Important Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018

Important Current Affairs 16th January 2018

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: NATIONAL NEWS

T.N. children severely malnourished: report

●    Severe Acute Malnutrition is high among children under the age of five in Tamil Nadu.
●    This is said by the National Family Health Survey-4.
●    Job Zachariah, chief of Unicef for Tamil Nadu and Kerala said that there is a need for a detailed State-level study of this phenomenon as the NFHS data was inadequate. 

Focus on education, skill development in NDMC budget

●    The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) presented its budget for 2018-19.
●    It focused on education and skill development, especially for girls. 
●    The council announced the formation of an Under-10 football team for female students.
●    He said the NDMC will also take care of the diet of the selected students so that all aspects affecting their game are taken care of.

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: OBITUARY 

Ex-Union Minister Raghunath Jha Passes Away

●    Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Union minister Raghunath Jha died.
●    He was 78.
●    Jha was a Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise in the United Progressive Alliance government led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Israel seeks ‘big data’ from India, signs 4 agreements

●    Israel wants to counter cyberthreats and to “revolutionise” Indian farm production.
●    For this Israel has proposed to access India’s “big data”.
●    Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh participated in the delegation-level talks.
 

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: GLOBAL NEWS

Presidential term is only five years: Sri Lankan SC

●    President Maithripala Sirisena had proposed for staying in office for a year longer.
●    Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has denied the proposal.
●    A five-judge bench in a unanimous decision ruled that the President's term was limited to five years only.

Israeli PM To Visit Taj Mahal

●    Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Taj Mahal in Agra with his wife Sara.
●    Prime Minister Narendra Modi accompanied Netanyahu to Gujarat on Wednesday.
●    He will be welcomed with a road show in Ahmedabad.
●    The roadshow is an 8-kilometre drive from the airport to the Sabarmati Ashram. 

Benjamin Netanyahu Pushes For Free Trade Deal With India: Report

●    India and Israel will begin work on a free trade pact.
●    Israel has been pushing for it.
●    Israel has given initial approval for Indian energy companies to explore oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean.
●    Bilateral trade has jumped from $200 million in 1992 to $4.16 billion in 2016,.

Japan mistakenly issues false N Korea missile attack warning

●    Japan’s public broadcaster errantly issued a warning of a North Korean missile launch.
●    It happened just days after Hawaii caused panic for its citizens by triggering a false emergency alert of an incoming missile.
●    Japanese broadcaster NHK issued the alert..
●    The warning was flashed across the broadcaster’s website.

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: ECONOMY

Wholesale inflation eases to 3-month low of 3.58%

●    Wholesale price-based inflation eased to 3.58 per cent in December 2017.
●    Wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 3.93 per cent in November 2017.
●    Inflation on food articles slowed to 4.72 per cent in December, from 6.06 per cent in November 2017.

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: SPORTS

Indian boxers’ gold rush in Serbia

●    In the seventh Nation’s Cup tournament for junior and youth women, India claimed 11 gold medals in all.
●    This tournament is being held in  in Sombor, Serbia.
●    The junior team won 13 medals -- nine gold, two silver and two bronze medals --, while the youth team clinched four medals -- three gold and one bronze.

Shankar, Sanjivani bag National titles

●    Shankar Man Thapa and Sanjivani Jadhav won the men’s and women’s 10km titles in the 52nd National cross country championship.
●    It was organised in Ponda near Panaji in Goa.
●    Sanjivani is the 10,000m silver medallist.

Second win for Anand

●    Viswanathan Anand defeated World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana to a 42-move masterclass.
●    He moved into the joint lead with Anish Giri.
●    This happened after three rounds of Tata Steel chess tournament.
●    It was Anand’s second successive victory which raised the Anand’s tally to 2.5 points.

Maria Sharapova wins her first match on Grand Slam return

●    Former world number one Maria Sharapova returned to Grand Slam tennis recently.
●    In her first match after her return, she won a first-round at the Australian Open 2018.
●    Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer also reached the second round of the tournament with straight-set wins.

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Only 24 astronauts have flown to the Moon, 3 of them twice

●    NASA has sent 24 astronauts to the Moon between December 1968 and December 1972. 
●    12 walked on the Moon while three astronauts were launched twice. 
●    Jim Lovell orbited the Moon on both occasions, Eugene Cernan and John Young landed on their second Apollo missions.

Scientists accidentally find oldest ever butterfly fossils

●    Netherlands-based researchers have accidentally discovered the oldest-ever butterfly fossils.
●    This fossil is at least 200 million years old. 
●    The discovery was made while extracting pollen grains from rock samples in Germany.

Current Affairs 16th JANUARY 2018: DEFENCE

Vajra Prahar: Indo-US joint military exercise to be held in Seattle

●    Joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle.
●    45-member Special Forces team from Indian Army’s Southern Command will train alongside US soldiers in the third week of January.
●    ‘Vajra Prahar’ is a Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise conducted alternately in India and the US.