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Tackling
Ebola grows tougher as many doctors retreat, more than 1 million
affected
World
> Ebola
According to a latest
update issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 128 new cases
of Ebola virus disease, as well as 56 deaths, were reported from
Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone between August 10 and 11,
bringing the total number of cases to 1,975 and deaths to 1,069.
On August 13th,
Guinea declared the Ebola outbreak,that has killed 377 in the nation,
a health emergency. Guinean President Alpha Conde announced a series
of measures including strict controls at border points, travel
restrictions and a ban on moving bodies “from one town to another
until the end of the epidemic”.
Efforts to contain and
treat the Ebola Virus disease has become significantly difficult
following the departure of Western doctors and health workers from
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the 3 countries worst affected by
the disease. It has weakened the already under-staffed health systems
of the country. For example, Liberia has only 250 doctors against a
population of 4 million. Western doctors and health workers are going
back for fear of contracting the disease. Seven doctors in Liberia
have contracted Ebola, and two of them have already died. At least
170 African health workers have contracted the disease and more than
80 have died. Although international organizations, wealthy countries
and charitable groups are providing much needed aid and resources,
the practical problem lies in the shortage of properly-trained
doctors and volunteers to fight the epidemic. Not only African health
workers, an American doctor, Dr. Kent Brantly, had also been
infected. He is now being treated in an Atlanta hospital after
receiving ZMapp, an experimental drug. ZMapp has also been flown in
from America at the request of the Liberian President. A huge
increase in aid is needed to fight the disease. However, airlines
have canceled flights that could have carried in such supplies,
despite assurances from the W.H.O. that properly screened passengers
pose little risk. The American military has trained over 230 Liberian
soldiers to use protective equipment and support health efforts and
financial aid is also pouring in from the World Bank to help buy
supplies, provide food and hazardous duty pay to health workers in
hopes of attracting back some of those who fled their jobs in fear.
Despite all efforts, the situation is grim because of fear and
miscommunication. Protestors had looted an Ebola quarantine center in
Liberia because they didn’t want such a center in the community.
Health care workers are treating community members as
disease-carriers rather than as humans with families. Only an
increased number of trained infectious-diseases doctors and C.D.C.
experts along with a proven medicine and proper communication in
disease-prone areas can now bring the diseases under control.
Modi’s
‘Swachh Bharat’ call gets Rs 200 crore from TCS, Bharti
Politics
and Government >
Swachh Bharat
Mission
In his Independence Day
speech, PM Narendra Modi had asked everyone to be a part of the
'Swachh Bharat' campaign and to make it a public movement rather than
just a government mission. His call has evoked a quick response from
two major corporates. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Bharti
Foundation, an arm of Bharti Enterprises have announced a total
expenditure of Rs 200 crore as part of their CSR initiatives to
construct toilets in schools. Tata Consultancy Services announced it
would finance hygienic sanitation facilities for girl students across
10,000 schools in the country and said it would spend Rs 100 crore
for this initiative. Bharti Foundation announced an initiative named
'Satya Bharti Abhiyan' to improve rural household sanitation
facilities in Punjab. The foundation has decided to adopt Ludhiana,
the home district of the founders of Bharti and invest up to Rs 100
crore in constructing toilets over the next three years. On August
15, Oriental Bank of Commerce was the first to earmark Rs 2 crore to
construct over 200 toilets for girls and boys in government primary
schools in villages.
Others
FIR
filed against Google over Mapathon 2013
Corporate
> Google
A case against Google
has been registered for collecting classified data, which is in
violation of the National Map Policy 2005. Google organised 'Mapathon
2013' competition which collected data, including classified data.
"An FIR has been lodged by Survey of India with the Delhi Police
in February, 2013" union minister Jitendra Singh said. Presently
CBI is investigating the case.
Saudi
Arabia gives UN $100 million to fight terrorism
World>
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia on
Wednesday gave $100 million to the United Nations to support
counter-terrorism efforts and called on other countries to do the
same. Saudi Arabia had earlier given $500 million to support the UN
effort to help Iraqi refugees fleeing a jihadist offensive launched
by the Sunni militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS).
