08 January 2018 Current Affairs
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Gilles Simon Wins Inaugural Tata Open Title
Gilles Simon of France has lifted the inaugural Tata Open Maharashtra Tennis trophy. In the summit clash in Pune, the unseeded French player defeated second-seeded Kevin Anderson in straight sets. Simon is ranked 89 in the world, while Anderson is ranked Fourteen. Simon had knocked out defending champion and third seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
India’s first all-women station in Mumbai enters Limca records
The first all-women station in India, Matunga on Central Railway (CR) in Mumbai, manned by a staff of 41 women, has entered the Limca Book of Records. The unique initiative was taken by CR General Manager D.K. Sharma in July 2017 with the aim of empowering women. Accordingly, women staffers were posted across all departments, like 17 ladies for operations and commercial, six Railway Protection Force, eight for ticket checking, two announcers and two conservancy staffers, and five point persons, totalling 41.
CM Nitish receives Mufti Mohammad Sayeed award in J&K
Bihar Chief minister Nitish Kumar has been given the first Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life. The award was constituted recently by the Jammu and Kashmir government to commemorate the death anniversary of PDP founder and two-time J&K chief minister Sayeed who died on January 7, 2016 after nearly a week-long hospitalization in New Delhi. Sayeed was father of J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti.
75th Annual Golden Globe Awards
The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American television of 2017. The ceremony was organized at Beverly Hills, California, United States (US). The Golden Globe Awards are the annual awards that honour the best in Motion Pictures and American Television for the previous year. This year The Shape of Water had received most overall nominations of show with seven, while Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Big Little Lies both won most awards with four each.
Winners of various awards are as follows:
Best Motion Picture Drama: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: Lady Bird.
Best Director in Motion Picture-Drama: Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water).
Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama: Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) as Winston Churchill.
Best Actress in Motion Picture-Drama: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as Mildred Hayes.
Best Actor in Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy: James Franco (The Disaster Artist) as Tommy Wiseau.
Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson.
Best Actor in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as Officer Jason Dixon.
Best Actress in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Allison Janney (I, Tonya) as LaVona Golden
Best Original Score Motion Picture: Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water).
Best Original Song: “This Is Me” (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) – The Greatest Showman
Best Animated Feature Film: Coco.
Best Foreign Language Film: In the Fade (Germany/France).
Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Oprah Winfrey.
India’s fastest supercomputer ‘Pratyush’ unveiled
India’s fastest and first multi-petaflops (PF) supercomputer named Pratyush was unveiled at Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). The supercomputer has been named as ‘Pratyush’ meaning Sun. It will help India with better forecasts in terms of monsoon, extreme events, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, air quality, lightning, fishing, hot and cold waves, flood and drought among others.
Pakistan frees 147 Indian fishermen on humanitarian grounds
Pakistan released 147 Indian fishermen from Malir Jail in Karachi as a goodwill gesture. As per the list was given to the Indian High Commission by the Pakistani government, 457 Indian prisoners including 399 fishermen and 58 civil prisoners are in Pakistani jails. The fishermen were arrested for fishing illegally within the marine border limits of Pakistan and have completed their prison term. The Edhi Foundation provided them with clothes and Rs 5,000 each. Fishermen from India and Pakistan are frequently detained for illegally fishing in each other’s territorial waters since the Arabian Sea does not have a clearly defined marine border and the wooden boats lack the technology to avoid being drifting away.
Philippe Coutinho joins Barcelona, becomes 2nd Most Expensive Transfer in World Soccer History
Team Liverpool sold Brazilian football player Philippe Coutinho to Team Barcelona for 160 million Euros ($192 million). With this, transfer of Philippe Coutinho has become the 2nd Most Expensive transfer in World Soccer History. World’s most expensive transfer is Brazilian football player Neymar’s transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint Germain team in 200 million pounds in 2017.
World Champion Powerlifter Saksham Yadav passes away
World champion Saksham Yadav succumbed to his injuries at the AIIMS Trauma Centre in New Delhi. He died of a cardiac arrest. Saksham, who won a gold medal in the 2017 world weightlifting championship for India, was seriously injured along with another weightlifter named Rohit. Five men, including Saksham, have died while one other person continues to battle for life after their car met with an accident near the Delhi-Haryana border.
International kite festival begins in Gujarat
The international kite festival which attracts kite flyers from across the country and the world began in Ahmedabad. The international kite festival was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at Sabarmati Riverfront. The state government-sponsored festival will culminate on January 14, which is celebrated as Uttarayan (Makar Sankranti).
East Jerusalem for Palestinian capital
Arab states will push for the international community to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state. This announcement comes a month after US President Donald Trump recognized the city as Israel’s capital. Many Arabs consider the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Lalu jailed for 3.5 years in fodder scam
RJD chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined Rs 1 million by a special CBI court in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh. This is the second time that he has been jailed in the fodder scam. Prasad faces another three scam cases for illegal withdrawal from three other treasuries.
Haryana becomes First State to launch High Risk Pregnancy Portal
Haryana has become the first state in the country to launch High Risk Pregnancy (HRP) Portal. This portal not only helps in early identification of high-risk pregnant cases up to the grass-roots level but also ensures their timely referral to the civil hospitals for further management and delivery by specialists. This innovative web application has been designed to track every high risk pregnant woman till 42 days after delivery, so that she receives adequate treatment during the ante-natal period for healthy outcome of pregnancy.
Chandigarh records the highest GER for girls
Chandigarh has recorded the highest Gross Enrollment Ratio or GER for females in all categories of higher education at 68.8 percent. Across India, according to the report, of the total number of colleges, only 9.3 percent are exclusively for girls and 15 universities for women. The overall GER of the country has increased from 24.5 percent in 2015-16 to 25.2 percent in 2016-17.