Current Affairs 28th July 2017

Current Affairs 28th July 2017 - Important Points

• Glow-in-the-dark shark in Pacific Ocean discovered by - Scientists
• World Hepatitis Day 2017 observed globally on - 28th July 2017
• ‘Total Independence’ from World Bank and IMF declared by - Bolivian President
• Memorandum signed to facilitate taxation cooperation by - BRICS nations
• New Chief Minister appointed for Bihar - Nitish Kumar
• Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial in Rameswaram inaugurated by - PM Modi
• Rocket designed to carry satellites launched by - Iran
• App launched for Earthquake Parameter Dissemination by - National Centre for Seismology
• Amazon's Jeff Bezos becomes world’s richest person on - 27th July 2017
• No immediate arrest under dowry harassment law, stated by - Supreme Court

Current Affairs 28th July 2017 - Details

Glow-in-the-dark shark in Pacific Ocean discovered by - Scientists

A group of scientists have discovered a new species of glow-in-the-dark shark in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The shark has an unusually large nose, with a weight of less than a kilo and measures less than a foot.
It is a member of the lanternshark family and it's been named Etmopterus lailae. This shark lives 1000 feet deep down the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the northwestern Hawaiian islands. This discovery was recently published in the journal Zootaxa.

Key highlights

• The Etmopterus lailae is highly understudied because of its size and its habitat in very deep water.
• They are not easily visible or accessible unlike many other sharks.
• The characteristics and unique features of this new species really sets it apart from the other lanternsharks.
• Its strange head shape and an unusually large and bulgy snout where its nostrils and olfactory organs are located.
• The species lives in a deep sea environment with almost zero light; therefore, they have a big sniffer to find food.
• Some of its other distinctive characteristics include its flank markings that go forth and back on their bellies and a naked patch without scales on the underside of its snout.
• These bio-luminescent sharks have flanks on their belly bottoms that glow in the dark.
• The markings on its belly and tail were also specific to this new species.

World Hepatitis Day 2017 observed globally on - 28th July 2017

The World Hepatitis Day was observed globally on 28th July 2017 with the theme "Eliminate Hepatitis" to mobilize intensified action plans towards the health targets for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The aim of the theme is towards achieving elimination of hepatitis, increased diagnosis including universal vaccination,greater awareness, blood and injection safety, harm reduction and treatment.
Key Highlights

• 11 countries carry almost 50 percent of the global burden of chronic hepatitis- Indonesia, Mongolia,Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Uganda, Vietnam, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan,.
• 17 countries have high prevalence and account for 70 percent of the global burden of Hepatitis - Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia,Cambodia, Cameroon, Philippines,Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nepal, Peru.
• Approximately 3.25 billion people living with chronic hepatitis in 2015, with 257 million people living with hepatitis B (HBV) infection and 71 million people with hepatitis C (HCV).
• The most effective current hepatitis B treatment 'Tenofovir' is available for as low as USD 48 per year in many of the developing income countries.
• Also, Hepatitis C can be cured completely with DAAs (direct acting antivirals) within 3 months. However, as of 2015, only 7 percent of the 71 million people with chronic hepatitis C had their vaccination access.
• Only 9 percent of HBV-infected people and 20 percent of HCV-infected people had been tested and diagnosed by the end of 2015.

‘Total Independence’ from World Bank and IMF declared by - Bolivian President

Bolivia’s President Eva Morales declared that his nation has achieved “total independence” from the IMF and the World Bank in July 2017. This news was declared by President Morales on his official twitter account.

On the other hand, President Morales accused world powers of intervening in oil rich countries like Iraq, Libya, and Venezuela to “appropriate resources”. “As Mercosur nations or organizations of America, we can be complicited in a U.S. intervention in Venezuela,” he tweeted.
The President’s comments came as Bolivia begins its process to be a full member of the Mercosur, also called the Southern Common Market, that includes Paraguay,Argentina, Brazil,Venezuela and Uruguay.
As of now, Bolivia has served as an associate member along with Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname.

