Daily Current affairs - May 7th, 2018 for all competitive exams
World Laughter Day takes place on the
first Sunday of May of every year.
- The first celebration was on May 10, 1998, in
Mumbai, India, and was arranged by Dr. Madan Kataria, founder of the
worldwide Laughter Yoga movement.
- Positive and powerful emotion that has all the
ingredients required for individuals to change
- World Laughter Day was created in 1998 by Dr. Madan
Kataria, founder of the worldwide Laughter Yoga movement.
Border Roads Organisation (BRO) celebrated 58th raising
day
Border Roads Organisation (BRO), is celebrating its Raising Day on 07 May
2018. It is celebrating its 58 years of glorious service to the nation.
- Since its inception in 1960, so far the Organisation
has grown from 02 to 19 projects. The works executed have ensured the
territorial integrity and the socio-economic upliftment of the most
inaccessible regions of the country as well as India’s neighbourhood.
About BRO:
Functioning under the control of the Ministry of Defence since 2015, the
BRO is engaged in road construction to provide connectivity to difficult and
inaccessible regions in the border areas of the country.
The Border Roads Organization has played a very important role in both
maintenance of security and in the development of border areas. Most of the
development in the North Eastern states of India can be attributed to the
relentless work done by the BRO. Socio economic development in the most
inaccessible nooks and corners of our country are a result of the
infrastructural work undertaken by the BRO.
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Venkaiah Naidu 3-nation
visit: Arrives in Guatemala on 1st leg
Vice President M Venkaiah
Naidu arrived in Guatemala on the first leg of his three-nation
tour to Latin America.
- During his stay in Guatemala city, Mr Naidu will
meet the leadership of the nation, with various MoUs expected to be
signed.
- The discussions will focus on exploring mutual areas
of cooperation and formalizing various MoUs in the fields of protection of
wildlife, human resource training, education and exchanges between
training institutes.
Guatemala
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Capital
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Guatemala City
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Currency
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Guatemalan quetzal
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President
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Jimmy Morales Cabrera
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Social Justice Ministry
organised ‘Cochlear implant awareness programme’
Department of Empowerment of Persons
with Disabilities (DEPwD) under Union Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment organised a ‘Cochlear Implant Awareness Programme’ at
Huda Convention Centre in Faridabad, Haryana.
- The Minister of State for Social Justice &
Empowerment, Krishan Pal Gurjar was the Chief Guest in the programme.
- Under the Assistance to Disabled persons (ADIP)
scheme of the DEPwD, there is a provision for Cochlear Implant
surgeries of hearing impaired children up to the age of 5 years at the
cost of Rs 6.00 Lakhs per unit.
The cochlear implant (CI) is a
surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a
person who is profoundly or severely deaf in both ear
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Delhi to host six-day
festival of Bharat Parv
National capital Delhi will host a
six-day-long Festival of Bharat between May 9 and May 14 as a 21st century
tribute to the majesty and depth of India’s civilization.
- The event will be held at the Scheduled between 9th
May and 14th May at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
(IGNCA).
- Scholars, Grammy award winning artistes, rising new
stars and prominent public figures will also be in attendance.
Adult couple can live
together, says SC
An adult couple has a right to live
together without marriage, the Supreme Court said, while asserting that a
20-year-old Kerala woman, whose marriage had been annulled, could choose whom
she wanted to live with.
- The top court held that live-in relationships were
now even recognised by the legislature and they had found a place under
the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act,
2005.
- The observations came while the top court was
hearing a plea filed by Nandakumar against a Kerala HC order annulling his
marriage with Thushara on the ground that he had not attained the legal
age of marriage.
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act states that a
woman can’t marry before the age of 18, and a man before 21.
Mr. Nandakumar, who had approached the
top court, will turn 21 on May 30 this year. The HC had also
granted the custody of Ms. Thushara to her father after noting that she was
not Mr. Nandakumar’s “lawfully wedded” wife.
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HPCL begins home-delivery
of diesel
After IOC,
state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has launched home-delivery
of diesel in Mumbai.
- HP Fuel Connect’ will “deliver diesel to select
customers having the fixed equipment, heavy machinery in their premises in
surrounding areas of Uran, Raigad in Maharashtra.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) had in
March launched home-delivery of diesel in Pune.
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India, Sri Lanka agree on
information exchange for drug control
India and Sri Lanka agreed
on cooperation on exchange of information and other aspects to tackle
smuggling of drugs in both countries.
- A decision to this effect was taken at
the third bilateral meeting between delegations from India's
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Sri Lanka's Police Narcotics Bureau
(PNB) on narcotics, drugs and psychotropic substances and related
matters in New Delhi.
Panel for revamp of
Indo-Nepal treaty
The final report of a bilateral
committee — appointed to advise governments in Delhi and Kathmandu — is likely
to suggest that the 1950 India-Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty should be
revised.
- The committee consists of eight members with four
persons representing each side.
- The India-Nepal friendship Treaty is now almost
seven decades old and needs to reflect realities of our times.
The EPG was set up during the February
2016 visit of Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli, in the aftermath of the
economic blockade of Nepal, to bring in measures to address concerns of both
sides. It has met seven times in two years and will hold its last meeting
next month in Delhi when the report is expected to be finalised. At the
penultimate meeting in Kathmandu, the two sides had exchanged an early draft
of the report.
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The treaty allows free movement of
people and goods between the two nations and a close relationship and
collaboration on matters of defense and foreign policy. After an abortive
attempt in 1952 of the Communist Party of Nepal to seize power with Chinese
backing, India and Nepal stepped up military and intelligence cooperation
under treaty provisions, and India sent a military mission to Nepal.
