Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Underwater melt-off in the Antarctic is worrying: experts

News

• Hidden underwater melt-off in the Antarctic is doubling every 20 years and could soon overtake Greenland to become the biggest source of sea-level rise, according to the first complete underwater map of the world’s largest body of ice.

Beyond News

• Warming waters have caused the base of ice near the ocean floor around the south pole to shrink by 1,463 square kilometres between 2010 and 2016.
• The suggests climate change is affecting the Antarctic more than previously believed and is likely to prompt global projections of sea—level rise to be revised upward.
• Until recently, the Antarctic was seen as relatively stable. Viewed from above, the extent of land and sea ice in the far south has not changed as dramatically as in the far north.
• Even a small increase in temperature has been enough to cause a loss of five metres every year from the bottom edge of the ice sheet, some of which is more than 2km underwater.

Dinosaur footprints found on Isle of Skye

News

• Dozens of rare footprints belonging to dinosaurs made some 170 million years ago have been discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, offering an important insight into the Middle Jurassic era.

Beyond News

• This new site records two different types of dinosaurs — the long-necked cousins of Brontosaurus and the sharp-toothed cousins of T. Rex hanging around a shallow lagoon, back when Scotland was much warmer and dinosaurs were beginning their march to global dominance.
• The find is globally important as it is rare evidence of the Middle Jurassic period, from which few fossil sites have been found around the world.
• The footprints were difficult to study owing to tidal conditions, the impact of weathering and changes to the landscape.
• But researchers managed to identify two trackways in addition to many isolated footprints. They used drone photographs to make a map of the site while other images were collected using a paired set of cameras. and tailored software to help model the prints.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India, Japan, U.S. stress keeping sea lanes open

News

• Senior diplomats of India, Japan and the U.S. held the 9th trilateral meeting, focussing on connectivity, counter-terrorism and other regional and global issues of common concern, a joint press release issued after the meeting said.

Beyond News

• The press release said that, the officials reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.
• It said the talks drew from the guidelines laid out by the Foreign Ministers of the three nations who met in New York on September 18, 2017, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.
• The officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development, counter-proliferation, counter-terrorism, maritime security, maritime domain awareness and HA-DR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief).
• The meeting is crucial as it comes against the backdrop of the ongoing trade war between China and the Trump administration that erupted after both sides imposed tariffs on each other’s goods.
• Echoing India’s concern about maintaining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean, the trilateral emphasised on importance of keeping the sea lanes open.
• All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through partnership with countries in the region.

China slaps retaliatory duties, strikes at signature U.S. exports

News

• China hit back quickly on April 4 against the Donald Trump administration’s plans to slap tariffs to the tune of $50 billion on Chinese goods, retaliating with a list of similar duties on key U.S. imports, including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals.

Beyond News

• The speed with which the trade tussle between Washington and Beijing is ratcheting up, with China taking less than 11 hours to respond with its own measures, has led to a sharp selloff in global stock markets and commodities.
• President Trump denied that the tit-for-tat moves amounted to a trade war between the world’s two economic superpowers.
• Investors were wondering, nonetheless, how far one of the worst trade disputes in many years could escalate.
• S.-made goods that appear to face added tariffs in China based, on an analysis of Beijing’s list, include Tesla electric cars, Ford’s Lincoln auto models, Gulfstream jets made by General Dynamics and Brown-Forman Corp’s Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
• Unlike Washington’s list, which was filled with many obscure industrial items, China’s list strikes at signature U.S. exports, including soybeans, frozen beef, cotton and other key agricultural commodities produced in States from Iowa to Texas that voted for Mr. Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
• Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 2.2% on Wednesday. Shares of U.S. aircraft maker Boeing, a major supplier of aircraft to China, dropped more than 5% during pre-market trading in New York.
• In a first round move, China on Monday had imposed fresh levies on 128 U.S. items, worth $3 billion, setting the tone for retaliatory cycle of tariffs. This was in response to the U.S. decision to impose 25% duty on steel and aluminium products sourced from a group of producers, including China.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

India pips Japan to become second largest crude steel manufacturer

News:

• In a major achievement, India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second largest producer of crude steel, according to the Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI).

Beyond News:

• At present, China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world, accounting for more than 50% of the production.
• India’s crude steel production was up 4.4% and stood at 93.11 million tonnes (mt) for the period April 2017 to February 2018, compared with April 2016 to February 2017, which has helped India to overtake Japan and becomes the second largest producer of crude steel in the world, SUFI said in a statement.
• India overtook the U.S. in 2015 to become the third largest producer of crude steel.

U.N. terror list has 139 Pakistan entries: report

News

• The United NationsSecurity Council’s updated list of terrorists and militant groups has 139 entries from Pakistan alone, including outfits like Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafeez Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to a media report.

Beyond News

• The list, headed by Osama bin Laden’s heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations.
• LeT’s Hafiz Saeed is listed as a person also wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities.
• The LeT is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
• The list also includes Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, an Indian national who, according to the U.N. Security Council, has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, the report said.
• The LeT is listed with its various aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, the report said.
• The U.N. data claims that first person on the list Ayman al-Zawahiri is still hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan–Pakistan border area.
• Several of his lieutenants are also on the list who, the U.N. believes, are hiding with him.
• The terrorist entities that were allegedly based in Pakistan, worked from there or had links to Pakistani individuals, include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Afghan Support Committee, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Al Akhtar Trust International, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar and Khatiba Imam Al-Bukhari.

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