Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Quick Gyan (QG) Section of D2G. QG is just a glimpse of what happened today all over the world.
Only For Serious Candidates : We strongly recommend you to read the Current Affairs in detail. For your convenience, we have provided quick links under the updates. Make use of it.
Always Keep Yourself Updated!!!
AWARDS AND HONORS
Indian-American Author Akhil Sharma wins 2016 International Dublin Literary Award
Indian-American author Akhil Sharma has won the prestigious 100,000-euro International Dublin Literary Award, the world’s richest award for a single novel, for his second novel ‘Family Life’.
The Delhi-born New Yorker has already bagged the 2015 Folio Prize worth 40,000 pounds for his autobiographical novel that tells the tale of how a family moves from Delhi to New York, where the older brother has an accident that leaves him brain-damaged and in need of 24-hour care. “
Quick Link – International Dublin Literary Award
Rod Stewart knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
Rocker Rod Stewart has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in her annual Birthday Honors List, which also included recognition for astronaut Tim Peake and “Downton Abbey” star Penelope Wilton.
Stewart, the raspy-voiced singer of “Maggie May,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” and “Some Guys have All the Luck,” was honored in Friday’s list “for services to music and charity.” The 71-year-old will be able to call himself Sir Roderick David Stewart.
Quick Link – Rod Stewart knighted
APPOINTMENTS
Major General Per Lodin appointed head of UNMOGIP
A high-ranking Swedish military official will be the new head of the United Nations mission tasked with monitoring the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
Major General Per Gustaf Lodin, 59, also a logistics expert, was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the Chief Military Observer and Head of Mission for the United Nations Military Observer Group (UNMOGIP) in India and Pakistan. Maj Gen Lodin succeeds Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana, who completes his two-year assignment as Chief Military Observer and Head of Mission for the UNMOGIP on July 2.
Quick Link – Per Lodin as head of UNMOGIP
BANKING AND FINANCE
Axis Bank launches India’s first certified green bond at London Stock Exchange
Axis Bank has raised $500 million at the London Stock Exchange after it launched India’s first internationally-listed certified green bond to finance climate change solutions around the world. One of India’s leading private sector capital markets banks opened trading at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with the bond, which is certified by the Climate Bonds Standards Board and raised $500 million.
Axis Bank said the proceeds of the bond will be invested in green energy, transportation and infrastructure projects, reinforcing India’s commitment to produce 175,000 MW of renewable power by 2022. This is the first green bond for Axis Bank within its $5 billion Medium Term Note (MTN) programme, which has also listed entirely on LSE.
Quick Link – London Stock Exchange
INDIAN AFFAIRS
99% Telangana is non-vegetarian: Govt survey
Telangana has the highest proportion of meat-eaters in the country with almost 99% of its residents being non-vegetarians, a Registrar General of India survey of people aged 15 years and above has revealed. An almost equal percentage of men (98.8) and women (98.6) are non-vegetarians in the state.
West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Kerala follow Telangana among the states with the highest nonvegetarian population. Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana top the list of states with the highest vegetarian population. Overall, the percentage of non-vegetarians across the country has dropped from 75% in 2004 to 71% in 2014.
Quick Link – 99% non-vegetarian
Maharashtra reports India’s 1st case of Harlequin Ichthyosis
With the birth of a baby girl in Nagpur, India has reportedly recorded its first ever case of a baby born with a rare genetic disorder called ‘Harlequin Ichthyosis‘. The disease, which affects 1 in 3 lakh babies, causes thickening of the skin all over the body with cracks in between and makes babies prone to infection.
The infant was born pre-term to a 23-year-old woman belonging to a farmer family at Lata Mangeshkar Hospital in Nagpur. She has been kept under observation at the hospital. The infant girl has two reddish swabs in place of eyes on the face. She has no ears while there are two holes as nose from where she is breathing. Her fingers, toes and palms haven’t developed yet.
