Important Current Affairs 16th September 2018 English

Important Current Affairs 16th September 2018 

(International News)

Philippines hit by TyphoonMangkhut

Northern Philippines was hit by powerful Typhoon Mangkhut with destructive winds and heavy rain that set off landslides and destroyed homes on Saturday, leaving at least 12 people dead, as Hong Kong and other parts of southern China braced for the powerful storm.
Typhoon
-mature tropical cyclone
-in the Northern Hemisphere.
-the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth.
-A typhoon differs from a cyclone or hurricane only on the basis of location.A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean or northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and a tropical cyclone occurs in the south Pacific or Indian Ocean.

(National News)

Pravasi Conference rescheduled 

The 15th edition of the event will be held in January 2019 in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, and close to the site of the 'Ardh Kumbh' in Allahabad. 
Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas    
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed on 9 January by the Republic of India to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community towards the development of India. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9 January 1915. 

Inauguration of Sikkim airport on September 23

Sikkim is now on the aviation map of the country. The greenfield airport, located 30 km from Gangtok.Prime minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the airport.

Life Expectancy of Indians increased

India had a life expectancy of only 57.9 years in 1990 ,this has gone up to 68.8 years.india’s HDI is now at 0.640 higher than South Asian average of 0.638.
HDI
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic (composite index) of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development.
 

(Science)

World’s first private passenger selected

The first person to fly around the moon has been selected. Elon Musk’s space transportation company SpaceX  has signed it. 
Space X mission
The SpaceX lunar tourism mission is a proposed private mission by SpaceX to fly space tourists around the Moon. 

NASA’s new launch 
    
NASA launched satellite to measure Earth’s Ice changes. The mission is a successor to the original Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite that operated from 2003 to 2009. A Delta 2 rocket carrying ICESat-2 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 6:02 AM and headed over the Pacific Ocean. According to NASA, it will collect more than 250 times as many measurements as the first ICESat. The launch was the last for a Delta 2 rocket. The first Delta 2 lifted off on February 14, 1989, and since then it has been the launch vehicle for Global Positioning System orbiters, Earth observing and commercial satellites, and interplanetary missions including the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.