Current Affairs - August 14, 2019 Current Affairs

Saudi Aramco, divulging its finances for the first time, revealed that it is the world's most profitable company.

The President of Fiji Major.General(Retd) Jioji Konrote has appointed Justice Madan Lokur from India as the new Supreme Court (SC) judge of Fiji. He will serve as the judge of the non-resident panel of the Supreme Court of Fiji.

Chandrima Shaha was recently elected as the President of Indian National Science Academy (INSA). With this, Shaha became the first woman to be elected as President of INSA. She will serve the post from 2020 to 2022.

To mark the 77th anniversary of Quit India movement, the Uttar Pradesh has created a world record by planting more than 22-cr saplings in a day at 12.2 lakh locations in the state. For this noble cause, the state government launched a mega afforestation drive 'Vriksharopan Mahakumbh' with target to plant 22 cr saplings in a day. The previous record of planting 30,000 saplings was created by Savitribai Phule Pune University of Maharashtra in June 2019.

Speaking at RIL's 42th annual general meeting on Monday, Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that Aramco has agreed to take a 20 per cent stake in the company's oil refinery and chemical business at an enterprise value of $75 billion (around Rs 5.32 lakh crore). This is among the largest foreign investments in India.

Retired Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose is appointed as the first Lokpal of India by a committee consisting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan on 23 March 2019 wheareas the members are appointed w.e.f 27 March 2019.

Hiroshima Day is observed on 6 August every year. This is the day when atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Huawei launches new operating system, says it can 'immediately' switch from Google Android if needed. Huawei's operating system will be called the HongmengOS, known in English as the HarmonyOS.

India promised to produce carbon sink additionally of about 2.5 - 3billion tonnes by 2032 by increasing forest cover, planting etc.

South Korea said Monday that it has decided to remove Japan from a list of nations receiving preferential treatment move following Tokyo's recent decision to downgrade Seoul's trade status amid a diplomatic row.

Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri launched the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness survey 'Swachh Survekshan 2020' on 13 August 2019. The Survey will be conducted in January 2020.

The Department of Information Technology (IT), Biotechnology (BT) and Science & Technology (ST) of Karnataka government launched E-Step, an initiative to empower student start-ups. The programme is a part of Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS). The programme is specially designed for students/ startups/entrepreneurs to understand the basics of entrepreneurship from experienced trainers. The first phase of E-Step is to organize a day long boot camps across all New Age Incubation Networks (NAIN) in Karnataka and the boot camps will be held at 30 colleges between August 12 and September 14, 2019.

The Hyderabad Open (Badminton) 2019, officially known as IDBI Federal Life Insurance Hyderabad Open 2019, was held at G.M.C. Balayogi SATS Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, India from August 6 -11, 2019. The total prize money of the tournament was $75,000. The 5th Super 100 tournament of 2019 BWF World Tour was organized by the Badminton Association of India (BAI), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). Sourabh Verma (India) won the men's singles title.

The founder of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and is known as the Father of the Indian Space Program, Vikram Sarabhai's 100th birth anniversary observed on 12 August,2019 across the country.On August 12,2019, To commemorate the birth centenary of Dr Vikram Sarabhai, ISRO has launched a year-long programmes and functions (include science and space exhibitions, competitions for school children, journalism awards and speeches by eminent personalities) will end on 12th August, 2020.

YES bank had made Anurag Adlakha as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) replacing Raj Ahuja who previously served as the senior group president and head of financial management of YES bank, will now be in charge of strategy, planning, and functions of the bank. Appointed as Group Chief Strategy Officer, Raj Ahuja will report to the bank's Managing director.

