Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 August 2015

:: International ::

Starting Wednesday, the micro-blogging site Twitter lifted the 140-character limit for its 300 million-plus users to send direct messages, an Indian-origin Twitter official has announced.
In a post on the official Twitter blog, Twitter product manager Sachin Agarwal wrote: "If you've checked your Direct Messages today, you may have noticed that something's missing: the limitation of 140 characters.
You can now chat on (and on) in a single Direct Message, and likely still have some characters left over."
While Twitter is largely a public experience, Direct Messages let you have private conversations about the memes, news, movements, and events that unfold on Twitter.

Google's huge new restructuring into a company called Alphabet seems to have been predicted on Reddit a year ago.
The search giant has launched a surprise new name, and will now be folded into a parent company called Alphabet.
But the news might not have surprised one person, who put together a remarkably prescient image that appears to predict the change.
In a post titled "The New Age Alphabet: Google A to Google Z", Redditor Ojus Naravane shared an image they had put together of Google products, showing how together they could take over each of the 26 letters.
The post shows the huge array of Google products that now exist, in addition to its famous search.
That's exactly what Google's looking to emphasize with the new name — that it is now a phone network, a mapping company, a library and a video giant, as well as a search engine.
Google has been considering the move for the last four years, according to Business Insider, and it has certainly been setting up and acquiring companies that will now live under the Alphabet rather than Google banner.
But the alphabet prediction is presumably the result of good luck and coincidence, rather than prediction or insider knowledge.

The Cabinet cleared a proposal on Wednesday that had suggested allowing telcos to share spectrum in the same band in order to reduce call drops.
Telcos will now be able to share their unused spectrum thereby enhancing network quality and reducing operational costs.
There was no decision on spectrum trading norms, which is expected to lead to greater consolidation in the sector.
Spectrum sharing would be allowed only where both the licensees have spectrum in the same band and leasing of spectrum will not be permitted, the statement added.
Besides, sharing may be permitted where both entities possess spectrum for which market price has been paid. Spectrum usage charge (SUC) will be levied on the entire spectrum holding in a particular band and all access spectrum, including traded spectrum, will be sharable.
According to the release, SUC rate of each of the licensees post-sharing shall increase by 0.5 per cent of aggregate gross revenue.
However, in respect of spectrum in 800 MHz (CDMA) acquired in the auction held in March 2013, sharing of spectrum shall be permitted only if differential of latest auction price and March 2013 auction price on prorata basis on the balance period of right to use the spectrum is paid.
The shortfall of natural gas in the country is set to widen over the next couple of years and then stabilise by 2017-18, according to data presented by the Minister of Petroleum and

According to the Minister, India’s natural gas production would touch 46.3 billion cubic metres (BCM) in 2017-18, up from the 33.6 BCM achieved in 2014-15.
However, the improvement over this year is to be minimal, with the Ministry projecting only 33.86 BCM to be produced in 2015-16, a 0.6 per cent improvement over the previous year.
The data presented in Parliament shows that the supply of natural gas in India was projected to grow far faster than demand, although the shortfall would still remain significant for some time to come.

The supply data shows that natural gas production in the country was to grow 37.5 per cent by 2017-18 over the levels achieved in 2014-15.
The demand data, presented in a separate answer, shows a growth of a much slower 22 per cent in that period.

To facilitate domestic manufacture of quality medical products, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a proposal for strengthening and upgrading the drug regulatory system both at the Central and state level.
The upgradation and strengthening of the system will also include setting up of new laboratories and training academy for regulatory and drug testing officials.
The CCEA chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi approved the proposal for strengthening the drug regulatory system at a total cost of Rs 1750 crore which will be spread over a period of three years.
The upgradation will include provision of additional equipment and manpower in existing drug testing laboratories, setting up of new laboratories for testing drugs, medical devices and cosmetics and making mobile drug testing laboratories available amongst others.
India is one of the largest manufacturers of drugs and exports pharmaceutical products to over 200 countries and economies.