·        
  John O’Keefe: He was born in 1939 in New York
  City, USA. He holds both American and British citizenships.
• ·        
  May-Britt Moser: She was born in Norway in
  1963 and is a Norwegian citizen. Currently, she is the Director of the Centre
  for Neural Computation in Trondheim.
• ·        
  Edvard I. Moser: He was born in 1962 in
  Norway and has Norwegian citizenship. Currently, he is the director of the
  Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Trondheim.
• ·        
  Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser are a
  married couple.

• ·        
  The US on 3 October 2014 announced to lift 40
  years long ban on arms sales to Vietnam to boost sea defence in the South China
  Sea.
• ·        
  The decision to lift the ban partially was
  taken after the meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Vietnam
  Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh in Washington. Minh who is also the
  foreign minister of Vietnam was on a visit to the US.
• ·        
  The ban on arm sales was lifted partially and
  applied only to supply of lethal and non-lethal weapons for maritime security
  purposes. A prohibition on sales of other kinds of lethal weapons like tanks
  would stay in place. The ban was put in place after the end of Vietnam War in
  1975.
• ·        
  The decision was taken after Vietnam showed
  positive improvements in the area of human rights record and a full lift of ban
  may take place if Vietnam would make additional progress in this area.

• ·        
  In response to criticism from many quarters
  about a prejudiced, even racist, cartoon on India’s Mars mission, the New York
  Times has issued an apology to its readers and has clarified that it, in no
  way, was trying to ‘impugn India’
• ·        
  The clarification was issued early on Monday
  morning on the New York Times’ Facebook page and read as follows:
• ·        
  A large number of readers have complained
  about a recent editorial cartoon in The International New York Times, about India’s
  foray into space exploration. The intent of the cartoonist, Heng Kim Song, was
  to highlight how space exploration is no longer the exclusive domain of rich,
  Western countries. Mr. Heng, who is based in Singapore, uses images and text –
  often in a provocative way – to make observations about international affairs.
  We apologize to readers who were offended by the choice of images in this
  cartoon. Mr. Heng was in no way trying to impugn India, its government or its
  citizens. We appreciate that readers have shared their feedback, which we
  welcome. — Andrew Rosenthal, Editorial Page Editor

• ·        
  World No. 1 Novak Djokovic crushed Tomas
  Berdych 6-0, 6-2 Sunday to win the China Open and maintain a remarkable 100 per
  cent record in the Beijing tournament.
• ·        
  Meanwhile, French Open champion Maria
  Sharapova was forced to battle hard to overcome Petra Kvitova 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in
  the women’s final — a victory which moves her into second place in the
  rankings.
• ·        
  Serb Djokovic was 5-0 ahead in the second
  set, one game from serving up an incredible “double bagel” as he tore through
  his Czech opponent with a brilliant serving display.
• ·        
  As he was staring at an embarrassing defeat,
  a stunned Berdych laughed as he pretended to hand his racket to a ball-girl,
  suggesting that she may be able to take on his opponent.
• ·        
  But the World No. 6 rallied briefly to take
  Djokovic’s serve and then take the scores to a more respectable 5-2, before the
  reigning champion sealed his fifth title in Beijing, an event he has won the
  five times he has entered.

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