Current Affairs - April 21, 2019 Current Affairs

The world's tallest indoor waterfall, 131-foot-tall, opened for the general public at Singapore's Jewel Changi Airport. The waterfall is housed inside a dome-shaped complex which has gardens growing over four storeys, more than 280 retail and food outlets, a hotel and a movie theatre. The structure also has a botanical garden with 120 species of plants.

Sunil Kumar Gautam, Special Commissioner of Police (Operations) was honoured with 'Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Award' for 2018-19 by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, for his book titled 'Samvidhan Kavya'. The book was originally been written in Hindi language. There are total 238 couplets which explains the lengthiest Constitution of the world, the Indian Constitution in a very simple and poetic form. It took the officer 6 months to write the book and also mentions all the articles of the Constitution. 4 other Indian police officers who have also written books have been rewarded. 'Samvidhan Kavya' was released by Dr Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry on 5th October, 2016 in Puducherry.

Malaysia resumed a China-backed rail link project after the Chinese contractor agreed to cut the construction cost by one third to 10.6 billion US dollars. The Malaysian government will also take up a multibillion-dollar property and transportation project in Kuala Lumpur involving a Chinese state company, calling it a contribution to China's global "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative.

Malian Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga resigned ahead of a no-confidence vote over his government's failure to tackle a deadly rise in attacks from Islamist militants and clashes between ethnic communities. Mali has been struggling to restore stability since Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the country's vast desert north in early 2012. Last month, gunmen killed at least 157 people on Ogossagou, a village in central Mali populated by rival Fulani herders, in one of the deadliest attacks the country has experienced in years. The attack was followed by protests in the capital, Bamako, with thousands calling for the government to find a solution to the crisis or to step down. At the same time, the lives of ordinary people in Mali are getting worse. The price of basic necessities like water, electricity and food has risen by 20 percent in the last year. The United Nations has more than 16,000 personnel on the ground in Mali, including a contingent of 12,418 troops made up of forces from countries including Burkina Faso, Senegal, Niger, Togo and Chad.

Pakistan's Finance Minister Asad Umar resigned from the cabinet before securing a multi-billion dollar International Monetary Fund bailout package for the cash-strapped country. Umar recently returned after visiting the US in which the details of Pakistan's next IMF bailout were discussed. Pakistan is seeking USD 8 billion funding from the IMF to bail itself out from a severe balance-of-payments crisis that threatens to cripple the country's economy.

UBER unveiled an investment of $1 billion in U.S. company Uber to drive forward the development of driverless ridesharing services. The latest cash injection, expected to close in the third quarter this year, came amid fevered anticipation of Uber's public share offering which is expected to be the largest in the tech sector for years. Toyota has already invested $500 million in Uber as the firm races Google-owned Waymo and a host of other companies, including major automakers, to develop self-driving vehicles.

Amazon plans to close down online retail operations in China, admitting defeat to local e-commerce rivals such as Alibaba and JD.com. They will continue other operations in China such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Kindle e-books and teams that help ship goods from Chinese merchants to customers abroad. Amazon entered China in 2004, when it acquired a local online book seller for USD 75 million. They launched its Prime membership programme in China in 2016 with aim to lure customers with high-quality Western goods and perks like free international deliveries.

The retail arm of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries became India's first retail company to cross the Rs.1 lakh crore annual revenue.The revenue for 2018-19 is Rs. 1.3 lakh crore, which is 89% more from the previous fiscal.The company added 2,829 stores during the financial year, taking the total to 10,415 stores and the profit of pre-tax business jumped 77.1 percent to record Rs 1,923 crore.

Helium hydride ion (HeH+), the first molecule that formed almost 14 billion years ago, was detected by NASA's flying observatory SOFIA towards a planetary nebula. It is the first type of molecule (first molecular bond) that formed in the universe after the Big Bang. At that time, ionised hydrogen and neutral helium atoms reacted to form HeH+. Once the universe cooled down, hydrogen atoms started to interact with helium hydride, creating molecular hydrogen, which set the stage for star formation. From that point on, stars created the other elements of the cosmos.

The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket and its unscrewed Cygnus Spacecraft launched which contains tons of NASA's supplies and 40 live mice to the International Space Station (ISS), from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spacecraft at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia. The first stage of rocket was developed by the Ukrainian Yuzhnoye State Design Office. The mission named NG-11, is the 11th cargo flight for NASA by Northrop Grumman, to deliver 7600 lbs. (3,447 kg), the heaviest load for Cygnus till date which contains science gear and supplies to the sex person crew of the ISS. This mission will be the Northrop Grumman's longest one till date.

Mukesh Kumar, chief of former Judo Federation of India was re-elected as general secretary of Judo Union, the Asian governing body, at its ordinary congress at Fujairah, UAE.Mukesh Kumar is also the Chairman of the Technical Conduct Committee of the 36th National Games that is allotted to Goa. The present President of Judo Federation of India, Partap Singh Bajwa was elected as Vice President of Judo Union of Asia and as president of South Asia Judo Federation.

Airtel Payments Bank joined hands with Bharti AXA General Insurance for a two-wheeler insurance product offering which is available on MyAirtel App and at over 40,000 Airtel Payments Bank points across India. This offers various benefits like 70 percent savings on an annual premium, personal accident cover, protection against third-party liabilities and inspection-free renewal through a paperless process. Also, Customers can avail towing services at no extra cost on claim intimation, at the time of insured vehicle breaks down. Customers without an Airtel Payments Bank account can also avail this policy and can renew their two-wheeler insurance at Airtel Payments Bank banking point.

Scotland all-rounder Con de Lange who had been diagnosed with a brain tumour has passed away at the age of 38. The South Africa-born de Lange played 21 internationals for Scotland, making his debut in a T20I against Ireland in June 2015.

The US has won a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against China's use of tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) for rice, wheat and corn. The case, lodged by the Obama administration in late 2016, marks the second U.S. victory in as many months in the country's ongoing trade spat with China. TRQs are two-level tariffs, with limited imports allowed at the lower 'in-quota' tariff and subsequent imports charged an 'out-of-quota' tariff, which is generally much higher. The US argued that the quotas limited market access for its grain exports. Australia, Brazil, India, and the European Union were among those reserving their rights in the dispute brought by the world's largest grain exporter.

UN labour agency International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its recent report titled "The Safety and the Health at the Heart of the Future of Work- Building on 100 years of Experience" termed Bhopal Gas Tragedy as one of the world's 'major industrial accident' which killed more than 15,000 people due to the result of at least 30 tons of highly toxic Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas leak in Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal in 1984. In the report, ILO has reported that more than 600,000 workers were affected due to leak of toxic gas from Union Carbide plant.Other major industrial accident after 1919 which ILO talked about in its report is Chernobyl nuclear disaster of Ukraine in 1986, Fukushima nuclear disasters of Japan in 2011 and Rana Plaza building collapse of Bangladesh in 2013.