In the past, Bolivia has relied heavily on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans to fund their socialist government expenditures.
President Morales has even previously jibed that Bolivia's past dependence on these agencies was so great that the IMF had an office in government
headquarters and even used to participate in their meetings.
President Morales became its first indigenous leader back in 2006, and rose to power after the nation’s popular uprising known as “The Cochabamba Water War”,
which occurred in 2000, and was waged against the U.S.-based Bechtel Corporation over water privatization dispute.
The World Bank at the time, which was closely associated with the Bechtel Corporation, shed light on the growing debt issues facing the country through policy publications.
teleSUR latest report indicated that some of Bolivia’s largest resistance struggles in the past 60 years have targeted the economic policies carried out by the IMF and the World Bank.

Memorandum signed to facilitate taxation cooperation by - BRICS nations

The 2017 BRICS Labour and Employment ministers meeting that concluded in Chongqing, China on 27th July 2017 concluded with the signing of the BRICS Taxation Cooperation Memorandum.
The document, signed by the Heads of Tax Authorities of the five BRICS Nations, aiming to establish a mechanism for taxation cooperation and is the bloc's first document elevating taxation cooperation to the institutional level.

The authorities also agreed to cooperate on improve consultation procedures efficiency,taxation information exchange, boost taxation capacities and plan paths for coordination of taxation policies and tax collection. Other than this, all of the five nations agreed to work together to ensure stable employment and better quality of life for their coutries. The meeting came prior to the 2017 BRICS Summit, which is scheduled to be held in Xiamen, China from 3rd to 5th September 2017.

More about BRICS

• BRICS is an association of five major emerging national economies- Brazil, Russia,China, India and South Africa,established in 2009.
• Before this, the informal group conceived by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs,was comprising just four nations. After joining South Asia in 2011, it became BRICS.
• All BRICS members are of the G-20 group and either developing or newly industrialised countries.
• These nations have approximately 42 percent of the world's population.
• Their total share in the global economy has grown from 12 percent to 23 percent in the past decade, with contribution of more than half of global growth.
• Eight BRICS summits have taken place till date. The first formal summit was held in 2009 at Yekaterinburg in Russia.

New Chief Minister appointed for Bihar - Nitish Kumar

Nitish Kumar, who resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar citing circumstances prevailing in Bihar, swore in as the Chief Minister of the state on 27th July 2017 with Bharatiya Janata Party as a partner of his Janata Dal-United. After this, he has become the Chief Minister of Bihar for the sixth time.

At the Raj Bhavan in Patna, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administered the oath of office to Nitish Kumar . Along with this, BJP’s Sushil Kumar was sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. A floor test will be taking place on 28th July 2017.

Earlier on 26th July 2017, Nitish Kumar resigned and dumped his Grand Alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress on 26th July 2017 and tied a deal with his former rivals BJP-led NDA shortly after his resignation. 

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial in Rameswaram inaugurated by - PM Modi

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam memorial at Pei Karumbu, Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu on 27th July 2017.
The PM removed the covering from statue of Dr. Kalam, and offered floral tribute at Kalam Sthal.
In addition, the Prime Minister flagged off the Kalam Sandesh Vahini, an exhibition bus which shall travel across various States of the country and reach Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 15 October 2017, which marks the birth anniversary of the former President.
More about Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

• Born on 15th October 1931 in Rameswaram, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was the 11th President of India between 2002 and 2007.
• He studied physics and aerospace engineering.
• He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• He was also intimately involved in India's civilian space program and military missile development efforts.
• He was best known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.
• On 27th July 2015, while giving a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, he unfortunately collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest at the age of 83.

Rocket designed to carry satellites launched by - Iran

Iran successfully launched its most advanced satellite-carrying rocket called ‘Simorgh’ into space on 27th July 2017. The launch took place at the Imam Khomeini National Space Station in Semnan, somewhere around 220 kilometers (138 miles) east of Tehran. The development marks a significant step towards the Islamic Republic's young space program.
It also has raised alarm among the nation’s adversaries who fear that the same technology could be used to produce long-range missiles. This launch is termed as provocative by the U.S State department
The rocket is capable of carrying a satellite weighing upto 250 kilograms (550 pounds).
Important Highlights

• Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit over the past decade.
• A monkey was launched into space in 2013.
• However, the country recently abandoned its plans of potentially sending humans into the orbit stating cost involvement as the main reason.
• Iran’s satellite-launch program falls under the country’s defense ministry responsibility, which has denied that the space program is a cover for weapon development.
• The head of Iran’s space agency expressed interest along with the cooperation of NASA for the first-time ever in October 2016.
• The nation will be sharing its scientific findings and satellite data with other countries too.

