Weekly News

July 1 July 7, 2014

Current Affairs
India successfully launches PSLV C-23 with 5 satellites
Launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and
witnessed by PM Narendra Modi
Carried a primary payload of 714 kg French Earth Observation Satellite
SPOT-7 plus 4 lighter satellites
India becomes first country to ratify Marrakesh Treaty
The Marrakesh Treaty facilitates access to published works for blind,
visually impaired or otherwise print disabled people
Signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 28 June 2013
Delhi University undergraduate admissions begin
The much delayed admissions to the three-year undergraduate
programme in Delhi University began on Tuesday after the first cut-off
list was declared
Trial run of Indias fastest train on Delhi-Agra route at 160 kmph
successful
The train covered a distance of 200 km on the New Delhi-Agra route in
100 minutes against the slated time of 90 minutes
4 new vaccines added to Indias Universal Immunization Programme
(UIP)
The vaccines will be against Rotavirus, Rubella and Polio
(injectable) ,which will speed up Indias progress on meeting
the MDG four targets to bring down child mortality by 2/3
rd
by the year
2015 and meet global polio eradication targets
46 abducted Indian nurses in Iraq freed by ISIS
In strife-torn Iraq, all 46 Indian women nurses were suddenly set free by
Sunni militants, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
Later, on Sunday morning, more than 200 Indians were airlifted out of
Iraq and brought back home
International
Egyptian court sentences Muslim Brotherhood leader to life in prison
Mohamed Badie along with 36 other Brotherhood leaders and
supporters sentenced to life imprisonment for inciting violence and
protests
Palestinian teens killing sparks outrage
Mohammad Abu Khedair, 16, was abducted and burned to death in
Jerusalem
Palestinians have accused Israeli extremists of killing him to avenge the
deaths of three Israeli teens whose bodies were discovered
Dubai to build world's largest mall
Dubai is planning to build a temperature-controlled city featuring the
world's largest mall and an indoor park, as well as hotels, health resorts
and theatres
Iraq crisis
Iraqi Islamic State leader purported to make public appearance,
government questions video credibility
Indian nurses abducted in Iraq fly home; nearly 600 more to return by
Monday
Xi set for historic Sri Lanka visit
Chinas President Xi Jinping will this year become the first Chinese head
of state to visit Sri Lanka in three decades
His visit assumes significance to deepen Chinas strategic and economic
presence in the neighborhood and in the Indian Ocean
Andy Coulson gets 18-month jail for phone hacking
The former News of the World editor was convicted for illegal
eavesdropping at the now-defunct Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid
Another former editor, Rebekah Brooks, and four others were acquitted
Business
Govt. to soon finalize amendments to the Companies Act
President of FICCI, CII, Assocham and PHD Chamber of Commerce to hold a dialogue even as India continues to protest over the new law
Reliance Retail set to take on Walmart
Mukesh Ambanis company plans 100 cash and carry stores in the next 2 years
JSW eyes Jaypees power assets
Sajjan Jindal Co. in talks with Manoj Gaur led group amid power M&A buzz
MasterCard and Visa face Big Assault from Govt.s RuPay
State-owned banks to issue RuPay debit cards to all existing customers who do not have debit cards as well as to new clients
RuPay was launched by National Payments Corp of India (NPCI), set up to function as a cost-effective payment services entity
Top-10 Sensex firms added Rs 68,518 cr in market valuation
The market valuation of FMCG major ITC jumped the highest from Rs 10,758.69 crore to Rs 2,65,140.69 crore
Followed by HDFC, ONGC, ICICI bank, L&T , SBI & TCS
Technology
Apple iPhone 6 Release date, price details surface online, 4.7-inch
model to debut mid-September
Smaller model will have a price tag of 51,000 whereas the bigger 5.5-
inch device which is touted to have the moniker iPhone 6 Air (aka
iPhablet) will have a price tag of 58,000
Android L: 10 New Features in the Next Major Android Release
App icons in Android L are based on geometric shapes, which make
them pop and appear more symmetrical. Transitions are expected to be
really smooth in Android L. Google compares it to sliding a sheet of
paper across a table
Airtel Launches 21Mbps 3G Wi-Fi dongle with postpaid cashback
plans
The 3G (HSPA+) dongle by Airtel would offer a maximum of 21.6Mbps
download speed, and 5.76Mbps upload speed. The 3G dongle can also
be converted into a Wi-Fi hotspot once plugged into a laptop, phone
charger or a car stereo system
iWatch coming? Apple approaches Tag Heuer senior VP
Apple has approached senior executive from Swiss luxury watch brand
Tag Heuer, fuelling rumours of launching of iWatch, the closest that
Apple has come to selling a fashion accessory
Light bulb going wireless!
