19 January 2018 Current Affairs
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Romania names MEP Viorica Dancila as first female PM
European lawmaker Viorica Dancila has been named as Prime Minister-designate in Romania making her the country’s third head of government in a year and its first female premier. It was announced after the sudden resignation of former Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.
Hall of Famer Jo Jo White passes away
Basketball Hall of Famer Jo Jo White, a two-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and an Olympic gold medalist, has passed away. He was 71. White played 10 seasons for Boston, which drafted him ninth overall from Kansas in 1969.
Virat Kohli named as Captain of ICCs Test and ODI Teams of the Year
Virat Kohli was named the captain of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams of the year that included four other Indians as well. Kohli scored 2,023 runs at 77.80, including eight centuries and three half-centuries in 18 matches during the qualification period. He surprisingly pipped Australian skipper Steve Smith for the ICC’s Test team captaincy. The Test team also comprises Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin. Kohli, the Winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and ODI Cricketer of the Year awards, was chosen to lead the ICC ODI team, which includes Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah as the other two Indians.
Japan launches new observation satellite
Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite, equipped with X-band radar. ASNARO-2, developed by Japanese tech firm NEC, will perform Earth-observation tasks for five years from its orbit at an altitude of about 500 km. This was the first launch of a JAXA Epsilon rocket ordered by a private company.
Google awarded 72 lakh for finding bugs in Pixel phone
Google awarded nearly 72 lakh to researcher Guang Gong for finding bugs in its Pixel devices. The exploit chain consisted of two bugs which together could inject arbitrary code into system server by accessing a malicious URL in Chrome. Around 67 lakh of the reward was given from Google’s Android Security Rewards program, the highest in the program’s history.
S Selvakumar appointed CMD Of SPMCIL
The government appointed senior IAS officer S Selvakumar as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL). Selvakumar has replaced Anurag Agarwal. The state-owned SPMCIL produces banknotes, coins, postage stamps, non-judicial stamps and other official documents.
All 14 types of Rs 10 coin valid, legal tender: RBI
All the 14 designs of Rs 10 coin are valid and legal tender for transactions, the Reserve Bank amid reluctance by certain traders to accept the coins. “It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank that in certain places there is reluctance on part of traders and members of public to accept Rs 10 coins due to suspicion about their genuineness”, RBI said while reiterating legal tender status of the coins of different designs. It has also asked banks to accept coins for transactions and exchange at all their branches.
Nirmala Sitharaman became the First Woman Defence Minister of India to fly in Sukhoi 30
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman undertook a sortie in IAF s frontline combat jet Sukhoi-30 MKI in the western sector of Rajasthan. She is the first woman defence minister of India to fly a sortie in an IAF Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft. Sukhoi-30 MKI is a nuclear-capable aircraft which can penetrate deep into enemy territory and is the most potent component of our nation’s air power.
FB appoints its 1st African-American Member to Board
Facebook has appointed outgoing American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault to its board, making him the first African-American to be on the board. Chenault serves on the Boards of IBM and Procter & Gamble and is also a Harvard Law School graduate.