Today’s Current Affairs – Daily Digest

Today’s Current Affairs & Short News

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) elected Mr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (Somalia) as its new President and Ms. Xue Hanqin(China) as its Vice-President. Both of them will serve a term of three years.

FSSAI has asked the states to roll out the project BHOG (Blissful Hygienic Offering to God) to ensure that devotees were served safe prasad at places of worship. as a part of its safe and nutritious food bouquet of initiatives launched a year ago.

President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency, suspending parliament, sent armed troops to the country’s top court and arrested chief justice, judges, and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The Chief of US Air Force, General David L Goldfein flew a sortie in indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jodhpur. He became first foreign military chief to fly Tejas.

ISRO is planning to send Chandrayaan II to the south pole of the moon to make world’s first ever soft landing there. GSLV Mark III may carry Chandrayaan II for this mission in later part of 2018.

Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (France) claimed to have found a potential evidence of the existence of a subatomic quasiparticle called ‘Odderon’ as predicted way back in 1970. It will help in refining current Standard Model of particle physics.

Shi Yuqi of China won the India Open badminton tournament for the first time after having not won a single title in 2017. Beiwen Zhang won in women’s category.

India’s leading squash player, Saurav Ghosal jumped five places to No. 14 to become the highest ranked Indian in the latest Professional Squash Association (PSA) rankings.

This year’s Taj Mahotsav is all set start with a dance-drama based on Lord Ram. The event was in the news debate because of the earlier usual themes were based on Mughal culture.

India has contributed an additional $1 million to the India-UN Development Partnership Fund earmarked for South-South cooperation. The contribution aims to intensify its partnerships with other developing countries.

Pelican Bird Festival-2018 was recently organized at Kolleru lake in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. Grey (Spot Billed) Pelican is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and in the Red Data Book, and is globally threatened in vulnerable category.

The First ever International Kala Mela organized in New Delhi. The International Kala Mela has been organized by the Lalit Kala Akademi in partnership with IGNCA of the Ministry of Culture.

All Current Affairs of this Month

The World Cancer Day is observed every year on 4th February. This year the theme was ‘I can. We can.” The aim is to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. Its primary goal is to reduce the illness and related deaths by 2020.

Bangladesh has appointed Syed Mahmud Hossain as its 22nd Chief Justice. This comes as the predecessor & Bangladesh’s 1^st Hindu chief justice was virtually forced to resign amid grave graft allegations.

India’s major oil and gas PSUs (ONGC, OIL, IOCL, Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. & GAIL) are setting up a 1500 km pipeline with an estimated cost of Rs. 6000 cr. The pipeline will run from Guwahati to Tinsukia via Numaligarh to supply gas to the eight North East states.

India won the ICC Under-19 World Cup for the record fourth time by defeating Australia in the finals. The team was coached by Rahul Dravid, batsman Manjot Kalra scored a century.

4th February celebrated as “Maratha Light Infantry Day”. Maratha Light Infantry, one of the oldest regiments of the Army has entered its 250th year. It was first infantry to be designated as a light infantry during the British Raj, for being swift-footed.

Trade between India and the United States has increased to $140 billion in 2017 from $118 billion in 2016. Last year India was the ninth largest trading partner of the US and the trade deficit was more than $30 billion.

India has joined Ashgabat agreement to connect with Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. The founding members of Agreement are Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Oman. It will have a positive influence on India’s trade and commercial ties.

The government has made Permanent Account Number (PAN) mandatory for any entity conducting financial transactions of ₹2.5 lakh or more.

Maldives Supreme Court in its order ruled to free political prisoners including MPs and former President of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.