Current Affairs - April 24, 2017 Current Affairs

Giuseppina Nicolini, Mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa is set to be awarded co-winner of the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize. The Mayor was named for the top prize for her work in saving the life of predominantly African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa as they aim to reach Europe in search of greener pastures.

The 15th edition of WFH International Musculoskeletal Congress (IMC) will be held in Seoul, South Korea from May 5-7, 2017, which is been organized by the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) and the Korea Hemophilia Foundation. The purpose of IMC is to bring together orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, physiatrists, rehabilitation medicine specialists, rheumatologists, hematologists, scientists, researchers, and other health professionals from around the world to discuss a variety of surgical and non-surgical approaches to the prevention and management of hemophilic arthropathy.

Prafulla Samantra, an iconic leader of social justice movements in India, the Goldman Environmental Prize for his historic 12-year legal battle that affirmed the indigenous Dongria Kondh's land rights and protected the Niyamgiri Hills from a massive, open-pit aluminum ore mine.

Kailash Satyarthi was presented the P C Chandra Puraskaar. He was honoured with the award for his global crusade against child slavery and exploitative child labour.

The city of Athens was chosen for the quality of its activities, supported by the entire book industry. The programme includes meetings with writers, translators and illustrators, concerts, thematic exhibitions, poetry readings and workshops for publishing professionals.

Rafael Nadal was successfully defended the title, defeating Albert Ramos Vinolas in the final, 6-1, 6-3. He becoming the first man in the Open Era to win 10 titles at the same tournament.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has offered honourary life membership to Sandhya Agarwal, former captain of the Indian women's Test team. Agarwal is being honoured in recognition of her distinguished service to the game. She has played 13 Tests and 21 ODIs from 1984 to 1995.

Yes Bank has won the prestigious 2017 Golden Peacock Innovative Product / Service Award (GPIPSA) at the 27th World Congress at the Dubai Global Convention in Dubai, UAE. And Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GNFC) also won the award in this category for pioneering a cashless township transformation model. The Golden Peacock Awards raise the overall standards of developing and implementing transformative business models, and to recognize the achievements of the best performing organizations.

Google had paid tribute to the late Kannada superstar Dr Rajkumar on his 88th birth anniversary by featuring a special doodle on its search engine. The doodle image shows Rajkumar on the big screen in a movie theatre with the silhouette of audience watching him.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and reaffirmed India's steadfast support to Afghanistan in fighting all forms of terrorism.

The theme for 2017 is "Environmental & Climate Literacy". Environmental and climate literacy is the engine not only for creating green voters and advancing environmental and climate laws and policies but also for accelerating green technologies and jobs.

The theme of the India Pavilion is "Yoga and Wellness", which will depict India as a year round multi faceted tourist destination for all ages and all seasons. The pavilion will highlight medical tourism in India which is fast gaining currency both amongst Middle East and European travellers.The Indian Pavilion under the aegis of the Tourism Ministry will exhibit the grandeur of the Indian subcontinent and will provide a platform to the leading Indian tour operators, travel agents, hoteliers, state governments and airlines to market India as an affordable and exotic tourist destination, which can be the basis of holistic travel experience.

Rafael Nadal, a Spanish professional tennis player, has won the Men's Singles title of Monte Carlo Masters Tennis tournament by defeating Albert Vinolas by 6-1, 6-3 at a summit clash in Monaco.

INS Darshak, joint with Sri Lankan Navy, is undertaking a hydrographic survey of Weligama Bay. INS Darshak is the Inian Navy's specialised survey ship, fitted with the latest state-of-the-art survey equipment like multi-beam system, side scan sonar and a fully automated digital surveying and processing system.

Indian Institute of Mass Communication is all set to launch the first ever Post-Graduate Diploma Course in Marathi Journalism from its Western Regional Campus at Amravati in Vidarbha region with effect from August 01, 2017

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP leader and Assam Badminton Association President, has been appointed the new interim President of Badminton Association of India (BAI).

Bollywood film "Newton" has won the best film honour at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. It had its world premiere at the 67th Berlin Film Festival where it won the International Federation of Art Cinemas (CICAE) award in its Forum segment.

India's Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas lifted the men's doubles crown at the Monte Carlo Masters they played out of its skin to get the better of its opponents 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 in the summit-clash of the clay court tournament.

A village of books in Maharashtra, called 'Pustakanche Gaon' in Marathi, is set to open on 4 May 2017. Pravin Bhilare, a resident of this village, provided his premises for the purpose of stacking books for public reading. 75-odd artists were asked by the Maharashtra government to paint the premises that are to be used for public reading.

The Maharashtra government recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Railways, under which trees will be planted on the land adjacent to the railway tracks in the state.