Weekly Current Affairs and GK Compilation – Second Week Of March ( 8th March to 14th March 2018)

Dear friends our team prepare the daily gk material and publish it on website daily basis, however it become difficult to keep track of GK on daily basis and moreover many of the news are repeated , so we have come up with Plan to Provide Weekly Current Affairs and GK Booklet which will be helpful for you for your preparation, in this article we have covered articles from 8th March to 14th PDF, also you can get the PDF version of same.

Second Week Of March ( 8th March to 14th March 2018) GK and Current Affairs 

We have arranged the Complete week current affairs topic wise starting from National,  International, Business and Economy, Sports, Science and Tech etc. so that it is easier for you to read and navigate.

Current Affairs National

KTR inaugurates ‘Wings India 2018’ in Hyderabad

• Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao on Thursday inaugurated the biennial event on Civil Aviation and Aerospace titled ‘Wings India 2018’ at the Begumpet Airport.
• Jointly organised by the Civil Aviation Ministry, Airports Authority of India and the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the four-day event got underway at a colourful function.

Mumbai, Delhi emerge as world’s best airports in global passenger survey

• ACI announced its annual airport service quality (ASQ) awards on Tuesday and Mumbai tied with Delhi for the top position among airports handling over 40 million passengers annually.
• Beijing and Shanghai Pudong have been ranked second. With seven other airports making it to the top three (in various categories), India has the highest number of awards.
• China is second (six airports), followed by Indonesia (4).

Karnataka State flag unveiled

• The Siddaramaiah government on Thursday unveiled the State flag (nada dhwaja) for Karnataka. If approved by the Centre, Karnataka will be the second State to have a flag after Jammu and Kashmir.
• The yellow-white-red flag has the State emblem at the centre.
• The proposal will be now sent to the Union Home Ministry for approval, since a State has no powers to announce its own flag.

TDP Ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y.S. Chowdary resign from Union Cabinet

• Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary of the Telugu Desam Party submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• This is the first instance of an ally pulling out of the Modi government.Following this, BJP Ministers Kamineni Srinivas (Health) and Pydikondala Manikyala Rao (Endowments) resigned from the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet, headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu.
• Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan accepted the resignations after the letters were forwarded by the Chief Minister’s Office.

Mumbai ranks 47th on wealth index

• As per the report, which was unveiled globally on Wednesday, Mumbai ranked 47th on the city wealth index among 314 global cities.
• Mumbai also figures among the top 20 costliest global cities, where $1 million can buy only 92 square metres of real estate.
• The report said Mumbai and Delhi would be among the top 10 markets to witness the highest addition in households earning more than $250,000 annually between 2017 and 2022.

Diu becomes first UT to run 100% on solar power

• Solar energy has made Diu the country’s first energy surplus Union territory and a model for an effective way for people to harness this renewable energy source. 
• In just three years, Diu has made rapid progress in solar power generation.
• The Union territory has an area of just 42 square kilometres.
• Despite scarcity of land, solar power plants have been installed over more than 50 acres. 
• Diu generates a total of 13 megawatts of electricity from solar power generating facilities daily.

Jharkhand doctor gets Nari Shakti award from President

• Jharkhand doctor Bharti Kashyap was on Thursday conferred with the “Nari Shakti Puraskar-2017” by President Ram Nath Kovind for her exemplary service to society and contribution to women’s empowerment.
• Kashyap, a Ranchi-based eminent ophthalmologist, received the award at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on International Women’s Day.The award carries a certificate and a cash honorarium of 1 lakh.

Biplab Kumar Deb sworn-in as new Chief Minister of Tripura

• Biplab Kumar Deb was sworn-in as the tenth Chief Minister of Tripura, assuming the charge of the first BJP government in the state after trouncing the Left Front government who ruled the northeastern state for 25 years. 
• The swearing-in ceremony, held at the Assam Rifles ground, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.

Neiphiu Rio sworn in as Nagaland CM

• The Bharatiya Janata Party and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (BJP-NDPP)-led People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) leader Neiphiu Rio was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Nagaland today.
• Nagaland governor PB Acharya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Rio and other council ministers at the swearing-in ceremony at 11.30 am.
• Y Patton, who is already elected as the leader of BJP Legislature Party, was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.

French President Macron pledges 700 million euros for new solar projects

• French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday pledged hundreds of millions of dollars for solar projects in developing countries, as world leaders met in India to promote greater investment in renewable energy.
• Macron, who in December warned that the global shift to a green energy future was too slow, said France would extend an extra 700 million euros ($861.5 million) through loans and donations by 2022 for solar projects in emerging economies.

