Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 2 July, 2015

Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

The World Bank has approved an additional loan of $650 million for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), which is aimed at the faster delivery of goods between the northern and eastern parts of the country.
This round of loans to the Eastern DFC follows two other loans by the World Bank. The Cabinet last week approved the revised cost estimate of Rs.81,459 crore for the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project.
The third round of World Bank funding, announced on Wednesday, will build the 401 km Ludhiana-Khurja section in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
The project will “help increase the capacity of these freight-only lines by raising the axle-load limit from 22.9 to 25 tonnes and enable speeds of up to 100 km/hr.
It will also help develop the institutional capacity of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) to build and maintain the DFC infrastructure network,” according to the World Bank.
An analysis of the projected greenhouse gases that are expected to be generated by the Eastern freight corridor project found that it would be 55 per cent lower than the levels of gases released without the project.
The Eastern DFC project is expected to release 10.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions up to 2041-42, compared to a whopping 23.3 million tonnes in the absence of the freight corridor.

The United States and Cuba have agreed to open embassies in each other’s capitals, the biggest tangible step in the countries’ historic bid to restore ties after more than a half-century of hostilities.
The U.S. and Cuba have been negotiating the re-establishment of embassies following a surprise December announcement that secret talks had led to an agreement to restart ties.
Ending the U.S. freeze with Cuba is central to Mr. Obama’s foreign policy legacy as he nears the end of his presidency. He has long promoted the value of direct engagement with global foes and has argued that the U.S. embargo on the communist island just 145 km south of Florida was ineffective.
The U.S. cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro’s revolution.
It spent decades trying to overthrow Cuba’s communist government or isolate the island, including toughening the economic embargo first imposed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Since the late 1970s, the countries have operated diplomatic missions, called interests sections, in each other’s capitals. The missions are technically under the protection of Switzerland and do not enjoy the same status as embassies.

State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday celebrated its 60th anniversary by launching, enterprise-wide loyalty programme — State Bank Rewardz, through which it will reward its customers for various types of banking transactions.
“Through this initiative, the bank envisions to strengthen its relationship with its customers by recognising their continued faith and long term association with the Bank through various channels by providing instant gratification.” said Arundhati Bhattacharya, SBI Chairman, while launching this programme here.
Customers will be enrolled automatically into this programme as soon as they start using at least one of services that offer points.

Ace Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has become the first woman tennis player from the country to be top-seeded in this year's ongoing Wimbledon championships.
Sania and her partner at Wimbledon, veteran Martina Hingis, beat Diyas and Zheng 6-2, 6-2 to progress.
The 28-year-old Sania, who is playing in her 15th year at the Wimbledon, is in fact the first Indian woman to achieve the feat in any Grand Slam competition.
The only other Indians getting the top draw in a Grand Slam earlier were Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the 1999 French Open men’s doubles competition.