Ukraine
crisis takes toll on Germany, Eurozone’s largest economy
World
> Ukraine
Crisis
The Ukraine crisis
involving sanctions on Russia and counter sanctions from Russia seems
to have taken its toll on the German economy. Germany, which accounts
for more than one-fourth of the overall Eurozone economy, is
witnessing an economic struggle and a steep decline in economic
sentiment. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
put forward an analysis on Monday which said that growth in Germany
had slowed and an official report said that German factories had
produced far less than expected in June. The dispute between the West
and Russia over Ukraine has led to sanctions and counter-sanctions
from the United States and Europe on the one hand and Russia on the
other. While Russia’s share of the global economy is small, about 3
percent, it is one of Germany’s 10 largest trading partners and
nearly 300,000 German jobs depend on exports to Russia. The Eurozone
which had emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2011 had
never fully recovered from the global financial crisis and the
sovereign debt crisis that shook Spain and Italy with punishingly
high borrowing costs and led to bailouts for Cyprus, Greece, Ireland
and Portugal. Italy has fallen back into recession and France, the
Eurozone’s second biggest economy has witnessed moribund growth. A
further escalation of the Ukraine crisis could start to seriously
hurt the economy and hence strengthening domestic demand and
investment should be the top priority at the moment.
Adani
Power to buy Lanco's 1200 MW Udupi thermal plant for Rs 6000 cr
Corporate
> Adani
Group
Adani Power will
acquire Lanco Infratech's 1,200 MW Udupi thermal plant in a deal
worth over Rs 6,000 crore. The deal comes less than three weeks after
Reliance Power agreed to acquire three hydel projects of Jaypee
Group. Adani Power, which is part of Adani Group, was also in the
race for those hydro plants.
While 90% of the
electricity generated from the plant is supplied to Karnataka, the
remaining is given to Punjab.
According to Lanco
Infratech, the Udupi plant is the first independent power project in
the country based on 100% import coal with a captive jetty of four
million tons per annum and an external coal handling system in the
new Mangalore Port Trust.
UK
to suspend sale of military equipment to Israel
World
> UK -
Israel
The British government
will suspend some of its arms exports to Israel if hostilities resume
in Gaza due to concerns that the British-made products could be used
by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). A statement from the Department
of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said that they had
identified 12 arms export licenses that included the sale of
equipment used by the Israeli army in Gaza. The licenses relate to
military equipment including “components for military radar
systems, combat aircraft and tanks.
British authorities
have come under increasing fire for what many have perceived as a
muted response to the Israeli military assault on the Strip. Their
failure to openly condemn Israel’s actions led to the resignation
of Conservative Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi, who called
the government’s policy on Gaza “morally indefensible”.
Britain’s
economy recovers but wages slip
World
> Britain
The Bank of England on
Wednesday raised slightly its forecasts for growth and inflation in
Britain, and gave further indications that it was moving closer to
gradually increasing its key interest rates if wages improve.
The central bank is
concerned about slower growth in pay in Britain, as wages including
bonuses dipped in the second quarter from a year ago, and it lowered
its annual outlook for wage growth this year. The decline in wages
could present a challenge to Britain’s continued recovery, which
has outpaced other parts of Europe. In the Inflation Report, the
bank predicted that the British economy would grow at an annual pace
of 3.5 percent in 2014, slightly faster than the 3.4 percent growth
it had forecast in May. For 2015, the bank maintained its estimate of
2.9 percent annual growth. The bank expects unemployment to
fall to below 6 percent by the end of the year.
Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait to abide by U.N. blacklisting of citizens
World
> Saudi
Arabia
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
agreed to comply with a United Nations resolution aimed at stopping
financing for Islamist militant groups in Syria and Iraq after four
of their nationals were named among a group blacklisted by the
international body.