PM Modi presents 10-point action plan to promote solar energy, calls for less-risky projects

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for concessional and less-risky finances for raising the share of solar electricity in the energy mix and pledged to generate 175 gigawatts (GW) of electricity in India from renewable energy sources by 2022.
• Speaking at the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), Modi presented a 10-point action plan that includes making affordable solar technology available to all nations, raising the share of electricity generated from photovoltaic cells in the energy mix, framing regulations and standards, consultancy support for bankable solar projects and creating a network of centres for excellence.

Suresh Prabhu gets additional charge of civil aviation ministry

• Commerce and Industries minister Suresh Prabhu was today given additional charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry, a day after the resignation of TDP’s Ashok Gajapathi Raju was accepted by President Ram Nath Kovind.

First Woman Inducted As Combat Officer In ITBP

• 25-year-old Prakriti has been inducted as the first direct-entry combat officer in the border guarding force, ITBP.
• The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force is the last of the CAPFs to induct women officers in combat roles after the government first allowed it to enroll them in 2016.Prakriti, who goes by a single name, had cleared the UPSC exam for officers’ recruitment in CAPFs in the same year and in her first attempt.
• “I always had a desire to don the uniform and serve the country. My father, who is in the Indian Air Force, has always been an inspiration for me. I opted for the ITBP as my first choice,” she told.

MHA plans to launch software to boost Hindi content on web

• The ministry of home affairs (MHA) is preparing to launch a memory-based software that can translate “world knowledge and literature” into Hindi in a bid to increase web content in the language.
• The software is currently being developed by MHA’s department of official language and is likely to be launched in August.
• Called the Memory Adharith Anuvadh Software (MAAS), the programme would initially be used to translate the central government’s documents and data into Hindi, ministry officials said, but added that MHA’s long-term plan was to use the translation tool to increase the presence of Hindi content on the internet.

Home minister Rajnath to inaugurate ICP at Moreh on March 15 to boost trade with Myanmar

• Union home minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the much awaited Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Moreh, along India-Myanmar border, to boost border management and trade infrastructure on Thursday, coinciding with the first anniversary of Manipur’s maiden Bharatiya Janata Party government.
• The ICP opening is part of the ‘inauguration fortnight’ chief minister N Biren Singh announced recently to mark the anniversary.
• During the fortnight, the government is expected to inaugurate 116 projects across the state.

Hillary Clinton begins her three-day Madhya Pradesh tour

• Former first lady of the US Hillary Clinton, who is on a three-day visit to Madhya Pradesh, landed at the Indore airport Sunday night by a special plane.
• After her stay at Maheshwar in neighbouring Khargone district, Clinton would visit historical places in the area and also see Mandu in Dhar district on Monday.
• She would leave for Jodhpur on Tuesday morning.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman to visit China next month

• Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday she would visit China next month, which will be an important trip in the backdrop of the strain in ties between the two countries after the Doklam standoff.
• She, however, did not elaborate on the agenda of the meeting.
• In August last year, India and China decided to end their 73-day standoff between their troops in Doklam.
• The standoff had strained ties considerably between the two countries.

Govt to use MNREGS, soft loans to build 22k agricultural markets

• The government will use a mixed funding pattern involving the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) and subsidised loans to develop 22,000 agricultural markets as part of its strategy to fulfil one of the key rural initiatives spelt out in the Union budget.
• These new markets, essentially village ‘haats’, will serve as aggregation points and increase the number of selling points where farmers can bring their produce with minimal rules.
• The aim is to provide an alternative to rigged farm-to-fork supply chains that drive down farmers’ profits.

India wins Best Exhibitor Award at ITB-Berlin event

• India won the best exhibitor award in International tourism festival ITB at Berlin in Germany, Union Minister of States for Tourism K J Alphons informed here on Monday.
• Talking to mediapersons, the Minister, who led the Indian delegation at the event, said more than 100 countries participated in the ITB-Berlin meet and for the first time India has won this award.
• India’s Incredible India presented a short film named “Yogi of the Racetrack” in the meet.

Modi, Macron inaugurate UP’s biggest solar power plant

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday inaugurated Uttar Pradesh’s biggest solar power plant in Mirzapur district’s Chhanvey block.
• The prime minister, Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and chief minister Yogi Adityanath received the French president and his wife Brigitte at the airstrip here.
• The prime minister and the French president pressed a button to energise the solar panels and dedicated the 75 MW facility to the people.
• Built at a cost of around Rs 500 crore by French firm ENGIE, the 75 MW solar plant has come up at Dadar Kalan village on the hilly terrain of the Vindhyas range.