Indian multinational, public sector bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB) has linked its home loan product to RBI's (Reserve Bank of India (RBI)repo rate after State Bank of India (SBI). With this, home loans at BOB will be available at repo rate linked interest rate starting at 8.35%, thus passing on the further benefit of 10 basis points to the present MCLR (Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate) rated pricing. This decision is following RBI reducing the key interest rate (repo) by 35 basis points to a nine-year low of 5.40%. SBI's reduction: After RBI cut its key repo rate, State Bank of India (SBI), reduced home loan rates by 15 bps effect from August 10, 2019. The revised one-year MCLR stands at 8.25% per annum down from 8.40% earlier.

Actor Steve Coogan will be felicitated with the Charlie Chaplin Award for Excellence in Comedy by the British Academy's Los Angeles branch. The award recognizes the talents whose popularity and cultural impact exemplifies the uniquely transcendent quality of excellent comedy. Apart from Coogan, Jane Fonda will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film, and Jackie Chan will receive the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment. The 2019 Britannia Awards will be held on October 25 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Sonia Gandhi has become new party President of the Congress.

The United States has announced new rules that aim to deny US citizenship to the immigrants who use public benefits. Under the new rules, those already in the US and availing public benefits will be denied the opportunity of getting the green card.

On the occasion of the World Biofuel Day (WBD-2019), the Rajasthan government released biofuel rules-2019 & became the first State in India to implement the National Policy on Biofuels, which was unveiled by the Government of India (GoI) in May 2019. The desert State will put emphasis on increasing production of oilseeds and establish a Centre for Excellence in Udaipur to promote research in the fields of alternative fuels and energy resources. Further, there would be emphasis on biofuel advertisements by the state government to create awareness about the same. The women's Self-Help Groups (SHGs) will be created by the State Rural Livelihood Development Council to encourage the use of biofuels. Apart from this, a biodiesel plant of the capacity of 8 tonnes a day has already been installed in the State with the financial assistance of the Indian Railways. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel which can be used in place of fossil fuels. It is manufactured from vegetable oils, recycled grease, algae, and animal fat.

Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri recently launched SBM Water PLUS Protocol and Toolkit, Swachh Survekshan 2020 Toolkit, Swachh Nagar and mSBM Apps while launching the Swachh Survekshan 2020.

A two-day exhibition on DAE spinoff Technologies for non-power applications organised by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), was inaugurated by Shri Rakesh Gupta, chairman of UPSC (Union Public Service Commision) at New MotiBagh recreation club, New Delhi.

Former director of the National Institute of Immunology (NII), Delhi, Ms Chandrima Shaha (66) is all set to become the first woman president of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) from January 1, 2020. She will succeed Ajay K. Sood. She was the vice-captain of West Bengal's first women's cricket team and also the first woman cricket commentator for All India Radio (AIR).

Indian woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat (53kg), aged 24, settled for silver in the final of the Medved event 2019 in Minsk, Belarus. She suffered a 0-10 (technical superiority) defeat against N Malisheva of Russia. She had won 3 consecutive gold medals at the Grand Prix of Spain, Yasar Dogu International and Poland Open in 2019.

Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) has unveiled yet another pivotal moment in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP). MEIL successfully commenced operations in the world's largest Laximpur underground pumping station.

India's first-of-its-kind clinical ecotoxicology facility was inaugurated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. It will investigate the increasing number of diseases resulting from exposure to environmental toxins contaminating water, food, and air. It will provide diagnostic and research services to all the clinical departments dealing with diseases due to ecotoxicity.

The Women's Cricket team of Thailand rewrote a world record by winning 17th successive T20 international match and surpassed the record held by Australian Women (16 victories). They won the match against the Netherlands in the fifth match of an ongoing Women's T20I Quadrangular Series 2019 in the Netherlands. The other 2 teams of the quadrangular series are Ireland and Scotland.England and Zimbabwe (14), and New Zealand (12) are the 3 other teams who have registered 10 or more successive wins in the T20 format.

Singapore announced on World elephant day that ivory sales will be banned from the country from 2021.This comes as an initiative launched by the Singapore govt. to tighten its campaign against illegal wildlife trade.The announcement followed two years of consultation with non Government groups, ivory retailers and public.