8th July 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaches South African capital Pretoria.
• He is holding talks with African President Jacob Zuma.
• Several agreements and MoUs are signed.
• The United Kingdom is going to have 1st female Prune Minister since Margaret Thatcher
• Britain's ruling Conservative Party MPs have chosen two female leaders Home Secretary Theresa May and Junior Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom as the final candidates to become the country's Prime Minister.
• Conservative Party members will now decide between them to lead the party and the country. 
• Award-winning summer music festival Exit begins today at the Petrovaradin Fortress in the Serbian city of Novi Sad.
• The festival will be held from July 7 to July 10, and its line-up this year includes artists Wiz Khalifa, David Guetta and Ellie Goulding. 
• Note : Exit originated in 2000 as a student movement for democracy and freedom in Serbia​ and the Balkans.
• The United States has imposed sanctions against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the first time, along with 10 other senior officials, citing "abuses of human rights." 
• Many of the abuses are reported in prison camps, which hold approximately 100,000 people including children, as per a US government report. 
• Note : North Korea is already under sanctions over its nuclear activities.
• India has set up an apparel training centre in Kaduna, Nigeria to support textiles industry of the West African country. 
• This is a first of its kind centre in Nigeria which has been set up by India in partnership with their government.
• Note : The training centre was established under the Cotton Technical Assistance Programme for Africa which is being implemented by the Department of Commerce.
• Home Minister Rajnath Singh today inaugurated the BRICS‬ Heads of Drug Control Agencies Working Group Meeting, in New Delhi.
• The Minister stresses on international cooperation to curb and stop the menace of drugs.
  
• This meeting has been organised by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India.

MOUs

• India and South Africa have signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and agreements in four areas of bilateral co-operation.
• They are, 
• MoU on Information and Communication technology (ICT) 
• MoU on Grass root innovation (Science and Technology) 
• MoU on Tourism
• Programme of Cooperation in Arts and Culture.

National Affairs

• Under the 'Clean UP, Green UP' initiative, the Uttar Pradesh government has announced to plant a record five crore saplings across the state on 11th July 2016. 
• Of these, 6.7 lakh saplings will be planted in Agra alone. 
• Note : Last year, the state had entered the Guinness Book of World Records for planting 10 lakh saplings within a span of eight hours.
• Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government today inducted 10 ministers into the state Council while promoting one existing minister to the Cabinet rank. 
• Of the 10, six belonged to the ruling BJP, two to ally Shiv Sena, and one each to the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha. 
• Five of the 10 were inducted as ministers of Cabinet rank.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet all Chief Ministers of the country on July 16 at the 11th meeting of the Inter-State Council (ISC) in Delhi. 
• Issues like inter-state relations, internal security, school education, Aadhaar card, and economic planning will be discussed in the meeting. 
• Note : The last ISC meeting was held in 2006 during the previous UPA regime.

Banking & Economy

• The newly-elected Left Democratic Front government in Kerala has imposed a ‘fat tax’ of 14.5% on branded restaurants that sell junk food like burgers, pizzas, and pasta. 
• This is the first such tax in India and is expected to help the government raise ₹10 crore annually. 
• Note : A similar tax was imposed in Denmark and Hungary to fight obesity.
  
• The private sector lender HDFC bank has launched an SME Bank which will provide full-fledged digital banking service to small and medium sector enterprises.

Books & Authors

• Indian tennis player Sania Mirza’s autobiography ‘Ace Against Odds’ has been released by its publishers. 
• The book has been co-authored by Sania's father Imran Mirza, and features anecdotes from her professional and personal life.

New Appointments

• Current Chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council and NCP leader, Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar was re-elected unopposed as the Chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council.

Awards & Honors

• Waterfront resort Nihiwatu, which is on the Indonesian island of Sumba, has been voted the World's Best Hotel in a survey by the Travel + Leisure magazine.
• The Spectator Hotel in United States' Charleston and the Huka Lodge in New Zealand were ranked second and third respectively.
• Five Indian hotels have made it to the Best Hotels list, 
• The Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur ranked 22nd.
• The Oberoi Vanyavilas (Ranthambhore) was ranked 28th, 
• The Oberoi Rajvilas (Jaipur) was 59th. 
• The list also included The Leela Palace New Delhi and the Taj Lake Palace (Udaipur).

Deaths

• Noted music director Om Prakash Sonik (77) passed away.
•  He was composer part of the Sonik-Omi duo consisting of Master Sonik (a blind music director) and his nephew Omi.

Sports

• The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis was ousted from Wimbledon after losing to fifth seeds Yaroslava Shvedova and Timea Babos 2-6, 4-6 in the quarter-finals. 
• Note : The duo were the defending champions at Wimbledon. 
• This is the second consecutive Grand Slam where the pair have been eliminated before the semi-finals.

Careers

• Professors of six IITs– Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Kharagpur, Kanpur, and Guwahati– are set to give video lectures to engineering aspirants via four DTH channels. 
• The students can watch these channels for free of charge through Doordarshan's Free Dish DTH and will only need to get a set-top box. 
• Note : The service will be launched by PM Narendra Modi on 15th August 2016.

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