Bengal tops in rural job scheme, T.N. is second

• West Bengal has become the best performing State both in terms of allotting jobs and utilising funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
• According to statistics recently provided in Rajya Sabha by the Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav, West Bengal generated more than 28.21 crore work days under the scheme so far in 2017-18 and spent more than ₹7,335.31 crore for it.
• Tamil Nadu occupied the second spot with 22.17 crore work days and spent ₹5,981.75 crore.
• Andhra Pradesh was third with 18.16 crore work days, and funds worth ₹5054.17 crore.

Chandigarh to host India’s first Sports Literature Festival

• Chandigarh will host Play Write 2018, India’s first of its kind Sports Literature Festival on March 17-18.
• It will bring together sports personalities who have either written books or have been the subject of one or more books themselves including 106-year-old Fauja Singh marathon runner, Indian Women’s Rugby Team besides many others.
• The Sports Literature festival will feature ten interesting sessions covering games like Hockey, Cricket, Marathon running, Soccer, Boxing, Women’s Rugby and Kabaddi etc.

Manipur’s flagship CHT awarded ‘most efficiently-run public health scheme’

• A three-month old Manipur state health scheme popularly known as Chief Minister gi hakshelgi tengbag (or chief minister’s health assistance, CMHT) has won the award for country’s best implemented public health programme.
• It got the award in the category of “the most efficiently-run public health programme by a state government” at a health summit in Pune on March 9.

Country’s ‘tallest’ flag unfurled in Belagavi

• India’s tallest national flag was on Monday unfurled in Belagavi (also known as Belgaum) in Karnataka.
• The event was attended by leaders, schoolchildren, and leaders of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh institutions at the Kote Kere front.
• Where size is concerned, this flag in Belgaum beats the one at the India-Pakistan border at Attari in Punjab. 
• Belagavi District Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi unfurled the 9,600 sq ft wide flag on a 110-metre-tall flagpole at 9:30 am.

India tops list of arms buyers

• India continues to remain in the strategically-vulnerable position of being the world’s largest arms importer, accounting for 12% of the global imports from 2013-2017.
• Arms imports by India increased by 24% between 2008-2012 and 2013-2017 periods, as per data on international arms transfers released by global think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday.

PM to inaugurate Mary Kom’s academy on March 16

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the ‘Mary Kom Regional Boxing Foundation’ in Imphal on March 16 and to be present in the event will be Olympic medallists boxer Vijender Kumar and wrestler Sushil Kumar.
• Situated at the foot of Langol hills in Manipur’s Imphal West district, Mary Kom’s Boxing Academy, spread across 3.3 acres, is around 10 km from the center of state capital Imphal.
• It currently houses 45 young boxers, including 20 girls, at the three-storey building.

Current Affairs Business and Economy

India’s Biggest M&E Services Market, enTTech 2018 inaugurated in Mumbai

• India’s biggest Media & Entertainment Services Market – enTTech 2018 was inaugurated on 7 March in Mumbai. The market, spread over two days (March 7 – 8, 2018) will see fast matchmaking between 100 international delegates and their Indian counterparts.
• Speaking at the inaugural function through video message, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu said that technology is driving all activities and that young minds are the incubators of new ideas.

ISA-ADB, NDB, GCF, AfDB and AIIB joint declarations of Financial partnership 

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the African Development Bank (AfDb), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Green climate fund (GCF), and the New Development Bank (NDB) signed Joint financial partnership Declarations on Saturday.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) also signed a Joint partnership Declaration with the ISA. The agreements were signed in the presence of Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs and Shri R.K. Singh, Minister of State (I/C) for Power and New and Renewable Energy.
• The objective of the agreements is to deepen their cooperation in support of Renewable Energy.

Paytm Money receives Sebi nod as registered investment adviser

• Paytm Money, has received approval of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to become a registered investment advisor.
• The nod from Sebi will allow the company to roll out investment and wealth management products to consumers across the country.

Govt to infuse Rs 5000 crore in Food Corporation of India in next 2 years

• The government will infuse Rs 5,000 crore equity in state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) over the next two years to ease liquidity problem and make its procurement operations more efficient.
• FCI, the government’s nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, will also raise Rs 32,000 crore through government-guaranteed bonds.
• “The ministry of finance has accordingly decided that the capital requirement for holding the stocks shall be pegged at Rs 50,000 crore, of which Rs 45,000 crore shall be financed through borrowed capital and Rs 5,000 crore through equity infusion,” the panel said in the report.

