Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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World’s largest iceberg set to disappear

News

• The largest iceberg ever recorded, that broke away from Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf 18 years ago, could be nearing the end of its voyage, according to NASA.

Beyond News

• When iceberg B-15 first broke away in March 2000, it measured about 296 km long and 37 km wide.
• B-15 has since fractured into numerous smaller bergs, and most have melted away. Just four pieces remain that meet the minimum size requirement – at least 37 km to be tracked by the U.S. National Ice Center.
• When astronauts aboard the ISS shot a photograph of the iceberg on May 22 this year, B-15Z measured about 18 km long and 9 km wide. However, the iceberg may not be tracked much longer if it splinters into smaller pieces. A large fracture is visible along the centre of the berg.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

At Trump-Kim summit, human rights is a back-burner issue

News:

In the  historic face-to-face with Mr. Kim, Mr. Trump has appeared unconcerned about the implications of feting an authoritarian leader suspected of ordering the public assassination of his half brother with a nerve agent, executing his uncle by firing squad and presiding over a notorious gulag estimated to hold 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners.

Beyond News:

• While Mr. Trump highlighted Pyongyang’s problematic human rights record in January during his State of the Union address where he also said the “depraved character of the North Korean regime” demonstrated the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose the president has skirted those concerns since agreeing in March to Kim’s suggestion of a summit.
• Mr. Trump has used human rights as an instrument to get Mr. Kim Jong Un to negotiate on nuclear weapons, but not as a policy priority in its own right.
• Mr. Kim, meanwhile, will be granted a measure of validation from Washington that eluded his father and grandfather.
• During a quarter-century of on-off negotiations, human rights have played second fiddle for U.S. administrations seeking to ameliorate the threat posed by the North’s nukes, and there’s a reason.

Raising human rights  risks playing into North Korean suspicions that the U.S is intent on toppling its hereditary, totalitarian regime by seeking to open its political system, which only reinforces Pyongyang’s notion that it needs a nuclear deterrent to ensure its survival.

Trump accuses India of charging 100% tariff on some imports

News:

U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a swipe at India along with the world’s other top economies and accused New Delhi of charging 100% tariff on some of the U.S.’ goods, as he threatened to cut trade ties with countries who are robbing America.

Beyond News:

• Mr. Trump made the remarks in Canada’s Quebec City where he was attending the G7 summit that ended in farce after he abruptly rejected the text of a consensus statement and bitterly insulted the host.
• Mr. Trump has repeatedly raked up the issue of India imposing high import duty on the iconic Harley-Davidson motorcycles and threatened to increase the import tariff on “thousands and thousands” of Indian motorcycles to the U.S.
• His remarks came at a time when the India-U.S. relationship has been on a positive trajectory for years. For example, bilateral trade expanded by $11 billion last year to more than $125 billion, a new record.
• Mr. Trump, who is pushing his ‘America First’ policy, said his ultimate goal was the elimination of all trade duties.
• China and the U.S. have averted a trade war by reaching an agreement last month under which Beijing has agreed to “significantly increase” its purchases of American goods and services to reduce $375 billion trade deficit with Washington.

Under Mr. Trump, the trade dispute between India and the U.S. has increased, with his administration asking New Delhi to lower its trade barriers and open up its market.

However, unlike countries like China, Mexico and Canada and those from Europe, India is not on top of the trade issues for the Trump administration.

Maldives sets deadline for India on taking back helicopters

News:

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held a high-power meeting to discuss a deadline set by the Maldives for India to withdraw its helicopters gifted to the island nation, at least two senior officials confirmed.

Beyond News:

According to sources, tensions over the presence of the two Indian helicopters in two different strategically important locations in Laamu and Addu atolls have been growing over the past few weeks, forcing the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to step in to defuse the situation.

 The government was discussing possible reactions to the move. Significantly, the meeting came just days after a vote at the U.N. for Security Council seats, where the Maldives claimed India had supported its candidature against that of Indonesia, an election that the Maldives lost nonetheless.

