10 PM Current Affairs Quiz – September 9

Flood situation in some states grim; PM visits Assam : Prime Minister Modi left for Assam to take

stock of the flood situation in the state. More than 25 lakh people are affected (and 70 lives lost) in

Assam which is going through one of the worst floods due to heavy monsoon showers. An ex-gratia

compensation has been announced, of Rs 2 lakh for next of kin of those who died in the Assam and

Rajasthan floods, and Rs 50,000 for those who have been seriously injured in the floods.

Though the floods have receded in most parts of the state, six districts are still affected. More than 1,000 relief camps and distribution centres have been setup by the government with Air Force, NDRF and Army

being summoned for rescue and relief operations. Matters related to management of floods and the

damages caused by it are to be taken up.

The Governor of Assam Banwarilal Purohit has donated his one month salary to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the people affected in the flood

Jordan , has launched a project to turn its sand dunes into farming land to produce food using sun and sea water .In the first stage, the project aims to produce up to 130 tonnes of organic vegetables per year from an area the size of four football pitches

The project, whose funders include Norway and the European Union, is to be expanded from three hectares to around 200 hectares of desert.

Methanol is currently produced by breaking down natural gas at high temperatures into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide before reassembling them by the process known as ‘steam reforming’ and ‘methanol synthesis

It is a light, colourless, volatile, flammable liquid with a distinctive odour very similar to that of ethanol (drinking alcohol). However, unlike ethanol, methanol is highly toxic and unfit for consumption

Methanol is produced naturally in the anaerobic metabolism of many varieties of bacteria, and is commonly present in small amounts in the environment. As a result, the atmosphere contains a small amount of methanol vapour. But in only a few
days, atmospheric methanol is oxidized by sunlight
to produce carbon dioxide and water.

After the 2007 GFC tsumani struck the world, a regime of historically low interest rates has persisted. Most investment decisions worldwide post 2008 have been built on low interest rates and high levels of liquidity. But times are changing! Ever since major Central Banks including the US Fed, Bank of England and Bank of Canada have begun hinting that the “easy money policy” of the past 10 years may come to and end, Bond markets around the globe have begun showing signs of nervousness. German government bonds reached highest yield-levels (price of bond and yields move inversely) and 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds reached its highest yield level in 2 months. Also, the minutes of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) June 2017 meeting show that the commitment to expand its €60 billion bond purchase programme may be jettisoned. However, possibly as part of “Abenomics”, the Bank of Japan is keen on purchasing government bonds at low rates. Bond markets worldwide have risen lately, due to huge purchases of government bonds by central banks. The problem is – what happens to stocks (equities)? Higher bond yields mean higher interest rate, which means a greater discount on future cash flows, which means lower stock prices.