Current Affairs for IAS Exams

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 19 May 2016

Tim Cook is in India and he is mixing business with pleasure, and spirituality. The CEO of the $233 billion Apple Inc., on his maiden India trip, started his day with a visit to the Shree Siddhivinayak temple.
Apple announced a $1 billion investment in taxi-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, in China.
Mr. Cook’s first visit assumes significance as Apple reported its first quarterly drop in global iPhone sales last month, while its India revenues grew by 56 per cent.
Coinciding with the visit, the company announced an iOS mobile app design centre in Bengaluru, intended to support and accelerate the growth of Apple’s developer community.

Even as officials at the India Meteorological Department have warned of searing heat waves in several parts of North India.
IMD also said the torrential downpour in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala was due to a cyclonic depression that could well bring the season’s first cyclone.
The depression has moved towards Andhra Pradesh coast and will intensify into a cyclonic storm, after which it is likely to move towards the Northeast and off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts in the subsequent 48 hours.
IMD also said that “there may be rains for two more days and then it will reduce as (depression) will move towards Myanmar.
The IMD’s latest update says the Southwest monsoon has advanced into some parts of Southeast Bay of Bengal, entire south Andaman Sea and Nicobar Islands.
The conditions were favourable for further advance of the Southwest monsoon into some more parts of south Bay of Bengal, Andaman Islands and remaining parts of north Andaman Sea in the next three to four days.
The IMD has said that monsoon in Kerala would likely be on June 7 but the overall forecast of above normal rainfall was unchanged.

Hillary Clinton claimed victory in Kentucky and Bernie Sanders took Oregon in Democratic primaries, but the outcomes would do little to change the dynamics in the race.
Ms. Clinton has a clear lead over her rival in terms of the number of delegates who will elect the party’s candidate for November’s presidential election.
Meanwhile, a national match-up poll showed that Ms. Clinton is leading the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, by just three percentage points.
Ms. Clinton gets 48 per cent against Mr. Trump’s 45 per cent. In their respective party bases, they have the same support—87 per cent.
In ‘unfavourable’ ratings, Ms. Clinton is doing better than Mr. Trump, but there are danger signals for her.
In an improvement of two points over a month, 56 per cent see her unfavourably; for Mr. Trump, the unfavourable rating dropped from 65 per cent to 60 per cent and his favourable rating rose from 33 per cent to 37 per cent over the previous month.

The U.S. Senate approved legislation that would allow September 11 victims and their relatives to sue Saudi Arabia over its possible role in the 2001 attacks, a bill which could trigger a diplomatic firestorm.
Senators unanimously approved the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act which now heads to the House of Representatives, where Speaker Paul Ryan has voiced reservations.
The White House has repeatedly stated that President Barack Obama, who visited the kingdom in April to soothe strained ties, opposes the law because it would waive the doctrine of sovereign immunity.