03-04 September 2017 - Current Affairs

03-04 September 2017 - Current Affairs

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India becomes 1st visiting country to inflict 5-0 whitewash on Sri Lanka

  • India beat the host by six-wickets in the fifth One Day International (ODI) match and became the first visiting country to inflict a 5-0 defeat on Sri Lanka.
  • Skipper Virat Kohli 30th ODI hundred (unbeaten 110) in only his 194th game and is now joint-second in list of most century makers alongside Ricky Ponting (30) with only Sachin Tendulkar (49) ahead of him.
Note:SL 238 (49.4 Ovs)
IND 239/4 (46.3 Ovs).
  • Player of the match: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
  • Player of the series: Jasprit Bumrah

BRICS summit begins in Xiamen

  • The 9th BRICS summit begins in the Chinese city of Xiamen, the second time the China has hosted the summit after the 2011 summit.
  • In a joint declaration, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) condemned all terror attacks worldwide, including those attacks in the member states, stressing that there can be no justification whatsoever for any such act.
  • Host country China has also invited five guest countries (Egypt, Kenya, Tajikistan, Mexico, and Thailand) for the summit under its BRICS plus approach.
  • Prime Minister ‘Narendra Modi’ raised the issues of international terrorism and ban on all active terror groups among others.
  • In BRICS plenary session, the leaders discussed the practical cooperation for common development and institution building.

Nepal signs UN development assistance plan

  • Nepal govt. has signed a USD 635 million United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for 2018-2022 to lay out the country’s development strategy for the next five years.
  • The agreement signed between the govt’s planning body National Planning Commission and the UN country team in Nepal.
  • The package involving 26 individual UN agencies is aimed at assisting Nepal in four areas, include inclusive economic growth, social development, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

Trump to nominate Kenneth Juster as US Ambassador to India

  • America's foremost expert on US-India trade relations ‘Kenneth I. Juster’ (62-year) has been nominated as the U.S ambassador to India.
  • He will succeed Richard Verma
  • The appointment will take effect once the U.S Senate confirms him.
  • Juster holds Bachelor’s degree in Govt. from Harvard College and master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He also holds a law degree from the Harvard Law School.
Note:
  • The United States Ambassador to India is the chief diplomatic representative of United States in India.
  • The U.S. Ambassador's office is situated at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

State of emergency declared in Los Angeles

  • A state of emergency has been declared in Los Angeles (USA) as the city battles the worst wildfires in its history.
  • Hundreds of homes have been evacuated around the Glendale and Burbank suburbs.
  • The fires, covering about 5,000 acres, started in La Tuna Canyon and have sent plumes of smoke over the city.
  • The declarations allow state and federal funds to be provided as soon as possible.

Narendra Modi Cabinet reshuffle

  • Nirmala Sitharaman has taken charge as the Minister of Defence 
  • Now, She has become the first woman to take charge as the full-time defence minister (Indira Gandhi-additional charge).
  • Previous Railways Minister, Suresh Prabhu will hold the office of Minister of Commerce & Industry.
  • Piyush Goyal has taken charge as the Minister of Railway and also hold the post of Minister of Coal.
  • Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who earlier had the independent charge as the Minister of State for Minority Affairs will now hold the office of Minister of Minority Affairs.
  • Uma Bharti will hold the post of Minister of Drinking Water & Sanitation. Earlier, she held the portfolio of River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.

Pulitzer-Prize winning poet John Ashbery passes away

  • Pulitzer-prize winning poet John Ashbery (90-year), a post-modern American trailblazer passed away in Hudson, New York.
  • His 1975 collection, "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror," was the rare winner of the book world's unofficial triple crown: the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle prize.
  • He was given a National Humanities Medal and credited with changing in 2011.

TMC MP Sultan Ahmed passes away

  • Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sultan Ahmed (64-years) passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest.
  • Mr. Ahmed was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Uluberia (Lok Sabha constituency) on a Trinamool Congress ticket.
  • Ahmed had been a two-time Congress MLA from Entally (1987–91 and 1996–2001) before joining Trinamool Congress.
  • He also served as the Union Minister of State for Tourism in the Manmohan Singh government.

Country's foreign exchange reserves swell to life high of USD 394.55 billion

  • The country's foreign exchange reserves swelled by USD 1.148 billion to a new lifetime high of USD 394.55 billion for the week ended 25th August this month.
  • RBI data showed the foreign currency assets (FCAs) increased by USD 1.142 billion to USD 370.833 billion for the week under review.
  • Gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 19.943 billion.
  • The country's reserve position with the IMF also rose by USD 3.6 million to USD 2.273 billion.
  • The total reserves had declined by a marginal USD 211.1 million to USD 393.401 billion in the previous reporting week.

Govt notifies hike in GST cess on range of cars from mid to large ones to 25%

  • The union govt. has notified hike in GST cess on a range of cars from mid-size to a hybrid variant to luxury ones to a maximum of 25% (earlier 15%), from 2nd of September this year.
  • With this amendment, taxation on luxury, SUV, and other vehicles would be brought at par with that prevailing pre-GST rollout.

Kerala celebrating Thiruonam today

  • Today, Kerala is celebrating the biggest cultural festival Thiruonam (the 10th day) and the most auspicious day of Onam.
  • The harvest festival of Kerala ‘Onam’ falls in the first month of Malayalm calendar, chingam.
  • Keralites across the globe irrespective of religious differences is celebrating the festival in full vigour.
  • It is believed the state had its golden period during the reign of King Mahabali and his annual visits to his subjects marks the Onam celebrations.

President to lay foundation stone for Link-4 of SAUNI Scheme in Rajkot

  • Today, President Ramnath Kovind laid the foundation stone for a link - 4 of Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Scheme (SAUNI) Yojana in Rajkot, Gujarat.
  • Earlier, SAUNI project had been launched by Mr. Modi to fill up 115 major dams by diverting overflow of water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada River.
  • Three phases of SAUNI yojana already dedicated to the people following completion of the work.

Locky ransomware hits Indian cyberspace, government issues alert

  • State-run Indian Computer Emergency Response Team(CERT-in) has issued an advisory on the spreading of Locky ransomware in the country, urging users to not open any emails with attachments from unknown senders.
  • The alert said the ransomware spreads through “massive spam campaign”.
  • Ransomware is a type of malicious software that blocks access to the victim's data or threatens to publish or delete it until a ransom is paid.
  • Locky Ransomware (first surfaced in 2016) is a deadly ransomware, that encrypts files on victims’ PCs and adds a .locky file extension.
  • The attackers then demand a ransom to unlock the files.

M S Dhoni becomes the first wicketkeeper to effect 100 stumpings in ODI Cricket

  • Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (36-year) has become the first wicketkeeper in world cricket to effect 100 stumpings in One Day Internationals(ODI).
  • Mr. Dhoni achieved the feat in his 301st ODI in Colombo (Sri Lanka), when he whipped off the bails to remove batsman Akila Dananjaya (Sri Lankan) off leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal's bowling.
  • He has taken 281 catches apart from scoring 9,657 runs so far.  

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