{"id":14088,"date":"2021-02-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/25-02-2021\/facts-in-news-85\/"},"modified":"2021-02-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T00:00:00","slug":"facts-in-news-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/25-02-2021\/facts-in-news-85","title":{"rendered":"Facts in News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Facts in News<\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Dutch Indian Water Alliance for Leadership Initiative (DIWALI)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/h3>\n

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  • In order to find solutions for water-related challenges<\/strong> a platform called DIWALI <\/strong>has been developed in which India and Netherlands can participate in designing a solution<\/strong> for water challenges. <\/strong><\/li>\n
  • The consortium of experts<\/strong> from the two counties would <\/strong>explore the potential and sustainability<\/strong> of Dutch Solutions <\/strong>to resolve issues in specific water challenged sites in India <\/strong>which are scalable, sustainable and affordable.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • It is being led by\n
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    • The Dutch consortia titled<\/strong> \u201cWater for Change. Integrative and Fit-for-Purpose Water Sensitive Design Framework <\/strong>for Fast-Growing Livable Cities<\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\n
    • IIT Roorkee along with other consortia members named MANIT, Bhopal; CEPT University, Ahmedabad; IIT Gandhinagar; CWRDM, Calicut.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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Guinea Ebola Outbreak<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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  • The Ministry of Health (MoH) <\/strong>of Guinea informed WHO <\/strong>of a cluster of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD<\/strong>) cases in the sub-prefecture of Gou\u00e9ck\u00e9, Nz\u00e9r\u00e9kor\u00e9 <\/strong>Region, Guinea.<\/strong>\n
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    • The cases showed symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting<\/strong> and bleeding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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      • The World Food Programme<\/strong> is providing crucial logistical<\/strong> support by setting up special flights<\/strong> to transport the vaccines <\/strong>and other supplies to Guinea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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        Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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        • It is formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever<\/strong>, is a rare but severe, often fatal illness in humans.<\/strong><\/li>\n
        • The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads<\/strong> in the human population through human-to-human transmission (Zoonotic disease).<\/strong><\/li>\n
        • It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family<\/strong> are natural Ebola, virus hosts. <\/strong><\/li>\n
        • Symptoms <\/strong>\n
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          • Fever, fatigue, muscle, pain, headache, and sore throat.<\/li>\n
          • This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases internal and external bleeding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • Measures –<\/strong>\n
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            • Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks.<\/strong><\/li>\n
            • Supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms improve survival<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
            • \u00a0A range of potential treatments including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently being evaluated<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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H5N8<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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  • Russia<\/strong> reported the first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu<\/strong> to humans and had alerted the World Health Organization.<\/strong>\n
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    • Recently, samples of Crows from Maharashtra\u2019s Beed <\/strong>district were found positive for the H5N8 strain in January<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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      H5N8 Bird Flu<\/strong><\/p>\n

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      • \u00a0The H5N8 is a sub-type of the Influenza A virus<\/strong> that causes flu-like<\/strong> symptoms in birds and poultry.<\/li>\n
      • It is deadly for birds<\/strong> and is not lethal for humans.<\/li>\n
      • Other strains – H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 – have been known here) to spread to humans.<\/strong><\/li>\n
      • Outbreaks of the strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and north Africa in recent months, but only in poultry.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Solar \u2018Gigawatt Club\u2019<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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  • Nations with an installed capacity to produce 1 GW of solar power form the \u2018Gigawatt Club\u2019, an unofficial tag<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  • Of the 37 countries<\/strong> that are part of the solar \u2018Gigawatt Club\u2019<\/strong>, only two- South Africa and Egypt- are from Africa<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  • Nine more African countries ramping up solar capacity may become part of Gigawatt Club.\n
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    • Algeria may be the third as it is showing the fastest progress.<\/li>\n
    • Other countries are Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, Ethiopia, Morocco and Botswana.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • Nearly half the world\u2019s population without access to electricity (591 million) is in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Association<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
    • The first annual African Solar Energy Outlook 2021<\/strong> report was released by the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) on February 16, 2021.<\/li>\n
    • As per AFSIA report\n
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      • New and more flexible technologies brought to market along with drastic cost reductions of both solar panels and storage solutions have supported solar boom in Africa<\/li>\n
      • Western Africa is leading the drive.<\/li>\n
      • Green Hydrogen produced from Solar Energy can be another game-changer in the solar future of Africa.<\/li>\n
      • Africa is likely to emerge as a global hub for the production and export of green hydrogen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Mount Etna<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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  • Recently,\u00a0 Mt Etna\u2019s\u00a0 lava fountain soared to 1,500 metres.<\/li>\n
  • Situated in Sicily in Italy, it is Europe\u2019s Most Active Volcano.<\/li>\n
  • According to volcanologists, Etna is spewing Primitive Magma<\/strong>,\n
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    • Primitive Magma<\/strong> is a term that refers to types of magma whose composition has changed little, compared with that of the Earth\u2019s mantle where they formed.<\/li>\n
    • It is a deeper magma<\/strong> that comes from the bowels of the mountain and carries a greater charge of gas.<\/li>\n
    • For this reason, it is capable of producing strikingly tall lava fountains. (Nearly 1500m tall Lava Fountain was seen where in the 1700s, a height of even 3000km was seen.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • Etna\u2019s geological characteristics indicate that it has been active since the end of the Neogene Period (i.e., for about the past 2.6 million years).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Facts in News Dutch Indian Water Alliance for Leadership Initiative (DIWALI)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In order to find solutions for water-related challenges a platform called DIWALI has been developed in which India and Netherlands can participate in designing a solution […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-14088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs1"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2173586current-affairs (1).jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}