Important Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018

Important Current Affairs 7th January 2018

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: NATIONAL NEWS

'KPME Bill gets Governor’s nod

●    Governor Vajubhai Vala gave his agreement to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment (Amendment) Bill 2017.
●    It will enforce patients rights charter. 
●    The Act will be enforced in February.
●    It was announced by, Health Minister Ramesh Kumar

States ranked on logistics performance

●    The commerce ministry will launch Logistics Performance Index (LPI) on January 8.
●    The index will act as a dynamic tool for the ministry to identify bottlenecks in this area.
●    The ranking will be based on 8 parameters such as transportation facilities available in states and documentation procedures.
●    The ranking targets to encourage states to work and improving their logistics related infrastructure. 
 

Lalu gets jail term of 3.5 years

●    Bihar's politician Lalu Yadav was convicted in a second case of fodder scam.
●    It was a scam of Rs. 89 lakh.
●    He was given three-and-a-half-years jail term and a fine of Rs. 10 lakh by a special court in Ranchi. 
●    Lalu Yadav is preparing for an appeal in High court.

KIOCL to explore iron ore, gold in Mysore, Tirupur

●    Union Minister for Steel is Chaudhary Birender Singh.
●    KIOCL (Kudremukh Iron Ore Ltd.) has been given task to explore ore and gold in South India, in Tiruppur of Tamil Nadu and Mysuru of Karnataka.
●    KIOCL recently had entered into a MoU with Vishakhapatnam- based Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., (RINL), also known as Vizag Steel.

US engineer discovers the largest ever prime number

●    A largest ever prime number has been discovered.
●    It has 23,249,425 digits. 
●    It's called M77232917,.
●    It's the 50th prime number of its type ever discovered.
●    It's called a Mersenne prime.
●    It is found by multiplying twos together many times, and subtracting one from the final number. 

Coir sector seeks measures for product value addition

●    The Coir Board is encouraging the setting up of large industries to make value-added coir products. 
●    For this the board is going to unveil a scheme next week.
●    S. Mahesh Kumar is the director of the Federation of Indian Coir Exporters’ Associations.
●    Under this scheme 25% subsidy would be offered for a ₹10-crore investment in plant and machinery. 
●    Coir products worth ₹2,281 crore were exported in 2016-2017. 

Khelo India logo launched

●    The vibrant Khelo India logo of New India was launched by Indian Govt. .
●    It was launched by the Union Minister of State Youth Affairs and Sports Col Rajyavardhan Rathore.
●    The ceremony took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.
●    The logo conveys an impression of fitness and competitiveness. 

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: GLOBAL NEWS

Iran bans English in schools fearing 'cultural invasion'

●    Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools.
●    It was termed as the "cultural invasion" from western countries.
●    The teaching of English usually starts in middle school in Iran, around the ages of 12 to 14.
●    Some children also attend private language institutes after their school day. 

Argentinian teen sets Guinness World Record for longest hair

●    A 17-year-old Argentinian, Abril Lorenzatti set the Guinness World Record for the longest hair on a teenager.
●    Her hair is 1.52 meters long.
●    Her nickname is 'Rapunzel'.
●    She did not had a haircut for 10 years.

NZ 'poo tracker' website checks sewage pollution at beach

●    Auckland, New Zealand is introducing a new tool which allows visitors to know in advance the quality of water at each of their city beaches. 
●    Name of this website is “poo tracker,”.
●    It predicts and tracks the safety of Auckland waterways in real time.
 

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: OBITUARIES 

 
Indian powerlifting world champion dies following car crash

●    Five powerlifting players from Delhi were killed in a car accident.
●    Amog the killed people, a world champion also died.
●    He had bagged the title for India in Moscow last year.
●    The six athletes were going from Delhi to Panipat.
●    Powerlifting world champion Saksham Yadav and Rohit was admitted to Hospital. 

1st astronaut to fly solo around the Moon dies at 87

●    John W. Young was the 1st astronaut  to fly solo around the moon.
●    He was born on 24th September 1930.
●    He has lots of records on his name.
●    He was a navy pilot and served during Korean war.
●    He passed away at the age of 87.
●    He flew into space twice during NASA's Gemini program in the 1960s.
●    Twice on the Apollo lunar missions and twice on space shuttles in the 1980s.

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: SPORTS

PV Sindhu defeats world number 1 in Premier Badminton League

●    Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu defeated world no.1 Tai Tzu Ying.
●    She was defending champions Chennai Smashers afloat against Ahmedabad Smash Masters in the third Premier Badminton League.
●    It was a big win for Chennai.

Cook youngest to 12,000 Test runs, beats Tendulkar's record

●    Alastair Cook reached 12,000 Test runs and beaten Sachin Tendulkar’s record.
●    He became the sixth batsman to score 12,000 test runs.
●    He IS 33-year-old.
●    Alastair Nathan Cook was born on 25 December 1984.
●    He is an English cricketer. 

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NASA unveils 60th anniversary logo

●    NASA was founded by the President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 29, 1958.
●    But the space agency marks it birthday on Oct. 1. 
●    NASA graphic artist Matthew Skeins created a logo featuring a towering "60" above NASA's name.

1st proof of ozone hole recovery post CFC chemical ban found

●    With international ban on chlorine-containing man-made chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), has resulted in about 20 percent less ozone depletion.
●    CFCs are long-lived chemical compounds that eventually rise into the stratosphere.
●    There they are broken by Sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
●    This breaking releases chlorine atoms that destroys ozone molecules. 
●    Stratospheric ozone protects life on the planet by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: ECONOMY

CBDT relaxes norms for MAT on insolvents

●    The Income Tax Department relaxed norms for levy of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on companies facing corporate insolvency proceedings.
●    As per Section 115JB of the Income Tax Act, MAT is levied on book profit after deducting the amount of loss brought forward or unabsorbed depreciation, whichever is less.
●    This has been done to minimise the genuine hardships faced by such companies, said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

US, South Korea to not hold military drill during Olympics

●    Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have decided not to hold joint military drills during the Winter Olympic Games in February.
●    They both agreed on a phone call.
●    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has long bemoaned the joint US-South Korean drills.
●    He takes the drill as a direct threat to Pyongyang.
 

Current Affairs 7th JANUARY 2018: DAYS AND DATES

1st man-made object to orbit Earth lasted for 92 days

●    On 4 January 1958, the first man-made object to orbit Earth was the Soviet Sputnik I satellite.
●    It fell back into the atmosphere, after 92 days in space.
●    Sputnik means 'companion'.
●    It was launched from Kazakhstan. 
●    The craft circled Earth every 95 minutes at over 40 000 kilometres per hour, 800 kilometres above the planet.