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30 July 2019 Current Affairs:  India-Nepal Logistics Summit 2019  was held in  Kathmandu, Nepal.  The summit was inaugurated by  Nepal Prime minister KP.Sharma Oli.  The theme of the Logistics Summit 2019 was  'Transforming Logistics Landscape'. Participants: In this summit all trade community and government representatives from both Nepal and India represented the whole summit function.  N.Sivasailam,  Special Secretary (Logistics), Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry,  CMD V. Kalyana Rama,  Container Corporation of India (CONCOR),  Bhawani Rana,  Preident of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) President participated in the summit. Focus: The summit focused on discussing the transport delays of import cargo from  Kolkata Port to Kathmandu,  delays in rail transport and additional costs in handling cargo. They also discussed on need for reducing transit time between Nepal an...

29 July 2019 Current Affairs:  Iran  is to restart the activities at the  Arak heavy water nuclear reactor, western Iran. The announcement was made by  Ali Akbar Salehi , the head of Iran’s  Atomic Energy Organization. Heavy water are used in reactors to produce plutonium. Plutonium is a fuel used in  nuclear warheads. Iran's meeting with the European countries: Regarding this  US Sanctions on Tehran , a meeting was conducted between Iranian officials and the  UK, France and Germany, in Vienna . In the meeting Iran persuaded the European states to provided more effective relief from US sanctions.  The move is after the US's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and the introduction of sanctions on Tehran, Iran stopped complying with some commitments in the  2015 nuclear deal.

28 July 2019 Current Affairs: Hundred charging stations for electric vehicles are in the offing for Noida The authority is planning a tie-up with a government-backed agency for setting up infrastructure for mobility based on clean energy. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) expected to be signed between Noida Authority and EESL. The MoU will be signed in the presence of NOIDA Chairperson Alok Tandon, CEO Ritu Maheshwari and EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar The authority is also planning to lease five electric vehicles from EESL to be used for official purposes. Three of these stations will be on the road, while three off-road. Vehicle - Features Vehicle growth in the country has been rapid in recent years. The need for switching to cleaner technology in the transport sector, around ₹1.2 lakh crore could be saved in imported crude oil. The central government issued a set of guidelines to set up charging stations for electric vehicles across the country, outlining ways to build s...

U.S. scientists who challenged a new rule that would require them to register their basic studies of the human brain and behavior in a federal database of clinical trials have won another reprieve. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, says it now understands why some of that kind of research won’t easily fit the format of ClinicalTrials.gov, and the agency has delayed the reporting requirements for another 2 years. The controversy dates back to 2017, when behavioral and cognitive researchers realized that new requirements for registering and reporting results from NIH-funded clinical studies would also cover even basic studies of human subjects, experiments that did not test drugs or other potential treatments. The scientists protested that including such studies would confuse the public and create burdensome, unnecessary paperwork. A year ago, NIH announced it would delay the requirement until September and seek further input. The responses p...

Somewhere in the middle of New Zealand, there is a kauri tree stump ( Agathis australis ) that should not be alive. But it is, thanks to the root systems of surrounding trees, which have kept the almost-dead stump on life support by sharing water and nutrients. For years, scientists have suspected such sharing networks exist, thanks to other living stumps. But such resource transfers have never been proved, and reports by other researchers are decades old and mostly anecdotal. Researchers first found the stump in question (above) on a hike in a rainforest in the Waitakere Ranges on New Zealand’s North Island. They were surprised to see it was alive despite missing both branches and leaves. To see whether the surrounding kauri trees could be playing a role, they measured sap and water flow in both the stump and its neighbors. The researchers found that the water flow in the stump increased as water flowed from the surrounding trees, meaning the stump was taking water from ...

25 July 2019 Current Affairs: Scientists in  Bangladesh  developed a method to convert Jute fibre into low cost biodegradable cellulose sheets named Sonali  It is used to wrap material along with a carry bag.  Mubarak Ahmad Khan  Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC)  developed the new 'sonali'  It denotes the physical qualities of the invented jute fibre and plastic are quite similar. The Eco-friendly jute poly bags made up of Sonali can be used in garments and food packaging work. The commercial production of these bags is likely to start by the year end. Government of Bangladesh approved 9 lakh dollars in April to help in large-scale production of these bags. The main challenge in the large scale adoption of Sonali sheet is the relatively high cost of production which is almost double that of polythene.  Bangladesh Capital: Dhaka Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina