Important Current Affairs 26th January 2018

Important Current Affairs 26th January 2018

Download Daily Gk and Current Affairs PDF (English)

Download Daily Gk and Current Affairs PDF (HINDI)

Current Affairs 26th January 2018: NATIONAL NEWS

‘India-ASEAN ties to focus on freedom of navigation’

●    Security and freedom of navigation will be in the heart of India-ASEAN cooperation in the twenty-first century.
●    The leaders also agreed on establishing a joint mechanism to ensure safety and freedom of navigation in the maritime domain.
●    The statement on the maritime mechanism is significant as it is the first time that India has taken up forming of a special maritime mechanism with all the ASEAN heads of states at a single summit.

India-ASEAN Friendship at 69th Republic Day Parade

●    Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted 10 leaders of the ASEAN as guests of honour in republic day parade.
●    The Republic Day parade began at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate.
●    The National Anthem was played with a 21-gun salute after the unfurling of the tricolour.

Tatkal passport no longer requires Class 1 officer letter

●    The ministry of external affairs (MEA) has decided to remove requirement of Class 1 officer’s recommendation for the application of a Tatkal passport.
●    Until now, a certificate by a Class 1 officer recommending the passport be issued under the tatkal category was required.
●    As per the new rules in effect from January 25, 2018, this is no longer required.
 

French lawmakers can’t wear religious symbols

●    France's parliament has banned lawmakers from wearing any religious symbols under a new "neutral" dress code.
●    Under the change approved, members of the National Assembly must avoid "the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols, uniforms, logos or commercial messages or political slogans."

Current Affairs 26th January 2018: AWARDS

Padma Shri awarded to one person from each ASEAN country

●    One individual from each ASEAN country has been chosen for the Padma Shri Award.
●    Achievers from ASEAN nations chosen for the Padma Shri are -- Haji Abdullah Bin MalaiHaji Othman of Brunei for medicine; Hun Many of Cambodia for public affairs; Nyoman Nuarta of Indonesia for art; Bounlap Keokangna of Laos for art and Thant Myint-U of Myanmar for public affairs.
●    Others include Jose Ma Joey Concepcion of the Philippines for trade and industry; Tommy Koh of Singapore for public affairs; Somdet Phra Ariya WongsaKhottayan of Thailand who is the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand; and Nguyen Tien Thien of Vietnam who is the Secretary General of the National Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

3 Padma Vibhushan, 9 Padma Bhushan this year

●    The Government of India announced three Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 73 Padma Shri Awards for 85 personalities. 
●    This includes a Padma Shri award to an individual from each of the 10 ASEAN countries. 

India's first Paralympic gold medalist awarded Padma Shri

●    India's first Paralympics gold medallist, Pune's Murlikant Petkar, got Padma Shri.
●    It is happening 45 years after he won gold medal in 1972 Paralympics in Heidelberg, Germany.
●    Petkar had won the gold in 50m freestyle swimming with a world record timing of 37.33 seconds.

Rajagopalan Vasudevan wins Padma Shri

●    Rajagopalan Vasudevan, was awarded the Padma Shri.
●    He is also known as 'plastic road-maker of India'.
●    Padma Shri is India's fourth highest civilian honour. 
●    Vasudevan's patented method of turning plastic into roads was used to build 5,000 km of roads.

Current Affairs 26th January 2018: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 

TeamIndus ends ISRO deal 

●    Bengaluru-based aerospace startup TeamIndus, has terminated the launch agreement with ISRO. 
●    This came a day after Google called off the contest saying no team will be able to attempt launch by the deadline. 
●    TeamIndus' deal termination was reportedly attributed to lack of funds, procuring hardware and management issues.

Engineering students to study vedas

●    The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) said that engineering students will study vedas, puranas, and yoga under the revised curriculum.
●    It will start from the next academic session. 
●    The modified course will also focus on Indian philosophical, linguistic and artistic traditions. 

Current Affairs 26th January 2018: SPORTS

MS Dhoni becomes 11th cricketer to be awarded Padma Bhushan

●    Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been awarded the Padma Bhushan.
●    It is the third-highest civilian award in India. 
●    Dhoni is widely regarded as one of the best captains in the history of Indian cricket. 
●    The 36-year-old made his international debut back in 2005, and has led India to glory at the inaugural World T20 in 2007, the ODI World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.

Kohli breaks Dhoni's record 

●    Virat Kohli broke MS Dhoni's record for the most Test runs as India captain.
●    Kohli passed Dhoni's tally of 3454.

Saina Nehwal defeats PV Sindhu at Indonesia Masters

●    Saina Nehwal came out with a supreme performance to beat PV Sindhu.
●    She defeated Sindhu with 21-13, 21-19 in 37 minutes.
●    She entered into the semi-finals of the $350,000 Indonesia Open,.

India beat Belgium 5-4 in Four Nations Invitational c'ship

●    India defeated world number three side Belgium 5-4 in their second match in Four Nations Invitational Tournament in New Zealand on Thursday. 
●    For India, Rupinder Pal Singh scored a brace. 
●    India had earlier lost 1-2 to Belgium, the Olympic silver medalists, in the final of the first leg of the tournament.

Current Affairs 26th January 2018: DEFENCE

ITBP tableau returns after 20 years

●    Twenty years after its tableau rolled down the Rajpath, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) returned in Republic Day parade.
●    The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is the only one among the multiple paramilitary and border guarding forces that will have a tableau in the parade.
●    It was also accompanied by a small marching contingent of personnel wearing winter clothing.

Women BSF bikers participate in R-Day parade

●    The 27-member BSF women daredevils showcased their stunts and acrobatics on their 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles. 
●    In 2015, women contingents of the Army, Navy and Air Force had made debut in the national parade. 
●    As per the tradition of the Republic Day parade, the BSF and the Army's bike-borne daredevils, alternatively every year, end the parade riding their bikes.

Eye in the sky' aircraft on R-Day

●    Surveillance aircraft 'Netra', flew over Rajpath for the first time.
●    It is also known as 'eye in the sky'.
●    Netra is an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft.
●    It has a range of 200-km.

Current Affairs 26th January 2018: GLOBAL NEWS

33% corals in Asia-Pacific entangled with plastic: Survey

●    Scientists have found plastic on one-third of the 159 reefs, with Indonesia having the most plastic and Australia the least. 
●    They are examining over 1,24,000 corals across the Asia-Pacific region.
●    Researchers further found the likelihood of coral disease increased to 89% from 4% in the presence of plastic. 

China Plans 'Polar Silk Road' Across Arctic In Project India Protests

●    China on Friday outlined its ambitions to develop shipping lanes opened up by global warming in the Arctic.
●    Releasing its first official Arctic policy white paper, China said it would form a "Polar Silk Road".
●    China, despite being a non-Arctic state, is increasingly active in the polar region and became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013.

Oldest outside-of-Africa modern human fossil discovered

●    The oldest fossils of modern humans outside Africa have been discovered in Israel.
●    The newly revealed jaw and teeth are estimated to be up to 194,000 years old. 
●    This makes these fossils at least 50,000 years older than modern human fossils previously unearthed outside Africa.