IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF
AUGUST 5th, 2018
1.
India has been elected as
the President of the Asia-Pacific Institute for
Broadcasting Development (AIBD) for a period of two years.
a. F.
Sheheryar (Director General of All India Radio) was re-elected as
Chair of the executive board while Sri Lanka was
elected as vice-chair.
b. About
AIDB :
c. The Asia-Pacific
Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) is regional
inter-governmental organisation serving countries of United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) in field of
electronic media development.
d. It was
established in the 1977 under auspices of UNESCO.
e. It is
hosted by Government of Malaysia and its secretariat is
located in Kuala Lumpur.
f. Note :
Broadcasters from 26 countries in the Asia-Pacific region
including India are full members of the organization.
2.
US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo today
pledged nearly $300 million in security funding for Southeast
Asia at the US-ASEAN ministerial meeting in Singapore.
a. The aid
is aimed at countering China's influence in the region.
b. The
security assistance will strengthen maritime security, develop peacekeeping
capabilities and counter "transnational threats".
3.
Mughalsarai Junction
railway station (Uttar Pradesh) today
formally renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar Junction railway
station after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Uphadyay.
a. Important
Points to Note :
b. In
February 1968, RSS thinker and co-founder of the political party Bharatiya Jana
Sangh, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was found dead in mysterious
circumstances near the station.
c. This is
the biggest railway station in India that was built in the British era.
e. The
station was named Mughalsarai as it was one of the busiest routes connecting
east India to north India during the Mughal era.
4.
Varanasi and Delhi are
among 14 Indian cities dubbed most
polluted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on
account of the air quality measured in terms of particulate matter (PM) at the
high level of 2.5.
a. Other
cities in this category are : Jaipur,
Jodhpur, Srinagar, Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Lucknow, Agra, Gurgaon,
Patiala and Muzaffarpur.
5.
Search Engine giant Google has
rolled out a '3D Globe Mode' on Maps which shows the Earth as a
globe rather than a flat "Mercator" projection as before.
6.
Social networking giant Facebook has
launched “Digital Literacy Library” to help young people build
skills they need to safely enjoy online technology.
a. The
lessons can be found on Facebook’s Safety Center as well as on Berkman Klein’s
Digital Literacy Resource Platform.
7.
President Ram Nath Kovind today gave his
assent to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018.
a. This
bill will prevent offenders from evading legal process and fleeing the
country.
b. Check
complete highlights of Fugitive
Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 from HERE
8.
21 public sector banks (PSBs) and 3 Private
Sector Banks collected ₹5,000 crore from
depositors in the financial year 2017-18 as penalties for not maintaining
required minimum balance in accounts.
a. With ₹2,433 crore in penalties, State
Bank of India (SBI) emerged as the highest collector among Public
Sector Banks, almost half of the total collection.
b. HDFC
Bank was the highest collector among private banks with ₹590 crore.
9.
India today formally submitted
a request to Antigua for the extradition of Punjab
National Bank (PNB) scam accused Mehul Choksi.
a. Note :
Choksi had acquired citizenship of the Caribbean nation in November 2017 and
fled India in January, days before the $2.1-billion scam was exposed.
10.
States are going to test a 20%
cashback incentive for Digital transactions made through RuPay
card and BHIM app on the total GST amount.
a. Note : The
cashback or discount would be capped at ₹100 per transaction.
11.
India's envoy to Ireland Vijay
Thakur Singh was today named Secretary (East) in
the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
12.
Singh is a 1985 batch officer of the Indian
Foreign Service.
13.
She will take over as Officer on Special Duty
in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) with effect from September 15, it
said.
a. She is
going to replace Preeti Saran on 1st October 2018.
14.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has appointed
Hollywood actor Steven Seagal as its Special
representative for Russian-US humanitarian ties.
15.
Hindi Academy Delhi has given its
highest Shalaka Samman Award for 2017-18 to lyricist
and poet Javed Akhtar.
a. He was
honored with this prestegious award for his contribution to
the world of films and poetry.
b. The
award includes a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh.
c. Veteran
theatre director M K Raina received the ‘Shikar Samman Award’
at the same event.
d. Other
recipients of the awards included Abid Surti (cartoonist), Shaji Jama
(journalist) and Abhisar Sharma (journalist).
16.
India's ace badminton player P V
Sindhu today won the Silver medal at the Badminton
World Championships 2018 for the second straight year.
a. She
lost Carolina Marin (2016 Olympics champion) in the final match.
b. Note :
Sindhu has now won four medals (2 silver and 2 bronze) out of India's eight in
the history of Badminton World Championships.
17.
After scoring 200 runs in the first Test
against England, Indian captain Virat Kohli became
the 1st Indian to top the ICC Test batsmen rankings since
Sachin Tendulkar, who last topped the rankings in 2011.
18.
The 10th edition of the Gay
Games being held in Paris.
a. The
Games, which aim to raise awareness about gay and transgender rights, are
featuring events in 36 sporting disciplines.
b. Athletes
from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Russia are among the estimated 12,700 participants
from 91 countries.
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