13 July

International News Affairs

• The Roman Catholic Mediterranean island Malta today became the 24th country in the worldto legalise same-sex marriage.
• Ships carrying Chinese troops are headed to Djibouti to set up China’s first overseas military base in an effort to enhance its global reach.
  • The base will be used for peacekeeping and humanitarian aid in Africa and West Asia, China said.
  • However, India believes the base would become another of China’s “string of pearls” of military alliances and assets.
• Public schools in Saudi Arabia will start offering physical education for girls from the next academic year, in the government’s latest reform to open opportunities for women.
  • Note: Physical education for women is controversial in Saudi Arabia where conservatives consider it immodest.

National News Affairs

• Delhi Police will be the first state police to get ‘super cop’ beltswhich are widely used by the police in the UK, USA, and Russia.
  • The belt will help the cops carry wireless sets, pistols, and cartridges easily.
• The union cabinet has approved the establishment of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), South Asia Regional Center (ISARC) at campus of National Seed Research and Training Center (NSRTC) in Varanasi.
• The Maharashtra government has launched a scheme to cover medical insurance of up to ₹10 lakh for legislators and their families.
  • This scheme is aimed at curbing the use of fake bills in the medical reimbursement scheme the legislators were covered under earlier.
• Delhi civic agencies are going to launch a mobile app within the next two months to help locate all the 1800 public toilets run by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
  • The app will allow users to give feedback on the condition of the toilets and will have a rating scale of Happy, Not Happy and Satisfied.
• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today ordered that a penalty of ₹50,000 will be imposed for dumping waste in river Ganga on the stretch between Haridwar and Unnao.
  • Directing the authorities that no waste dumping should be allowed within 500 metres of Ganga, the NGT said that 100 metres from the edge of Ganga should be declared a no-development zone.

New Appointments

• Farzaneh Sharafbani today appointed as the CEO of Iran National Airline.
  • With this she became the 1st female to lead the organizaation.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

• The State Bank of India (SBI) has waived charges for fund transfer of up to ₹1,000 through its Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) to promote small transactions.
  • The charge will be ₹5 along with GST for fund transfer of ₹1,000-1 lakh, and up to ₹15 for transactions of ₹1-2 lakh.
  • Note : SBI was earlier charging ₹5 along with service tax for such transfers of up to ₹1,000.
• Microsoft has ended support for Windows Phone 8.1 just over 3 years after its April 2014 debut, marking the end of the Windows Phone OS.

MOUs & Agreements 

• American multinational retailer Walmart today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Maharashtra government to invest ₹900 crorefor opening up of fifteen stores.
  • Note: Walmart already has two pilot stores in the state in Aurangabad and Amravati.

Science & Technology

• The Indian Railways has launched RailCloud, a virtual server with an inbuilt security system that will enable faster connectivity at a reduced cost.
• Scientists from University of Cambridge, UK have discovered the smallest star in the universe.
  • It has been named as EBLM J0555-57Ab.
  • The star was identified by a planet-finding experiment run by several universities titled SuperWASP.

Books & Authors

• RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today releaed a coffee-table book “Narendra Damodardas Modi: The Making of a Legend”.
  • This book has been authored by Bindeshwar Pathak (Chief of Sulabh International)

Current Sports Affairs

• The Indian cricket team has played its first ODI 43 years ago on this day (13th July) in the year 1974.
  • India has played 917 ODIs till date, winning 465 at a success rate of 53.4%.
  • Important Note: India has played the most ODIs in cricket history.