Quick Link – Harlequin Ichthyosis
President rejects Delhi govt’s office of profit bill
President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected a Bill passed by the Delhi government that sought to exempt the post of parliamentary secretary from the dual office of profit law. As a result, 21 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party may now face disqualification as they were appointed as parliamentary secretaries in 2015.
The Indian Constitution prohibits legislators from holding an office that would allow them to benefit financially. The Arvind Kejriwal government had passed a Bill seeking the exclusion of parliamentary secretaries from the ambit of law. It was forwarded to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and the Centre for approval, but the final decision rested with the president. Mukherjee’s decision was made based on the recommendations of the Election Commission.
Quick Link – President rejects profit bill
Google, Tata Trusts launch ‘Internet Sathi’ in West Bengal
The Indian unit of search giant Google Inc and Tata Trusts launched ‘Internet Saathi‘ program in West Bengal. The initiative will roll out from West Bengal’s Purulia district and will focus on training women and larger communities in the state to learn and explore various uses and benefits of the Internet.
Launched in July 2015, the program has trained and benefitted over 2 lakh women across villages in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The `Internet Saathi’ initiative is part of Google’s `Helping Women Get Online’ campaign, which is designed to create awareness about the benefits of Internet among women in rural India.
Quick Link – Internet Sathi
Andhra launches IT irrigation project management
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has launched an IT-enabled management system for irrigation projects in the state. The system will enable regular assessment of the progress of the ongoing projects in the state and help in monitoring water storage levels and flow of various rivers and reservoirs.
The Chief Minister launched ‘Immersive Telepresence with Integrated Water Management Command Centre’ by reviewing the progress of Polavaram irrigation project’s spillway works on Godavari river. The water resources department has introduced the ‘Immersive Telepresence with Integrated Water Management Command Centre’ for the regular assessment of progress of the ongoing projects in the state and to monitor water storage levels and flow of various rivers and reservoirs.
Quick Link – IT-enabled management system
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Norway becomes the first country to ban deforestation
Norway has become the first country to stop clear-cutting of trees, a huge step toward curbing global deforestation. At the rate we are going, the world’s rain forests could completely vanish in 100 years. In their pledge, Norwegian lawmakers also committed to find a way to source essential products such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber so that they leave little to no impact on their ecosystems. It’s a pledge Norway made at the U.N. Climate Summit in 2014, alongside Germany and the United Kingdom. This move could be potentially transformative.
Quick Link – Deforestation
NATO to send 4,000 more troops to Poland, others
NATO announced that the alliance will deploy four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, as tensions with Russia remain high in the wake of Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the deployment at a news conference in Warsaw, Poland, prior to this week’s gathering of alliance defense ministers.
NATO’s easternmost members, including Poland and the Baltic states, have long sought the increased presence of NATO troops in their respective countries, a request driven in part by Russia’s 2014 military intervention and annexation of Crimea and because of Moscow’s backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine. The deployment has been under discussion for some time and will be formally approved at the NATO summit in Warsaw in July.
Quick Link – More troops to Poland
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Iceland scientists turn CO2 into Stone under CarbFix Project
Carbon dioxide has been pumped underground and turned rapidly into stone, demonstrating a radical new way to tackle climate change. The unique project promises a cheaper and more secure way of burying CO2 from fossil fuel burning underground, where it cannot warm the planet. Such carbon capture and storage (CCS) is thought to be essential to halting global warming, but existing projects store the CO2 as a gas and concerns about costs and potential leakage have halted some plans.
Quick Link – Co2 to CarbFix Project
Four new elements in Periodic table get names
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the gatekeeper to the periodic table, announced the proposed names for elements 113, 115, 117 and 118: nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson. The new names for the four superheavy, radioactive elements will replace the seventh row’s uninspired placeholders of ununtrium, ununpentium, ununseptium and ununoctium.