SpiceJet inks $12.5 billion deal with French major Safran for aircraft engines

• SpiceJet dn Friday inked $12.5 billion deal with French major Safran Group for CFM aircraft engines.
• At current exchange rate, the deal is worth more than Rs 81,000 crore and is one of the biggest in the aviation sector.
• SpiceJet and Safran Group have now finalised the purchase of LEAP-1B engines to power a total of 155 Boeing 737 MAX planes, along with spare engines to support the fleet, according to a release.
• CFM engines are manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between Safran and General Electric.

IndiGo plans to order 50 Airbus A330 planes

• IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, plans to order as many as 50 Airbus SE A330 wide-body jets as it seeks to expand beyond short-haul flights.
• The carrier aims to take the upgraded A330neo version of the plane.
• The deal would be worth $13 billion at list prices for the smaller of two variants, though some of the aircraft are likely to be options to be confirmed later.

Twitter Inc. appoints IIT Bombay alumnus Parag Agrawal as CTO

• The microblogging site Twitter has appointed Parag Agrawal as its CTO.
• He will be leading technical strategy for the company and will focus on AI/ML across Twitter’s infrastructure and product teams.
• He joined Twitter in 2011 as an Ads Engineer, and under him, Twitter’s Ads systems have scaled up.
• He has also helped build and deploy a platform for online machine learning at Twitter.

TCS ranked the fastest growing IT services brand in 2018

• Leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, Tata Consultancy Services, has been named as the fastest growing IT services brand in the world in an assessment done by world’s leading brand valuation firm, Brand Finance.
• According to the assessment, TCS now has a total brand value of $10.391 billion, a growth of 14.4% from last year’s total of $9.081 billion.

GST e-way bill must from April 1

• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Saturday mandated the use of electronic way (e-way) bills from April to track inter-state movement of goods but deferred a decision on a simplified return filing process due to lack of consensus.
• As a result, the current return filing system was extended by three months with a group of ministers tasked with working out a simplified mechanism that also checks evasion.

India’s industrial production grows 7.5% in January

• India’s factory production grew in January to 7.5% over the same month last year, and marginally over the 7.1% recorded in December 2017, official data showed on Monday.
• “The General Index for the month of January 2018 stands at 132.3, which is 7.5% higher as compared to the level in the month of January 2017,” a Central Statistics Office (CSO) release said.
• The cumulative Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth for the April-January period of the current fiscal over the corresponding period of the previous year stood at 4.1%, the CSO said.

IKEA appoints Peter Betzel as India CEO

• Swedish flat-pack furniture pioneer IKEA on Monday appointed Peter Betzel as the new CEO for its India business.
• Betzel takes over from Juvencio Maeztu, who moves into a global role as CFO, and deputy CEO of IKEA Group INGKA Holding BV, the company said in a statement.
• Previously, Betzel was heading the IKEA group’s largest market,Germany, and will now take the lead for IKEA’s expansion into India beginning with the upcoming launch of the company’s first store in Hyderabad in 2018.

IREDA, EIB ink 150mn-euro loan agreement for renewable energy

• Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and European Investment Bank (EIB) have inked a 150 million euros loan agreement, a move that will benefit over 1.1 million households with clean energy.
• IREDA, which is the financing arm of New and Renewable Energy Ministry, has signed the loan agreement for a second line of credit (LoC) on non-sovereign basis, an official statement said.
• It added that the line of credit is for tenure of 15 years, including a grace period of three years and will be used for financing renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in India.
• EIB is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its member states.

IndiGo cancels 42 flights after DGCA grounds A320neo planes

• Low-fare carrier IndiGo cancelled 42 flights and GoAir six on Wednesday, as 11 of their 320 Neo aircraft remained grounded for the third day on the orders of the aviation regulator.
• According to IndiGo’s website, fliers at airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Dehradun and Srinagar were affected by the cancellations.
• The DCGA on Monday removed from the country’s skies 11 planes powered by a specific series of Pratt & Whitney engines following in-flight engine failures.
• The decision came after a Lucknow-bound IndiGo flight faced a mid-air scare earlier in the day.

Bhel secures order worth Rs 736 crore from NPCIL

• Bharat Heavy Electricals has secured a significant order worth Rs.736 Crore for supply of Steam Generators from Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).
• The order has been received against competitive bidding.
• The Steam Generators will be used for a 700 MWe Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) to be installed at Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna (GHAVP) in Fatehabad district of Haryana. 
• The Steam Generators will be manufactured at the Tiruchirappalli plant of BHEL.

IBBI, RBI sign MoU for better implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code

• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for enhancing cooperation between the two regulators to ensure better implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
• According to the MoU, RBI and IBBI will share data and resources with each other to the extent allowed by law and hold frequent discussions to overcome regulatory bottlenecks with respect to implementation of IBC.
• While RBI is the banking regulator, the IBBI regulates insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities. 

