At COP28, donors join IFC to lure $11 bln in climate cash

Allied Climate Partners

• It is a philanthropic investment organisation.
• Mission: With a mission to increase the number of bankable, climate-related projects and businesses in emerging markets and developing economies to create significant environmental, economic, and social impact.
• Its initial focus regions are Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Central America, Africa, and India.

International Finance Corporation

• It was founded in 1956 with Washington, DC as its headquarters.
• It is a member of the World Bank Group.
• Mandate: Advance economic development and improve the lives of people by encouraging the growth of the private sector in developing countries.
• Functions:
  • It helps countries develop their private sectors in a variety of ways
  • Investing in companies through loans, equity investments, debt securities and guarantees.
  • Mobilising capital from other lenders and investors through loan participations, parallel loans and other means.
  • Advising businesses and governments to encourage private investment and improve the investment climate.
• Governance: The IFC is owned and governed by its member countries. It is a corporation whose shareholders are member governments that provide paid-in capital and have the right to vote on its matters.

New FjordPhantom Android Malware Targets Banking Apps in Southeast Asia

FjordPhantom

• It is a new malware that employs virtualization to elude detection and target applications.
• It propagates through messaging services and combines app-based malware with social engineering to deceive banking customers.
• It strategically zeroes in on users within Southeast Asia, encompassing countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
• Working:
  • It utilises email, SMS, and messaging apps to entice users into unwittingly downloading what appears to be a legitimate banking app, which contains FjordPhantom.
  • When this app gets installed, the attackers, posing as customer service representatives, guide the users through the steps to run the app.
  • The malware uses virtualization to create a virtual container to run this app, and attackers can monitor the user’s actions and steal their credentials.
  • It facilitates attackers in gaining access to files and memory, conducting debugging, and injecting code into other apps.
  • Additionally, the malware logs various actions performed by the targeted applications, signifying active development and suggesting potential targeting of other apps in the future.

Pentagon claims USS Carney, multiple commercial ships attacked in Red Sea

Red Sea

• It is a semi-enclosed inlet (or extension) of the Indian Ocean between the continents of Africa and Asia. It is one of the world’s warmest seas.
• It is connected to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean to the south through the Gulf of Aden and the narrow strait of Bab El-Mandeb.
• The northern portion of the Red Sea is bifurcated by the Sinai Peninsula into the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez, where it is connected to the Mediterranean Sea via the famous Suez Canal.
• Bordering Countries:
  • Yemen and Saudi Arabia border the Red Sea to the east.
  • It is bordered by Egypt to the north and west and by Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti to the west.
• This sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km2 and is about 2,250 km in length.
• The maximum width of the sea is 355 km, and the sea’s deepest point is 3,040 m at the central Suakin Trough, with the sea’s estimated average depth being 490 m.
• Islands: Some well-known islands include Tiran Island, which is located near the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, and Shadwan Island, which is located at the entrance of the Gulf of Suez.

National Green Tribunal seeks action on elephant deaths on Dooars rail track in Alipurduar

Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR)

• Location: It lies in the Alipurduar sub-division of the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.
• Its northern boundary runs along the international border with Bhutan.
• The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of BTR, and the eastern boundary touches that of Assam State.
• It got its name from Buxa Fort, which is located on the Sinchula Range at an altitude of 867 metres.
• The fragile "Terai Ecosystem" constitutes a part of this reserve.
• It serves as an international corridor for elephant migration between India and Bhutan.
• Two rivers, namely the River Raidak and the River Jayanti, flow through the forest of Buxa.
• Vegetation: The forests of the reserve can be broadly classified as the ‘Moist Tropical Forest’ of Champion and Seth’s (1968) recent classification.
• Flora: Some of the important species are Sal, Champa, Gamar, Simul, and Chikrasi.
• Fauna: The main species include the Tiger, elephant, leopard cat, gaur, wild boar, sambar, hog deer, Chinese pangolin, etc.

INCOIS wave rider buoy washes ashore in Gopalpur

Buoy

• A buoy is a floating object anchored at a definite location to guide or warn mariners, to mark the positions of submerged objects, or to moor vessels in lieu of anchoring.
• Buoys are often brightly coloured and have distinctive shapes or patterns, making them easily visible to ships and other watercraft.
• Buoys are commonly found in harbours and ports, along coastlines, and in rivers and lakes.
• They are maintained by various organisations, such as the Coast Guard and other navigational authorities.
• Buoyage system:
  • For the sake of maintaining uniformity in buoyage systems worldwide, the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) divided the world into two regions: Region A and Region B.
  • Region A includes Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the Gulf, and some Asian countries, whereas Region B comprises North, South, Central America, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.
  • IALA proposed a system allowing the use of lateral marks in each region, but in Region A, the colour red of the lateral system is used to mark the port side of channels and the colour green for the starboard side.
  • In Region B, the colours are reversed.
• Special-purpose buoys are designed for a variety of uses; they include cable buoys, anchor buoys, or race buoys.
• A mooring buoy differs from other types in that it is not an aid to navigation but a point to which vessels may be tied up.

Starboard side and port side

• The port side is the ship’s left side when looking forward towards the bow of the ship.
• The starboard is on the right side of the ship when facing the bow.
• The bow is the part of the ship that is generally most forward when the ship is moving. The stern is the back of the ship or its aft-most part.

