CAG Weekly
(Current Affairs & GK)
By Om Prakash (Goldy sir)

Nadal lifts his fifth French Open crown

• Rafael Nadal recaptured the French Open crown on Sunday, gaining revenge over Robin Soderling with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win and, in so doing, he also retook the world No.1 spot from Roger Federer.
• Nadal was simply too powerful on clay for the Swede who 12 months ago ended the Spaniard's 31-match, four titles win streak in Paris in stunning fashion with a four sets, fourth round triumph.
• The win, Nadal's fifth here since 2005, put him second on the all-time list of French Open winners, one behind Bjorn Borg whose last title here came in 1981. He is now 38-1 in matches played at Roland Garros.

The World Cup football

• The 64 matches in World Cup 2010, which kicks off on June 11 in South Africa, could have a cumulative viewership of over 26 billion going by the trend in the previous tournament of 2006.
• Some 700 million viewers watched the World Cup 2006 final between Italy and France.
• Fifa sold World Cup TV rights for $2.7 billion.
• India connection to the World Cup

• Latex bladder from India is being used in the manufacture of footballs specially designed for the World Cup, incorporating eight thermally-bonded three-dimensional panels, all spherically moulded and textured with grooves to improve aerodynamics, based on inputs from researchers at the UK’s Loughborough University.
• The ball for this World Cup was designed by Adidas. It is given the name Jabulani (Zulu for ‘Bringing joy to everyone’).
• The World Cup mascot is Zakumi — an anthropomorphed leopard with green hair.

FIFA World Cup history

• From its humble beginnings in Uruguay in 1930 to a global phenomenon, the FIFA World Cup (WC) has grown as a passion for both foot-ballers and fans. With Uruguay, the football champion in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, along with celebrating 100 years of Independence in 1930, FIFA decided to give the country the hosting rights for the first World Cup.
• Only 13 nations participated in the first World Cup and Uruguay won. FIFA then asked teams to qualify for the following World Cup, held in Italy. Uruguay did not defend its title, miffed with the non-appearance of European nations on its soil. Italy went on to win in 1934.
• The succeeding edition saw the host nation and defending champion given direct entries into the finals. Italy retained the title while many South American nations boycotted the event because of the finals staying in Europe. The next two tournaments were cancelled because of World War II.
• The 1950 World Cup in Brazil saw England participating for the first time. The competition did away with knockouts and had two group phases.
• A 17-year old Pele, displaying skills beyond his age, became the youngest player to win the WC. With the likes of Garrincha by his side, Pele and Selecao again won the World Cup in 1962.
• England hosted the 1966 event and won, and it would be remembered for many things. The Jules Rimet trophy was lost and found, South Africa was banned for apartheid, the first WC mascot was unveiled, and North Korea became the first Asian nation to enter the last eight.
• In 1970, Brazil coasted to a dominating triumph, with Pele becoming the first and till now only player to win three WCs. The team, which also had the likes of Gerson and Tostao, is widely recognised as the best ever football team.
• Now in its 80th year, the World Cup touches down in Africa. The African nation, riddled with economic strife and racial tensions, has done all the spadework for the quadrennial event.

Saina Nehwal wins Indian Open

• Saina Nehwal, the women's top seed and World No.6 overcame a stiff challenge from Choo Wong Mew of Malaysia, the second seed, to win 20-22, 21-14, 21-12 in 56 minutes in the singles final in the $1,20,000 Yonex Sunrise-India Open Grand Prix gold badminton championships.

Performance of Kyoto protocol -- an assessment

• The rich must reduce so that the poor can grow. This was the basis of the climate pact signed in Rio. This was the basis of the Kyoto Protocol that committed the industrialised world to cut emissions by 6% over 1990 levels by 2008-12.
• But the world has never been serious about this pact. Between 1990 and 2006, carbon dioxide emissions of the rich countries have increased by 14.5%. Furthermore, emissions from the growth-related energy sector have increased by 15%.

BASICs meet in July

• Ahead of the August round of negotiations at Bonn, the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries will meet in Rio de Janeiro in late July.
• It is expected that the other developing countries will be invited to take part in the deliberations. This is a part of the agreement that the four countries agreed to at their May meeting in Cape Town. In a departure from practice, the Rio meeting will have technical segment followed by the high-level ministerial segment. The technical segment would focus on three issues — equity, leveraging private finance, and science and possible scenarios.
• Each of the four countries is working on a model for equity in carbon space. India has prepared a paper on a burdensharing model based on the principle of per capita emission, South Africa is working on a study which is based on the global development rights framework, China is preparing a carbon budget as well. Brazil already has an equity study, which it prepared in 1997.

Green Revolution's diet of big carbon savings

• The Green Revolution of the 1960s raised crop yields and cut hunger — and also saved decades worth of greenhouse gas emissions, a study concludes. U.S. researchers found cumulative global emissions since 1850 would have been one third as much again without the Green Revolution's higher yields.
• Although modern farming uses more energy and chemicals, much less land needs to be cleared. The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• “Converting a forest or some scrubland to an agricultural area causes a lot of natural carbon in that ecosystem to be oxidised and lost to the atmosphere,” said Steven Davis, from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University in California.

Rich countries accused of carbon ‘cheating'

• Some rich countries are seeking new rules under the U.N. climate convention that campaigners say would allow them to gain credit for “business as usual.” Russia, Australia, Canada and some EU countries are among the accused.
• The rules relate to land-use change, which can either release or absorb carbon, depending mainly on whether forests are planted or chopped down. Rich countries, apart from the U.S., could account for about 5 per cent of their annual emissions through this loophole.
• The U.S. is not involved in these negotiations because the proposals fall under the Kyoto Protocol, of which it — alone among developed countries — is not a part. By way of comparison, 5 per cent is roughly equal to the total emissions reduction that developed countries pledged to make between 1990 and 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol. The benefit for some countries, notably Russia, would be much greater.