The UN Security Council
had unanimously adopted a resolution intended to weaken the Islamic
State - an al Qaeda splinter group that has seized swaths of
territory in Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate - and al Qaeda's
Syrian wing, Nusra Front. Under the resolution, the six people will
be subject to an international travel ban, asset freeze and arms
embargo.
Dot
Bharat domain to roll out on August 21
India
> Dot
Bharat domain
Minister of
Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad would be unveiling
the dot Bharat domain name on August 21 in New Delhi, which would
facilitate multi-lingual Internet access. It is being said that
having domain names in the Indian languages would boost Internet
penetration in the country and would help drive the local content and
related services in the remote and rural areas of the country.
The autonomous body
National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and the Centre for
Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is working together to
provide the dot Bharat domain name and it can be registered in
several languages with Devnagari scripts. Some of the languages
include Marathi, Nepali, Konkani, Bodo and Maithili.
China
steps us strict anti-monopoly scrutiny, finds Mercedes-Benz guilty of
price manipulation
Corporate
> Mercedes-Benz
The Chinese government
has in recent years stepped up its enforcement of a 2008
anti-monopoly law, bringing several multinational companies across
various sectors under the radar. Authorities in China have found
German car maker Daimler AG's luxury brand division Mercedes-Benz
guilty of manipulating the prices of its spare parts, repair and
maintenance services in downstream markets by using its leading
market position. In such cases, China’s anti-trust regulator, the
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), can impose fines
of up to 10 percent of a company's Chinese revenues for the previous
year. The auto industry has witnessed a wave of investigations
prompting carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen AG's Audi, and
BMW to slash prices on spare parts in recent weeks. Early this month
the NDRC said it would punish Audi and Fiat SpA's Chrysler for
monopoly practices. The Chinese government is also conducting an
anti-monopoly probe into US tech giant Microsoft Corp. and US
chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. Almost 100 government antitrust investigators
had simultaneously visited four of Microsoft’s offices across China
last month and interrogated a company vice president and other senior
managers, copied contracts and financial records, and downloaded
large amounts of internal data from the company’s computer servers.
Similar actions have taken place in foreign companies that cover
sectors such as technology, car parts, pharmaceuticals, jewelry
retailing and food packaging. While many multinationals feel that the
regulations are intended primarily to promote big, powerful
state-owned companies, China says that it is using the law to protect
the interests of consumers.
Israel
partially lifts fishing ban within three nautical miles off Gaza
shores
World
>
Israel
Israel has partially
lifted its fishing ban in Gaza to allow fishing within three nautical
miles off Gaza shores. The move is a goodwill gesture for reaching a
deal which would end Israel's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza which
was launched on July 8, as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are
still conducting indirect talks in Cairo. While Israel was launching
its military operation in Gaza in July, the Palestinians said that
its military enforced a 500-metre restriction on fishing, comparing
with a previous distance of three nautical miles off shore.
Cybercriminals
using Ebola fear as bait to infect PCs: Symantec
World
> Cybercrimes
According to a new
report by Symantec, a group of cyber criminals are using the Ebola
epidemic in West Africa as bait to steal passwords via emails.
Symantec says that
cyber criminals are sending unsuspecting users emails with fake Ebola
reports as attachments. Users who download the attachments get an
infection of the Trojan.Zbot malware. Hackers are also sending emails
impersonating a major telecom provider with a presentation on the
Ebola virus.
Ebola, which is a
severe epidemic in West Africa, has no known cure. Cyber criminals
are using an email talking about a possible drug that cures Ebola
virus to lure users into opening in the emails.
34
state-owned PSUs operate without a chief executive despite Companies
ACT 2013 mandate
Politics
and government > PSUs
As of July 15, more
than 34 central PSUs are operating without a chief executive or a
full-time chairman or managing director for the last 4 years. Reasons
for the vacancies include the scrapping of recommended panel of
candidates by the government, delays in obtaining vigilance clearance
or approval of competent authority and court cases filed by those
lower down in the empanelment process. According to the new Companies
Act 2013, delays in appointments of the top posts in companies are in
violations of the provisions of the legislation. Also according to
the Companies Act 2013, appointment of a MD, chairman or CMD is vital
to the enforcement of corporate governance norms. The CMD’s post is
lying vacant in such state-owned companies as Coal India Ltd, , BSNL,
NHPC, IRCTC, ONGC Videsh and MTNL to name a few.
