International News Affairs
- Yemen and Libya have followed the decision by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.
National Current Affairs
- Habibganj Railway Station (Bhopal) is going to become India’s first railway station to be redeveloped in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
- The idea is to develop Habibganj railway station as a world-class transit hub equipped with all amenities.
- The government has changed an over 50-year-old rule by setting a deadline of six months to complete probes in corruption cases involving government employees.
- It has amended the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, in order to speed up investigation in such cases.
- Earlier, there was no such time frame to complete such enquiries.
- India saw its hottest winter in recorded history in 2016-17, with temperatures reaching 2.95ºC above the 1901-1930 baseline , according to the Centre for Science and Environment.
- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced that it is working on a forecasting system that will give a 15 day warnings on the likelihood of Malaria or Chikungunya outbreak across different regions of the country.
- The Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (ESSL)has initiated a French agency funded project to retrofit 10 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights in Gram Panchayats of 7 districts in Andhra Pradesh.
- This is the first project for rural LED street lighting in the country under the Centre’s Street Lighting National Project (SLNP).
Science & Technology
- The National Board of Wildlife has approved Rutland Island in South Andaman to be the site for India’s long-range missile test facility.
- Technology major Apple today announced that Safari will be the “world’s fastest desktop browser” with its latest High Sierra OS for Mac
- The company claims that its web browser will be 80% faster than its Google competitor, Chrome.
New Appointments
- Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba (70) elected new Prime Minister of Nepal.
- He will take charge of Prime Minister fourth time.
- He will be 40th Prime Minister of Nepal.
Banking, Business & Economic Affairs
- Vijaya Bank has today announced that it is going to develop as many as 100 digital villages in various States across the country as part of its initiative to promote digital banking among the rural population.
- Important Note :As of now, Vijaya Bank is the only public sector financial institution to develop digital villages with focus on rural population.
- Adani Group will proceed with its $16.5 billion Carmichael coal project in Australia’s Queensland after its board approved a final investment decision.
- South Africa‘s economy, one of Africa’s biggest, falls into recession.
- A 0.7 percent decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year followed a 0.3 percent contraction in the last quarter of 2016, meeting the definition of a recession as two or more quarters of negative growth, the South African government announced today.
MOUs & Agreements
- Nepal has signed a major deal with a Chinese company China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) to develop a1,200 MW hydroelectric project, the biggest hydro project in the landlocked country that could resolve its perennial power crisis.
Current Sports Affairs
- Sachin Tendulkar joined stars from various fields including David Beckham, Hugh Jackman, Lewis Hamilton and Novak Djokovic among others for UNICEF’s ‘Super Dads’ campaign.
- Note : The aim of this campaign isto highlight the significance of fathers in children’s early development.