18 March 2016 Current Affairs
‘Iron fist’ at Pokhran
Indian Air Force (IAF) put up its greatest ever show of air power. The event was witnessed by the President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cabinet ministers and political leaders, and the entire military brass. Also present were the air attachés of various countries. The attachés of China and Pakistan were not invited as these countries do not invite their Indian counterparts for similar exercises. The event earlier called ‘Vayu Shakti’ got its current name ‘Iron-Fist’ when last held in 2013.
SC allows photos of CMs, Governors in Govt Ads
The Supreme Court has allowed publication of photographs of Governors, Chief Ministers and the Ministers of the department concerned in government advertisements. Ruling in this regard was on 18 March given by a SC bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi on pleas by Union Government and states which had sought review of the Supreme Court judgement. This ruling of Supreme Court has modified its earlier 2015 order which only had permitted photographs of President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India (CJI) in the government advertisements.
Astronomers Discovered Largest Sample of 9 monster Stars
British astronomers have discovered largest sample cluster of nine monster stars named as R136 using NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster is the largest group of very massive stars ever identified. The R136 cluster of monster stars have masses over 100 times and are 30 million times brighter than of our Sun in the star cluster located about 170,000 light-years away. It is located in the Tarantula Nebula within the Large Magellanic Cloud – a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. The young cluster hosts many extremely massive, hot and luminous stars whose energy is mostly radiated in the ultraviolet (UV).