Current Affairs - May 10, 2018 Current Affairs

The 71st Cannes Festival is held in Cannes, France. Australian actress Cate Blanchett is the President of the Jury for the Main competition. The Official festival poster features Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina from Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 film Pierrot le Fou. Out of the 21 films in contention, only 3 films have female directors. The 2018 Cannes Film festival will open with 'Everybody Knows', a psychological thriller movie.

Nikol Pashinyan was elected as new prime minister of Armenia. Armenia's parliament elected Nikol Pashinyan as new prime minister in a 59-42 vote. His election comes after Serzh Sargsyan's resignation as Prime minister of Armenia recently. Nikol Pashinyan is 42 years old. He is the leader of Civil Contract party. He is a former newspaper editor. He started a protest movement with a march of non-violence on 31st March 2018 demanding Serzh Sargsyan to reisgn.

India has slipped to the 6th position globally in the business optimism index for the first quarter of 2018 as per Grant Thornton's quarterly global business survey. Business Optimism Index rankings are based on a quarterly global business survey of 2500 businesses in 37 economies conducted by professional services network Grant Thornton. Grant Thornton outlined that business sentiment in India has been the weakest since 2014. Weakening Indian rupee and a surge in oil prices have been identified as prime factors that led to deterioration in confidence since the third quarter of 2017. The survey findings also revealed that Indian businesses consider red tape, availability of skilled workforce, lack of information communication and technology (ICT) infrastructure and shortage of finance as biggest constraints to growth.

Madhya Pradesh has launched country's first Integrated Control & Command Centre for all the 7 smart cities of the state in Bhopal. The centre would enable authorities to monitor the status of various smart civic amenities in real-time through the sensors connected to it. Smart City Mission, is an urban renewal program by the govt that aims to develop 100 smart cities across the country.

Panasonic India, a technology and innovation firm, has appointed Manish Misra as the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of its India business. Manish Misra will be responsible for the strategic development of innovation and technology and will lead Panasonic's innovation hub in India. As Chief Innovation Officer (CIO), Manish Misra will report to Manish Sharma, President and CEO, Panasonic India. Earlier, Manish Misra worked with HID Global as its India R&D Head and Vice President of Engineering and Innovation.

The 2018 World Robot Conference will be held in Beijing from August 15 to 19. The event will see over 12,000 competing teams and 50,000 participants from more than 10 countries and regions. The conference will greatly stimulate passion and innovation in the robot industry as well as help with research and development.

Delhi Jal Board (DJB) approved its Rs 5137-crore annual budget, focusing on expansion of sewage and water supply networks in the uncovered areas. Out of Rs. 5137 crore, Rs 2350 crore is for plan and Rs 2787.6 crore is for non-plan expenditures for 2018-19. In addition to new sewage lines, old sewer lines will also be replaced in certain areas including south Delhi's Panchsheel Park and Saket. Besides, a fund of Rs 102.23 crore has been set aside for repairing peripheral sewers in Uttam Nagar, Moti Nagar and adjoining areas in northwest and west Delhi. For better water supply, DJB has approved proposals for laying feeder mains and various sizes of distribution mains for underground reservoirs and booster pumping stations in certain areas. For replacement of peripheral sewer lines, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Delhi has been appointed as the monitoring agency and will be paid Rs 4.71 crore as the consultancy fees.

Holistic coach and consultant, Nisha Bhalla was felicitated at the recently concluded Annual WEF 2018 Awards. Nisha was presented the 'Excellent Woman of Excellence' award for her spiritual service. Women Economic Forum is the largest global gathering of women entrepreneurs and leaders worldwide that recognises the most successful women across all fields.

"The UN Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2018", the annual report from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific was launched on 8th May. The report was launched at the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER). The report described South and Southwest Asia as the fastest growing sub-region of the Asia-Pacific region.

Journalist Carlos Alvarado has been sworn in as Costa Rica's President, accepting the sash of office from his predecessor and ally, Luis Guillermo Solis. At 39, Alvarado is the country's youngest president in modern history. Although Costa Rica is one of the region's most stable economies, the Central American nation is struggling to get its deficit under control amidst a Fitch downgrade.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar launched 'Star Khel Mahakumbh' in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, in the presence of 1500 athletes. The aim of the event is to attract participation from at least 100000 youngsters from Anurag Thakur's Hamirpur constituency. The Khel Mahkumbh will have competitions in volleyball, cricket, basketball, football, kabaddi and athletics. The event seeks participation from youth across 5000 villages and 800 panchayats, including the most remotest ones. Anurag Thakur has stated that over Rs 1 crore will be invested in this project over the period of next five years.

US-based retail giant Walmart confirmed that it will buy 77% stake in India's largest e-commerce startup Flipkart for $16 billion. The acquisition, which is the largest e-commerce deal in the world, will value the homegrown startup at a reported amount of $20.8 billion. Notably, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son had announced the deal by mistake earlier in the day.

19th edition of TOONZ Animation Masters Summit was held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on 4th and 5th May, 2018. The summit was organised by Toonz Media Group. It provided information about new trends in animation domain with an objective to inspire creators to use modern technology and take advantage of fresh opportunities. During the Summit, V G Samant, pioneer of Indian animation and creator was honoured with the 'Legend of Animation' award for his contributions to the animation industry. Nearly, 400 individuals associated with animation and media industry in India and abroad, attended this summit.

India's Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) will launch the country's first crude oil options contract on May 15. India is the world's third-biggest consumer of crude oil. Crude oil futures contracts were most traded on the exchange platform in 2017/18 fiscal year ended on March 31. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the options contract.

Nasa and Uber have signed an agreement to explore putting flying taxis in the skies over US cities. Nasa will begin simulations for so-called "urban air mobility'' vehicles that also include delivery drones. Nasa says the goal is to create a rideshare network that will allow residents to hail a small aircraft the same way Uber users can now use an app to call a car.