Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 06 April, 2014

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

06 April, 2014

Heritage monuments on Street View

  • Angkor Wat is not the first heritage monument that Google has captured on Street View, which allows users to explore and navigate a neighbourhood or a complex through panoramic street-level photographs. It recently put the Taj Mahal on Street View and the Qutb Minar before that.

  • Other world heritage structures such as the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Eiffel Tower have also been put on Street View. But nowhere before this did Google have to meet the challenge of imaging minute stone etchings, carvings and sculptures as it did at Angkor Wat.

  • Google had to deploy people mounted with the Street View cameras on their backs. These so-called Street View Trekkers have a camera system on the top that has 15 lenses pointing in different directions to get a 360 degree view. These cameras take pictures every 2.5 seconds, each of 75 mega pixels resolution. The cameras can be controlled by an Android phone which the operator holds in his hand.

Long-billed vultures

  • Wildlife officials and volunteers of Arulagam, a Coimbatore-based NGO involved in vulture conservation, sighted five long-billed vultures in the north-eastern slopes of the Nilgiris a few days ago.
  • Long-billed vultures are found only in the north-eastern slopes of the Nilgiris. White-backed, King and Egyptian vultures are the other three species found in the Nilgiris and the Moyar valley, its adjoining area.
  • Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug used for both animals and humans, poses a major threat to the survival of vultures.

Joint plans between HAL and IAF

  • Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and its predominant customer, Indian Air Force, have decided to work out ‘joint plans’ to deal with the military aircraft projects that are on between them. The move is aimed at ironing out issues related to the projects and their prompt delivery. Project-specific plans and teams are expected to get under way in a month’s time.

  • A new, single group is to be formed to deal with foreign OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) on all matters of equipment bought by the three defence wings and other agencies. A successful example for this is Russia’s military commercial arm Rosoboronexport.

  • The conference discussed issues related to the fighter planes, namely the MiGs (21, 27, 29); Sukhoi-30 MKI, Mirage and Jaguar; trainer aircraft Hawk, Kiran and the recently acquired Swiss-made Pilatus; transport planes Avro and Dornier; helicopters Chetak/Cheetah, Cheetal and the Dhruv light helicopter, besides remotely piloted or unmanned aircraft and the target practice vehicle Lakshya, among others.

World T20 title, 2014

  • Two-time defending champion Australia powered to a six-wicket win over old foe England to win its third consecutive title in the women’s World Twenty20 in Dhaka .
  • Whereas, in men's category Sri Lanka emerged as the winner by defeating India in the final match.

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