Current Affairs - July 8, 2017 Current Affairs

12th G20 (Group of 20) summit has been hosted by Germany for the first time, at the Hamburg Messe and Congress. G20 is an international meeting between heads of states, finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's 20 leading economies. The G20 group makes up 85 per cent of the world's GDP and two-thirds of its population. G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, The European Union.

India's Harinder Pal Sandhu beat Rhys Dowling of Australia 11-8 12-10 11-4 in the final to win the South Australian Open squash title. After winning the first game comfortably, Sandhu was down 1-7 as the Australian fought back strongly. Sandhu had upset top seed Piedro Schweertman of the Netherlands 11-9 14-12 7-11 11-9 in the semifinal.

Saima Wazed Hossain is appointed as WHO goodwill ambassador for Autism in South Asia for two years. She is selected for creating awareness and generating action to address and elevate sufferings of people affected by autism.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has joined hands with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to implement JIGYASA programme for school students and scientists. It aims to connect 1151 Kendriya Vidyalayas with 38 National Laboratories of CSIR targeting 100,000 students and nearly 1000 teachers annually with facilities like well planned research laboratory based Learning.

India's renowned sports media brand, Sports Illustrated (SI) India Magazine concluded the sixth edition of 'Maruti Suzuki Sportsperson of the Year was given to PV Sindhu. Sportsperson of the Year is the most coveted Sports Awards franchise globally, acknowledging the performances and sporting excellence of athletes and teams for their outstanding achievements.

On Second Day of 22nd Asian Athletics Championships at Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Indian athletes won four Gold medals.

122 countries approved the first-ever treaty on nuclear weapons banning at a UN meeting boycotted by all nuclear-armed nations. Nine Countries which does not took part in the negotiations or voting are United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched a "GST Rates Finder" mobile app to verify the accurate tax rates on commodity and services under the Goods and Services Tax. This app is available on Android platform, will soon be launched for iOS and can be used in offline mode once downloaded.

Jammu and Kashmir, the only State missed to adopt the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1, finally joined the new tax regime on July 7. The Jammu & Kashmir Goods and Services Tax Bill- 2017" was moved by finance minister Haseeb Drabu.

India's first university only for Dalit students to come up in Hyderabad by 2018. The university is said to be part of the government's policy of providing education free of cost to students from weaker sections from kindergarten to post-graduation (KG to PG) level.

The Joint Naval Malabar drills of United States, India, and Japan will kick off on July 10 in the Bay of Bengal. Major warships taking part in Malabar Drill - US navy's USS Nimitz, the world's largest aircraft carrier. Indian Navy's solitary aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, and Japan's Izumo-class helicopter carrier will also be among the 20-odd warships taking part in the exercise.

Oscar winning Indian music composer A.R.Rahman is nominated for "World Soundtrack Awards 2017", which is the Public Choice Award, For His Music in the film named "Viceroy's House".

The global food fair "World Food India 2017" will be organised by the Union Food Processing ministry in New Delhi on November 3-5, 2017 to boost food sector. For the global food fair, the Union ministry of Food Processing has organised a roadshow in Chandigarh to provide a platform to Indian farmers and manufacturers to showcase their products and explore partnerships with foreign companies.