Top Headlines : Daily current Affairs - 03-December-2018

Hello Aspirants, we provide 03rd December 2018, important Current Affairs which have unique updates of all daily events from various newspapers and Government official websites.

Our complete current affairs helps you to get more marks in Banking, Insurance, SSC, Railways, UPSC,CLAT  and  all State Exams.-Happy Learning!

National News

1. South African President To be Chief Guest At Republic Day Celebrations 2019

·      South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be the Chief Guest at the 2019 Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi. The anouncement was made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Mr Modi also stated that Mr Ramaphosa’s visit will further cement business and people to people ties between India and South Africa.

2. India’s 1st Engine-Less ‘Train 18’ Breaches 180 kmph Speed Limit

·      India’s first locomotive-less train, known as Train 18, has breached the 180 kilometres per hour speed limit during a test run at Kota-Sawai Madhopur section in Rajasthan. When this indigenously designed train is made operational, it will become the country’s fastest train.

·      Train 18 is capable of touching 200 kilometres per hour provided the rest of Indian Railways’ system, such as tracks and signals, permit. With 16 coaches, the train will have the same passenger carrying capacity as that of the Shatabdi Express. ‘Train 18’ will commence its commercial run from January 2019.

3. Sushma Swaraj Co-Chairs India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting

·      External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited United Arab Emirates to co-chair the 12th session of the India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting for Economic and Technical Cooperation with UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

·      Mrs Swaraj also inaugurated a Gandhi – Zayed Digital Museum in Abu Dhabi to mark the celebrations of 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth and centenary celebrations of the birth of Shaikh Zayed, founder of the modern UAE.

4. Global Agriculture & Food Summit 2018 Held in Jharkhand

·      Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh inaugurated Global Agriculture and Food Summit 2018 in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Seven countries, including China, Israel and Malaysia are participating in the two-day Summit. The aim of the Summit is to promote Jharkhand as a key player to attract investment in the agriculture sector.

·      Several dignitaries attended the inaugural ceremony including Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. The summit will focus on organic farming in horticulture, dairy, poultry and fisheries, and food processing.

5. FSSAI Launches New Campaign To Eliminate Trans Fats By 2022

·      The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched a new mass media campaign calling for the elimination of industrially produced trans fat in the food supply.

·      Called “Heart Attack Rewind”, the 30 second public service announcement (PSA) – the first mass media campaign of its kind – will support FSSAI’s global target of eliminating trans fat in India by the year 2022, a year ahead of the global target by the World Health Organization (WHO) for complete elimination of trans fat.

6. DAC Approves Acquisition of Equipment worth Rs 3000 crore

·      The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded approval for the acquisition of defence equipment worth nearly Rs 3000 crore which includes BrahMos Missiles, and Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs) for Battle Tank Arjun. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

·      The DAC granted approval for procurement of indigenous BrahMos Missiles for two Indian Navy ships to be built in Russia. The indigenously designed BrahMos Missile is a tested and proven supersonic cruise missile and will form the primary weapon onboard these ships. The DAC also approved the procurement of Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs) for the Indian Army’s main battle tank Arjun.

7. Govt forms6-member panel to look at selling 149 fields of ONGC, OIL to private companies

·      The panel is headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and includes Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, Oil Secretary M M Kutty, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Shashi Shanker.

·      The fields will be sold to private companies to boost domestic output.

·      The government gave out 34 fields to private firms by offering them pricing and marketing freedom for oil and gas they produced from the fields in the first round of Discovered Small Field (DSF).The second round of DSF with 25 fields on offer is currently under bidding.

8. Centre approves release of Rs 353 crore to Tamil Nadu as relief

·      The Centre has approved the release of Rs 353.70 crore to Tamil Nadu as assistance for the damage caused by Cyclone Gaja on November 15 and 16, during which 12 districts of the state were severely affected.

·      Further, assistance will be provided from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), based on the final report of the Inter-ministerial Central Team (IMCT).

International News

1. Asia Pacific Summit-2018 Begins in Kathmandu

·      The Asia Pacific Summit-2018 began in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. The theme of two-day Summit is “Addressing the Critical Challenges of Our Time: Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity, and Universal Values”.

·      Around 1500 participants from 45 countries, including India, attending the summit. They will discuss various global issues, including peace, development, good governance and role of parliamentarians, climate change and role of media.

2. G-20 Summit Buenos Aires 2018

·      The G-20 Summit 2018 was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. G-20 is a grouping of the world’s 20 major economies. This year, the theme of the summit was ‘Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable Development’. 

·      Following are the important agenda discussed during the summit:

·      Climate change: G20 signatories to the Paris Agreement on climate, which is all of them except the US, pledged the “full implementation” of the pact, which they called “irreversible.” They also took note, without further pledges, of UN scientists’ call for a more ambitious target of reducing warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

·      Trade: Bowing to the view of Trump’s administration, the G20 stated that multilateral trade was “falling short of its objectives” on promoting growth and job creation.