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CBDT approves amendment of
India-Kuwait tsax agreement
The Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT) notified the protocol amending the Double Taxation Avoidance
Agreement (DTAA) between India and Kuwait.
- The protocol updates the provisions in the DTAA for
the exchange of information as per international standards, and also
enables sharing of information received from Kuwait for tax purposes with
other law enforcement agencies, subject to an authorisation of the
competent authority of Kuwait and vice versa.
WHO released draft on Limit trans fats
WHO has released draft recommendations on limiting the intake of trans
fats. These draft recommendations, the first since 2002, are aimed at controlling
non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which are responsible for an estimated 39.5
million death (72%) of the 54.7 million deaths worldwide in 2016.
- Saturated fatty acids should not comprise more than
10% of your daily calorie intake.
Trans fatty acids should not comprise more than 1% of your daily calorie
intake. Use heart-healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) as replacement.
The recommendations are applicable to both adults and children.
Saturated fatty acids are found in foods from animal sources such as
butter, milk, meat, salmon, and egg yolks, and some plant-derived products
such as chocolate and cocoa butter, coconut, palm and palm kernel oils.
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Lebanese vote in the first
general election in nine years
Lebanonon took part in its first general
election in nine years.
- The election is being held under a new proportional
system that has confused some voters and made the contest unpredictable in
formerly safe seats.
- But some other voters were sceptical the election
signalled an improvement in Lebanon’s political climate. Putin 4.0 to
launch amid the crackdown on the opposition.
US oil rises above $70 for
the first time since November 2014
The US oil prices rose above $70 a
barrel on Monday for the first time since November 2014.
- US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose
0.7 percent to trade at $70.18 per barrel at 0242 GMT, up 46 cents from
their last settlement.
- Brent crude oil futures were at $75.22 per barrel,
up 35 cents, or 0.5 percent from their last close.
Water ice hidden on the
moon
Scientists have found a mineral in a
lunar meteorite those points to the presence of abundant hidden reserves of
water ice under the surface of the moon, which could be potentially useful for
future human exploration.
- A team from the Tohoku University in Japan found the
mineral, called moganite, in a lunar meteorite discovered in a desert in
northwest Africa.
- Moganite, a crystal of silicon dioxide, is known to
form on the earth in specific circumstances in sedimentary settings from
alkaline fluids. It has never before been detected in samples of lunar
rock.
- Researchers believe the mineral formed on the
surface of the moon in the area called Procellarum Terrane, as water
originally present in lunar dirt evaporated due to exposure to strong
sunlight. In the subsurface, water remains as ice.
Brown peach aphid attacks in fruits
Brown
peach aphid is an insect that attacks temperate fruit trees.
- It has been recorded for the first time in Kashmir
Valley, the fruit bowl of India.
- Aphids feed on the saps of plants, attacking plant
tissues that transport food to all different plant parts. The brown peach
aphid Pterochloroides persicae is a notorious pest of peach and almond
trees in the Mediterranean regions. In India, the aphid was recorded for
the first time in the 1970s from Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
- The tiny (nearly 3 mm long) aphids thrived best
during the months of April, May, September and October.
GravityRAT malware designed by Pakistan hackers
GravityRAT is a malware allegedly designed by Pakistani hackers.
- The RAT was first detected by Indian Computer
Emergency Response Team, CERT-In, on various computers in 2017. It is
designed to infliltrate computers and steal the data of users, and relay
the stolen data to Command and Control centres in other countries.
- The ‘RAT’ in its name stands for Remote Access
Trojan, which is a program capable of being controlled remotely and thus
difficult to trace.
SCO Secretary-General in
India to hold talks with Union ministers
Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation Secretary-General Rashid Kutbiddinovitch Alimov arrived
in New Delhi to hold talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and
other Union ministers.
- Alimov is scheduled to hold talks on a wide array of
matters.
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold a
bilateral meeting with Alimov in Delhi.
Vladimir Putin sworn-in as
Russian president for 4th term
Vladimir Putin was sworn-in as
the President of Russia for the fourth time, renewing another
six-year term in office.
- Putin, who has ruled the country as either President
or Prime Minister since 1999, won the presidential elections in March with
over 76% of the votes.
Renowned marathi singer
Arun Date passes away
Veteran Marathi singer Arun
Date, known for his popular song "Shukratara" had
passed away in Mumbai. He was 84.
- He was the first recipient of the state
government's 'Gajananrav Vatave Puraskar'. Mr Date was very
famous for non-film 'bhavgeet' (lyrical poetry) songs.
Gagan Narang-Pooja Ghatkar
win silver medal in shooting meet
Olympic medallist Gagan
Narang made a fine comeback to the 10m air rifle event as he combined with
young Pooja Ghatkar.
- P Shri Nivetha and Amanpreet
Singh claimed the mixed air pistol silver after having topped
qualification with a score of 775.
- In men’s rifle 3-position, Narang shot 1,157 to
finish 35th.
3rd South asian junior
athletics championships: India tops with 50 medals
India finished on top in the
7-nation 3rd South Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Colombo, Sri
Lanka on the final day.
- India ended with 20 gold, 22 silver and 8
bronze medals (Total 50 Medals).
- Host Sri Lanka bagged rest of the 12 gold medals in
the competition along with 10 silver and 19 bronze. Pakistan won one
silver and a bronze to settle for the third place.
