WHY IN NEWS?

• Iran recently launched its supercomputer called Simorgh. This supercomputer is hundred times more powerful than the previous Iranian supercomputers.

About

• The Supercomputer has been named after the phoenix like bird called the Simurgh.
• The Simorgh Supercomputer was developed by the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
• It is located at the Iranian High Performance Computing Research Centre.

Capacity

• The performance capacity of the simorgh Supercomputer is 0.56 petaflops. It is to reach 1 petaflops in two months. In its subsequent levels it is to reach to speed of 10 petaflops.
• It comprises of 42 racks in an area of 250 square metres. In future this is to be upgraded to 400 square metres.
• The total budget of the supercomputer is expected to be 9 million USD.

Applications

• The Supercomputer is to be used for image processing, artificial intelligence work load, traffic and weather data.
• It will also be used for cloud hosting local private firms.

WHY IN NEWS?

In 2021, the United Nations is celebrating its sixth United Nations Global Road Safety Week between 17^th May, 2021 and 23^rd May, 2021. This year, in 2021, the Global Road Safety Week is celebrated under the following theme:

Theme: Streets for Life

The tagline of the theme is #Love30

About:

• It is a biennial global road safety campaign hosted by the World Health Organisation.
• The first Global Road Safety Week was celebrated in 2007.
• The week is celebrated to create awareness of road safety and reduce road deaths

WHY IN NEWS?

• Iran recently launched its supercomputer called Simorgh. This supercomputer is hundred times more powerful than the previous Iranian supercomputers.

About

• The Supercomputer has been named after the phoenix like bird called the Simurgh.
• The Simorgh Supercomputer was developed by the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
• It is located at the Iranian High Performance Computing Research Centre.

Capacity

• The performance capacity of the simorgh Supercomputer is 0.56 petaflops. It is to reach 1 petaflops in two months. In its subsequent levels it is to reach to speed of 10 petaflops.
• It comprises of 42 racks in an area of 250 square metres. In future this is to be upgraded to 400 square metres.
• The total budget of the supercomputer is expected to be 9 million USD.

Applications

• The Supercomputer is to be used for image processing, artificial intelligence work load, traffic and weather data.
• It will also be used for cloud hosting local private firms.

WHY IN NEWS?

In 2021, the United Nations is celebrating its sixth United Nations Global Road Safety Week between 17^th May, 2021 and 23^rd May, 2021. This year, in 2021, the Global Road Safety Week is celebrated under the following theme:

Theme: Streets for Life

The tagline of the theme is #Love30

About:

• It is a biennial global road safety campaign hosted by the World Health Organisation.
• The first Global Road Safety Week was celebrated in 2007.
• The week is celebrated to create awareness of road safety and reduce road deaths

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Punjab Government recently announced that it is to join COVAX facility in order to increase its COVID-19 supplies.

About COVAX:

• COVAX is the vaccine pillar of the ACT-Accelerator. COVAX aims to develop, buy and equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines. It is led by CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation), vaccine alliance, GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation). It aims to bring countries, vaccine manufacturers under one platform. US refused to join COVAX.
• It aims to secure two billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021. It will work to prevent vaccine nationalism. It will enable vaccine manufacturer’s higher expertise in large scale production

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Black Fungus disease has been declared as notified disease in Haryana. This means that the Government Authorities have to be informed about each case of Black Fungus Disease.

What is a notified disease?

• Notified diseases are also called Notifiable diseases. It is any disease whose occurrence has to be reported to the Government by law.

WHO on Notifiable Diseases:

• The WHO International Health Regulations, 1969 has made disease reporting mandatory. This will help WHO in its global surveillance and advisory role. Currently the list is limited only to three main disease namely yellow fever, cholera and plague. And of course COVID-19.

OIE on Notified diseases:

• The OIE, World Organisation for Animal Health monitors diseases of animals at global level. It holds a list of notifiable diseases.

Can Central Government declare notified disease?

• As Health is a State subject, only the State Governments have powers to declare notified diseases. However, the Central Government maintains a list of Notified diseases.