·      IMF: Calling the International Monetary Fund crucial to the global safety net, the G20 pledged to provide adequate funding and to meet a goal of finalising new national quotas in time for the global lender’s spring 2019 meetings.

·      Corruption: The G20 “committed to prevent and fight corruption and lead by example,” promising action from 2019 through 2021 on cleaning up state-run enterprises.

·      Gender inequality: The G20 recommitted to a four-year-old goal of reducing the gender gap in the labor force by 25 percent by 2025.

·      Future of work: Noting that new technologies will transform the nature of labour, the G20 called for “an inclusive, fair and sustainable” future of work, with retraining of workers where needed.

·      Infrastructure: Calling infrastructure a key driver of global growth, the G20 called for greater standardisation in contract-making to encourage more private capital.

·      Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the flagship programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, MUDRA and Start-up India undertaken by Indian government to modernise the economy and promote inclusive growth at the opening session of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires.

·      (i) PMJDY: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is a financial inclusion programme that aims at expanding and making affordable access to financial services to the last man in the row. Since its launch on August 15, 2014 till June 27, 2018, over 31 crore bank accounts were opened and over Rs. 7,92,00 crore were deposited under the scheme.

·      (ii) MUDRA: It stands for Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency, is a financial institution set up in 2016 for development and refinancing micro units enterprises. It provides funding to the non-corporate small business sector through various last mile financial institutions like banks, non banking financial companies (NBFCs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs).

·      (iii). Start-up India: Launched in January 16, 2016, the Startup India is an initiative of the Indian government to promote startups, generate employment and create wealth.

3. Leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Sworn in as Mexico President

·      Leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been sworn in as the new Mexican President following his landslide victory in the July 2018 presidential election. Lopez Obrador, 65, took oath before a crowd that included world leaders and a strong majority in both houses of Congress.

·      Lopez Obrador also reaffirmed his intentions to sell Mexico’s official presidential plane, to not live in the presidential palace and announced he will receive 40% of his presidential salary.

·      Takeaways :

Mexico Capital: Mexico City, Currency: Mexican peso.

4. Venezuela hikes monthly minimum wage by 150% to 660

·      Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has ordered a 150% increase in the monthly minimum wage to 4,500 sovereign bolivars, worth about ₹660 at the black market rate.

·      Maduro has now raised the minimum wage 25 times since he took office in 2013.

·      The OPEC nation is in the midst of its worst-ever economic crisis, with acute shortages of food and medicine.

Banking & Business Economy News

1. World Bank Unveils USD 200 billion in Climate Action Investment for 2021-25

·      The World Bank has unveiled 200 billion US Dollars in climate action investment for 2021 to 2025, adding that this amounts to a doubling of its current five-year funding. The move coincides with a UN climate summit in Katowice.

·      The breakdown of 200 billion dollars would comprise approximately 100 billion in direct finance from the World Bank. Around one-third of the remaining funding will come from two World Bank Group agencies with the rest private capital mobilised by the World Bank Group.

2. AS Rajeev Appointed MD & CEO of Bank of Maharashtra

·      State-owned Bank of Maharashtra announced that AS Rajeev has joined the lender as its managing director and chief executive officer. Prior to this, he was executive director of Indian Bank.

·      Takeaways:

Bank of Maharashtra Headquarters: Pune,               Founded: 1935.

3. Mauritius’ SBM Gets RBI Approval To Merge Operations With Its Indian Subsidiary 

·      The Reserve Bank of India has approved the merger of SBM (Mauritius), India with SBM Bank (India). RBI has sanctioned the Scheme of amalgamation of the entire undertaking of SBM Bank (Mauritius) Limited, India with SBM Bank (India) Limited which has been granted licence by the Reserve Bank to carry on the business of banking in India through Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) mode under the Banking Regulation Act.

4. Moody’s Estimates India’s Real GDP to Grow at 7.2% in FY 2018-19

·      Moody’s Investors Service’s annual Banking System Outlook on India estimated the country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) for the current financial year and next fiscal to grow at 7.2% and 7.4%, respectively.

·      In its banking system outlook, the global rating agency stated that the growth will be driven by investment growth and strong consumption. It also stated that the operating environment will be stable, supported by robust economic growth.

5. Hindustan Unilever Board Approves Merger with GSKCH India

·      FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) announced that its board has approved the merger with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH India) through an-all equity deal, valuing the total business of the latter at Rs31,700 crore.

·      FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) announced that its board has approved the merger with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH India) through an-all equity deal, valuing the total business of the latter at Rs31,700 crore.

