21-22 APRIL 2016

Pulitzer Prize 2016 winners announced

21-APR-2016

The 2016 Pulitzer Prizes winners were announced on 18 April 2016.

The Marshall Project and ProPublica won the Explanatory Reporting Prize for their 12000-word article, An Unbelievable Story of Rape, about a failed police investigation into a young woman’s allegations of rape.

Also Read: India ranked 133rd in 2016 World Press Freedom Index

The Associated Press won the Public Service Award for its investigation into the use of slave labour across the seafood industry in Southeast Asia. Through the investigation, the A.P. traced how that very seafood was then sold across supermarkets and restaurants in the United States.

Complete list of winners:

Award Category (Journalism)	Winner
Public Service	Associated Press for an investigation of severe labour abuses tied to the supply of seafood to American supermarkets and restaurants
Breaking News Reporting	Los Angeles Times Stafffor exceptional reporting, including both local and global perspectives, on the shooting in San Bernardino and the terror investigation that followed
Investigative Reporting	Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribunefor a stellar example of collaborative reporting by two news organizations that revealed escalating violence and neglect in Florida mental hospitals and laid the blame at the door of state official
Explanatory Reporting	T. Christian Miller of ProPublica and Ken Armstrong of The Marshall Project for a startling examination and exposé of law enforcement's enduring failures to investigate reports of rape properly and to comprehend the traumatic effects on its victims
Local Reporting	Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of Tampa Bay Times for exposing a local school board's culpability in turning some county schools into failure factories, with tragic consequences for the community
National Reporting	The Washington Post Staff for its revelatory initiative in creating and using a national database to illustrate how often and why the police shoot to kill and who the victims are most likely to be
International Reporting	Alissa J. Rubin of The New York Times for thoroughly reported and movingly written accounts giving voice to Afghan women who were forced to endure unspeakable cruelties
Feature Writing	Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker for an elegant scientific narrative of the rupturing of the Cascadia fault line, a masterwork of environmental reporting and writing
Commentary	Farah Stockman of The Boston Globe for extensively reported columns that probe the legacy of busing in Boston and its effect on education in the city with a clear eye on ongoing racial contradictions
Criticism	Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker for television reviews written with an affection that never blunts the shrewdness of her analysis or the easy authority of her writing
Editorial Writing	John Hackworth and Brian Gleason of Sun Newspapers, Charlotte Harbor, FL for fierce, indignant editorials that demanded truth and change after the deadly assault of an inmate by corrections officers
Editorial Cartooning	Jack Ohman of The Sacramento Bee for cartoons that convey wry, rueful perspectives through sophisticated style that combines bold line work with subtle colours and textures
Breaking News Photography	Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter of The New York Times for photographs that captured the resolve of refugees, the perils of their journeys and the struggle of host countries to take them in Photography Staff of Thomson Reuters for gripping photographs, each with its own voice, that follow migrant refugees hundreds of miles across uncertain boundaries to unknown destinations
Feature Photography	Jessica Rinaldi of The Boston Globe for the raw and revealing photographic story of a boy who strives to find his footing after abuse by those he trusted

Award Category (Letters, Drama & Music)	Winners
Fiction	The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press)
Drama	Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda
History	Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America, by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf)
Biography or Autobiography	Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan (Penguin Press)
Poetry	Ozone Journal, by Peter Balakian (University of Chicago Press)
General Nonfiction	Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, by Joby Warrick (Doubleday)
Music	In for a Penny, In for a Pound, by Henry Threadgill (Pi Recordings)

About Pulitzer Prize

• The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States.

• It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, and is administered by Columbia University in New York City.

• Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of the categories, each winner receives a certificate and a 10000 US dollars cash award.

• The winner in the public service category of the journalism competition is awarded a gold medal.

