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  • Current Affairs 19th July 2014

    Updated : 19-Jul-2014

    Current Affairs 19th July 2014 - Important Points

    Current Affairs 19th July 2014 - Details

    FIFA world rankings 2014

    On 17th July 2014, FIFA released 2014 rankings. Germany is on the top with 1724 Points.

    Following are the top 20 teams : 

    • Germany
    • Argentina
    • Netherlands
    • Colombia
    • Belgium
    • Uruguay
    • Brazil
    • Spain
    • Switzerland
    • France
    • Portugal
    • Chile
    • Greece
    • Italy
    • USA
    • Costa Rico
    • Croatia
    • Mexico
    • Bosnia and Herzegovina
    • England

    If we talk about India rank then it is 151.

    Philipp Lahm Announces Retirement from International football

     On 18th July 2014, captain of Germany's football team Philipp Lahm announced his retirement from international game. He was the caption of Germany football team which won the 20th FIFA world cup on 13th July 2014. Philipp Lahm is 30 year old, he will continue to play for his club side, where he renewed his contract till 2018 before the World Cup. He started playing for club side at the age of 11.

    Well he retires from international football with the World Cup under arm, Best Wishes for his future.

    Mercy appeal of Nithari serial killer and 5 others rejected by President

    On 18th July 2014, the President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee rejected the mercy petitions of Nithari serial killer Surinder Koli and five other death row convicts. Other five convicts are Renukabai and Seema (Maharashtra), Koli (Uttar Pradesh), Rajendra Pralhadrao Wasnik (Mahasrashtra), Jagdish (Madhya Pradesh) and Holiram Bordoloi (Assam).

    The President rejected the mercy petitions of the six death row convicts on the advice of the Union Home Ministry which rejected the mercy petitions of all the convicts on 18 June 2014.

    Global Innovation Index 2014 released by WIPO

    On 18th July 2014, The Global Innovation Index 2014 (GII) was released at the B20 Australia Summit held in Sydney. The 2014 Index was released by the Australia's industry minister Ian Macfarlane. GII 2014 in its 9th edition covers 143 countries around the world and uses 81 indicators across a range of theme.

    The theme of the GII 2014 is Human Factor in Innovation and the main authors of the GII 2014 are Soumitra Dutta, Bruno Lanvin, and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent. 

    Switzerland (First), the United Kingdom (Second) and Sweden (third) topped this year’s Global Innovation Index, while Sub-Saharan Africa posted significant regional improvement in the annual rankings published by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization.Finland, the Netherlands, USA were ranked fourth, fifth and Sixth. 

    The BRICS economies show signs of divergence, with China improving at a significantly faster pace than its BRICS counterparts and India slipping back.

    India fell from the 66th position to the 76th on the index, thus India became only one nation aming BRICS which slipped back. 

    About The Global Innovation Index :

    The Global Innovation Index (GII) was first published in 2007. It is the result of collaboration between Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

    Genetic Blueprint of Bread Wheat Genome Unveiled by IWGSC scientists

    The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) to which India is a partner published in the international journal Science a draft sequence of the bread wheat genome. Ten years back wheat was considered as toughest crop to decode because of the genome being 17000 million bases and each chromosome is represented three times with very high similarity to each other. Technological advances made in recent years and development of specialized wheat lines   in 1950s made it possible to isolate individual chromosomes of wheat for sequencing. The chromosome-based draft sequence provides new insight into the structure, organization, and evolution of the large, complex genome of the world's most widely grown cereal crop. Country's three leading institutes, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, and South Campus Delhi University, New Delhi, with financial support from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, were entrusted with the responsibility of decoding one chromosome, designated as 2A, which is about 900 million bases in size and is about one third the size of the human genome or 2.5 times the size of rice genome.

    • The unveiling of genome sequence of wheat will make possible the increase in wheat productivity and better resistance to climate change.
    • It will facilitate mapping and cloning of genes of agronomic importance in much lesser time and at a cheaper cost due to recognition of many gene markers during the sequencing.
    • It will ensure food security and the development of sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change and growing population. 

    Bolivia becomes first nation to legalise child labour from age 10

    Bolivia has become the first country to legalise child labour after a law was signed by Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera. Bolivia passed a law to legalise child labour for kids from age 10. The bill was approved by Bolivian Congress in June 2014.

    Under the legislation, 10-year-olds will be able to work as long as they are under parental supervision and also attend school. It sets 12 as the minimum age for a child to work under contract. They also would have to attend school. The bill also offers safeguards for working children like the bill sets harsher punishment of 30 years for violence against children.

    The law to lower the age in which children can legally work, is all part of the Bolivian government's plan to help Bolivians living in poverty. 

    Current Affairs 2014