Current Affairs Daily Updates: 8th July 2017

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Current Affairs Daily Updates: 8th July 2017
APPOINTMENTS
Saima Wazed Hossain appointed as WHO goodwill ambassador for Autism in South Asia
  • Saima Wazed Hossain is appointed as WHO goodwill ambassador for Autism in South Asia for two years.
  • Reason:  Creating awareness and generating action to address and elevate sufferings of people affected by autism.
  •  At an international conference in Bhutan in April 2017, Hossain facilitated the 'Thimphu Declaration' on autism and other neuro-developmental disorders.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
PM’s Trophy for Best Integrated Steel Plant awarded to Tata Steel
  • Prime Minister’s Trophy has been awarded to Tata Steel for its performance in 2014-15 and 2015-16 for being the best integrated steel plant.
  • This is Tata Steel’s 3rd consecutive win of PM’s trophy.
  • Till now, Tata Steel has been recognised as the best integrated steel plant 12 times and has bagged PM’s trophy 10 times.
A.R. Rahman nominated for World Soundtrack Awards For His Music in the film Viceroys House
  • Oscar winning Indian music composer A.R.Rahman is nominated for "World Soundtrack Awards 2017", which is the Public Choice Award, For His Music in the film named "Viceroy's House".
  • A.R.Rahman also won many international awards like Grammy Awards, Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe etc.
Indian-origin man Guruswamy Jayraman honoured with the highest civilian award in Australia
  • Guruswamy Jayraman, a 69-year-old Indian-origin Glenwood resident, who migrated from Delhi to Australia in 1991, has been awarded "Order of Australia" for community work, the highest civilian award in Australia.
  • Jayraman has received a number of awards, such as Outstanding Services to Older Citizens Award from the Auburn Council (2011), Service to the Indian Community and Seniors by the India Independence & Australia Day Celebration Committee (2010) and Community Services award from GOPIO Sydney (2012). He was also awarded for his contributions for seniors in Western Sydney by the Minister for Ageing & Disability.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Nalco, IDCO to set up Aluminium Park in Odisha
  • Nalco, in collaboration with Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO), is setting up the first of its kind Aluminium Park in Angul, Odisha.
  • Investment to the tune of Rs 180 crore will be made on infrastructure of the project which is expected to generate 15,000 jobs.
  • Odisha currently contributes about 54 per cent of India’s total aluminium smelting capacity.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
122 Countries adopts historic global treaty to ban Nuclear Weapons
  • The United Nations has adopted a historic global treaty banning nuclear weapons. The treaty was adopted by a vote of 122 members in favour.
  • The Netherlands was the only country who voted against the treaty.
  • Singapore abstained from voting.
  • Costa Rica’s ambassador, Elayne Whyte Gomez, was the president of the UN conference that negotiated the treaty.
  • Nearly 129 countries signed up to take part in the drafting of the treaty which represents two-thirds of the UN’s 193 member states.
US - Russia sign agreement for ceasefire in South-West Syria
  • This was US President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
  • As per US Officials and Jordanian government (which is also involved in this deal), the cease-fire will go into effect on Sunday at noon Damascus time.
BRICS Informal Leader’s Meeting held in Hamburg
  • The Informal Leader’s Meeting of the 5 BRICS countries was held in Hamburg, Germany, on the sidelines of G20 summit.
  • The meeting was held in run up for the upcoming 9th BRICS Summit, which will take place in Xiamen, China in September.
CERN Data Centre passed the milestone of 200 petabytes
  • The world-class European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN (Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire) Data Centre passed the milestone of 200 petabytes of data permanently archived in its long-term tape storage.
  • Fact Behind:- Particles collide approximately 1 billion times per second in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) detectors, generates about one petabyte of collision data (one million GB) per second. This is how the milestone was achieved.
12th G20 Summit hosted by Germany for the first time
  • 12th G20 (Group of 20) summit has been hosted by Germany for the first time, at the Hamburg Messe and Congress.