SBI slashes minimum balance charges, here’s how much you will pay now

• The State Bank of India (SBI) Tuesday reduced charges for non-maintenance of average minimum balance (AMB) in savings accounts by up to 75 per cent. 
• The revised charges will be effective from April 01, 2018 and will benefit more than 25 crore customers.
• The charges for non-maintenance of AMB for customers in metro and urban centres have been reduced from a maximum of Rs 50 per month plus goods and services tax (GST) to Rs 15 per month plus GST.
• Likewise, for semi-urban and rural centres, the charges have been slashed from Rs 40 a month plus GST to Rs 12 and Rs 10 plus GST charges, respectively.

Current Affairs Sports

Delhi high jumper Tejaswin Shankar smashes national record to book CWG ticket

• Delhi youngster Tejaswin Shankar smashed his own national record to claim the high jump gold as three athletes booked their Commonwealth Games berths on the third and penultimate day of the 22nd Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships on Wednesday.
• The 19-year-old Shankar sailed over the bar at 2.28m to marginally improve his own national mark of 2.26m which he achieved in Coimbatore in 2016 during the Junior National Championships.
• In the process, he breached the Athletics Federation of India qualifying standards of 2.25m for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

Ayyasamy Dharun breaks Joseph Abraham’s 400m hurdles national record

• Ayyasamy Dharun won the 400m hurdles with a national record-breaking timing of 49.45s on the final day of the Federation Cup in Patiala.
• Dharun, who specialises in 400m, also bettered the Athletics Federation of India’s Commonwealth Games guideline on his way to the gold medal.
• Santhosh Kumar (50.14s) and Ramachandran M (51.61s) were the other two runners on the podium.

ICC World Cup qualifiers: West Indies beat Ireland; Zimbabwe, Afghanistan win

• Rovman Powell’s maiden one-day international hundred dragged the West Indies from a difficult position to beat Ireland in Harare on Saturday and reach the Super Six stage of World Cup qualifying.
• Hosts Zimbabwe also booked their spot in the next round by making it three wins from three in Group B with a comfortable victory over Hong Kong, while Afghanistan saw off Nepal to keep their slim hopes alive.

31-member Indian track and field team announced for Commonwealth Games 2018

• The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Saturday named a 31-member Indian track and field team (18 men and 13 women) for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
• Junior World Champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is set to make his debut at the CWG.
• Neeraj recently won gold at the Federation Cp with an effort of 85.94m, which is the second best effort of his career.
• In the last edition in Glasgow in 2014, India had 32 track and field athletes and won three medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze).

Winter Paralympic Games Begin in South Korea

• The largest Winter Paralympics are underway in Pyeongchang, South Korea. A record 567 athletes from 48 countries and a neutral athletes team of Russian competitors, will be competing beginning Saturday.

ISSF Shooting World Cup

• Anjum Moudgil won her first International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup medal- Silver in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) event at the ongoing ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage in Guadalajara, Mexico.
• Anjum shot brilliantly to finish behind China’s Ruijiao Pei 455.4 to 454.2 after the 45-shot final.
• China’s Ting Sun claimed Bronze, finishing with a score of 442.2.
• This was India’s eighth medal of the competition and the first Silver after having won three Golds and four Bronze medals already.

Bengaluru FC in ISL final

• Sunil Chhetri struck a hattrick in the season’s biggest game yet for Bengaluru FC to carry the debutants to a 3-1 victory over FC Pune City in the second leg semi-final of the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday and into the final clash.
• They will face winners of the other semi-final between Chennaiyin FC-FC Goa.

India’s Akhil Sheoran strikes gold in men’s 50m Rifle 3-Position at shooting World Cup

• Young Akhil Sheoran clinched the gold medal in men’s 50m rifle 3 position with plenty to spare as India continued their superlative run at the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico.
• Sheoran, thus, became the fourth young Indian shooter to win a medal on ISSF World Cup debut.

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Final

• Australia regained the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup title after overcoming England 2-1 in the final, while Argentina claimed the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over hosts Malaysia here on Saturday.
• Australia took the lead in the 38th minute when Blake Govers fired home from a penalty corner.
• Youngster Sharp doubled Australia’s lead in the 53rd minute.

India finish top of ISSF World Cup shooting medals tally

• India topped the medals tally for the very first time in an International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) competition.
• Stellar show from Shahzar Rizvi, Manu Bhaker, Akhil Sheoran, Om Prakash Mitharval, Anjum Moudgil and Mehuli Ghosh ensured Indian finished the ISSF World Cup shooting in Guadalajara, Mexico, with four gold, one silver and four bronze medals.

