Short News:

Conocarpus trees:

• It is an exotic mangrove species which has been planted by the local administration in Gujarat.
• It is an evergreen, fast-growing species with dark-green shiny leaves.
• Uses: It is widely used in public spaces for its ornamental looks.

Concerns Associated with Conocarpus trees:

• Health: Trees of this species flower in winter and spread pollen in nearby areas which causes diseases like cold, cough, asthma, allergy etc.
• Infrastructure: Roots of this species go deep inside the soil and develop extensively, damaging telecommunication lines, drainage lines and freshwater systems.

The Rankings:

• Global Top 3: 
  • University of Oxford 
  • Stanford University 
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
• 201-250 Band: The most prominent Indian university in these rankings is the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, which has secured the top spot for the first time since 2017. 
• 501-600 Band: The second highest ranked universities in India are Anna University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Mahatma Gandhi University, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences.
• Asian Scenario: 33 Asian universities are in the top 200, up from 28 last year. 
  • The biggest drivers for this jump are China (from 11 to 13) and Japan (from 2 to 5).

About The Ranking:

• This year 1,904 universities (up from 1,799 last year) from 108 countries and regions are ranked.
• THE Rankings 2024 are the most comprehensive, rigorous and balanced global ranking assessing research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators covering their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and internationalization.

• To tackle methane emissions, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations suggested four strategies for better management of livestock.

Four broad strategies in mitigating methane emissions:

• Animal breeding and management,
• Feed management, diet formulation and precision feeding,
• Forages,
• Rumen manipulation. 

About Methane:

• Methane (CH4) is a hydrocarbon that is a primary component of natural gas. 
• It is also a greenhouse gas (GHG) and is emitted from a variety of anthropogenic and natural sources. 
  • Anthropogenic Sources: Landfills, oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities, coal mining, stationary and mobile combustion, wastewater treatment, and certain industrial processes. 
  • Natural Sources: Wetlands, gas hydrates, termites, oceans
• Methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. 

More on News:

• The Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime is going to be stiffer for digital foreign firms from 1st October 2023.
• Service Providers: Foreign companies such as Netflix, Spotify, and Hotstar, providing a wide range of digital services to users in India, will face stricter compliance norms.
• Tax Rate: They will have to pay 18 per cent GST regardless of the purpose.
• Former Practice: Until now, foreign firms providing service to non-GST registered recipients such as the central and state governments and individuals for any purpose other than business were exempt from the tax.