Important Current Affairs 2nd November 2018 English

International News

India Pavilion Inaugurated at Videocittà 2018 in Rome Film Festival
 
India was partner country at Videocittà 2018, an event focussing on Virtual Reality, Video gaming, Animation, Film Making, etc. was organized along with Rome Film Festival and Mercato Internazionale dell'Audiovisivo (MIA) (the International Audio Visual Market). India’s participation at Videocittà 2018, Rome was organized by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and coordinated on Ministry’s behalf by FICCI.

23rd World Corporate Games 2019 in Qatar
 
Qatar will host the 23rd edition of the World Corporate Games next year.
This is the first time the World Corporate Games will be held in the Middle East.
World Corporate Games
Founded in 1988 the Corporate Games are the world’s largest multisport festivals for businesses with great sports and fabulous celebrations for everyone to enjoy regardless of their age, ability or level of fitness.

The U.S. revoked duty import of at least 50 Indian products
 
The U.S. revoked duty-free concessions on the import of at least 50 Indian products, mostly from handloom and agriculture sectors. 
The Federal Register issued a notification, listing 90 products which were so far subject to duty-free provisions under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), an oldest and largest U.S. trade preference programme. 
The GSP is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary-countries.

Japan cabinet approves bill to accept foreign workers
 
Japan's cabinet on Friday approved a draft bill to bring more blue-collar foreign workers into the country to address chronic labour shortages.
The bill would allow foreign nationals with skills in sectors facing particularly severe shortages to obtain five-year visas, which would not allow them to bring their families. 
Foreign workers in those fields who hold stronger qualifications and pass a more difficult Japanese language test will be able to obtain a visa that can be extended indefinitely, eventually leading to residency, and will be able to bring over family. 

Science & Space News
China launches new high-orbit satellite

 •    China on Friday successfully launched a high orbit satellite to boost its home-grown BeiDou global satellite navigation system being built to rival United States Global Position System (GPS).
•    The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern Sichuan Province.
•    It is the first BeiDou-3 satellite in high orbit, about 36,000 km above the Earth. In a geostationary orbit, following the Earth's rotation, it will view the same point on Earth continuously.
•    The satellite is meant to serve countries in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI. 
•    It will be the fourth global satellite navigation system after the US GPS system, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

Defence News
INDO - Japan joint military exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN 2018
  
•    Exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN - 2018, a joint military exercise between Indian & Japanese Armies, commenced at Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, Vairengete, Mizoram, India on 01 November 2018. 
•    The Japanese contingent is being represented by 32nd Infantry Battalion, while the Indian side is being represented by 6/1 Gorkha Rifles. 
•    Being first of its kind, the 14 days long joint exercise is being conducted from 01 Nov 2018 to 14 Nov 2018. 

National News    
33rd Army Aviation Day celebrated on 01 Nov 2018

Army Aviation Corps celebrated its 33rd Raising Day on 01 Nov 2018, and to mark this occasion, a Wreath Laying Ceremony was held at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate, New Delhi.
The ceremonial wreath was laid by Lieutenant General Kanwal Kumar, Colonel Commandant and Director General of Army Aviation, along with a host of serving officers, soldiers and veterans in attendance.

PM Modi to launch Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Support and Outreach Programme

 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Support and Outreach Programme in New Delhi today. 
The  MSME Outreach Programme will run for 100 days covering 100 Districts throughout the country. 

Decommissioned carrier INS Viraat to become a floating museum

•    The Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday approved the conversion of decommissioned carrier INS Viraat into a floating museum. 
•    As per primary estimates, the project worth 852 crore rupees will be implemented through public-private-partnership (PPP).
•    As per the proposal sent by the Maharashtra Government to the Union Defence Ministry, the carrier will be housed on a concrete foundation near Nivati Rocks in Sindhudurg in Konkan region of the state.
•    This will enable the tourists to see the diverse aquatic life and experience sky-diving, sailing and other thrilling sporting activities.
•    INS Viraat, which holds a place of pride in Indian defence history, was decommissioned in March 2017 and since then has been laid up at the Naval Dockyard. 

Four new Supreme Court judges sworn in
Justices Hemant Gupta, R.Subhash Reddy, M.R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi were Friday sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court, taking its strength to 28.
Important:-
•    Justice Gupta was the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Justice Reddy was the Gujarat High Court’s chief justice.
•    Justice Shah was the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and Justice Rastogi was the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court.
•    The apex court has a sanctioned strength of 31.
•    With the elevation of these four new judges, the strength has risen from 24 to 28.