Manish Pandey, Shardul Thakur star for India in hard-fought win vs Sri Lanka

• Manish Pandey’s vital 42* and his 68-run stand for the fifth wicket with Dinesh Karthik (39*) after Shardul Thakur’s career-beest 4/27 helped India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in a rain-reduced 19-overs-a-side game on Monday and get closer to a spot in the final of the Nidahas Trophy 2018 T20 tri-series. 
• Pandey’s knock steadied the Indian innings after India’s three most experienced batsmen failed.

Matt Wallace beats Andrew Johnston in play-off to win Indian Open

• Briton Matt Wallace beat compatriot Andrew Johnston in the first hole of their play-off to win his second European Tour title at the Indian Open on Sunday.
• Wallace, who shared the lead along with home favourite Shubhankar Sharma after the penultimate round, carded a four-under 68 at the DLF Golf and Country Club to soar to the top on 11-under.

Chris Rogers appointed Cricket Australia’s high-performance coach

• Chris Rogers, former Australian cricket team’s opening batsmen was Wednesday appointed as Cricket Australia’s new high-performance coach, tasked with helping develop the country’s next generation of stars.
• The 40-year-old called time on his 25-Test career after the end of the 2015 Ashes series and has been involved in multiple coaching roles since then.

Rani Rampal to lead Indian women’s hockey team at Commonwealth Games

• Striker Rani Rampal will head Indian women hockey’s 18-member squad at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
• The Indian team is grouped in Pool A along with Malaysia, England, South Africa and Wales – against whom they’ll begin their campaign on April 5.

Current Affairs World

Marshall Islands creates its own virtual money to pay bills

• The Marshall Islands is creating its own digital currency in order to raise some hard cash to pay bills and boost the economy.
• The Pacific island nation said it became the first country in the world to recognize a cryptocurrency as its legal tender when it passed a law this past week to create the digital “Sovereign,” or SOV.
• In the nation of 60,000, the cryptocurrency will have equal status with the U.S. dollar as a form of payment.

Indian Military Ranked Fourth Strongest in World

• Out of 133 countries, India is ranked fourth on a global index for its military strength, only the United States, Russia and China are ranked above India on the list.
• Meanwhile, neighbouring Pakistan is ranked 13th on the Global Firepower index 2017.
• India maintained its position above France in the top five military powers in the world, while Pakistan made it to the top 15 countries on the list in 2017.
• Other global powers – United Kingdom, Japan, Turkey, Germany and Egypt make the top ten list.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in India on 4-day visit

• French President Emmanuel Macron arrived India on Saturday on a four-day India visit and was received at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a special gesture.
• Mr. Macron was accompanied by his wife Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron, besides senior ministers from his Cabinet.
• “Welcome to India, President @EmmanuelMacron! Your visit will add great strength to the strategic partnership between India and France. I look forward to our talks tomorrow,” Modi tweeted after receiving Macron at the airport.
  

Xi Jinping can be president for life as Chinese parliament removes term limit

• China on Sunday amended its constitution to remove the two-term limit, amid fears among experts both in China and abroad that he is building a cult of power and personality around himself.
• Nearly 3,000 legislators or deputies of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber-stamp parliament, voted to amend the constitution.
• At the same session, the NPC also granted the “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” constitutional authority in a landmark amendment.
• China has had a two-term limit for presidents since 1982.

Israeli, U.S. forces hold joint military drill in Israel

• U.S. and Israeli military Thursday have launched a month-long joint military drill that simulates a missile attack on Israel.
• The “Juniper Cobra 2018” exercise was launched on Sunday, a military spokesperson said, adding it is the largest drill of its kind.
• The biennial drill is jointly held by the Israeli military and the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM).
• As part of the exercise, some 2,500 U.S. troops routinely based in Europe were deployed in Israel as well as about 2,000 Israeli Aerial Defense troops, logistics units, medical forces and other Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units.

Sri Lankan President Sirisena to appoint panel to probe anti-Muslim riots

• Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday appointed a commission to probe the communal clashes in the violence-hit Kandy district that prompted him to impose a nationwide state of emergency, according to a media report.
• Anti-Muslim riots, since Monday, have left two persons dead and damaged several homes, businesses and mosques in the Kandy district.
• The violence erupted after the death of a man from the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority last week.

Russia test-fires ‘ideal’ hypersonic missile

• Russia on Sunday successfully launched a hypersonic missile which President Vladimir Putin called “an ideal weapon” as he unveiled a new array of next-generation arms earlier this month.
• The high-precision Kinzhal (Dagger) missile was launched from a MiG-31 supersonic interceptor jet that took off from an airfield in the south military district in Russia’s southwest, the defence ministry said.
• “The launch went according to plan, the hypersonic missile hit its target,” the ministry added.

