Gk and Current Affairs Today - February 6 2017

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We bring you the Latest General Knowledge and Current Affairs daily news, Events, General awareness Today  6th 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 (IBPS, RRB, SBI, PO, Clerk & other banks) & Government (SSC CGL, CHSL, JE, MTS, Railways, UPSC etc) Sector examination.

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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

 India and UAE Coast Guards to take part in joint exercise

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and their UAE counterparts will take part in a joint exercise and sharing of operational expertise from today.
●    The Indian Ambassador to UAE Navdeep Suri visited the ship yesterday and was briefed on board by DIG Satish Kumar, captain of the ship.
●    Samudra Pavak, the third of the Pollution Control Vessel series of the Indian Coast Guard, was indigenously designed and commissioned in January 2016.
●    ICGS Samudra Pavak has been extensively deployed along the northwest maritime frontier to safeguard the maritime interests of India.
●    The ship has been tasked with EEZ surveillance, search and rescue, pollution response and such other duties as enshrined in the Coast Guard charter.

SPORTS

Cameroon Wins the African Cup of Nations

Cameroon rose again after years of underachievement to win the African Cup of Nations title on Sunday with a fabulous goal in the 89th minute of the final for a 2-1 come-from-behind victory against mighty Egypt.
●    As the final whistle got nearer, substitute Vincent Aboubakar controlled the ball just outside the area, clipped it over a defender, and then shot past the goalkeeper to clinch Cameroon's fifth African title and first since 2002.
●    Egypt's 44-year-old 'keeper, Essam el-Hadary, watched the tournament-winning shot slid past him right at the end to deny the Egyptians a record-extending eighth title, and el-Hadary a fifth triumph an incredible 19 years after his first.
●    Aboubakar, the halftime super sub, completed the rally. Cameroon, already c
●    As he approached the enclosure, he stretched out both his arms and pointed to where Cameroon great Samuel Eto'o, one of the African Cup winners in 2002, stood celebrating the goal as a spectator.

NATIONAL NEWS

Foundation Stone Laid for First Training Centre for Para-athletes 

The Union Minister for Sports, Vijay Goel laid the foundation stone of the boundary wall of the first-ever Centre of Excellence for differently-abled sportsmen on 5 February 2017 in Sector-25 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
●    The government has allotted an estimated amount of Rs 50 Cr for the project. The centre is proposed to provide world class facilities.
●    The centre will be built on 7.5 acres of land belonging to the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
●    It will also have an air-conditioned hostel with 100 beds and 20 suites for foreign guests and an open land for warm-up exercises.
●    A lot of facilities at the centre are expected to be fully functional within the next one year.
●    The centre will also hold educational programmes, seminars and workshops throughout the year with the help of the International Paralympic Committee.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Indian Teen Discovers Cheapest Way to make Seawater Drinkable

An Indian-American student has found a cheaper and easier method to turn salt water into drinkable fresh water and his research has caught the attention of major technology firms and universities.
●    Isolating drinkable water from the ocean in a cost effective way is a problem that has stumped scientists for years.
●    By experimenting with a highly absorbent polymer, the teen discovered a cost effective way to remove salt from ocean water and turn it into fresh water.
●    It is a breakthrough that is estimated to impact millions of lives if ever implemented on a mass scale.
●    Scientists across the country are taking note. He won a USD 10,000 award from the US Agency for International Global Development at Intels International Science Fair and second place at MITs TechCon Conference where he won more money to continue his research.
●    Karamchedu was also named one of 300 Regeneron Science Talent Search Semifinalists. 

BUSINESS

Tata out of World's Top 100 Brands

The spat between Tata Sons and its former chairman Cyrus P. Mistry seems to have pushed Tata out of the top 100 brands in the world ranked by Brand Finance, a consulting firm.
●    According to Brand Finance’s 2017 report, the Tata group has slipped out of the top 100 for the first time since 2007, the first year for which this data is available. 
●    In 2017, it is ranked 103 compared with 82 in the previous year.
●    Tata, however, continues to be the most valuable brand in India ahead of Airtel, LIC, Infosys and State Bank of India, which all find a place in the global top 500. 
●    Reliance Industries, Indian Oil, HCL Technologies and Larsen & Toubro are also part of the global 500. 
●    Google was the top brand globally, followed by Apple and amazon.com.
●    In 2016, it had slipped to rank 89 from 68 the previous year. Its brand value has also been coming down for the past couple of years.
●    While the report on Brand Finance’s website didn’t disclose the brand value of Tata in 2017, last year the brand was valued at $13.7 billion. 

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Indian LIGO to be Operational by 2024

The LIGO India project is likely to be commissioned in 2024 and its activities would require Indian universities churning out young researchers trained in the science to take up the mantle of exploration of the universe, an official of the international collaboration.
●    International Collaboration Coming to India to Help Explore the Universe’ at the Presidency University here, Raab said the proposed India-based observatory will “refine the physics” of gravitational waves detection and exploration of the universe.
●    India is poised to set up world’s third advanced LIGO. 
●    The project operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. 
●    Two are at Hanford in the state of Washington, north-western US, and one is at Livingston in Louisiana, south-eastern US.
●    The proposed LIGO-India project aims to move one Advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India.
●    LIGO India will be set up as a joint scientific collaboration between LIGO laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the US, and three lead Indian institutions, namely, the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore.

DISCOVERY

New Bucktoothed Ghost Shark Species Discovered

Researchers recently announced that they discovered a new species of ghost shark in the Jan. 31 issue of the journal  Zootaxa. 
●    Ghost sharks–which aren’t actually sharks–are extraordinarily rare sightings. 
●    They’d never been filmed alive in their natural habitat. 
●    The new species is the second largest ever discovered, and it’s the 50th species of ghost shark so far.
●    Also known as chimaeras or rat fish, ghost sharks have been around since before the dinosaurs, and are a distant relative of rays and regular sharks. 
●    Researchers put the new species into the Hydrolagus genus, which basically means water rabbit. 
●    That’s because it’s got an interesting set of teeth that can only be described as buckteeth. 

NATIONAL NEWS

Tripartite MoU for Implementation of Tourism Projects In Jammu & Kashmir

A Tripartite Memorandum of  Understanding (MoU) for implementation of Tourism projects in Jammu and Kashmir was signed among Ministry of Tourism, M/s  NPCC & NBCC and Government of Jammu and Kashmir here today.

●    The MoU was signed in the presence of Shri Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, M/o Tourism and the signatories for the MoU included :
●    Shri. Suman Billa, Joint Secretary , Ministry of Tourism ;
●    Shri. Shamim Ahmad Wani, Managing Director, J&K Cable Car Corporation ;
●    Shri.  K K Sharma, Executive Director, M/s NPCC ; and
●    Shri.  Alok Rastogi, Chief General Manager (BD), M/s NBCC
●    The Ministry of Tourism under the new initiative - Development of Tourism in the State– New Projects has sanctioned following projects to M/s NPCC and NBCC in the State of J&K for implementation in September 2017.
●    Integrated Development of Tourist facilities at Gulmarg – Baramulla – Kupwara – Leh  to M/s NBCC for Rs. 96.92 Crore
●    Integrated Development of Tourist facilities at Mantalai – Sudhmahadev – Patnitop in Jammu & Kashmir to M/s NPCC for Rs.  97.82 Crore

On This Day

 On February 9, 1952, Princess Elizabeth of England became the Queen. After a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland passed away in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the oldest of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at the time of her father’s death; she was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, at age 27.