Hong Kong’s Irfan Ahmed suspended for two

and a half years for breaching ICC Anti-

Corruption Code

21-APR-2016

International Cricket Council (ICC) on 20 April 2016 announced that it has suspended Hong Kong all-rounder Irfan Ahmed from Cricket for two-and-a-half years. He was suspended after he admitted to breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code (the ‘Code’).

Ahmed was charged with offences under the Code and provisionally suspended by the ICC on 4 November 2015.

This followed an investigation carried out by the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), relating in part to the activities of another individual known to the ACU and suspected of making corrupt approaches to participants.

His period of ineligibility will take effect from the date of his provisional suspension and will therefore expire on 4 May 2018.

ICC in its statement said that Ahmed was not charged with any offence involving corruption but he failed to disclose details to it full details of approaches or invitations to engage in corrupt conduct that had been made to him between January 2012 and January 2014.

During the investigation, Ahmed admitted that he was aware of his obligations under the Code and that his failure to report such approaches was a breach of the Anti-Corruption Code.

Ahmed has accepted the imposition of such a penalty and therefore waived his right to appeal against the decision.

Hong Kong’s Irfan Ahmed suspended for two

and a half years for breaching ICC Anti-

Corruption Code

21-APR-2016

Ahmed was charged with offences under the Code and provisionally suspended by the ICC on 4 November 2015.

His period of ineligibility will take effect from the date of his provisional suspension and will therefore expire on 4 May 2018.

During the investigation, Ahmed admitted that he was aware of his obligations under the Code and that his failure to report such approaches was a breach of the Anti-Corruption Code.

Ahmed has accepted the imposition of such a penalty and therefore waived his right to appeal against the decision.

BCCI appointed Rahul Johri as its CEO

21-APR-2016Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 20 April 2016 appointed Rahul Johri as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Rahul Johri, who was last serving as Discovery Networks Asia Pacific’s Executive Vice-President and General Manager for South Asia, will take on his new role starting 1 June 2016 onwards. He will be reporting to the BCCI Secretary.

ALSO READ: IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals suspended for two years by Justice Lodha panel

The creation of the post of the CEO was a change recommended by the three-member Lodha panel in its report in January 2016. The panel had stressed the need for the BCCI to separate its governance and management duties, with the CEO taking charge of the management side.

ALSO READ: Justice RM Lodha Committee submitted its report to Supreme Court

Rahul who carries 20-plus-year experience in the media industry was last associated with Discovery Network for 15 years and for the past eight years was leading South Asia operations

Idriss Deby elected as Chadian

President for the fifth time

22-APR-2016

Idriss Deby was on 21 April 2016 elected as the President of Chad. With this, Deby became the incumbent President with fifth term in office in a lopsided first-round victory.

In the 2016 election, Idriss Deby of Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party secured the 61.56 percent of the vote in the first-round runoff.

The opposition leader Saleh Kebzabo finished at second position with 12.80 percent of the vote followed by Laokein Kourayo Mbaiherem with 10.60 percent.

Deby won the first term as the President of Chad in 1990 after overthrowing President Hissene Habre in a military coup. Later, he won the elections in 1996 and 2001 and again in 2006 and 2011.

Currently, Deby is also the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) and was elected by the Assembly of Heads of State of AU in January 2016 for one year term.

About Chad

Chad is a landlocked country in northern Central Africa. It is a former French Colony and became independent in 1960. It is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world as most inhabitants live in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers.

Since 2003, crude oil is country’s primary source of export earnings. Despite a wealth of new oil resources since 2003, half of the population of 13 million lives below the poverty line and seven out of 10 people cannot even read or write.

Chad is also the base for France’s military operations in Africa.

Anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman to

become first African-American to

appear on US paper currency

22-APR-2016

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on 20 April 2016 that the image of an American abolitionist and anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman will appear on a new series of US $20 bills.

With this, Tubman will become the first African-American and the first woman in more than a century to appear on U.S. paper currency.

Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, to appear as the portrait gracing the US $20 bill.