India, France ink 14 pacts to boost cooperation

• India and France inked key pacts in the strategic areas of security, nuclear energy as well as protection of classified information after extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.
• Agreements in the field of education, environment, urban development and railways were also signed in the presence of the two leaders.
• Addressing a joint media event with Macron, Modi said the two countries have robust cooperation in the fields of defence and security.

Pakistan’s first-ever Hindu Dalit woman Senator sworn in

• Krishna Kumari Kolhi on Monday sworn-in as Pakistan’s first-ever Hindu Dalit woman Senator.
• Kolhi, 39, was among 51 legislators who were sworn in as the members of the upper house of the Muslim-majority country.
• Kolhi, who belongs to a remote village in Nagarparkar district of Thar in Sindh province, is a member of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
• Presiding officer Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar administered the oath to the senators elected on March 3 by the federal and provincial assemblies.

China to merge banking, insurance regulators, create new ministries in biggest revamp in years

• China will merge its banking and insurance regulators and create a new agricultural and rural village ministry, a parliament document released on Tuesday showed, among a number of proposed changes in the biggest ministry shake-up in years.
• China will also transfer some of the banking and insurance regulators’ roles to the central bank, the document showed.

Maldives passes anti-defection law to disqualify ‘rebel dozen’

• The government controlled parliament on Tuesday passed the controversial anti-defection law devised to disqualify a dozen former government lawmakers.
• The draft law was submitted in the wake of a top court stay order the relevant institutions to hold off on the reinstatement of a dozen opposition lawmakers disqualified over an earlier anti-defection ruling.
• The Supreme Court said the anti-defection ruling was issued as a temporary solution to the constitutional dispute case filed by the state.

Vietnamese crowned queen in Thai transgender pageant

• Vietnam’s Nguyen Huong Giang was crowned “Miss International Queen” in Thailand on Friday at one of the world’s top beauty pageants for transgender women.
• The red-dressed winner fended off 26 competitors, from countries spanning Mongolia to Mexico, to clinch the coveted crown in the seaside town of Pattaya, where the popular contest has been running since 2004.

Bidya Devi Bhandari re-elected as Nepal President

• Nepal’s first woman President Bidya Devi Bhandari was on Tuesday re-elected for a second term in office with an overwhelming majority.
• Incumbent President Bhandari, the Left alliance’s candidate, was elected with more than a two-thirds majority as she defeated her Nepali Congress (NC) rival Kumari Laxmi Rai in the presidential election.
• Ms. Bhandari secured 39,275 votes while the NC’s Ms. Rai garnered 11,730 votes, Election Commission spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal said.

 

Current Affairs Miscellaneous

Uber India signs Virat Kohli as its first brand ambassador

• Uber, the ridesharing app, has signed on Virat Kohli, captain of the Indian Cricket team, as its first brand ambassador in India.
• This is for the first time that Uber has signed any brand ambassador across the Asia Pacific region.
• “We are extremely delighted to sign on Virat Kohli to bat as brand ambassador for Uber India. His commitment to India on and off the field is commendable – from bagging world titles for the country to advocating positive change, he is invested in making a difference to the community at large,” said Amit Jain, President, Uber India & SA.

Balkrishna Doshi wins architecture’s top Pritzker Prize, first Indian to do so

• Nonagenarian architect and reputed urban planner Balkrishna Doshi has been named this year’s winner of architecture’s highest honour — the Pritzker Prize, becoming the first Indian to do so.
• His designs include the IIM-Bangalore; Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad; cultural spaces in Ahmedabad such as Tagore Memorial Hall, the Institute of Indology, and Premabhai Hall; and private residence Kamala House (Ahmedabad), among many others.
• Tom Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Foundation that sponsors the award made the ammouncement in Chicago, selecting Doshi as the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.
• The award ceremony will take place at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto this May.

Indian-origin researchers develop handy blood pressure app, hardware

• A team led by an Indian-origin researcher has created a new app and hardware to measure blood pressure.
• The technology, details of which were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine along with a video, also includes a discovery of a more convenient measurement point.
• “We targeted a different artery, the transverse palmer arch artery at the fingertip, to give us better control of the measurement,” said lead author Anand Chandrasekhar.

Twitter could allow every user to get its verified blue tick status

• Twitter will soon open the much-coveted blue tick verification process for all users on the platform who can prove their identity.
• “Twitter announced in a livestream that the company plans to offer its blue-check-mark verification badge to more of its users, an oft-requested feature,” Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter was quoted as saying by CNET on Friday.
• The micro-blogging site is working on a new process to verify people’s identity and, thus, ensure credibility.