6. China-U.S , declare 90 days halt to new tariffs

·      China and the United States have agreed to halt new tariffs as both nations engage in trade talks with the goal of reaching an agreement within 90 days, the White House announced after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held high-stakes talks in Argentina G20 summit.

·      Mr Trump agreed not to boost tariffs on US$200 billion (S$274 billion) of Chinese goods to 25 per cent on Jan 1 as previously announced.

·      US has imposed tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods, and China has responded by imposing duties on $110 billion in US goods.

7. Microsoft passes Apple to become most valuable company

·      Microsoft has surpassed Apple as the most valuable US company with a market value of about $812 billion. Apple’s market cap was about $1 billion less.

·      In August 2018, Apple became the first US company with a $1 trillion valuation.

·      Under CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has made a years-long bet on cloud computing. This has positioned Microsoft as one of the two dominant players - along with Amazon (AMZN) - in a fast growing market, and propelled the company to its first $100 billion sales year.

Appointments & Resignation

1. Raninder Singh Becomes 1st Indian to Be Elected ISSF’s Vice-president

·      Raninder Singh has become the first Indian to be elected one of the four vice-presidents of the International Shooting Sport Federation.

·      The 51-year-old Raninder also heads the National Rifle Association of India. The former trap shooter bagged 161 votes to occupy the coveted post. In 2017, Raninder was re-elected president of the NRAI for a four-year term with an overwhelming mandate in Mohali.

2. Siddhartha Bhattacharya Joins NATHEALTH as Secretary-General

·      NATHEALTH has announced the appointment of Siddhartha Bhattacharya as Secretary-General. In his new role, Siddhartha will lead the organization and work with key partners in realizing NATHEALTH’s vision/mission to spearhead the goal of high quality, affordable health for all.

Environment & Researches

1. Katowice Climate Change Conference 2018 Held in Poland

·      The UN climate summits, i.e. so called COP (Conference of the Parties) are global conferences, in the course of which action for climate policy is negotiated. The Climate Change Conference 2018 was held in Katowice, Poland. Previously, Poland hosted them twice – in 2008, in Poznań and in 2013, in Warsaw.

·      For the first time, the climate summit took place in Katowice. This year’s summit included: 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24), 14th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 14) and the 1st Conference of Signatories to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1).

2. NASA to launch VISIONS 2 to image Earths leaky atmosphere

·      NASA is set to launch VISIONS-2 rocket to get a closer look at the how the earth’s atmosphere is leaking into space. The VISIONS-2 mission, Visualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral Atom Sensing-2, is scheduled to be launched on December 4. Understanding atmospheric escape on earth has applications all over the Universe, from predicting which planets might be habitable, to piecing together how Mars became a desolate landscape. 

·      A sounding rocket makes brief, targeted flights into space before falling back to Earth just a few minutes later. Sounding rockets are unique among scientific spacecraft for their superior dexterity.
They can be carted to remote locations, where they are aimed and shot into short-lived events, like the sudden formation of the aurora borealis, at a moment’s notice. The aurora borealis is of keen interest to the VISIONS-2 team, but not just for its otherworldly glow. The aurora play are fundamental drivers in the process of atmospheric escape, whereby planets, including Earth, gradually leak their atmosphere into space.

Sports

1. Atlawim Debebe of Ethiopia Wins Pune International Marathon 

·      It was again all Ethiopian Show in Pune International Marathon 2018. Atlawim Debebe of Ethiopia won the Full Marathon with the timing of 2 hours 17 minutes 17 seconds. Teshome Getachew claimed second and Bekele Asefa third position. Both of them are also from Ethiopia.

·      In women’s Full Marathon Pascalia Chepkogei from Kenya stood first with the timing of 2 hour 50 minutes 27 seconds. Belew Mekonnen and Fekede Tilahun of Ethiopia claimed second and third position. Dekebe Tafa and Degefa Gezmu both from Ethiopia are winners of the men’s and women’s half marathon.

2. IOC seets up human rights advisory committee starting in 2024

·      The International Olympic Committee IOC has set up an advisory committee on human rights chaired by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the former United Nations commissioner for human rights starting in 2024. President Thomas Bach said Saturday at meetings in the Japanese capital that “human rights standards” will be included in Olympic host-city contracts beginning with the 2024 Olympic in Paris.

·      Bach suggested the committee would focus on issues like the rights of transgender athletes.

·      Bach was asked if the committee would look at human rights in China, where the ruling Communist Party has been criticized for the internment of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in western China.

·      Beijing is the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics and spent USD 40 billion.

Important Days

1. International Day of Persons with Disabilities

·       Since 1992, the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) has been annually observed on 3 December around the world. The theme for this year’s IDPD is “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.

·       This theme focuses on the empowering persons with disabilities for the inclusive, equitable and sustainable development envisaged in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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