Who was Harriet Tubman?

• Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist, humanitarian, and an armed scout and spy for the United States Army during the American Civil War.

• She was born as a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. In 1849, she escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family.

• She made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved families and friends. She used the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad to rescue the families.

• She also helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry.

• When the Civil War began, she worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy.

• The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves.

• She died on 10 March 1913.

WADA suspended accreditation of

National Anti-Doping Laboratory of Beijing

22-APR-2016

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 21 April 2016 suspended the accreditation of the National Anti-Doping Laboratory of Beijing. It prohibits the Chinese laboratory from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples.

The suspension was for up to four months with immediate effect, although the laboratory has 21 days to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

During the suspension period, samples are required to be transported securely to another WADA-accredited laboratory.

WADA suspended the accreditation of the laboratory as it does not meet International Standard for Laboratories requirements.

Background

On 16 April 2016, WADA revoked the accreditation of the Moscow Antidoping Center, which was suspended on 10 November 2015 after an independent investigation found that laboratory director Grigori Rodchenkov had ordered nearly 1500 samples to be destroyed.

Rodchenkov quickly resigned amid the doping scandal that led to banning of Russian athletes from international competition by the International Association of Athletics Federations. This ban could sideline the Russian track and field stars from the Rio Olympics in August 2016.

Uttarakhand High Court quashed

imposition of President' Rule in the

State

22-APR-2016

The Uttarakhand High Court on 21 April 2016 quashed the imposition of President' Rule in the state and revived the term of Congress Government headed by Harish Rawat. The court also asked Harish Rawat to prove his majority on 29 April 2016.

The decision in this regard was passed by the two-judge bench of the Uttarakhand High Court comprising Chief Justice KM Joseph and Chief Justice BN Bisht.

The court stated that there was no reason for the Centre to impose President's Rule in the state. It also said that the disqualification of the nine rebel MLAs by the Speaker under the Anti-defection Law was no material for imposition of President’s rule.

The court said that the President of India is not infallible and he, too, can go wrong. Therefore, the President's decision is open to judicial scrutiny.

The HC order came on a plea of ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who had challenged the imposition of President's rule in the state.

Incidentally, the High Court, in a separate case, is also examining the issue of disqualification of 9 Congress rebel MLAs.

Background

Uttarakhand was plunged into a political crisis when nine Congress legislators of the state including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna revolted against the Chief Minister Harish Rawat and turned to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for support.

Following this, the Union brought the state under President Rule on 27 March 2016.

Comedian Victoria Wood passed away

22-APR-2016

Famous comedian, singer and writer Victoria Wood died on 20 April 2016 due to cancer. She was 62.

Born on 19 May 1953, Wood was an English comedian, actress, singer and songwriter, screenwriter and director. She wrote and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions, which she performed on piano.

Wood also composed and performed the theme music for her BBC sitcom Dinnerladies. She was noted for her skills in observing culture, and in satirising social classes.

The comedian started her career in 1974 by winning the ATV talent show New Faces. She began to establish herself as a comedy star in the 1980s, with the award-winning television series Victoria Wood as Seen on TV and became one of Britain's most popular stand-up comics.

In 1994, she was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Sunderland. In 1997, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

In 2006, she won two BAFTA awards for her one-off drama for ITV1,Housewife, 49.

Union Ministry of Commerce and

Industry launched Twitter Seva

22-APR-2016

The Commerce and Industry Ministry on 21 April 2016 launched a service namedTwitter Seva to address issues and grievances of startups, exporters and importers, and other stakeholders.

For this, an institutionalised mechanism with a special Twitter cell has been created in the ministry manned by a set of dedicated officers of the ministry.

Key highlights of Twitter Seva

• Queries on matters relating to Department of Commerce and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will be answered through this service.

• The ministry will try to respond to the queries within 48 to 72 working hours.

