Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 18 November 2015

:: National ::

Emerging market fund managers bearish on India

For the first time since October 2014, India has fallen out of favour among emerging market and Asian fund managers with its rating falling to neutral from being the most overweight.
China has replaced India as the economy on which fund managers are most bullish on, as per the fund manager survey released by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The change in view towards India is already being witnessed in the form of an overall slowdown in foreign fund flows into the domestic equity market.
For instance, in 2014, Indian equity markets saw net foreign flows pegged at Rs. 97,054 crore ($14.73 billion), as per data provided by the National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL). The benchmark 30-share Sensex has lost nearly 6 per cent in the current calendar year.

India, Bangladesh vow to end border killings

Delhi and Dhaka have agreed to bring border killings to an end and stressed greater awareness among citizens to avert such incidents in the future.
This was decided at the home secretary-level meeting between India and Bangladesh, when the issue of killing along the border came up prominently.
India on earlier occasions announced plans to provide the BSF posted along the Bangladesh border with ‘non-lethal weapons’; but that has not happened yet. At the two-day meeting that ended on Tuesday, India assured Bangladesh of sharing intelligence on militancy.
On the first day of the meeting, India had raised the issues of the influx of fake Indian currency, cattle smuggling, and illegal infiltration, and sought Dhaka’s cooperation to completely stop these, while Bangladesh strongly spoke against the border killings.

Common man unaware of antibiotic resistance, says WHO survey

The common man does not seem to know much about antibiotic abuse and resistance, and the threat it poses to public health.
In fact, a World Health Organisation (WHO) survey conducted in 12 countries has said that most people don't understand how to keep anti-biotic resistance from growing.
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics causes bacteria to become resistant. The WHO survey points out some of the practices, gaps in understanding and misconceptions that contribute to this phenomenon.
Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of the 10,000 people surveyed across the 12 countries said they knew antibiotic resistance could affect them and their families. However, they do not understand how it affects them and what they can do to address it.
Around 64 per cent of the respondents believe that antibiotics can be used to treat cold and flu. This is despite the fact that antibiotics have no impact on viruses. Close to one third (32 per cent) of those surveyed believe they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better, rather than completing the prescribed course of treatment.

Home Ministry issues advisory to States

The Islamic State's tape of nashid (chants) in Bengali was posted on the terror outfit's media platform Al Hayat Media Centre by one Aaron Y. Zelin on October 27.
Bangladesh has denied the presence of IS on its soil, though the group itself has claimed responsibility for the recent killings of an Italian and a Japanese national in that country.
The official asserted again on Tuesday that the government had not so far come across any information that would suggest the IS was planning an attack on India.
However, the Home Minis-try has issued an advisory to all the States which stated that the IS intended to “expand the arc of high profile terror actions beyond the core area of Syria and Iraq.”
Though the IS has not been able to establish any significant presence in India, its success in radicalising some youth, attracting certain sections of the local population or the Indian diaspora to physically participate in its activities, or the possibility of piggy-backing on terrorist groups operating in India, have opened up the possibility of IS-sponsored terrorist action on Indian territory.

7th pay panel to submit its report tomorrow

The Seventh Pay Commission will submit its report to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, recommending an increase in remuneration of Central government employees as well as pensioners.
the Commission's Chairman Justice A.K. Mathur told PTI. The Commission was set up by the UPA government in February 2014 to revise remuneration of about 48 lakh Central government employees and 55 lakh pensioners.
Its recommendations will also have a bearing on the salaries of the State government staff. The Union Cabinet had ex-tended the term of the panel in August by four months, till December.
The government constitutes the Pay Commis-sion almost every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and often these are adopted by the States after some modifications.
As part of the exercise, the Commission holds discus-sions with various stakeholders, including organisations, federations, groups, representing civil employees as well as Defence services.
The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission are scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2016.

:: International ::

Bomb downed plane in Egypt: Russia

Hours after confirming for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb brought down a Russian charter jet over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt more than two weeks ago, killing all 224 people aboard, Russia joined France in bombing Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria.
Russian news reports said a Russian submarine had fired cruise missiles at IS targets in the same area.
Russia struck Raqqa with advanced Kalibr cruise missiles from a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean.
The strike came after President Vladimir Putin ordered an intensification of attacks following Russian confirmation that the crash of the Airbus A321 in Egypt had been caused by a terrorist attack.

:: Economy ::

Greece strikes deal for €12-billion bailout funds

Greece has reached agreement on bailout, including the 48 additional measures. This should allow the €12 billion to be paid out on Friday.
A Greek government source said the compromise reached will protect around 60 per cent of indebted households from having their primary residence seized.
The Greek government had sought to protect more than 70 per cent of families at risk of losing their homes, while creditors had initially been willing to exclude no more than 20 per cent from seizure.
The government is to submit the agreed measures to parliament later Tuesday for a vote on Thursday

What is the economic cost of terrorism?

It feels frivolous to ask about the cost of terror after the horrific Paris attacks, but it is one of the central issues with which policymakers and investors are grappling.
The conventional wisdom is that an act of terrorism accounts for a mere blip in economic damage.
The aftermath of the November 13 Paris attacks may not in itself prompt extensive market-based volatility,” Citigroup wrote in a report.
The events in Paris could add to the pressure to close borders in the Euro Zone. It is also reigniting a debate about privacy and surveillance that could have big implications for technology companies.
The connection between the terror threat and migration flows threatens to rupture the border-free Schengen zone,” the note said, describing the borderless, passport-free zone known as the Schengen area.

India's Internet user base to touch 402 mn by December, surpassing U.S.

The number of Inter-net users in India is expected to touch 402 million by De-cember, a 49 per cent jump over last year, making India home to the second largest online user base after China, according to a report released by Internet and Mobile Asso-ciation of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.
India, which currently has the third largest Internet user base in the world after China and the U.S., had about 375 million Internet users in October. By December, India is expected to overtake the U.S. and also will become the first country to have largest Inter-net users in a free market democratic setup, according to the report released on Tuesday.
China leads the pack with more than 600 million Internet users. While Internet in India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and 3 years from 100 to 200 million, it took only a year to move from 300 to 400 million users, as per the report.
According to the report, 71 per cent male and 29 per cent female are Internet users in India. The Internet usage among males has been grow-ing at a rate of 50 per cent while it is growing at 46 per cent for female users.
However, in Urban India, the ratio between male to fe-male Internet users is 62:38. Significantly, Internet users among females are growing at a rate of 39 per cent compared to 28 per cent among males.
Internet users in rural India are expected to reach 117 mil-lion by December and 147 mil-lion by June 2016 on the back of growing penetration of mobile phones in the country. Rural Internet users wit-nessed a 77 per cent jump to reach 108 million in October 2015.
The number of active mobile Internet users grew about 99 per cent to 80 mil-lion by October 2015 and is ex-pected to reach 87 million by December and 109 million by June 2016, the report stated.

:: Sports ::

I lost the hunger: Johnson

Retiring Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson said he had simply lost the hunger to play Test cricket.
Johnson said he finalised the decision in the first innings in Perth, when he returned figures of one for 157.
While he admitted his body was sore, he said it was the men-tal aspect of Test cricket that prompted the decision. “I just lost that hunger in the end to play on those tough days,” he said.
Johnson said it was a decision which had been on his mind for around 12 months, and especial-ly since Australia's World Cup win.