Daily Current Affairs – August 4,5 2018
NATIONAL
Kerala
‘Festival on Democracy’
- The President will inaugurate ‘Festival on Democracy’ to mark the conclusion of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Legislative Assembly in Kerala.
Telangana
Bronze statue of Koneru Nageswara Rao unveiled
- Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao unveiled a bronze statue of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) senior leader and former minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh late Koneru Nageswara Rao.
Tamilnadu
First government-trained non-Brahmin priest
- Marichamy, a first non-Brahmin to come out of a state-run archaka training centre and appointed as priest by the State’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department.
INTERNATIONAL
Japan pips China to become world’s second-largest stock market
- Japan ($6.17 trillion) has pipped China ($6.09 trillion) as the world’s number two stock market ranked after the US which is the worlds largest at just over $31 trillion.
U.S. teacher rows solo across Atlantic Ocean
- Bryce Carlson, a high school science teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio, has rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean, setting a record for a west-to-east crossing – 38 days, six hours and 49 minutes.
U.K. unveils new organ donation plan to address Indian-origin shortages
- The U.K. government announced new plans to change the law for organ and tissue donation to address the urgent need for organs within Indian-origin communities in the country.
World’s first intertidal art gallery opens in Maldives
- The Coralarium, an intertidal art gallery, filled with around 30 sculptures acting as a habitat for coral and other marine species, was opened in the Maldives.
SCIENCE
Chinese scientists create first single-chromosome yeast
- Molecular biologists at the Centre for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences in china used CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing to create a single-chromosome yeast strain.
IISER Bhopal strike at the root of head and neck cancer growth
- Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have found that depleting the production of a specific protein kinase (p21-activated kinase 2 or PAK2), which is normally produced in excess in head and neck cancer, affects a chain of events that finally reduces the growth of head and neck cancer.
NASA names Sunita Williams, 8 others, for first space flights on commercial spacecraft
- The space agency has announced that the nine astronauts will launch on the first crewed test flights and missions of new commercial spacecraft built and operated by The Boeing Company and SpaceX.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
India’s forex reserves dip by $951 mn
- Foreign exchange reserves declined by $951 million to $404.2 billion on account of a fall in the foreign currency assets, the RBI said.
RANKINGS & INDEXES
- ICC rankings: Virat Kohli -No.1 Test batsman [Seventh Indian batsman to be ranked the no.1 test batsmen].
- ‘Most investor-friendly’ destination list
- Delhi 2) Tamil Nadu 3) Gujarat
APPOINTMENTS
- CJ K.M. Joseph, CJ Indira Banerjee & CJ Vineet Saran – Three high court judges appointed as Supreme Court justices
- Anurag Sachan – Managing Director of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL)
SCHEMES
‘Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana’
- Bihar Chief Minister Nithish Kumar launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana’ which promises to provide Rs.54,100 from the birth of a girl child till she graduates and expressed his government’s resolve for empowerment of women.
IMPRINT-II
- The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved 122 new research projects at a cost of Rs 112 crore under IMPRINT-2 covering Energy, Security, Healthcare, Advanced Materials, ICT and Security/Defence domains.
MOU, AGREEMENTS & CABINET APPROVALS
NIMHANS ties up with Public Health England
- The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) has tied-up with Public Health England (PHE) to set up collaborative programmes in mental health and public health system models, including Public Health Observatories (PHOs).
DEFENCE
HAL’s Light Combat Aircraft project to come under IAF control
- The government is poised to hand over control of the Bengaluru division of State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to the Indian Air Force (IAF). This is to prevent more time and cost overruns on the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project.
AWARDS
- Sashi Cheliah – MasterChef Australia 2018
APP & WEBPORTAL
‘Shaur nahin’ mobile app
- Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched ‘horn not ok’ awareness campaign and ‘shaur nahin’ (no noise) mobile application.
SPORTS
World Badminton Championship
- Carolina Marin the Spaniard became the first woman to win three badminton World titles with an emphatic victory over P.V. Sindhu of India in Women’s World Badminton Championship, China.
- Kento Momota became the first Japanese man to win the badminton World Championships in World Badminton Championship, China.
Maiden European Tour Golf title for Bhullar
- India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar won the Fiji International Golf title.
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