Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 22 April, 2014

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

22 April, 2014

Happy Earth Day doodle

Google is celebrating Earth Day”(April 22), which is marked to raise awareness for our planet's environment, through animated doodles featuring six creatures from the animal planet.
Earth Day was first held in 1970 and is now observed in over 192 countries each year, with activities being coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network which is chaired by the first Earth Day coordinator Denis Hayes.

These are a few facts about these animals:

The Rufous Hummingbird, which is the first to appear, is beautifully incorporated in the doodle. A couple of blooming flowers become the Os of Google as the Rufous hummingbird, which is known to attack flowers relentlessly, flaps its wings at the speed of light while devouring the nectar.
The Rufous Hummingbird makes one of the longest migratory journeys of any bird in the world, as measured by body size.

Next is a pair of sleeping Japanese Macaques sticking to each other for warmth in the falling snow as they make the Os of Google. They are also knowns as "snow monkeys" and inhabit three out of four main islands of Japan.

Then there is the bloated, rotating puffer fish which is known for its ability transform and enlarge its body in a split of a second. It also makes one of the Os of Google.
The puffer fish is one of the most poisonous creatures on Earth and is considered a major delicacy in Japan. When prepared correctly, the flesh of the fish gives a tingling sensation on the tongue because of a non-lethal dose of tetrodotoxin which is a potent neurotoxin and has no antidote.
However, anyone eating a badly made dish of puffer fish could completely be paralysed and die.

Togadia’s ‘hate speech’

A first information report (FIR) has been registered against VHP leader Pravin Togadia for “inciting communal passions” after he allegedly asked locals of a society to forcibly occupy a house purchased by a Muslim man in Hindu majority area.
An FIR has been filed against him under sections 153(A), 153(B) and under 188 for violating notification of the Election Commission.
Section 153(A) of the IPC deals with ‘intention to cause disorder, promoting enmity between religious groups and incite people to violence’, Section 153 (B) of the IPC deals with those who assert, propagate or publish that any class of persons by reasons of their being members of any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community be denied, or deprived of their rights as citizens of India.
Section 188 deals with disobedience to order duly promulgated by the Election Commission by way of its notification of elections.
The poll panel had asked the district administration to take action against Mr. Togadia over his hate speech and also directed it to submit action-taken report as soon as possible.
Mr. Togadia had allegedly asked his supporters to get vacated the house a Muslim man had purchased in the Hindu-majority locality near Meghani Circle area of Bhavnagar city.

Novartis to buy Glaxo’s cancer drugs

Novartis AG agreed to buy GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s (GSK’s) cancer-drug business for as much as $16 billion, form a consumer-health venture with GSK and sell its animal-health operations to Eli Lilly and Co. for $5.4 billion in an overhaul of the Swiss drug maker.
Novartis also will sell its vaccines business, excluding the flu operations, to GSK for $7.1 billion, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said in a statement on Tuesday. That includes royalties and as much as $1.8 billion payments based on the achievement of certain business goals.
The transactions culminate a process that began last year when Novartis chief executive officer Joe Jimenez began reviewing the company’s smaller businesses for possible sale.
GSK and Novartis’s consumer-health venture will have about £6.5 billion ($10.9 billion) in revenue, GSK said. GSK will have majority control, with an equity interest of 63.5%.
The venture brings together brands including Novartis’s Excedrin painkiller and GSK’s Sensodyne toothpaste. GSK’s vaccines purchase will add Bexsero for meningitis to its Cervarix for human papillomavirus.