27.09.2010 - Current Affairs

• Initiating long-pending reforms in the selection process for the elite all-India services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), the government has decided to introduce an aptitude test at the preliminary examination level while doing away with the assessment on the optional subjects.The Civil Services Aptitude Test, which will be common for all candidates, would be introduced from next year, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Prithviraj Chavan said in an interaction with The Indian Express journalists at the ‘Idea Exchange’ programme here.
• NEW DELHI: South Africa led the charge of the African nations against the shoddy Commonwealth Games preparations on Sunday. As the Delhi  government carried out frantic clean-up operations in the Games Village, South Africa set the cat among the pigeons by saying a snake had been found in an athlete's room.South Africa's high commissioner to India  Harris Majeke told reporters a snake had been found in the room of an athlete at the Games Village. "That was really a threat to the lives of our athletes," he said, complaining of filth in the living quarters including basements of the buildings. "When everything is done, then we will ask our teams to come," he added.
• NEW DELHI: The Indian establishment is worried about a startling increase in the number of stand-offs between Indian and Chinese border patrols and more aggressive posturing by Chinese soldiers along the border.The political leadership has been briefed about this qualitative change in the assertiveness of Chinese troops along the border, sources said.
• MUMBAI: Wikipedia, the world's free online encyclopedia that is one of most visited sites after Google with 375 million visitors a month, will shortly be launching an India office - probably in Mumbai - besides setting up an India Chapter of the Wiki Foundation, the owners of Wikipedia and its other arms, in Bangalore said.
• BEIJING: A sophisticated malicious computer software, or malware, described by security firms as a "new cyber-weapon," is attempting to infiltrate factory computers in China's key industries, threatening the country's national security, cyber experts have warned.Called Stuxnet, the worm was first discovered in mid-June and was specially written to attack Siemens supervisory control and data (SCADA) systems commonly used to control and monitor industrial facilities - from traffic lights and oil rigs to power and nuclear plants, the state-run Global Times daily reported quoting experts.
• LONDON: In good news for people working away from their offices, HP has introduced a new range of printers that connect directly with mobile devices and can be accessed remotely.The launch of the new ePrint platform gives each device an e-mail address and allows documents to be e-mailed directly to the printer for immediate printing.