  • Founded in 1999, G20 is an international meeting between heads of states, finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s 20 leading economies. The G20 group makes up 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population.
  • G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, The European Union.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
MRP To Be Sole Price Decider for packaged goods, From January 1, 2018
  • Consumer Affairs Ministry has amended the rule that price of each and every packaged goods will be decided by its MRP only and does not depend on where you bought it - be it a local Kirana store, a mall, a five-star hotel or an airport.
  • The retail sale price shall be the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) inclusive of all taxes, with the provision to round off the price to the nearest rupee or 50 paise.
Union Ministry of Food Processing organises roadshow in Chandigarh, Ahead of World Food India 2017 fair
  • Ahead of a three-day global food fair named "World Food India 2017" to be held in November this year, Food Processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal organised a roadshow in Chandigarh.
  • Scope of World Food India 2017:- To establish 42 Mega Food Parks in India, which will lead to direct employment for up to 5 lakh and benefit 25 lakh farmers.
  • Over 20 countries will be expected to participate in World Food India 2017 fair.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Launched GST Rates Finder mobile App
  • Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched a "GST Rates Finder" mobile app to verify the accurate tax rates on commodity and services under the Goods and Services Tax.
  • This app is available on Android platform, will soon be launched for iOS and can be used in offline mode once downloaded.
Now India is one among top 5 countries using dirty wastewater for Agriculture, leads to serious health risks
  • In the World Level, India and four other countries - China, Pakistan, Mexico and Iran - account for the most agricultural land irrigated by dirty wastewater.
  • Major Impact: This wastewater usage leads to serious health problems to millions of lives.
LPG price hiked by up to Rs. 32 per cylinder as an impact of GST
  • Following the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), price of Domestic cooking gas (LPG) has been increased by upto Rs. 32 per cylinder, which is the rapid increase in six years.
  • Fact Behind:- 5% GST resulted in Rs. 26.88 increase in price per cylinder in Delhi and the remaining hike of about Rs. 3 is due to the decision since June last year to raise cylinder prices by about Rs. 2 to cut the subsidy.
Jammu and Kashmir joined the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime Finally
  • Jammu and Kashmir, the only State missed to adopt the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1, finally joined the new tax regime on July 7 midnight.
  • "The Jammu & Kashmir Goods and Services Tax Bill- 2017" was moved by finance minister Haseeb Drabu.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
122 countries approved the Nuclear Weapons Banning treaty at UN Meeting
  • Around, 122 countries approved the first-ever treaty on nuclear weapons banning at a UN meeting boycotted by all nuclear-armed nations.
  • NATO member The Netherlands voting against this treaty, while Singapore abstained.
  • Nine Countries which does not took part in the negotiations or voting are United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.
  • President of the UN conference - Elayne Whyte Gomez
United States, India, and Japan begin 10-day joint naval exercise called Malabar drill on July 10
  • The Joint Naval Malabar drills of United States, India, and Japan will kick off on July 10 in the Bay of Bengal.
  • Major warships taking part in Malabar Drill -
    • US navy's USS Nimitz, the world’s largest aircraft carrier,
    • Indian Navy’s solitary aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, and
    • Japan’s Izumo-class helicopter carrier will also be among the 20-odd warships taking part in the exercise.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
Virat Kohli breaks Sachin’s record of most centuries in chases
  • Virat achieved this feat in the 5th ODI against West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.
  • This is his 28th ODI century and 18th one while chasing.
  • Earlier this record was held by Sachin Tendulkar who makes 17 while chasing.
  • Sachin took 232 innings whereas Kohli made it in just 102 innings.
India athletes clinch four gold medals on Day 2 of 22nd Asian Athletics Championships
  • On Second Day of 22nd Asian Athletics Championships at Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Indian athletes won four Gold medals.
    • 1) Nirmala Sheoran clinched the yellow metal in women's 400m
    • 2) Mohammed Anas grabbed the gold in men's 400m.
    • 3) P U Chitra finished top in women's 1500m race
    • 4) Ajay Kumar Saroj won a gold medal in men's 1500m.