Gk and Current Affairs - February 3 2017

Dear Readers, We bring you the Latest (GK)General Knowledge and Current Affairs news, General awareness Today  3rd February 2017 Section in FREE PDF (English & Hindi), a section which outlines the latest news, Events headlines which are hardly covered elsewhere. This will help you with the Latest General Knowledge and Current Affairs today asked in various competitive examinations of Banking & Government Sector examination.

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ECONOMY

BSE Scripts History - Gets its Share Listed on NSE 

Shares of BSE Ltd, Asia’s oldest stock exchange, saw a stellar listing as they jumped nearly 33% on debut on Friday.

●    This happened after it's Rs1,234.4-crore initial public offering (IPO) was subscribed more than 51 times last week
●    The shares of BSE, the country’s first stock exchange to go public, closed at Rs1,070.55 .
●    The shares opened at Rs 1,085 and hit a high and low of Rs 1,200 and Rs1,065.10, respectively.
●    Separately, the market capitalization of shares listed on BSE hit a record high of Rs114.97 trillion on Thursday
●    Existing shareholders of the exchange sold 15.42 million shares through an offer for sale. 
●    The issue represented 28.26% of BSE’s pre-share sale capital.

NATIONAL NEWS

Alibaba to Hold 40% stake in PayTM's e-comm entity

Alibaba will hold a substantial stake in Paytm's newly spun off online marketplace business, setting the stage for a three-way battle between Amazon, Flipkart and the Chinese online behemoth in the country's hyper competitive e-commerce market.

●    The Jack Ma-led company will hold almost 40% in Paytm E-commerce, according to regulatory filings sourced from business research platform Toffler.
●    The shareholding is through Alibaba.com Singapore and AliPay Singapore, while venture fund SAIF Partners and Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma will own 30% and 20%, respectively. 
●    Alibaba.com Singapore and AliPay Singapore have picked up 3,89,955 shares in Paytm Ecommerce at Rs 10 per share, show the filings, made on February 1. 
●    Alibaba, Alipay and SAIF are the largest investors in Paytm's parent One97 Communications as well, and the ecommerce entity's shareholding is mirroring that post the business being hived off. 
●    Paytm's parent One97 recently approved the separation of its payments and commerce businesses in two entities.

NATIONAL NEWS

 Environment Ministry to start awareness campaign to protect wetlands 

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) under the Environment Ministry has decided to organise two events to spread public awareness about conservation of wetlands which includes a radio-outreach and awareness generation campaign.

●    The World Wetland day 2017, with the theme Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction has been celebrated in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh government at Bhoj Wetlands Bhopal, which is one of the 26 Ramsar sites that India has designated under the Ramsar Convention.
●    World Wetlands Day is celebrated on February 2 each year to mark the day the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and India is a party to the convention since 1982 and committed to the Ramsar approach of wise use of wetlands.
●    The ministry has also asked all the state governments to celebrate the World Wetlands Day in their respective states in a befitting manner.
●    In partnership with a prominent radio station with a multi-city presence, NBA will run information snippets on wetlands, their role in disaster management and ways to protect them over the period of two weeks spread over a month from February 1 to March 2.

SPORTS

Lakshya Sen achieves No. 1 Rank in BWF World Junior Rankings

Lakshya Sen from Uttarakhand on Thursday achieved the World No. 1 ranking in the latest BWF World junior ranking.

●    The 15-year-old prodigy, who won the bronze medal at Junior Asian Championships and clinched the All India Senior Ranking Tournament at Arunachal Pradesh last year, jumped one place to reach the numero uno status.
●    Sen, hails from Almora district in Uttarakhand.
●    He has been training under 1980 All England champion Prakash Padukone at his Badminton Academy in Bangalore since he was 10.
●    In men’s singles, Sameer Verma jumped 10 spots to be placed at 25th position.     

INTERATIONAL NEWS

Kuwait Bans Visa for 5 Muslim Majority Countries

Kuwait has suspended the issuance of visas for nationals of Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. 

●    After US President Donald Trump's executive order banning seven Muslim-majority countries last Friday, the Kuwaiti government has told would-be migrants from the five banned nations to not apply for visas, as it is worried about the possible migration of radical Islamic terrorists. 
●    Under the executive order signed by Trump, refugees from all over the world will be denied US entry for 120 days while all immigration from so-called "countries with terrorism concerns" will be suspended for 90 days. 
●    The countries included in the US ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. 
●    Kuwait was the only nation to prohibit the entry of Syrian nationals prior to Trump's executive action. 
●    Kuwait City previously issued a suspension of visas for all Syrians in 2011.

NATIONAL NEWS

Chennai's oil spill spreads over 32 km - Marine life hugely affected 

The oil spill from two ships that collided near the Ennore Port, north of Chennai, on Saturday, spread along the city's shoreline further down up to the famed Marina Beach.  

●    On Monday morning, the local fishermen found not just thick black oil along the beach, but a number of turtles that were washed ashore dead.
●    The accidental collision of two oil tanker ships took place in the wee hours of Saturday near the Ennore Port. 
●    The effects could be noticed only on Sunday when a large quantum of thick and dark oil was washed ashore near Ernavur. 
●    Coast Guard was carrying out the operations to remove the oil.
●    On Sunday morning it had spread further down till Marina Beach.

NATIONAL NEWS

Apple to make iPhones from Bengaluru

Apple will soon have `Made in India' iPhones, and they will come out of a factory in Bengaluru. 

●    The Karnataka government on Thursday issued a release welcoming Apple's proposal "to commence initial manufacturing operations" in the state.
●    The release, signed by state IT minister Priyank Kharge, said Apple's intentions to manufacture in Bengaluru "will foster cutting edge technology ecosystem and supply chain development in the state, which are critical for India to compete globally." Though it did not provide a timeline, production is expected to begin in June.
●    India will be only the third country globally to assemble iPhones, an indication of how important the country has become for one of the world's most valued companies.

NATIONAL NEWS

Mt Everest to be Re-measured by Survey of India

The Survey of India is planning to remeasure the height of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak.

●    The project is being undertaken to determine whether the peak as per the doubts of some sections of the scientific community has indeed shrunk following the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal two years ago.
●    Some scientists have expressed doubts regarding the current height of the towering peak. 
●    They feel that it has shrunk post the Nepal earthquake.
●    Officially Mount Everest currently stands at a height of 8,848 metres (29,028 feet) above the sea level.