30 June

International News Affairs

• Germanylegalised same-sex marriage today, with 393 parliamentarians voting to approve “marriage for everybody” and 226 voting against.
  • The reform gives gay and lesbian couples full marital rights, including child adoption.

National News Affairs

• Railways authorities have officially changed the name ofMumbai’s biggest station from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
  • The Centre approved the change last month after the Shiv Sena demanded the addition of ‘Maharaj’ as a sign of respect to the Maratha king.

Places in News

• TheUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named UAE’s Sharjah as the World Book Capital for 2019.
  • Note: Sharjah, the 19th city to be named World Book Capital, has previously been named Capital of Islamic Culture and Capital of Arab Culture.

Awards & Honours

• An anti-hunger activist,Ankit Kawatra, has been awarded the Queen’s Young Leaders Award for 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony in London’s Buckingham Palace.
  • The 25-year-old is thefounder of Feeding India, an organisation that aims to eradicate hunger and food wastage in India.
• Arnav Sharma, an 11-year-old Indian-origin boy in the UK has secured thetop possible score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test, two points higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

New Appointments

• S. President Donald Trump has appointed an Indian-American namedKrishna R Urs as the new US Ambassador to Peru.
• ShuttlerPV Sindhu will be appointed as a revenue divisional officer in Andhra Pradesh, after the AP State Public Service Commission approved her appointment.
  • Last month, the state legislature had passed a Bill amending an Act to appoint Sindhu as an officer in the government.
• Saurashtra Cricket Association’s former chiefNiranjan Shah has been added as an invitee to BCCI’s Special Committee.
  • The committee was instituted to overlook the implementation of the Lodha Panel reforms, as ordered by the Supreme Court.
  • The eight-member committee’s first meeting will be held in Delhi on July 1, with Supreme Court’s hearing on the matter scheduled for July 14.

Obituary

• SingerSabita Chowdhury (72) passed away. 
  • She is the wife of late music composer Salil Chowdhury.
  • She was known for her Bengali songs like ‘Jaare jaa jaa mono paakhi’, ‘Oi jhilmil jhauer boney’, among others.

Science & Technology

• TheJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has revealed plans to send its first astronaut to the Moon by 2030.
  • The announcement comes as India and China develop their indigenous space programmes.
• Facebook’s drone ‘Aquila‘, asolar-powered drone to bring the internet to rural places, completed its second successful test flight in the Arizona desert.
• TheNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully launched Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket that created colourful artificial clouds visible in the skies of the US.
  • The rocket was launched from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Banking, Business & Economic News

• The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) today announced thatJuly 1st will be known as ‘GST Day’.
  • It will be celebrated in all offices of CBEC just like in case ofCentral Excise Day and International Customs Day, the board said.
  • This comes ahead of the launch of GST, which is scheduled for July 1.
  • The GST launch event will start today at 11 pm at the Parliament House.
  • This event will start with the national anthem, followed by remarks by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
  • It will be followed by an address by the Prime Minister and the President, after which GST will be launched.
• The government hasprohibited dual maximum retail price (MRP) for same products including soft drinks and water bottles at multiplexes, airports, and malls.
  • Further, it has also made it mandatory for all packaged commodities to have increased font size for “best before” and “date of manufacturing”, among others.
  • These amendments will be effective from January 1, 2018.

The Malaysian Ringgit became the strongest Asian currency this quarter by climbing twice as much as the Chinese Yuan, according to Bloomberg.