Iupac officially recognized the elements in December and gave naming rights to teams of scientists from the United States, Russia and Japan, who made the discoveries. The proposed names had to follow Iupac rules and are now available for public review. People have until November to object to the proposals, and Iupac has the final say.
Quick Link – New elements
China successfully launches 23rd BeiDou Navigation Satellite
China has successfully launched 23rd satellite to support its global navigation and positioning network which is being developed to rival the US Global Positioning System. The 23rd satellite in the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. The satellite was put into orbit by a Long March-3C carrier rocket. It was the 229th launch of the Long March carrier rocket. The BDS satellite system is being developed as an alternative to America’s Global Positioning System (GPS).
Quick Link – BDS
Apple launches new macOS version ‘macOS Sierra’
Apple has now unveiled the latest version of its OS X desktop operating system, but it’s had somewhat of a name change and make over. Indeed, it’s now called macOS, with the latest version dubbed macOS Sierra. The change was announced at Apple’s WWDC developer conference.
Apart from a name change, Apple has overhauled iTunes and Apple music, while macOS will finally gain full Siri integration, after Apple’s voice assistant was first introduced on iOS with the iPhone 4S in October 2011.
Quick Link – macOS Sierra
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion
Microsoft announced a $26.2 billion deal to acquire professional social platform LinkedIn for $196 per share. Shares of LinkedIn surged 47 percent after the announcement to near $193, while Microsoft’s stock was down 3.2 percent. Trading in Microsoft had been halted briefly for news pending before the announcement of the all-cash deal.
Jeff Weiner will stay on as CEO of LinkedIn and will report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The deal was unanimously approved by both companies’ boards, and is expected to close by the end of the year. The acquisition is still subject to approval by LinkedIn shareholders and regulators.
Quick Link – Microsoft buys LinkedIn
Symantec to buy Blue Coat Systems for $4.65 bn
Symantec Corp. agreed to buy Blue Coat Systems Inc. in a $4.65 billion deal that will give the computer-security company a new portfolio of cyberdefense technologies along with a new chief executive. Blue Coat Chief Executive Greg Clark is set to take that role at Symantec after the deal closes, which is expected to occur before October. Symantec has been searching for a new CEO ever since Michael Brown stepped down in April amid disappointing financial results.
Quick Link – Blue Coat Systems for $4.65 bn
OBITUARY
Legendary Canadian ice hockey player Gordie Howe passes away
Canada’s beloved hockey icon Gordie Howe, a fierce competitor who finessed his way into the record books on the ice but was a gentle giant off it, died at the age of 88. Nicknamed as “Mr. Hockey”, Howe is considered one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time and an ironman in many respects both on and off the ice.
- Born in 1928 in Floral, Saskatchewan, Howe played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA).
- His first 25 seasons were spent with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, and he played an unparalleled 33 seasons over six decades after breaking into the pro ranks in 1945.
Quick Link – Gordie Howe passes away
Veteran theatre personality Achyut Lahkar passes away
Achyut Lahkar, doyen of Assam’s mobile theatre movement, and noted playwright and actor, passed away in his hometown Pathsala, about 100km from Guwahati, following a protracted illness. He was 85. Born in 1931, Lahkar, a theatre enthusiast from his childhood days, founded Nataraj Theatre, the first mobile theatre company of Assam in 1963, which — over the past five decades — gave the mobile theatre movement the shape of a successful entertainment industry, and that too in a state where film-making continues to be a difficult proposition.
Quick Link – Achyut Lahkar passes away
Donald Carr, former England Cricket captain, dies aged 89
Donald Carr, the former Derbyshire and England batsman who went on to become one of the most prominent administrators of the post-war era, has died at the age of 89. In a first-class career that spanned from 1945 to 1968, Carr scored nearly 20,000 runs and claimed 328 wickets with his left-arm spin for Oxford University, Derbyshire and England, whom he captained at Madras in 1951-52 in his second and final appearance.
Quick Link – Donald Carr dies
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