A $129 multi-colour LED light bulb thats almost as easy to install as a
regular bulb. It screws into existing light sockets, but rather than being
turned on and off at a light switch, its wirelessly controlled from an
iPhone or Android phone
Castrol's latest innovation - Magnatec Stop-Start engine oil
Renowned lubricant producer Castrol has launched an innovative
solution to take care of engine life even during stop-start driving
Critical engine parts are thus protected at each stage of stop-start
driving
Sports
Wimbledon 2014
6
th
seed Petra Kvitov from Czech Republic beat 13th seed
Canadas Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 to claim the title for a
second time
No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic wins Wimbledon for the second
time, beating Roger Federer 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4
denying Federer his 18
th
Grand Slam
Football World Cup 2014
Quarter-Finals - Germany beat France 1-0, Brazil beat
Colombia 2-1, Argentina beat Belgium 1-0, Netherlands-Costa
Rica game finished 0-0 in full time. However Netherlands won
4-3 in penalties
Semi-final matchup - Brazil take on Germany and Argentina
take on Netherlands
Cricket
MCC vs. Rest of World - Aaron Finch's unbeaten 181 guided
MCC home, trumping a flowing 132 from Rest of the Worlds
Yuvraj Singh. Marylebone Cricket Club won by 7 wickets
British Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix on Sunday
and slashed Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's Formula
One lead to four points
GROUP DISCUSSION
Was the backlash against Maria Sharapova by Indian netizens
justified?
Yes
Being a world renowned sporting celebrity, it is
expected that she knows her fellow sportsmen
Having a huge fan base in India, antagonizing the
Indian sporting community would be justified since
many in India consider Sachin to be a national
legend
After the fact that Sachin had come to attend
Sharapova's Wimbledon match, it would be
reasonable for fans to expect her to know who
Sachin Tendulkar is
No
The image of Indians across the world would be that
of crazy fanatics after the backlash and would
definitely have a detrimental effect on Indians all
over the world
Only around 12 countries play professional cricket in
the world and it would be unreasonable for any
Russian to expect to know good cricket players, no
matter how famous they are in their home countries
It would be rare for any of the Indians who put
venomous comments online to know any of the
hockey players/women cricket players/ football
players in India, let alone any famous
rugby/polo/Olympic athletes the world over
GROUP DISCUSSION
Was Facebook's emotional contagion experiment ethically or
morally justified?
Yes
In this digital age, it is crucial to know the effect of
digital space on human behaviour. Such experiments
must be encouraged to get a deeper understanding of
the human behaviour with respect to social media
Facebook has all the right to conduct any experiment
since it is their intellectual property and as long as no
people are hurt physically or mentally. Many sites
conduct experiments to figure out ways to enhance
clicks and grab eye balls
The results of this experiment would go a long way in
determining the type of content to put in the digital
space which would prove invaluable for social media
companies in the near future
No
Facebook has no right to mess around emotions of its
users and it is highly unethical of them to conduct
experiments on them without their knowledge
Experiments on this scale require permissions from
governing bodies which FB did not take. This could
prove to be a bad precedence for other sites to
conduct experiments on their users obliviously
If any brick & mortar company were to conduct similar
experiments with their products or services, it would
have had to face strict government action and severe
blowback from ethics committees. Why must web
space companies be exempt from moral or ethical
guidelines?
GROUP DISCUSSION
What is more important to business: Technology or People?
Technology
Cutting edge products are what drive demand
Technology helps in cutting costs, e.g.,
automation and thus contributes to
improved profits
It is the technology that stays with the company,
people leave
People
It is the people who produce the technology
The Company which markets a technology better
wins the race. It is the people who market the
technology
The Company which attracts top talent stays on
top
Take, for instance, Microsoft and Google. In 1990s
Microsoft attracted top talent, thus it was doing
great business. In 2000s top talent preferred
Google over Microsoft and that impacted
Microsofts revenues
Reality
Recent trial of Indias fastest Train on Delhi-Agra
route at 160 km/h (average speed of bullet rain is
350 km/h)
Pet project of the new Prime Minister
Countries much smaller than India including
Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea have developed high-
speed trains
High speed trains reduce travel time by 30%
Hype
Question marks over financial viability, as the
project is capital intensive
The cost of developing high speed corridor
between Mumbai-Ahmedabad is 70,000 crore
Railways are struggling to develop infrastructure
(only 9000 km of tracks have been added since
1947), safety remains major concern
Importing expensive trains to run them at slower
speeds on mixed Indian tracks could hugely
impact Indias long term plans
GROUP DISCUSSION
Fast trains in India Reality or Hype?
Thank you. THATD BE ALL FOR THIS WEEK
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By TEAM MANTAVYA