Daily Current Affairs – 2020

Topic: For Prelims and Mains

ReCAAP

12^th Aug 2020

Why in News?

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) will be co-hosting 12th Capacity Building workshop with Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC).

About ReCAAP:

• The ReCAAP is the first regional Government-to-Government agreement to deal with piracy and armed robbery at sea in Asia.
• Presently 20 countries are members of ReCAAP.
•  India played an active role in the setting up and functioning of ReCAAPISC along with Japan and Singapore.
• Union Government has designated ICG as the focal point within India for ReCAAP.
• Information sharing, capacity building and mutual legal assistance are the three pillars of co-operation under the ReCAAP agreement.
• An ISC has been established at Singapore to collate and disseminate the information among the contracting parties and the maritime community.

Dots

Why in news?  

A team of scientists in Assam has recently developed a chemical process that turns ‘dirty’ coal into a biomedical ‘dot’ to help detect cancer cells.

The team has applied for a patent for their chemical method of producing carbon quantum dots (CQDs) from cheap, abundant, low-quality and high-sulphur coals.

What are CQDs?

CQDs are carbon-based nanomaterials whose size is less than 10 nm, or nanometre.

What are the Advantages/ Applications of CQDs?

• Carbon-based nanomaterials are used as diagnostic tools for bio-imaging, especially in detecting cancer cells, for chemical sensing and in opto-electronics.
• The developed fluorescent carbon nanomaterials will be at one-twentieth the cost of imported CQDs.
• A few chemical companies in the U.S. and Japan have been manufacturing CQDs.
• They emit a bluish colour with “high-stability, good-conductivity, low-toxicity, environmental friendliness, and good optical properties.
• The CSIR-NEIST technology can produce approximately 1 litre of CQDs per day at a low cost to become an import substitute.

 

Facts for Prelims:

Operation Hidden Idol:

It is related to illegally stolen valuable cultural properties from several nations that were sold in USA.

• Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA):

SOFAs are multilateral or bilateral agreements that generally establish the framework under which U.S. military personnel operate in a foreign country and how domestic laws of the foreign jurisdiction apply toward U.S. personnel in that country.

• P. site expected to get ‘National Importance’ tag:

An ancient site with chariots, swords and other objects pointing to the presence of a warrior class around 4,000 years ago at Sadikpur Sinauli in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district could be declared a site of national importance soon.

• ‘Cat Fox’ a new species:

The “cat-fox,” also known as the “ghjattu-volpe’, was recently identified as a new species in the French island of Corsica.