Exam Power : 05 July 2018 Today Current Affairs

Exam Power : 05 July 2018 Today Current Affairs

Conference of States Power Ministers held at Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

The Conference was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R K Singh.

Key points of this Conference :-

To meet and discuss:

1) issues including 100 per cent household electrification (under Saubhagya scheme) by December, 2018.

2) UDAY performance assessment,

3) Shifting to prepaid system in three years and

4) 24x7 power for all from April 1, 2019.

Behdienkhlam Festival held in Meghalaya

The famous 4-day Meghalaya Annual Cultural Festival, "Behdienkhlam", held every year at the small peripheral town of Jowai, Meghalaya.

Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Dr. Jitendra Singh​ attended the Festival.

The festival witnessed a colourful display of 12 rots or ‘rath’ at the sacred pool, Aitnar.

Chhattisgarh govt to set up a tribal museum in Naya Raipur

Inorder to exhibit culture and tradition of scheduled tribes, the tribal museum will be built at the cost of Rs 27 crore in an area of around 22 acres in Naya Raipur.

This museum will be named after Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh, a freedom fighter from the Chhattisgarh who had made a tremendous contribution in the freedom struggle of 1857.

"Tribal Culture and Language Academy" will also be set up in the state.

Chhattisgarh:

♦ Chief Minister: Raman Singh

♦ Governor: Balram Das Tondon.

♦ Capital: Raipur.

P K Shrivastava is appointed as the new DG of OFB

P K Shrivastava was appointed as the new Director-General and Chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). Earlier he was the additional  DG of ordnance factories and member at OFB.

He was also in-charge of OFB's Armoured Vehicles headquarters at Avadi in Chennai. Shrivastava joined Indian Ordnance Factories' Service in 1982.

RBI issued license to Bank of China to operate in India

The decision was based on the commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Chinese President XiJinping, during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China.

Following this, the 106-year-old "Bank of China" will open a branch in India.
The Bank of China (BoC) opened its first branch in South Asia in Pakistan's Karachi last year.

Bank of China (BOC) headquarter:- Beijing.

GMCAC opens a terminal at Cebu airport, Philippines

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) opened a new Terminal T2 at Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in the Philippines. GMCAC is a joint venture between GMR Infrastructure and Megawide Construction Corporation. 

GMR Infrastructure holds 40% stake in GMCAC and the remaining 60% is held by Megawide Construction Corporation.

The international operations of the airport have been moved to the newly opened T2 Terminal of MCIA. The new terminal has increased the capacity of passengers from 4.5 million passengers to 12.5 million passengers.

5th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership meeting was held in Japan

The 5th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) intersessional ministerial meeting was held in Tokyo, Japan, in which Ministers from the 16 RCEP Participating Countries (RPCs) attended.

This meeting was co-chaired by Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing and his Japanese counterpart Hiroshige Seko.

About RCEP:-

► RCEP is the world's largest economic bloc, covering nearly half of the global economy.

► Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the six states namely Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

► RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.

► The first RCEP summit was held on 14 November 2017 in Manila, Philippines.

Sri Lanka moves its naval base to China run Hambantota port

Sri Lanka is shifting a naval base currently situated in the tourist district of Galle to the Hambantota port which is built and controlled by China.

Sri Lanka formally handed over the port to China in December, 2017.

Sri Lanka Prime Minister:- Ranil Wickremesinghe

Australia's Fleet Space to launch first 2 satellites with ISRO, SpaceX

Australian Internet of Things (IoT) startup Fleet Space Technologies has announced launch plans for its first two nanosatellites, Centauri I and II,in the second half of 2018.

10-kg nanosatellite Centauri I will be launched on Indian space agency ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

Centauri II will be launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

Epidiolex is the world's first medicine made from marijuana

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first medical drug made from marijuana named "Epidiolex" which will be used to cure severe forms of epilepsies in children.

The drug will be used to cure two severe forms of epilepsy - Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.

About Marijuana:-

Cannabis, also known as marijuana, is a psychoactive (mood-altering) drug from the Cannabis plant used for medical or recreational purpose.

The possible effects of marijuana include mood changes, suicidal thinking, and disruption to normal learning abilities.

Sources : The Hindu, ANI, TOI, Indian Express, HT,PIB, Economic Times