List of Notified Diseases in India:

• AIDS, Hepatitis B, Dengue Fever, Malaria, Whooping cough, Anaemia, Measles, Rabies, Vitamin A deficiency, typhoid, scarlet fever, polio, cerebro spinal fever, leprosy, hepatitis, Cholera, Iodine deficiency, malnutrition, tuberculosis, small pox, plague, measles, influenza, diphtheria, chicken pox.

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer of the European Space Agency recently entered into a critical sequence of tests.

About:

• It is called JUICE.
• It is an interplanetary spacecraft developed by European Space Agency. It is under its development phase.
• The main contractor of the mission is Airbus Defence and Space.
• The JUICE Mission will study three Galilean Moon of Jupiter. They are Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
• All these three moons have significant amount of water beneath their surfaces.
• The spacecraft is to be launched in June 2022.
• It will reach Jupiter in October 2029.
• It will reach Jupiter after five gravity assists. Gravity Assists is the use of the gravity of other planet or astronomical object to increase speed of a spacecraft or to alter its path. This is done to save the propellant and reduce expenses.

Objectives:

• Detailed investigation of Ganymede and evaluate its potential to support life.
• Characterisation of ocean layers
• Detection of putative subsurface water reservoirs
• Geological and Topographical compositional mapping of the surface
• Study of physical properties of the icy crusts
• Investigation of Ganymede’s atmosphere. Study about its magnetic field

WHY IN NEWS?

• The National History Museum located in London is to display a piece of the meteorite that touched down the town of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire in the UK. The meteorite touched the UK soil in February 2021.

About:

• The Winchcombe meteorite is 103 grams in weight. It is a fragment of black rock resembling coal. It was founded by a team from University of Glasgow.
• On February 28, 2021, around hundreds of people spotted a fireball blazing across the sky. The flash of light lasted for six seconds.

Meteorites, Meteors and Meteoroid:

• The Meteoroids are objects that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. When these meteoroids enter the earth atmosphere, they are called meteors. When the meteors hit the ground, they are called meteorites.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Italian Open, 2021 was won by Rafael Nadal. This is his tenth title of the Rome Masters. The Italian Open, 2021 was held on May 16, 2021 in Rome. The Finals was held between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. It is also known as Rome Masters.

ABOUT:

Rafael Nadal:

• Rafael Nadal is a Spanish Tennis player. He is ranked third in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
• He has won twenty Grand Slams, thirteen French Open titles so far. His record of winning has been maximum in clay courts.

Novak Djokovic:

• Novak Djokovic is a Serbian tennis player. He is currently ranked number one by the Association of Tennis Professionals. He has won eighteen Grand Slams.
• He is the only player to win all the “Big Titles” on the ATP tour. The Big Title is a trophy at the Nitto ATP Finals, Grand Slam Championship, ATP Masters 1000 tournament or Olympics Singles gold medals.

About Italian Open:

• It is originally called the Italian International Championship. It is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy.
• It is a clay tennis tournament. There are four different types of tennis court surfaces. They are clay courts, carpet courts, hard courts and grass courts.
• It is an ATP Tours Masters 100 event.

WHY IN NEWS?

• As many as 21 tribals across eight different Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in Odisha have tested positive for Covid-19. Among them, two persons are from the Bonda tribe.

About Bonda Tribe:

• Bonda tribes are one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) found in Odisha.
• Origin: Bonda tribes are members of a group of Austro-Asiatic tribes.They are believed to be part of the first wave of migration out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. They are the first forest settlers in India.
• Culture: The Bondas have retained their identity and culture despite external interventions over the years.
• Occupation: They are primarily forest dwellers. They perform hunting and foraging for food in the wild.
• Matriarchal society: The women prefer to marry men who are younger by at least 5-10 years. This is done because the men can earn for them when they grow old.
• Dressing style: Women are semi-clad and wear various types of rings and necklaces around their bodies. The men on the other hand carry lethal bows and arrows.
• Language: They continue to speak in their language, Remo. It comes under the Austro-Asiatic language belonging to the Mundari group.