Latest Current Affairs – July 16 & 17 2018
1. Mayweather named world’s highest paid celebrity with $285 million
Undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather has been named the world’s highest paid celebrity by Forbes with earnings of $285 million in the last 12 months. Lionel Messi ($111 million) and Cristiano Ronaldo ($108 million) were the only other athletes in the top 10. Meanwhile, Conor McGregor, who took part in second richest fight in history with Mayweather, earned $99 million.
2. Veteran actress Rita Bhaduri passes away at 62
Veteran actress Rita Bhaduri, known for starring in television serials like ‘Nimki Mukhiya’, ‘Choti Bahu’ and ‘Khichdi’, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 62. The actress was reportedly suffering from a kidney ailment.
3. Prez approves bill on 7yr jail for witch hunting in Assam
President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Bill, which was passed by the state Assembly in 2015. The bill proposes a jail term of up to seven years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh for calling and identifying a person as a witch. It is aimed at eliminating superstition from society.
4. Ola signs MoU with Haryana government to create 35,000 jobs
Ola has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Haryana government to create 35,000 job opportunities in the state. The MoU is part of the state’s Saksham Haryana initiative rolled out last year for various skill development initiatives. A part of these opportunities also aim towards the development of the driver-partner ecosystem in Haryana.
5. Ramesh Powar appointed interim coach of Indian women’s team
Former Indian cricketer Ramesh Powar has been named as the interim coach of the Indian women’s cricket team. This comes after former First Class cricketer Tushar Arothe resigned from the post with less than four months left for the Women’s World T20 tournament. BCCI has sent out an invitation for applications for the position of the head coach.
6. France defeat Croatia to win FIFA World Cup after 20 years
France defeated first-time finalists Croatia 4-2 in 2018 FIFA World Cup final to win the quadrennial tournament for the first time since 1998. France became the first team since Brazil in 1970 to score four goals in a World Cup final. This was the first time since 2002 that the World Cup final was decided in regulation time.
England captain Harry Kane won the Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals (6) at 2018 FIFA World Cup. Croatia’s Luka Modric won the Golden Ball award, given to the competition’s best player. France’s 19-year-old forward Kylian Mbappé, who scored four goals, was named the tournament’s best young player, while Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove award.
7. Djokovic clinches his 4th Wimbledon title, 13th Grand Slam
Ex-world number one Novak Djokovic defeated Kevin Anderson to clinch his fourth Wimbledon title and overall 13th Grand Slam. Djokovic became the fourth player after Roger Federer (8), Pete Sampras (7) and Björn Borg (5) to win Wimbledon men’s title four or more times in Open Era. The title is Djokovic’s first at any level since July 2017.
8. Elderly parents can take back property from son if ill-treated: HC
Elderly parents can take back property gifted by them to their son if he fails to look after them in their old age, the Bombay High Court has ruled. The court cited the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, which makes it a legal obligation for children to provide for parents above 60 years of age.
9. Ishwar Sharma, 8 year old Indian Boy named ‘British Indian of the Year’
An eight-year-old Indian-origin schoolboy, Ishwar Sharma who is the under-11 UK national yoga champion has been named the “British Indian of the Year” in the Young Achiever category for his achievements in the field of Yoga. He has won a gold medal representing Great Britain at the World Student Games 2018 in Winnipeg, Canada.
10. Ministry of Drinking water and sanitation launched Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018
The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation launched the Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018 (SSG 2018) in the Delhi. An independent survey agency will conduct the survey in all districts and the results will be announced in the form of a ranking of all districts and states on the basis of quantitative and qualitative sanitation parameters.
The top-performing states and districts will be awarded on 2nd October 2018. The objective of SSG 2018 is to undertake a ranking of states and districts on the basis of their performance attained on key quantitative and qualitative SBM-G parameters.
11. ISRO join hands with J&K to set up telemedicine centre at 12,700 feet
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) joined hands with J&K’s Directorate of Health Services-Kashmir (DHS-K) to set up a telemedicine center at an altitude of 12,700 feet to provide service to pilgrims en route to the Amarnath shrine.
The Panjtarni Base Camp Hospital on the Pahalgam cave shrine route will provide real-time treatment for high-altitude and other ailments that pilgrims frequently face in the region. An Intensive Care Unit will be set up to handle critically ill patients.
The country‘s top hospitals like Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, (PGIMER), Chandigarh; the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi; the Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, etc. will be available through the telemedicine facility.
12. India becomes vice chair of Asia Pacific Region of World Customs Organisation
India has become the Vice-Chair, Regional head, of the Asia Pacific Region of World Customs Organisation (WCO) for a period of two years, from July 2018 to June 2020. The underlying Theme of the Inaugural Ceremony is “Customs – Fostering Trade Facilitation”.
WCO represents 182 Customs administrations across the globe that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade.
The WCO has divided its Membership into six Regions. Each of the six Regions is represented by a regionally elected Vice-Chairperson to the WCO Council. Being the Vice Chair of the Asia-Pacific region of WCO, India will be able to take on the leadership role at the WCO.
13. Angelique Kerber clinched maiden Wimbledon title against Serena Williams
Angelique Kerber defeated seven-time champion Serena Williams in the women’s singles final to clinch her first-ever Wimbledon title. Angelique Kerber hails from Germany.
Coming back from a difficult pregnancy, and 10 months after giving birth to daughter Olympia, she was in a major final after just 13 matches. Overall, it was the 30-year-old’s third Grand Slam title after having won the Australian Open and US Open in 2016.
