Current Affairs Daily Updates: 19th July 2017

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Current Affairs Daily Updates: 19th July 2017
APPOINTMENTS
Bharat Arun appointed Team India bowling coach until 2019 World Cup
  • Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Bharat Arun as the Indian Cricket team’s bowling coach.
  • BCCI’s acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary announced that the cricket body has also decided to retain Sanjay Bangar as an assistant coach and R Sridhar as fielding coach till the 2019 ODI World Cup.
  • The confirmation of their appointment came after newly appointed Indian coach Ravi Shastri met the four-member committee comprising of acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Committee of Administrators member Diana Edulji in Mumbai.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
United Kingdom first woman Sikh MP Preet Kaur Gill elected to Home Affairs Select Committee
  • Britain’s first woman Sikh MP Preet Kaur Gill elected to Home Affairs Select Committee in the United Kingdom Parliament.
  • She will be one of 11 members of the cross-party Home Affairs Committee.
  • It is an influential cross-party panel in the UK Parliament that examines the workings of the Home Office.
  • She won the Edgbaston seat for the Labour party in the June 2017 snap general election.
India launches solar project to electrify the remote village of Agaween in Egypt
  • India has launched a solar project with state-of-the-art technology to electrify a remote village in Egypt. The Solar Electrification Project is an off-grid system that is ideal for remote locations.
  • The project has been launched at Agaween village in the Western Desert in Matrough Governorate, close to the Libyan border.
  • The project was inaugurated by India’s Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharya and Major General Alla Fathi Abou Zeid, Governor of Matrough.
  • To successfully launch the Solar Electrification Project, India provided all the solar panels and sub-systems, machinery, equipment and technical support, as well as training for technicians. The Egyptian Government provided the location for implementation of the project.
Indian Citizens are top Asylum Seekers, says report
  • According to the International Migration Outlook 2017 report on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, Indians are among top asylum-seekers in other countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom and the United States of America.
  • As per the report, Indians and Chinese were the top asylum seekers in countries such as New Zealand and Latvia between 2012 and 2016. During 2015-16, total 340 people sought asylum in New Zealand. Out of them, India and China were the largest source countries of asylum-seekers – 11% and 9% respectively.
India & Sri Lanka sign MoU to develop village in Sri Lanka
  • India and Sri Lanka have signed a MoU to develop a village in Anuradhapura District in Sri Lanka at a cost of 30 crores Sri Lankan rupees.
  • The village in the name of a famous Buddhist monk Sobitha Thero, envisages construction of 153 new houses, a multi-purpose community building, internal water supply system and renovation of monk’s quarters & library.
  • The project is in line with Government of Sri Lanka’s policy of rehabilitation of rural villages for economic development. It will benefit 153 families residing in the village.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
T R Zeliang appointed new CM of Nagaland by Governor
  • TR Zeliang has been appointed as the Chief Minister of Nagaland by Governor PB Acharya. This will be the second term for Zeliang, his earlier term was from 2014 to 2017.
  • Zeliang’s appointment came after Nagaland Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu and nine ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) legislators failed to appear for the floor test.
  • Zeliang was asked to prove his majority on the floor of the House on or before 22 July 2017. Zeliang claims the support of 43 MLAs including seven independents.
Maha govt revamps scheme for girl child welfare
  • The Maharashtra government has approved a revised policy of the ‘Majhi Kanya Bhagyashree’ scheme, according to which families who have a yearly income of upto Rs 7.5 lakh will be benefited.
  • The scheme was launched by the state government on April 1, 2016 in place of ‘Sukanya’ scheme. It is aimed at improving the skewed girl child ratio, prevent sex determination and female foeticide, and support female education.
In a first, Telangana to have eco-friendly bridges for movement of tigers
  • In a first of its kind, the Indian state of Telangana will soon have eco-friendly bridges for easy movement of tigers.
  • The state will have the bridges over a canal cutting across the tiger corridor linking the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra with the dforstsrs in Telangana’s Kumram Bheem Asifabad district.
  • The intcention requioires the laying of fertile soil to grow grass and plants over the structure, so that fragmentation of the reserve forest is camouflaged.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
US Navy tests world’s first drone-killing laser weapon
  • The U.S. Navy recently tested the world’s first-ever active laser weapons system, which is now deployed and ready for war.
  • The system has special materials that release photons and at the speed of light, it silently hits an object, burning it to a temperature of thousands of degrees.
  • Each strike travels 50,000 times the speed of an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
  • In the test, the system was able to destroy a drone in flight and moving targets in the Persian Gulf. With its addition, USS Ponce becomes the first ship in the world to be deployed with such an advanced weapons system.
US and Australia launch HIFiRE ‘Hypersonic’ missile
  • The US and Australia have jointly test-fired a hypersonic missile capable of moving at a speed eight times faster than sound as part of a $54-million research project.
  • The test was part of a project called the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation Program (HIFiRE) involving the US and Australian militaries, Queensland University, Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group.
  • A hypersonic glider capable of moving at a speed eight times faster than sound has launched from a rocket range in the town of Woomera, South Australia.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
FIFA lifts suspension of Sudan Football Association
  • World football’s governing body FIFA lifted the ban on the Sudan Football Association (SFA) imposed on it for the failure to abide by agreements mentioned in articles 14 and 19 of the FIFA statute.
  • The SFA and its member officials are now eligible to benefit from the FIFA development program, course or training.
  • It does mean that Sudan will be able to continue their campaign in the 2019 African Nations Cup qualifiers. They have already been knocked out of the 2018 World Cup preliminaries.