13 February 2018 Current Affairs: Today’s Current Affairs for Competitive Exams – Bank, SSC, Vyapam, PSC

Magnitude-5.6 earthquake strikes Andaman

An earthquake of magnitude-5.6 hit the Andaman Islands on Tuesday morning.
No casualties or damage have been reported so far.
Earlier on January 14, an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale hit the Andaman Islands.

Asia’s largest Christian meet

The 123rd Maramon Convention which is billed as Asia’s largest week-long annual Christian meet, began with a call to conserve river Pampa and the environment at its traditional venue on the riverbed of Pampa at Maramon near Kozhencherry on Sunday afternoon.
Inaugurating the meet, the Mar Thoma Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma, said the Maramon convention had its beginning on the sprawling sandbed of Naranath Manappuram near the famous Sree Parthasarathy Temple at Aranmula a century ago.

Tribal areas to soon get bike ambulances

The government of Mumbai is planning to expand the fleet and run similar services in tribal-dominated regions.
The bike ambulance service, which was started in Mumbai in August last year to provide swift medical assistance to patients, has so far received around 1,500 calls from different parts of the metropolis.
State Health Minister Deepak Sawant said, “Keeping in mind the exceptional response this bike ambulance service has received in Mumbai, the government is planning to launch 30 additional ambulance bikes, out of which 10 will be used in Mumbai.”

Rohan More becomes first Asian to swim across Ocean Seven

Pune based Rohan More became first Asian to swim across the Ocean Seven.
Rohan is also the youngest person in the world to swim across the Ocean Seven.
The Ocean’s Seven marathon consists of seven long-distance open-water swims, which includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokai Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar.
With this, More becomes only the ninth person in the world to complete it.

Indian Navy can now access Duqm port

The Indian Navy will now be able to use the facilities at Duqm port in Oman following the signing of a pact between the two countries.
The port will act as India’s entry point for wider West Asia and Eastern Africa, a welcome development at a time when China has deployed strategic assets in the Indian Ocean Region.

Promoters infuse ₹3,250 crore in Idea

The Aditya Birla Group (ABG) is infusing into its telecom network Idea Cellular, with a host of promoter group companies up to ₹3,250 crore.
A press release from Idea Cellular said that promoter group entities — Birla TMT Holdings Pvt Ltd, Elaine Investments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore), Oriana Investments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) and Surya Kiran Investments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) – will pick up about 32.66 crore shares in the company at ₹99.50 apiece.

Foodpanda to invest ₹400 crore

Foodpanda, an online marketplace for food delivery, on Monday announced plans to invest ₹400 crore in the country.
The company, owned by Ola, said the investment would be used to scale up technology.
The company plans to hire 25,000 delivery riders in the next 12 to 15 months.
“Creating a strong delivery ecosystem backed by technology is one of the most fundamental needs of the Indian food tech industry,” said Pranay Jivrajka, CEO.

India, Bangladesh mull upgrading border infra to boost trade

India-Bangladesh bilateral talks, at the level of Commerce Secretary, were held on 7th-8th February 2018 at Dhaka.
India and Bangladesh are considering upgrading infrastructure at border trading points as well as expanding their ‘Border Haats’ among the several measures to boost bilateral trade and investment.
The two sides held extensive and productive discussions on a variety of issues concerning bilateral trade and economic relations, including development and up-gradation of infrastructure at border trading points.

Gangolli claims 5th straight national chess title for blind

Karnataka’s Kishan Gangolli on Sunday won the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for Blind for the fifth consecutive time.
Ashvin Makwana of Gujarat and Odisha’s Soundarya Kumar Pradhan finished second and third respectively.
At the end of the 13 rounds, Gangolli (Rating 1996) got 10.5 points. Makwana (Rating 1744) earned 9.5 points, while Soundarya (Rating 1753) totalled 9 points.
The top five players in the championship will form the Indian team for the forthcoming ‘World Team Championship’ for the blind to be held in Bulgaria in July 2018.

Tanzania withdraws from UN refugee programme

Tanzanian President John Magufuli has announced his country will pull out of the UN’s “comprehensive refugee response framework”, which provides lasting solutions for refugees, including integration into host communities.
“Tanzania has decided to withdraw for reasons of security and lack of funds,” a statement said.
Tanzania has long been considered a safe heaven for refugees, particularly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

World’s first autonomous pods unveiled in Dubai

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched the first tests of the world’s first autonomous pods at the World Government Summit on Sunday.
The autonomous pods – launched in cooperation with Next Future Transportation – are designed to travel short and medium distances in dedicated lanes.
They can be coupled together in as little 15 seconds or detached – depending on the riders’ destination – in five seconds.
Each pod has an average speed 20 kilometres per hour, and measures 2.87 metres in length, 2.24 metres in width and 2.82 metres in height, and weighs about 1,500 kilograms – enough to carry 10 riders.

Chandrababu Naidu is richest CM, Manik Sarkar the poorest

Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, is the richest CM in the country with assets worth Rs 177 crore.
After him are the chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu, whose assets are worth Rs 129 crore, and Punjab CM, Amarinder Singh, who has Rs 48 crore to his name.
The three CMs with the lowest assests are Manik Sarkar of CPI(M) with Rs 26 lakh+ , Banerjee with Rs 30 lakh and Mehbooba Mufti of JKPDP with Rs 55 lakh.

Nitin Gadkari Releases India’s First Manual On Road Expansion

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday released India’s first highway capacity manual “Indo-HCM” which will guide road engineers and policymakers on issues related to road expansion.
Developed by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), the manual is based on an extensive, country-wide study of the traffic characteristics on different categories of roads like a single lane, two-lane and multi-lane urban roads, inter-urban highways and expressways, and the associated intersections on these roads.

Book marking 70 years of Italy-India ties to be launched

A book presentation at the Italian Prime Minister’s office here on Thursday will mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and India, the Foreign Ministry announced.
Undersecretary of State for European affairs Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Ambassador to India Lorenzo Angeloni, and India’s Ambassador to Italy Reenat Sandhu will attend the launch of “There’s Something in the Air — 70 Life stories from Italy and India”, the foreign ministry said.