Current Affairs Daily Updates: 7th and 8th May 2017

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Current Affairs Daily Updates: 7th and 8th May 2017
APPOINTMENTS:
Sohail Mahmood all set to take over as Pakistan's new envoy to India
  • The government has approved the appointment of top Pakistan diplomat Sohail Mahmood as Pakistan's next high commissioner to India.
  • Mahmood has been given visa to allow him to take over from incumbent Abdul Basit this month.
  • Mahmood is currently working as Pakistan's ambassador to Turkey.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Indian scientists elected fellows of Royal Society
  • Three Indian Scientists Krishna Chatterjee, Subhash Khot, Yadvinder Malhi elected as the Fellows of The Royal Society, a premier scientific academy of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, for their outstanding contributions to science.
  • The Royal Society is a self-governing fellowship society of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, medicine and engineering.
  • Krishna Chatterjee from Cambridge University recognised for discoveries of genetic disorders of thyroid gland formation.
  • Subhash Khot from New York University is a theoretical computer scientist who is known for his definition of the “Unique Games” problem.
  • Yadvinder Malhi from Oxford University is an ecosystem ecologist who is recognised for his works on understanding the functioning of a terrestrial ecosystem.
India-born Hinduja brothers top UK's rich list with $21 billions
  • The Hinduja Brothers - Srichand and Gopichand retained their top spot in the United Kingdom's the SundayTimes Rich List 2017.
  • The total wealth put at £16.2 billion — up £3.2 billion from last year.
  • Lakshmi Mittal group is fourth on the list with £6 billion to their £13.229 billion.
  • The combined wealth of the top 500 of the list is £ 580.3 billion.
Sachin Tendulkar conferred with Fellowship Award in UK
  • Indian Former Cricket player Sachin Tendulkar received the Fellowship Award at the 7th annual Asian Awards in the United Kingdom.
  • India’s playback singer Adnan Sami won the award for Outstanding achievement in Music.
  • The award for outstanding achievement in Cinema conferred on Om Puri who died earlier this year at the age of 66.
Saqib Majeed wins 2016 Wisden-MCC Cricket 'Photograph of the Year' award
  • Kashmir based freelance photographer Saqib Majeed has bagged prestigious 2016 Wisden-MCC (Melbourne Cricket Council) Cricket ‘Photograph of the Year’ for capturing a stunning image of boys playing cricket at the Nishat garden in the outskirts of Srinagar.
  • With this Saqib Majeed has become the first Kashmiri and second Asian after Atul Kamble to receive the prestigious award.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
ONGC Videsh Ltd. produces record 12.6 million tons of crude oil in 2016-17
  • The overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC Videsh Limited) has produced a record 12.6 million tons of crude oil and equivalent gas from its assets abroad in 2016-17.
  • The output was up from 8.92 million tons of oil and oil equivalent gas in 2015-16.
India - World's biggest two-wheeler market
  • India overtook china to emerge as the world's biggest market for two-wheelers.
  • A total of 17.7 million two-wheelers were sold last year, that's over 48,000 units every day.
  • China achieved 16.8 million units sold two - wheelers.
  • Indonesia is holding a steady third two - wheeler market with annual sales estimated at 6 million units.
DEATHS
Pakistani sitarist Ustad Raees Khan dies
  • Legendary sitar player Ustad Raees Khan Passed awayd. He was 77.
  • Ustad Raees was born in 1939 in Indore, India in a family of musicians. He belonged to the Mewati Gharana of Indian classical music.
IMPORTANT DAYS OBSERVED
8th May: World Red Cross Day
  • The ‘World Red Cross Day’ is observed on 8th May annually to commemorate the birth anniversary of 'Henry Dunant', the founder of the Red Cross as well as the founder of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
  • In 1901, Henry Dunant has received the first Nobel Peace Prize together with Frédéric Passy.
  • The theme for 2017 is ‘Less Known Red Cross Stories’.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Emmanuel Macron elected as President of France
  • Pro- European centrist leader Emmanuel Macron (39-year) has won France's Presidential election.
  • He defeated his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen.
  • Macron has won the elections by securing 06% votes, while Le Pen got 33.94% of the votes.
  • He will become the first President from outside the two traditional main parties since the modern republic's foundation in 1958.
India organized festival in Egypt to mark Tagore’s birth anniversary
  • A India will organise Tagore cultural Festival in Egypt to mark the 156th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore from May 8-12.
  • Tagore Festival will be organised by the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC), which is the cultural wing of the Indian Embassy in Cairo.
  • As a part of the festival, a dance drama based on Tagore’s work called Chitrangada will be performed by the Kolkata-based Dancers Guild.
  • Chitrangada is the warrior princess in the epic, Mahabharata.