Amazon to add more regional content for Prime Video service in India

• Amazon.com Inc’s video service will look to add more regional content in India as it competes with a host of global and local players for a bigger share of a fledgling online streaming market.
• In little after a year of its launch in India, Amazon’s bet on original Hindi shows and a library of films in five local languages has paid off.
• India is the fastest growing market for its Prime Video service, Tim Leslie, global Vice President at Amazon Prime Video, told Reuters in an interview late Saturday.

Apple working on water, dust and crumb-resistant keyboard

• An Apple patent application has surfaced that shows that the iPhone maker is developing a liquid, dust and crumb-resistant keyboard for Macbook devices.
• Titled “Ingress Prevention for Keyboards”, the application describes a key mechanism that would use ‘membranes or gaskets’ to keep foreign objects from getting in under the keys and jamming up or interfering with the electronics on the keyboard.

IAF speeds up hunt for new fighter jets to add muscle

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) is likely to start the process of inviting foreign military contractors to build fighter jets in the country under the government’s Make in India plan in the next four weeks.
• This multi-billion-dollar project to build 114 jets will be “directly linked” to the development of an indigenous futuristic stealth fighter – the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
• The air force plans to issue a request for information (RFI) before DefExpo-2018 — a military systems exhibition by the defence ministry — opens in Chennai on April 11.

Amol Palekar receives ‘Godavari Gaurav’ award

• Noted actor Amol Palekar was honoured with the ‘Godavari Gaurav’ award at an event in Nashik last night.The 73-year-old actor, known for his performance in films like “Gol Maal” , “Choti Si Baat”, “Chitchor” among others, was presented with the award, which has been instituted by city-based ‘Kusumagraj Prathishthan’.
• The award was given by noted Marathi writer Madhu Mangesh Karnik, who is the chairperson the Prathishthan.
• Classical singer Pandit Satyasheel Deshpande also received the ‘Godavari Gaurav’ award.

Floating Lab set up to monitor Manipur’s Loktak Lake

• The Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Laboratory (IBSD), Imphal, set up a floating laboratory in northeast India’s largest freshwater lake, Loktak to constantly monitor its water quality and eventually improve it.
• The laboratory was inaugurated by Manipur’s Forest and Environment Minister, Thounaojam Shyamkumar Singh in Imphal on February 24.

Russia ‘test-fires hypersonic Kinzhal missile’

• Russia has successfully test-launched a hypersonic missile, one of a range of nuclear-capable weapons announced by President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.
• The country’s defence ministry released video footage showing the missile detaching from a fighter jet and leaving a fiery trail behind it.
• It said the intended target was hit.
• On 1 March, Mr Putin described the Kinzhal missile – named after a type of dagger – as “an ideal weapon”.

“Palace on Wheels” gets tourist train of the year award

• The luxury train ‘Palace on Wheels’ of Rajasthan, popular among foreign tourists, has bagged the ‘Tourist Train of the Year’ award of the Pacific Area Travel Writers’ Associ-ation.
• State Director (Tourism) Pradeep Kumar Borar received the award from Union Minister of State for Tourism K.J. Alphons.

Stephen Hawking, great scientist who wrote of space, time and black holes, dies at 76

• Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking, whose mental genius and physical disability made him a household name and inspiration across the globe, has died at age 76, his family said Wednesday.
• Hawking, whose 1988 book “A Brief History of Time” became an unlikely worldwide bestseller and cemented his superstar status, dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe.
• He died peacefully at his home in the British university city of Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

New habitable planet found near our solar system

• A new planet near the habitable zone around a bright cool star has been found.The scientists have confirmed the existence of 15 new planets – including one ‘super-Earth’ that could harbour liquid water – orbiting small, cool stars near our solar system.
• These stars, known as red dwarfs, are of enormous interest for studies of planetary formation and evolution, the study states.
• A research team led by Teruyuki Hirano of Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences has validated 15 exoplanets orbiting red dwarf systems.
• One of the brightest red dwarfs, K2-155 that is around 200 light years away from Earth, has three transiting super-Earths, which are slightly bigger than our own planet.

Sitanshu Kar new PIB chief, Frank Noronha to retire in April

• The Press Information Bureau (PIB), the central government’s publicity wing, will get a new chief from May 1.
• Incumbent Frank Noronha, who took over in 2014 after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power, will retire on April 30.
• Sitanshu Kar will replace him as principal director general of PIB, according to a statement from the information and broadcasting ministry.
• Kar was serving as director general, news services division, at All India Radio.