Pakistan
stock market suffers Rs. 350 bn due to protests
World
> Pakistan
Pakistan’s capital
market has suffered a loss of around Rs. 350 billion due to anti-
government protests which have been going on for 5 days now. Finance
Minister Ishaq Dar said that the protests have hit the national
economy which has shown signs of recovery after hectic efforts by the
PML-N government. The government has announced to form two
multi-party panel to hold talks with the protest leaders.
So far the protests
have been peaceful but there are fears that violence may breakout if
protesters tried to invade the high security ‘Red Zone’, where
the Parliament, the President and the Prime Minister’s residences
and embassies are located.
Telengana
government conducts controversial household survey, state at
standstill
Politics
and government > Telengana
Telengana Chief
Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had announced an 'Intensive household
survey 2014' to be conducted across the state. It was announced that
nearly 4 lakh enumerators will survey 84 lakh households on August
19. The survey has raised eyebrows and generated a lot of
controversy. Although the state government says that the survey is
intended to eliminate false beneficiaries of government welfare
schemes, a strong rumour is there that those who miss out on the
survey will lose property and other rights. Residents of Hyderabad
who originally came from Andhra areas feel that the survey will be
used to profile them and use the information against them. Pharmacy
staff and milk suppliers too were unwilling to miss out on the
survey. The government declared holidays under the Shops and
Establishment Act. The state came to a standstill on the day.
Prominent IT companies and eating joints remained shut. Autos stayed
off roads and most buses were booked by the government to ferry
enumerators. Over 650 fuel stations were shut throughout the day. The
survey which went on till midnight will cover the remaining
households on Wednesday.
Married
daughter part of parents’ family: Bombay HC
India
> Court
Verdict
In a landmark order,
the Bombay high court has ruled that a married daughter does not stop
being a part of her parents' family. The state's rules that
discriminate against a married daughter and exclude her from the
purview of the expression "family" were unconstitutional
and infringed on fundamental rights, ruled a division bench of
Justices Abhay Oka and A S Chandurkar in a case of transfer of a
kerosene retail licence.
The state government
rules say "family" includes the husband, wife, major son,
major unmarried daughter, daughter-in-law, dependent parents, legal
heir and adopted son. A divorced daughter could be considered part of
the family, but any licence granted would be revoked if she
remarried.
The high court pointed
out that according to the state's rules, a major daughter before her
marriage would be eligible to be treated as a member of the family of
her parents who have been granted a retail licence. Similarly, a
divorced daughter, too, would fall within the definition of family.
But even if a married daughter is supporting her parents in their old
age, she would be excluded from being considered for a retail licence
held by them when they pass away.
Islamic
State militants behead US journalist, release video
World
> Iraq
Islamic State militants
posted a video on Tuesday allegedly showing the beheading of an US
journalist James Foley and images of another US journalist, Steven
Joel Sotloff, whose life they said depended on how the United States
acts in Iraq. The video titled "A Message to America"
talked about serious consequences to the American air-strikes in
Iraq. It follows a video posted on Monday, warning of attacks on
American targets if Washington strikes against its fighters in Iraq
and Syria. The recent beheading video warns America that it is no
longer fighting an insurgency but an Islamic army and a state that
has been accepted by a large number of Muslims worldwide. The
kneeling man in the video who was beheaded calls his friends, family
and loved ones to rise up against his ‘real killers, the US
government’, because of what happened to him ‘as a result of
their complacency and criminality’. The White House said that it
was working to determine the authenticity of the video and expressed
condolences to Foley’s family and friends. Obama aides however said
that the President was determined not to put US combat forces on the
ground in Iraq.
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