Current Affairs - August 18, 2017 Current Affairs

Pakistan's High Commissioner-designate Sohail Mahmood arrived in India and took charge at the Indian High Commission. He succeeds career diplomat Abdul Basit, who served as the country's envoy for four years. He has wide experience in the diplomatic service having served in various Pakistan missions abroad including Washington and New York.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, launched the "Harit Diwali, Swasth Diwali" campaign. Addressing a gathering of about 800 children from schools of Delhi and NCR, the Minister impressed upon the children the importance of their contribution towards reducing pollution by not bursting harmful fire crackers during Diwali.

U B Pravin Rao has been appointed as the Interim CEO of the company. Vishal Sikka has resigned as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Infosys.

The Union Cabinet approved a proposal to complete the balance works of North Koel Reservoir Project in Bihar, stalled since 1993. Under the revived project, storage of water in Mandal dam to be constructed under it will be will be restricted at a lower level than envisaged earlier. The project is situated on the North Koel river, a tributary of Sone River.

The Union Government banned exports of Gold jewellery, medallions and other articles above 22- carat purity in a bid to check round-tripping of the precious metal. According to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), certain provisions of the foreign trade policy (2015-20) are amended to allow export of gold jewellery and articles containing gold of 8 carats and above up to a maximum limit of 22 carats only from domestic tariff area and export-oriented units, electronics hardware technology parks, software technology parks and bio technology parks.

The Union Cabinet cleared MoU signed between India and Sweden on intellectual property right (IPR) cooperation, aimed at benefiting entrepreneurs, investors and businesses. The MoU establishes a wide-ranging and flexible mechanism through which both countries can exchange best practices and work together on training programmes and technical exchanges.

Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen has clinched the 2017 Bulgaria Open International Series title after defeating Croatia's Zvonimir Durkinjak in the men's singles final by 18-21 21-12 21-17 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The National Highways Authority of India launched two mobile Apps namely MyFASTag and FASTag Partner in New Delhi, to facilitate the availability of FASTags for Electronic Toll Collection. MyFASTag is a consumer App can be downloaded from the App Store for both Android and iOS systems. FASTag Partner is a merchant App agencies like Common Services Centre, banking partners, and vehicle dealers can sell and enroll FASTag through this App.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) went digital by launching a bespoke mobile wallet (mobile payment App) that would enable its existing 100 million customers to make Bill payments. The wallet has been developed and issued by MobiKwik on behalf of BSNL. It was launched at an event by Manoj Sinha, Minister for Telecommunications in the capital.

Emma Stone named as Hollywood's best-paid female actor in Forbes annual list of top earners. The 28-year-old made $26m in the last 12 months, the majority of which was earned from her Oscar-winning performance in the musical romance La La Land. Stone won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

HDFC Bank Ltd cut interest rates on most of its savings accounts to 3.5% from 4%. Customers with savings bank account balance of 5 million rupees and above will continue to earn interest at 4 percent per annum.

Private sector Karur Vysya Bank has unveiled the Aadhaar Enrolment Centre in Chennai. It is the first private sector bank to provide Aadhaar Enrolment Centre service in the country. The Customers need to bring in the approved documents as proof of residence and identity. The process of enrolment or updating the details in AADHAAR can be completed in about 15 minutes.