PIB and AIR News 11th April, 2019

Questions:
1. Who releases "World Economic Outlook"?
2. When does CRPF observes "Valour day" or "Shaurya Diwas"?
3. What are Vostok-2018 exercises?
4. Who designates any organisation as religious denomination for the purpose of Article 26?

Today's news:

1. Astronomers take 1st ever image of black hole

• Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy. The image which has been captured by a network of eight telescopes across the world, shows an intensely bright 'ring of fire' surrounding a perfectly circular dark hole.
• According to some scientists, the black hole is located 500 million trillion kilometers away. Terming it as a remarkable achievement in the field of astrophysics, Astrophysicist and Project Director Sheperd Doeleman said that the image is the strongest evidence of the existence of black holes.
• A black hole is an object in space that is so dense and has such strong gravity that no matter or light can escape its pull. Because no light can escape, it is black and invisible.
• There’s a boundary at the edge of a black hole called the event horizon, which is the point of no return — any light or matter that crosses that boundary is sucked into the black hole. It would need to travel faster than the speed of light to escape, which is impossible.
• Anything that crosses the event horizon is destined to fall to the very centre of the black hole and be squished into a single point with infinite density, called the singularity.
• Small black holes are called stellar-mass black holes. They have masses similar to those of larger stars — about five to 20 times the mass of the sun. The other kind is supermassive black holes, which are millions to billions of times more massive than the sun. That’s the kind the Event Horizon Telescope has been trying to photograph, as bigger objects ought to be easier to see.
• Supermassive black holes are found at the centre of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way. The one in our galaxy is called Sagittarius A* and is one of those the Event Horizon Telescope has been attempting to photograph.

2. Nepal sends team to remeasure height of Mount Everest

• Nepal government aims to measure the exact height of Mount Everest amid debates that there might have been a change in its height due to various reasons including the devastating earthquake of 2015. 
• It is for the first time, Nepal has sent its own team to conduct a survey of the world's highest mountain. 
• Survey of India had measured the height as 8848 meter in 1954 and it has been adopted as authentic height by the Government of Nepal till date. 
• The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying. It was set up in 1767 to help consolidate the territories of the British East India Company. Hq: Dehradun

3. International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has launched new rules to introduce electronic information exchange between ships and ports for national governments.

• Its objective is to make cross border trade easy and hassle free. It was important measure because 10 billion tonnes of goods are traded by sea annually across the globe.
• The requirement is mandatory under IMO’s Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention)
• Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention)
• Adopted in 1965, the main objective of the convention is to achieve the most efficient maritime transport as possible, looking for smooth transit in ports of ships, cargo, and passengers.
• The Convention encourages the use of a “single window” for data, to enable all the information required by public authorities in connection with the arrival, stay and departure of ships, persons and cargo, to be submitted via a single portal, without duplication.
• Under the requirement for electronic data exchange, all national authorities should now have provision for electronic exchange of this information.
• The International Maritime Organization – is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.
• The IMO’s primary purpose is to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping and its remit today includes safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation, maritime security and the efficiency of shipping.

4. International Finance Corporation (IFC)

• It is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset management services to encourage private sector development in developing countries.
• It is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States.
• It was established in 1956 as the private sector arm of the World Bank Group to advance economic development by investing in strictly for-profit and commercial projects that purport to reduce poverty and promote development.
• It offers an array of debt and equity financing services and helps companies face their risk exposures, while refraining from participating in a management capacity.
• The corporation also offers advice to companies on making decisions, evaluating their impact on the environment and society, and being responsible.
• It advises governments on building infrastructure and partnerships to further support private sector development.

5. RailTel turns 1600 railway stations into RailWire Wi-Fi zone

• RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. is a Miniratna public sector enterprise of Government of India. It is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a Pan-India optic fibre network on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) along Railway track.
• RailWire is a retail Broadband initiative of the RailTel. It envisages extending broadband and application services to the public. RailTel is working to establish bringing fast and free Wi-Fi at all stations (except the halt stations) within a year.
• Wi-Fi connections at 200 stations were provided with support from the Universal Service Obligatory Fund of the Government of India.
• Universal Service Obligation Fund was instituted  by the government of India to help fund projects to boost connectivity in rural areas. The money for this fund comes through a ‘Universal Access Levy,’ charged from the telecom operators as a percentage of various licenses fees being paid by them.

6. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) or Namami Gange has received the distinction of “Public Water Agency of the Year” by Global Water Intelligence at the Global Water Summit in London.

• The awards aim to recognise excellence across the international water industry and reward those initiatives in the water, wastewater, and desalination sectors, which can bring remarkable improvements in the lives of people. 
• An integrated mission for Ganga rejuvenation, the Namami Gange programme provides for a comprehensive multi-sector intervention with multi-stakeholder involvement and adopts a basin-based approach.
• Global Water Summit is the annual business conference for the water industry worldwide.
• The summit provides a platform for connecting the public and private sector and for accelerating change and innovation within the sector.

7. M3 EVMs to be used in Nizamabad

• To accommodate a whopping 185 candidates in contention the Election Commission has decided to use the M3 EVMs in the Lok Sabha Polls.
• M3 EVMs are the third generation EVMs. The M3 EVMs can keep data of 384 candidates. 
• M3 EVMS also has added features like Tamper Detection and Self Diagnostics. The tamper detection feature makes an EVM inoperative the moment anyone tries to open the machine. The Self diagnostic feature checks the EVM fully every time it is switched on. Any change in its hardware or software will be detected
• In each of the polling station, there will be 12 M3 version EVMs. All the EVMs would be connected to a single control unit and a VVPAT. These EVMS will be arranged in ‘L’ shape with each machine carrying a maximum of 16 names

8. Candida auris

• Candida auris is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. 
• It has showed up in countries as far apart as Australia and Canada, Venezuela and Japan, over the past few years. It has set alarm bells ringing because it is often resistant to multiple anti-fungal drugs.
• Patients can remain colonised with C. auris for a long time and C. auris can persist on surfaces in healthcare environments.
• C. auris is known to cause outbreaks in hospitals, where it finds vulnerable individuals.
• Symptoms may not be noticeable, because patients infected with C. auris are often patients in the hospital with another serious illness or condition. Symptoms can vary greatly depending on the part of the body affected and can cause different types of infection such as bloodstream infection, wound infection, and ear infection, etc. Doctors say symptoms can include fever, body aches, and fatigue.
• Nearly half of patients die within 90 days of being diagnosed with the fungus.