14. Bihar to get world’s cheapest clean drinking water
Sulabh International introduced the concept of ‘Sulabh Sauchalya’ in India, which is cost-effective innovative water project to provide the cheapest drinking water in the world, only in 50paisa/litre.
The first of such a water project was launched in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, Haribol Pond.
The ‘Sulabh Jal’ project converts contaminated pond and river water into safe drinking water. The total cost of installing this project would cost around Rs 20 lakhs.
The Sulabh International Social Service Organisation (SISSO) and the French companies installed Rs 20-lakh pond-based water treatment plant in Madhusudan Kanti Village of North 24 Parganas district, located some 100 km from Kolkata.
15. DRDO successfully test fired BrahMos Missile from Odisha
Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO), and the Indian Army have test fired a supersonic BrahMos cruise missile under “extreme weather conditions”, in Balasore district in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.
The missile – named after the Brahmaputra River in India and the Moskva River in Russia – is a derivative of the Russian-made P-800 Oniks over-the-horizon supersonic anti-ship cruise missile.
The missile’s range is estimated at around 300 to 400 kilometers. BrahMos is considered one of the the world’s fastest cruise missile currently in operational use.
16. Odisha to get India’s 1st skill training centre
Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan announced that the Centre is planning to set up one National Skill Training Institute (NSTI) in every State to meet the rising demand for skilled manpower in the country.
He laid the foundation stone of country’s first such skill training institute at Barang near Bhubaneswar. The Institute costing Rs 160 crore will come up over five acres of land and have state-of-the-art facilities.
The Centre has introduced an array of national and State level projects like Make in India, Digital India, Smart Cities, Clean India, Urja Ganga gas pipeline project and Sagarmala port project which needs skilled workforce.
17. World famous Rath Yatra celebrated in Odisha
Popularly known as the ‘Festival of Chariots’, Rath Yatra festival in honour of Puri’s Lord Jagannath is one of the most awaited festivals of Orissa and is falling on July 14.
This yatra is conducted from Jagannath temple to Gundicha temple. Apart from Indian, this festival attracts a large number of international tourists in Puri.
18. Haryana CM launched Paudhagiri Campaign
Under the campaign, 22 lakh students studying in Class 6th to 12th of all government and private schools in Haryana will plant a sapling each, during these three months of monsoon – July, August and September.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched this ‘Paudhagiri Campaign’ by planting a ‘maulsari’ sapling in Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex premises of Gurugram, to increase the green cover in the state.
19. Bhushan steel appointed Narendran as Chairman
Bhushan Steel, acquired by Tata Steel under corporate resolution process, has appointed T.V. Narendran as Chairman and non-executive, additional director of the company.
Mr. Narendran is the CEO & MD of Tata Steel. A new management team has been put into place at Bhushan Steel after it was acquired by Tata Steel via the insolvency and bankruptcy process.
20. IMF projects 7.3%, 7.5% growth rate for India in 2018 and 2019
The International Monetary Fund has projected a growth rate of 7.3 per cent in 2018 and 7.5 per cent in 2019 for India as against 6.7 per cent in 2017, making it the fastest growing country among major economies. However, the latest growth rate projection for India is slightly less — 0.1 per cent in 2018 and 0.3 per cent in 2019 than its April projections.
The IMF said global growth is projected to reach 3.9 per cent in 2018 and 2019, in line with the forecast of the April 2018 WEO, but the expansion is becoming less even, and risks to the outlook are mounting. The rate of expansion appears to have peaked in some major economies and growth has become less synchronised.
21. Walmart partners with Microsoft for cloud solutions
Retail giant Walmart said it has entered into a five-year partnership with Microsoft to leverage its cloud solutions for making shopping faster for its customers globally. As part of the partnership, Walmart will tap into the full range of Microsoft’s cloud solutions, including Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, for enterprise-wide use to help standardise across the company’s family of brands, the Bentonville Arkansas-based firm said in a release.
Walmart and Microsoft engineers will collaborate on the assessment, development, and support phase of moving hundreds of existing applications to cloud-native architectures.
22. IIT-Madras unveils word’s first remotely operable LEAP microscope
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras yesterday launched a Rs. 40 crore remotely operable miscroscope, claimed to be the world’s first of its kind, that would enable precise view of atoms of a material. The Local Electrode Atom Probe (LEAP) had been developed in a collaborative exercise involving eight top research institutions in the country.
Though there were several such devices available across world, the LEAP inaugurated at IIT-Madras was the first one that can be operated through a special terminal by researchers divided geographically.
23. Government to create National Database of Arms Licenses system
Names of all arms licence holders will be included in a national database and will be issued a unique identification number (UIN) as part of government’s move to ensure that such documents are not issued to people with criminal antecedents. The decision has been taken by exercising powers under Section 44 of the Arms Act, 1959 (54 of 1959) by amending the Arms Rules, 2016 and these rules will be called the Arms (Second Amendment) Rules, 2018.
Any existing licencee holding multiple licences shall on or before April 1 make an application for grant of a single licence in respect of all firearms held by him or her under his or her UIN to the concerned licensing authority.
24. ISRO successfully conducts ground test of high thrust version of Vikas Engine
ISRO has successfully conducted a ground test of its high thrust version of the Vikas Engine that would improve the payload capability of the space agency’s launch vehicles. The test for a duration of 195 seconds was conducted by scientists at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The Vikas Engine is the workhorse liquid rocket engine used to power the second stage of the ISRO’s trusted Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
The ground test has validated the performance adequacy of the Vikas Engine for its use in the upcoming second developmental flight of GSLV Mk-III. ISRO is planning to launch GSLV-MkIII-D2 during the second half of 2018 carrying GSAT-29.