• In particular, queries regarding the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Directorate General of supplies and Disposals, SEZs, tea, coffee, rubber, spices, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) will be addressed by the ministry.

• Issues related to manufacturing policy, industrial corridors, investment promotion, Make in India, Start up India, FDI, intellectual property rights will be addressed by the DIPP.

• Under this, anyone who is desirous of assistance from the ministry can use the hashtag, #mociseva on Twitter.

Pakistan, China signed agreement to

launch a special satellite to monitor

CPEC

22-APR-2016

Pakistan and China on 20 April 2016 signed an agreement for the launch of a special satellite to monitor the development of the 46 billion US dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

Pakistan Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, Ahsan Iqbal on behalf of Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and China Great Wall Industry Cooperation (CGWIC) President Yin Limping signed the agreement in Islamabad, Pakistan.

This bilateral cooperation between the two nations in space domain would open new arena of socio-economic and scientific cooperation. It would give boost to the historic bilateral cordial relations in other fields.

Features of the Project CPEC

agreement

• The two sides agreed for the development and launch of the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS-1) System and in this regard launch a satellite in June 2018.

• Space technology is fundamental in socio-economic development, infrastructure upgradation, agriculture production, urban planning in new era.

• The agreement would also transfer space technology to Pakistan and the PRSS-1 is yet another flagship project between China-Pakistan relations after CPEC.

• The new project would also help Pakistan in national security arena by strengthening border security and surveillance apparatus.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

(CPEC)

The CPEC is a 46 billion US dollar project launched with the help of China to connect western China to southern Pakistans port city of Gawadar. It would give access to Beijing into the Arabian Sea.

Indian Context on the Project

India has been protesting the corridors passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir ever since the project was kicked off by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Islamabad in 2015.

India is concerned as this corridor would impact the security of the Nation

Music legend Prince Rogers Nelson

died

22-APR-2016

Pop music superstar Prince Rogers Nelson, popularly known as Prince, died on 21 April 2016 at his home in Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minneapolis. He was 57. He was found dead at his home, however, the cause of his death was not identified.

In a career that lasted from the late 1970s until his solo Piano & a Microphone tour in 2016, he was acclaimed as a musical prodigy and an artist who shaped his career his way.

About Prince Rogers Nelson

• Prince was born in Minneapolis and broke through his music career in the late 1970s with the hits Wanna Be Your Lover and soared over the following decade with the albums as 1999 and Purple Rain.
• With the passage of time, he rose to become a songwriter, a singer, producer, one-man studio band and a consummate showman.
• Some of his hits were Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy, Kiss and The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.
• He also pioneered the famous song The Minneapolis sound.
• Through his career, Prince recorded more than 30 albums and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
• He won seven Grammy Awards and earned 30 nominations.
• He also won an Oscar for the song score Purple Rain, a film in which he was also starred.

International Mother Earth Day

observed across the world

22-APR-2016

22 April: International Mother Earth Day

The International Mother Earth Day was on 22 April 2016 observed across the world with the theme ‘Trees for the Earth’. This year's theme sets the goal of planting 7.8 billion trees over the next five years.

The Day recognises that the Earth and its ecosystems provide its inhabitants with life and sustenance.

It also aims to raise awareness that humans have a collective responsibility to promote harmony with nature and to balance the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations.

This year, Earth Day coincided with the signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which took place at UN Headquarters in New York. The Agreement was adopted by all 196 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015.

Background

Earth Day was first celebrated in the United States in 1970 and was organised by the Earth Day Network. Its mission was to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle to build a healthy, sustainable environment.

However, in 2009 the United Nations General Assembly established the International Mother Earth Day under Resolution A/RES/63/278. The Resolution was introduced by The Plurinational State of Bolivia and was endorsed by over 50 member states.

It recognized that the Earth and its ecosystems are our home and it is necessary to promote harmony with nature and the Earth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

inaugurated 10th Civil Services Day

22-APR-2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 21 April 2016 inaugurated the 10th Civil Services Day in New Delhi.

