2nd February 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Russia, India and China have called for an early conclusion of negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
• In a joint communique issued after the 13th meeting of foreign ministers of the three countries, under the RIC Forum in Beijing today, they strongly condemned terrorism in all forms and said there can be no ideological, political, racial, ethnic or any other justification for acts of terrorism.
• The Ministers affirmed the need for all countries to join efforts in combating terrorism under the auspices of United Nations.
• Indian External Affairs Minister - Sushma Swaraj
• Chinese foreign Minister - Wang Yi
• Russian foreign Minister - Sergey Levrov
• India and China jointly launched the Visit India Year in China (Beijing) during the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to China.

• The initiative is aimed at enhancing the flow of tourists from China to India and to strengthen the people to people bond. China will support the promotion of Indian tourist resources in its country.
• India today launched its flagship diplomacy magazine in Chinese language to give "interesting" information about the country's rich culture and tradition.
• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took the opportunity to unveil the Chinese version of 'India Perspectives'.

Science & Technology

• NASA successfully launched its first Earth satellite designed to collect global observations of the vital soil moisture hidden just beneath our feet.
• The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory, a mission with broad applications for science and society, lifted off at 6:22 a.m Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.
• Pakistan today conducted a successful flight test of the Ra’ad, an indigenously developed air launched cruise missile (ALCM).
• The Ra’ad missile, with a range of 350 km, enables Pakistan to achieve “strategic standoff capability” on both land and sea.
• The Director General of Strategic Plans Division, Lt.Gen. Zubair Mahmood Hayat termed it a major step towards strengthening Pakistan’s full spectrum credible minimum deterrence capability.

New Appointments

• Anish Aggarwal today took over as Director (Pipelines) at Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest oil refining and marketing company. 

Business & Economy

• Top corporates and telecom companies have applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open Payments Banks .
• Among those applied for the licence include Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Aditya Birla Nuvo, Future group, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular to name a few. 
• The last date for submission of application ended today.
• The RBI is yet to come out with the comprehensive list of the applicants.
• Payments or small finance banks are being planned to augment financial inclusion and provide basic banking services to un-banked population. 
• These banks will help in saving, facilitate remittances and provide payment services.

Sports

• National Games 2015
• Haryana dominates opening day of the 35th National Games with 6 gold medals and a silver medal, followed by hosts Kerala (two gold, one silver and two bronze) and Madhya Pradesh (two gold and three bronze medals).
• Swimming was the most exciting sport on the first day as many new records were made.
• Karnataka’s Aaron D’Souza finished the 200 metres freestyle race in 1 minute 52.06 seconds to be the new champion.
• In the Women’s section, Haryana’s Shivani Kataria clocked 2 minutes 7.46 seconds to grab the Gold and break the Games record.
• 100 metres Men’s butterfly event also saw a new record.
• Sandeep Sajwal of Madhya Pradesh wins gold in the 200 metre swimming breast stroke.
• World squash champion Nicol David has set a new record for topping the world rankings when she secured top spot for the 106th month.
• The 31-year-old Malaysian player, who first headed the Women’s Squash Association (WSA) list in January 2006, overtook the 105-month record set in February 1993 by Susan Devoy, the four-time world champion from New Zealand.

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