Indonesia''s Marapi Volcano Erupts, Blankets Nearby Villages With Ash

Mount Marapi

• Not to be mistaken with Mount Merapi in Java, this Mount Marapi is located in West Sumatra.
• Its name means Mountain of Fire. With over 60 eruptions to its credit since the late 18th century, Marapi claims the title of the most active volcano in Sumatra.

Pacific Ring of Fire

• It also known as the Circum-Pacific Belt,**is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterised by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.
• Its length is approximately 40,000 kilometres (24,900 miles).
• It traces boundaries between several tectonic plates—including the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Indian-Australian, Nazca, North American, and Philippine Plates.

India''s manufacturing PMI rises to 56.0 in November

Purchasing Managers’ Index

• It is an indicator of business activity – both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
• It is a survey-based measure that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
• It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
• The index helps in determining whether the market conditions, as seen by purchasing managers, is expanding, contracting or staying the same.
• There are two types of PMI — Manufacturing PMI and Services PMI.

How is the manufacturing PMI derived?

• It is derived by sending fact-based questions to a large number of companies in the concerned sector.
• The questions are related to 5 key variables. The variables with their weights in the index are — new orders (30%), output (25%), employment (20%), suppliers’ delivery times (15%) and stock of items purchased (10%).
• The surveys are conducted on a monthly basis.
• A PMI number greater than 50 indicates expansion in business activity.
• A number less than 50 shows contraction. The rate of expansion is also judged by the difference from the mid-point (50) and also by previous month’s data.
• PMI data for India is released by S&P Global - a global major in financial information and analytics.
• Earlier PMI data in India was released by IHS Markit before its merger with S&P.
• The Manufacturing PMI measures the performance of India’s manufacturing sector and is derived after a survey of approx. 500 manufacturing companies.

Odia scientist discovers disease resistant wild okra

Abelmoschus Odishae

• It is a new plant species of ‘wild okra’.
• It was discovered in a moist deciduous forest in Banspal block in Keonjhar district, Odisha.
• It can be used for hybridisation to create a better variety with high disease resistance.
• It can also play a vital role in widening the genetic base of okra.
• Features:
  • It is a perennial shrub up to 5 metres high with a densely hispid, prickly stem with retrorse hairs.
  • It has large, deep yellow flowers.
  • It has sub-reniform seeds with short, stout, and non-spiral trichomes.
  • It also has a seed viability of 95 percent.

Okra

• Okra, also known as gumbo or ladies’ fingers, is a warm-season vegetable.
• It is native to the tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere and is widely cultivated or naturalised in the tropics and subtropics of the Western Hemisphere.
• It comes in green and red varieties.
• It is part of the mallow family of botanicals, which also includes cocoa and cotton.
• It is a good source of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and fibre.
• Okra has a mild taste and a unique texture, with a peach-like fuzz on the outside. Inside the pod are small, edible seeds.
• It contains a sticky juice that people use to thicken sauces.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

• It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
• Formerly known as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, it was established on 16 July, 1929, as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• It is responsible for coordinating agricultural education and research in India.
• With 113 ICAR institutes and 74 agricultural universities spread across the country, this is one of the largest national agricultural systems in the world.
• Headquarters: New Delhi.

New fluorescent material detects anti-cancer drug overdose in minutes

Methotrexate

• It is a widely used anti-cancer drug.
• The MTX value of more than 10 µM in blood plasma is hazardous.
• If it remains in the system for more than 10 hours, resulting in poisoning effects on the lungs, ulcers of the stomach, and heart stroke.
• MTX is highly expensive, and the detection of unwanted overdoses using traditional procedures is time-consuming and involves complex instrumentation.

Cancer

• It is a disease in which some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body.
• Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells.
• Risk factors: Tobacco use, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and air pollution are risk factors for cancer and other noncommunicable diseases.

Is White Lung Syndrome caused by a new pathogen?

White Lung Syndrome

• It originates from distinctive white patches on chest X-rays in affected children.
• The term includes various respiratory illnesses like acute respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis, and silica-related conditions.
• Causes: It is believed to be caused by a combination of bacterial, viral, and environmental factors.
• Signs and symptoms
  • The patients have symptoms including cough, fever, runny nose, phlegm pileup in sinuses, difficulty breathing and fatigue.
• Treatment
  • The treatment is mainly focused on addressing the symptoms of pneumonia and ensuring the respiratory health of the patients.
  • Medicines are given to alleviate symptoms like cough and fever. Overall monitoring must be done and oxygen therapy provided if necessary.

Other lungs related infections

• Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a serious lung condition that occurs when fluid builds up in the air sacs in the lungs. This makes it difficult to breathe. ARDS can be caused by a variety of factors, including pneumonia, sepsis, and trauma.
• Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis (PAM) is a rare lung disease that is caused by deposits of calcium in the air sacs of the lungs. This can cause shortness of breath, coughing, and chest pain.
• Silicosis is a lung disease that is caused by inhaling silica dust. Silica dust is found in sand, stone, and other materials. Silicosis can cause shortness of breath, coughing, and chest pain.