Relations between New Delhi and the Maldives have been frayed since last year, when Maldives rushed through a free trade agreement with China, and plummeted further after President Abdulla Yameen declared an emergency in the country in February.

India had gifted two Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) to Maldives in 2013, of which one was operated by the Indian Coast Guard and the other by the Indian Navy, which were manned by six pilots and a number of maintenance ground staff.

 In the normal course, Letters of Exchange are renewed for two years at a time, but on this occasion the Yameen government refused to do so and has since made it clear that it would like India to remove them and their crew entirely.

The LoE of the Coast Guard ALH had expired a few months ago, while the Navy ALH is due to expire in June. India has yet to recall either helicopters, in the hope that the matter will be resolved through negotiations.

Maldives has also not approved an LoE sent by India for a Dornier maritime patrol aircraft that the Maldives had itself requested, but in less tense times.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Star system with three Earth-sized planets found

News

• Scientists have discovered two new planetary systems, one of which hosts three Earth-sized planets.

Beyond News

• Researchers analysed the data collected by the K2 mission of NASA’s Kepler satellite, which started in November 2013. The study, reveals the existence of two new planetary systems detected from the eclipses they produce in the stellar light of their respective stars.
• The first exoplanetary system is located in the star K2-239, characterised as a red dwarf type M3V from observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafia, La Palma).
• It is located in the constellation of the Sextant at 50 parsecs from the Sun (at about 160 light years). It has a compact system of at least three rocky planets of similar size to the Earth that orbit the star every 5.2, 7.8 and 10.1 days, respectively.
• The other red dwarf star, called K2-240, has two super-Earth-like planets about twice the size of our planet.
• These researchers estimate that all planets discovered will have temperatures tens of degrees higher than those of Earth due to the strong radiation they receive in these close orbits to their stars.

Sand extraction banned in CRZ areas

News:

The Dakshina Kannada District Sand Monitoring Committee has banned sand extraction from rivers in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas with immediate effect to facilitate breeding of fish and other aqua fauna during the monsoon.

Beyond News:

The ban order would be in place till further order, the committee said in a press release, thus getting itself enough time to decide suitable period to open sand dunes, if any present, for extraction.

Boats used for sand extraction should be off the river course, and also river banks, during the ban period. They should be kept at other locations away from rivers, the committee noted. If anyone found violating the directive will render themselves liable to suitable legal action, it warned.

The release noted that deep sea fishing has been banned for 61 days from June 1 to facilitate fish breeding during the monsoon when the rivers would bring in fertile manure for aqua fauna.

If sand dunes in rivers in the CRZ areas are allowed to be extracted, the same would affect fish breeding, the committee said, justifying the ban on extraction.

The number of permits had shot up to over 400 from just about a hundred in a span of four years with sand extraction taking the form of a mafia activity.

During the just-ended sand extraction season, the administration restricted the number of permits to just less than a hundred and imposed several conditions, including installation of GPS on boats engaged in extraction to verify their authenticity.

Before issuing permits for the ensuing sand extraction season post-monsoon, the district administration has decided to deploy bathymetry survey to exactly assess the availability of sand dunes.

Only if excess sand is found, as prescribed by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), then permits would be issued to extract sand to the required level.

Gene editing tool may raise cancer risk in cells, scientists warn

News:

CRISPR-Cas9, a gene-editing technology that is being explored by scientists worldwide as a way of removing and replacing gene defects might inadvertently increase cancer risk in cells, scientists warned.

Beyond News:

Researchers said more research needs to be done to assess whether using CRISPR-Cas9 might lead to the development of treatments that have added cancer risk.

The team, found that CRISPR-Cas9 triggers a mechanism designed to protect cells from DNA damage, making gene editing more difficult.

 Cells which lack this mechanism are easier to edit than normal cells, and this can lead to a situation where genome-edited cell populations have higher numbers of cells in which the key mechanism protecting against DNA damage is missing.

In research the scientists warned that the absence of the protective mechanism in cells makes them more likely to become tumorous, since DNA damage can no longer be corrected.

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