India elected as President of UN-Habitat
  • India elected as the President of the UN-Habitat after a gap of 10 years. It is an organ of the United Nations Organisation (UNO).
  • UN-Habitat promotes socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements across the world.
  • This is only the third time that India elected as President after 2007 and 1988.
  • M.Venkaiah Naidu will preside over the deliberations of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat for the next two years.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Country's 1st bio refinery plant inaugurated in Pune
  • The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highway ‘Nitin Gadkari’ has inaugurated the country's first bio refinery plant which produces ethanol from the variety of biomass.
  • The project is situated at Rahu in Pune district.
  • The plant can produce one million liters of ethanol per annum by processing a variety of agro-residue like rice and wheat straw, cotton stalk, cane trash, corn cobs with superior product yields.
PM Modi addresses Indian heads of mission meet in New Delhi
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an Indian heads of mission meet in New Delhi, which is brainstorming key foreign policy issues and challenges including India’s engagement with major powers as well as strain in ties with Pakistan and China.
  • The four-day conference, was formally inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
DIPP & WIPO to set up Technology and Innovation Support Centers
  • The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)have signed an agreement to establish Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC)
  • WIPO’s Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) program provides innovators in developing countries with access to locally based, high quality technology information and related services, helping them to exploit their innovative potential and to create, protect, and manage their intellectual property (IP) rights.
Odisha to introduce boat ambulances in four districts
  • Odisha will introduce boat ambulance service in four districts where people face difficulties in getting health service.
  • The districts of Koraput, Malkangiri, Kendrapara and Kalahandi people face problems in availing 108 ambulance service due to intervening large water bodies in the form of rivers and dams.
  • The government will also shortly add 92 Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances to its fleet of 420 ambulances that are now in operation in different parts of the state.
  • Rs 21 crores will be spent towards extending emergency ambulance services in the entire state.
Mumbai's Elphinstone Railway station renamed as Prabhadevi
  • The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and headquarters of the Central Railway renamed as by adding 'Maharaj'.
  • Western Railway's Elphinstone Road Railway station renamed as 'Prabhadevi' station.
  • The resolution was moved by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the central Government yet to approve the rename.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
Two Indian warships visit Egyptian Port City
  • Two Indian Warships visited Egypt as part of Indian Navy's overseas deployment to the Mediterranean Sea and the west coast of Africa.
  • INS Mumbai and INS Aditya are the two warships arrived in the port city Alexandria on May 5.
  • The warships engaged for the purpose of sports and social engagements with the Egyptian navy.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
Great Britain wins Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Cup 2017
  • Great Britain has won the ‘Sultan Azlan Shah Cup’ after a gap of 23 years with a rousing 4 -3 victory in the final against Australia (defending champions) at Ipoh in Malaysia.
  • Earlier, India outclassed New Zealand 4-0 to clinch a ‘bronze medal’ in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Olive Ridley to be mascot of Asian Athletics
  • The Chief Minister of Odisha ‘Naveen Patnaik’ has released the logo and mascot of the ‘Asian Athletics Championships’ in presence of Olympians PT Usha and Anju Bobby George.
  • More than 700 athletes from nearly 45 countries would participate in 42 sports events during the four-day sports extravaganza.
  • The state government would spend around 43 crore rupees for the organizing the grand sports event.
India won 7 medals at 48th Grand Prix of Liberation Plzen Shooting meet
  • India ended the Grand Prix of Liberation Plzen 2017 Shooting championships with seven medals.
  • Indian men’s 25m Standard Pistol team, Neeraj Kumar won the gold medal and Harpreet Singh won silver medal.
  • Deepak Sharma won the bronze medal.
  • Indian shooter Heena Sidhu won a bronze medal in the women’s 10-metre Air Pistol event.
  • Rifle shooter Tejaswini Sawant won silver in the 50m Rifle Prone event
  • Pemba Tamang won bronze in the Men s 25m Centre Fire Pistol.
  • Anmol Jain won a bronze in Men's 10m Air Pistol event.
Shiva Thapa wins silver at Asian Boxing Championship
  • Indian boxer Shiva Thapa won a silver medal in the 60-kg category at the Asian Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
  • He also became the first boxer from the country to win medals at three consecutive championships.
  • He won a gold medal in 2013 and a bronze in the year 2015.
Vikram Malhotra wins 5th PSA title
  • India's Squash player Vikram Malhotra won his fifth PSA title after beating Egypt's Youssef Ibrahim in the final of the Abu Dhabi Open.
  • The US-based Indian won 6-11 11-4 11-3 9-11 13-11 against his opponent.
  • In the semi-final, he took out Pakistan's Khwaja Adil Maqbool who retired in the third game after trailing by two games.


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