During the inauguration ceremony, PM Modi called for experiments to bring change in society and creating an atmosphere where everyone can contribute.

Besides, PM Modi also conferred awards to civil servants for excellence in implementation of Priority Programmes of the Government of India namely Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), Swachh Vidyalaya and Soil Health Card Scheme.This is for the first time that a new category of Excellence in implementing a Priority Programme has been added to the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration.

These awards acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by officers of the Central and State Governments for the welfare of the common citizen.

Recipients of Prime Minister’s Awards

for Excellence in Public Administration:

Category	Received by	On behalf of
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana	Raj Kishore Prasad, LDM of Allahabad Bank of India	24 North Paraganas
Surendra Chandra Das, West Bengal LDM of Union bank of India	Navgaon, Assam
Pramod Narayan, LDM of Punjab National Bank	Chandigarh
Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)	Dr Savita Anand, Principal Resident Commissioner of Rajasthan	Bikaner
Aishwariya Singh, District Collector of West Sikkim	West Sikkim
Swachh Vidyalaya	Anantpur district in Andhra Pradesh
Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir
Dadar & Nagar Haveli
Soil Health Card Scheme	District Collector	Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh
Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh	Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh

Europe became world’s first region to

end malaria: WHO

22-APR-2016

The World Health Organization (WHO) on 20 April 2016 announced that the European Region became the first in the world to have achieved interruption of indigenous malaria transmission. The number of indigenous malaria cases in the region dropped from 90712 in 1995 to zero cases in 2015.

WHO released the figures in World Malaria Report 2015.

Also Read: Union Health Minister launched National Framework for Elimination of Malaria 2016-2030

Besides, WHO announced that the European Region hit its 2015 target to wipe out malaria, thus contributing to the global goal to End malaria for good.

Key highlights of the World Malaria

Report 2015

• The number of malaria cases globally fell from an estimated 262 million in 2000 to 214 million in 2015, a decline of 18%.

• The number of malaria deaths globally fell from an estimated 839000 in 2000 to 438 000 in 2015, a decline of 48%.

• The number of malaria deaths in children aged under 5 years is estimated to have decreased from 723000 globally in 2000.

• The proportion of children infected with malaria parasites has halved in endemic areas of Africa since 2000. Infection prevalence among children aged 2–10 years is estimated to have declined from 33% in 2000 to 16% in 2015, with three quarters of this change occurring after 2005.

• It is estimated that a cumulative 1.2 billion fewer malaria cases and 6.2 million fewer malaria deaths occurred globally between 2001 and 2015 than would have been the case had incidence and mortality rates remained unchanged since 2000.

• The WHO European Region reported zero indigenous cases for the first time in 2015, in line with the goal of the Tashkent Declaration to eliminate malaria from the region by 2015.

Report with respect to India

• Funding for malaria control is lowest in countries with the largest populations at risk, including India and Indonesia.

• In 2014, all countries, except India, Indonesia and Nepal, reported delivering sufficient quantities of antimalarial medicines (including ACT) to treat all reported cases in public health facilities.

• In India, there is widespread resistance to DDT and pyrethroids, and areas with carbamate and organophosphate (malathion) resistance.

• The number of confirmed malaria cases reported in the South-East Asia region decreased from 2.9 million to 1.6 million between 2000 and 2014. Just three countries accounted for 96% of cases in 2014: India (70%), Indonesia (16%) and Myanmar (10%).

• The years 2011 and 2012 saw renewed malaria transmission in Georgia (isolated cases) and in Greece and Turkey (localized outbreaks), as a result of malaria importation from other endemic countries including India.

• National Malaria Control Programmes reported that about 116 million people worldwide were protected by Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) in 2014. This comprises 50 million people in the WHO African Region, and 49 million people in the WHO South-East Asia Region, of whom over 44 million were in India.