Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 May 2017

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 May 2017

:: National ::

EC's hackathon to be held on June 3

  • EC invited recognised political parties to an “Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) Challenge” beginning June 3 to demonstrate that the machine can be, or were, during the five recent Assembly elections, tampered with.
  • Only Indian experts are allowed to participate in the event. The challenge will be open for four to five days, for the political parties that participated in the Assembly elections in Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
  • An independent team of experts will supervise the proceedings, which will be video-recorded.
  • Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said the political parties, each of which can nominate three experts, had to confirm their participation by 5 p.m. on May 26.
  • Each party will be assigned four EVMs of their choice, picked up from EC warehouses in any Assembly constituency.
  • They can also accompany the EVMs from warehouses to the venue at the EC headquarters, at their own cost.
  • Although the parties’ experts will be allowed to open and inspect the machine, they will not be allowed to tweak its components, as the EC said changing the internal circuit was like changing the whole device itself.

Hassan Rouhani was re-elected by a wide margin in Iran

  • Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani was re-elected by a wide margin. The victory gave the moderate cleric a second four-year term to see out his agenda pushing for greater freedoms and outreach to the wider world.
  • The 68-year-old incumbent secured a commanding lead of 57% in a race that drew more than seven out of every 10 voters to the polls.
  • His nearest rival in the four-man race, hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, secured 38% of the vote.

Better forecast from Earth Science System Organisation

  • The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences’ premier agency — INCOIS will soon be operating through a brand new high-powered super computer enabling quicker computations and thereby more accurate forecasts for ocean waves and tsunami alerts.
  • The new high-powered supercomputer of 34 teraflops capacity, estimated to have cost Rs. 4 crore, including five years maintenance period, is being currently shipped from Singapore.
  • This one will be replacing an older version which has a capacity of just 7.8 teraflops.
  • The existing high-powered computer has completed its life cycle of eight years and is ‘coming apart’ inside the INCOIS’ sprawling facility at Pragatinagar near Kukatpally necessitating the procurement of a new one.
  • The new supercomputer is to be made operational within a month of arrival after feeding the available forecasting model that INCOIS has developed over the years as in tracking the ocean wave currents, real time Tsunami alerts and so on, in a more precise manner with a higher resolution and for a larger terrain.
  • The agency is currently able to predict the estimated tsunami landfall for up to three metres of wave heights only.

EC reiterated that the device being a standalone machine could not be hacked (Register and Login to read Full News)

Issues with Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

Rouhani promises to keep moderate policies

  • It was a referendum on Hassan Rouhani’s more moderate political policies, which paved the way for the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that won Iran relief from some sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.
  • His resounding victory suggests that Iranians largely approve of the President’s policies.
  • Mr. Rouhani has come to embody more liberal and reform-minded Iranians’ hopes for greater freedoms and openness at home, and better relations with the outside world.
  • “Great nation of Iran, you are the winner of the election. I humbly bow down before you. I will remain loyal to my promises to you,” he wrote.
  • Iran’s President is the second-most powerful figure within the country’s political system. He is subordinate to the supreme leader, who is chosen by a clerical panel and has the ultimate say over all matters of state.
  • Although considered a moderate by Iranian standards, Mr. Rouhani was nonetheless the favourite pick for those seeking more liberal reforms in the conservative Islamic Republic.
  • One of the first world leaders to congratulate Mr. Rouhani was Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose government is backed by Tehran.
  • Iran’s President oversees a vast state bureaucracy employing more than 2 million people, is charged with naming Cabinet members and other officials to key posts, and plays a significant role in shaping both domestic and foreign policy.

:: Business and Economy ::

Weaker U.S. dollar may help keep the profit momentum rolling

  • With S&P 500 companies set to notch their strongest quarterly earnings growth in about six years, a weaker U.S. dollar may help keep the profit momentum rolling and support share prices in the coming weeks.
  • After a dramatic week in Washington that rattled financial markets, one possible silver lining for stock investors was the weaker dollar, which can support earnings of U.S. multinational companies with large foreign operations.
  • The dollar weakened 0.5% against a basket of currencies following reports that U.S. President Donald Trump tried to interfere with an investigation into his former national security adviser’s ties with Russia, revelations that also sparked the S&P 500’s biggest one-day drop in eight months.
  • The currency was on track for its biggest weekly percentage drop in a year, and so far in 2017 the dollar has pulled back 5%, erasing post-U.S. election gains.
  • Dollar movements can be significant for U.S.-based multinationals. The stronger the greenback is against other currencies, the less valuable foreign sales become when translated into the U.S. currency for reporting purposes.
  • First-quarter profits are on pace to rise 15.2%, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Second-quarter earnings are expected to rise 8.5%, a figure that could swell depending on currency moves. The dollar has fallen 3.2% in the second quarter alone.
  • Companies with significant global operations have already showed strength as the dollar has weakened in the first quarter.
  • S&P 500 companies with more than half their revenue from outside the U.S. reported a 13.2% increase in earnings, excluding the energy sector, compared with a 10.6% increase for companies with half or more of revenues coming domestically.

:: Science and Technology ::

Indian researchers has been able to achieve 100-fold reduction in TB bacterial load

  • A team of Indian researchers has been able to achieve 100-fold reduction in TB bacterial load in lungs of mice after 60 days of treatment using bergenin — a phytochemical isolated from tender leaves of sakhua or shala tree.
  • Unlike the regularly used antibiotic drugs that target the TB bacteria, the bergenin compound modulates the immune system to kill the bacteria found inside the macrophages (a type of white blood cells).
  • The researchers undertook several studies to understand the mode of action of the compound. The compound was unable to directly kill TB bacteria when treated with the compound.
  • However, in the case of in vitro studies, the compound was able to kill the bacteria found inside infected cells. In mice infected with TB and treated with the compound, there was significant reduction in the bacterial load in the lungs.
  • Unlike in the case of in vitro studies, in mice the compound was found to activate not only the macrophages but also other cell types (T cells) that led to effective killing of the bacteria.
  • A significant reduction in the number of granulomatic lesions was seen in animals treated with the compound.
  • Also, the bacterial load was 100-fold lower in mice treated with the compound compared with controls (animals that were not treated with bergenin).
  • Previous studies have shown that T helper 1 (Th1) cells play a key role in protecting the host against TB bacteria, while Th2 cells oppose the protection offered by Th1 cells.

Scientists have discovered a new moon orbiting the third largest dwarf planet (Register and Login to read Full News) 

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