Current Affairs July 1, 2015

DOWNLOAD PDF

1. New Case marks Ebola’s return to Liberia: Liberian authorities have quarantined the Nedowein area where the corpse of a 17-year-old boy was found with Ebola, sparking fears this West African country could face another outbreak of the Ebola disease nearly two months after being declared Ebola-free.
2. CORE SECTOR GROWTH AT 4.4% IN MAY: The index of eight core industries increased by 4.4 percent in May 2015 to 178.6, compared to its level in May 2014. This is the fastest growth since November 2014, and follows two straight months of contraction. Among the core sectors, the refinery products has shown the fastest growth during May 2015 at 7.9 percent.
3. Alibaba Group in talks to buy stake in Paytm: The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is in advanced talks to invest in Indian an online payment platform and e-commerce Paytm. This new deals would see Alibaba directly invest around $600 million in this Indian company.
4. Survey to trace Indian pangolin in 9 districts of TN: Indian pangolins are listed as endangered as they are subject to poaching and hunting mainly for their meat and scales. To save this nocturnal mammal, a team of wildlife scientists is planning to conduct a survey of this species in nine districts in the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu.
5. No move to scrap Sec 377, says Gowda: Law minister Sadananda Gowda denied that the government was considering scrapping of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) to decriminalize homosexuality.
6. A leap second added to time on 30th June Midnight: The International time arbiters in the Paris Observatory have decided to add a leap second to the world’s clock. The International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service ruled earlier this year that a tiny pause was needed to account for a gradual slowing down in the earth rotation.
7. For first time, ISIS beheads female civilians in Syria: The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadis have beheaded two women in Syria, the first time it has decapitated female civilians. The two ladies were beheaded along with their husbands and were accused of sorcery.
8. Father of SMS passes away: Matti Makkonen, known as the father of SMS after developing a idea of sending message via mobile networks, has died. Makkonen , a Finnish national, passed away on 26th June at the age of 63 following serious illness.
9. Solar impulse is crossing Pacific Ocean: Solar Impulse, a fuel-free aircraft flying only on sunshine, harnessed through 17,000 solar cells is now soaring over the Pacific Ocean in its record-making 35,000km trip around the world. If solar Impulse succeeds, it will be a breakthrough a aviation and environmentalism and human endeavour.
10. Under amended law, insurers will find it difficult to reject consumer claims: Life Insurance companies will find it almost impossible to reject claims in future to because of an amendment to a provision in the Insurance Act that allowed companies to call into question policies taken years ago. In the past, Life insurers could avoid liability if they could prove that there was mis-statement or non-disclosure of material facts in the insured’s proposal form. With the amendment to Section 45 of the Insurance Act, the entire investigation process has been scrapped.
11. Mahila bank may merge with SBI: Former finance minister P Chidambaram’s brainchild the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, launched only 20 months ago, may be merged with the State Bank of India. The merger proposal is being discussed within the government considering that the newly started bank will find it a challenge to build a distribution reach.
12. Cognizant BFSI profits eclipse tech behemoths: Cognizant’s incremental revenues in the banking, financial services, and Insurance (BFSI) vertical was the highest among IT firms in 2014-15, the first time in recent years that it overtook TCS in the metric.
13. Dalal Street Braces for a Healthy Run of IPOs: In a big day for IPOs, atleast three companies --low cost carrier Indigo, staffing firm Team Lease and e-tailer Infibeam --have lined up public offers to raise over Rs. 3000 crore from investors.
14. Bharti Airtel Becomes 3rd Largest Telecom Carrier in the World: Bharti Airtel has become the world’s third largest mobile carrier by subscribers behind china mobile and UK’S Vodafone Group.
15. The Union Home Ministry has added security clause for foreign companies: All foreign companies investing defence, telecom and private security sector will have to sign “National security clause” that will empower the government to terminate their operation if they violate national security provision or indulge in money laundering.