App launched for Earthquake Parameter Dissemination by - National Centre for Seismology

Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forests & Climate Change launched an app India Quake for Earthquake Parameter Dissemination on 27th July 2017. This application was launched on the occasion of Foundation Day of Ministry of Earth Sciences in New Delhi.

Important highlights of National Center for Seismology

• It operates national seismological network with 84 stations.
• For real time data communication, these stations are connected to NCS headquarter via very small aperture These stations are connected to NCS headquarter through Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) for real time data communication.
• In case of an earthquake, NCS locates them using data from its network and spread earthquake parameters to all the concerned government department and other stake holders through email, SMS and fax, but this method causes delay in dissemination and also restricts the number of recipients.
• To overcome this, the NCS developed a Mobile App India Quake for automatic dissemination of earthquake parameter (time, location and magnitude) after the earthquakes occurrence.
• The App will be doing information dissemination faster with no restrictions on the number of recipients.
• Anyone can download this App and get the real time earthquake location information on his/her mobile.
• Other than administrative and scientific benefits of the App, it will be helping in reducing panic amongst people during an earthquake.
• For example, if an earthquake occurs in Afghanistan, Hindukush region and is strongly felt in Delhi, then people in Delhi will get to know about this in less than 2 minutes that the earthquake has actually occurred in Afghanistan and not in Delhi.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos becomes world’s richest person on - 27th July 2017

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon became the world’s richest man on 27th July 2017, putting back Microsoft founder Bill Gates from this position briefly. With a jump in the share price of the US tech giant, Bezos's net worth topped $90.5 billion in the morning of 27th July which was slightly ahead of Bill Gates’ estimated worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes and Bloomberg.
However, a dip in Amazon's stock price in the afternoon made him slip back to $88.8 billion, behind Gates whose net worth is estimated to be $89.8 billion. Gates has been the world’s richest person since 2013 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Key Highlights

• The vast majority of the Bezos’ fortune is tied up in Amazon stock, of which he owns nearly 17%.
  Amazon, which started off initially as an online retailer, has now entered into various other fields including cloud computing, online video, computer hardware and artificial intelligence.
• Bezos’ stake alone in the diversified tech firm is worth $83 billion.
• Such a high value of the stake also means that his net worth value could fall as quickly as it rises, should Amazon's stock decline or Microsoft's value rise.
• Overall, in the past four months, Amazon shares have risen by almost 24 percent, adding approximately $17 billion to the net worth of the 53-year-old Bezos.
• As per the report published in Forbes, Gates has been the richest person in the magazine's annual rankings in March for the past four years and for 18 of the last 22 years.
• Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim is the only person to have overtaken Gates for the period of 4 years between 2010 and 2013.
• Besides Amazon, Bezos also owns the Washington Post newspaper and the private space firm Blue Origin.
• Bezos has also given around $100 million for charitable causes and recently he asked Twitter users for ideas for charitable donations that could have an impact on the world.
• Among the current lot of tech leaders, the billionaire who is fast gaining ground is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has an estimated worth of some $71.3 billion according to the real-time Forbes estimate.

No immediate arrest under dowry harassment law, stated by - Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled that the police cannot arrest the accused without conducting a preliminary inquiry under dowry harassment cases on 27th July 2017.

The court puts an end to immediate arrests in dowry harassment cases, under Section 498A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) with this verdict. The ruling was made by a bench of Justices A K Goel and UU Lalit.
Key Highlights

• The court held that arrests in dowry harassment cases, where the maximum punishment is up to 7 years in jail, cannot be made on a belief that the accused may have committed the offense.
• There has to be enough proofs to show that the arrest was necessary to prevent the accused from committing offense any further.
• Also the bench made it clear that its directions will not be extending to cases of tangible injury or death.
• The court directed states to set up a Family Welfare Committees (FWC) comprising 3 members in every district across the nation to keep an eye whether complaints are genuine or not.
• As per the reports, wives of working officers, social workers, para-legal volunteers, retired persons and other citizens who may be found suitable and willing can become committee members.
• Also, these committee members will not be considered as witnesses.
• The court also ruled that every complaint under Section 498A received by the police or the Magistrate should be referred to and looked into by such a committee.
• No arrest should be affected till the report of the committee is received.
• The report will then be considered by the Investigating Officer or the Magistrate on its own merit.
• The court also directed that a designated police officer should be appointed to deal with complaints under Section 498A.