1. India's Essar Ports signed 30-year concession agreement with Government of _________ to develop a 20 million tons per annum (MTPA) coal terminal at Beira Port as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. First phase will be developed at a cost of $275 million ?
2. 2017 Global Liveability Report compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) -
- 10 most liveable cities - __________ [Australia] (1st), Vienna [Austria] (2nd), Vancouver [Canada] (3rd), Toronto [Canada] (4th), Calgary [Canada] (5th), Adelaide [Australia] (6th), Perth [Australia] (7th), Auckland [New Zealand] (8th), Helsinki [Finland] (9th) and Hamburg [Germany] (10th). Melbourne has topped the list For seventh consecutive year
- No Indian City named in top 10 Cities' List.
- Least Liveable Cities - Damascus (Syria), Lagos (Nigeria), Tripoli (Libya).
3. 2017 Global Retirement Index (GRI) by French asset management company Natixis Global -
- India has been ranked ___________ among 43 Countries in List.
- Top 3 - Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland.
4. A new representative body US- India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is being set up to enhance business relations between India and USA. ________________will serve as a USISPF President while Gaurav Verma will serve as Chief Operating officer. ?
5. A team of researchers led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discovered wreckage of World War II warship USS Indianapolis 18000 feet below the surface in Pacific Ocean, after 72 years of its drowning by ______________ Soldiers ?
6. According to a report by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), __________ is least visited country in 2016, with Approx 2,000 visits Tuvalu in 2016. Located in South Pacific Ocean, It has population of 11,000 people ?
7. According to report by UN Body International Telecommunication Union (ITU), India and China are home to ____________ of the 830 million young people worldwide who use Internet ?
8. African country ____________ will released limited edition Lord Krishna silver coin on Janmashtami in commemoration of 5,244th birth anniversary of Hindu God. ?
9. After Hindi version, Oxford University Press (OUP) launched online dictionaries in ___________ and Gujarati as part of its special focus on Indian languages, under Oxford Global Languages (OGL) initiative Launched in September 2015 ?
10. Arab Nation _____________ government announced that citizens belonging to 80 countries including India can now enter it without a visa ?
11. As per Bloomberg Billionaires Index, India's Mukesh Ambani Became Asia’s second-richest man with Worth of Approx ______________ Billion USD, getting past Hong Kong Businessman Li Ka-shing. Mukesh added $12.1 billion to his wealth in 2017, mainly owing to Jio Infocom, that roped in Over 11 Crore users in Under an year.
As per Forbes' Magazine, Chinese e-Commerce Firm Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma is back as Asia’s richest man with worth of $37.4 billion. He is followed by China's Ma Huateng (Chairman of Tencent) with worth $36.7 billion ?
12. As per data by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, __________ was warmest on record for planet as a whole and it also surpassed temperature records dating back 137 years ?
13. As per speed tester Ookla, ______________ has fastest mobile Internet in the world with 52.6 Mbps speed, followed by Netherlands and Hungary ?
14. ____________ government will build world’s biggest single tower solar thermal power plant (150-megawatt capacity) by 2020. Solar thermal technology uses mirrors to concentrate the Sun’s light at the top of a tower, heating stored molten salt and heat is used to operate steam turbines ?
15. Bajaj Auto and Triumph Motorcycles (______________) announced a global partnership, to build a range of mid-capacity motorcycles, building on the collective strengths of both companies ?
16. Bangladesh will open a new diplomatic station in _______________, to focus on medical tourism and educational centres that drew thousands of Bangladesh citizens to India every year ?
17. Biggest X-ray laser gun on earth named, European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) in _____________ federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, will begin operating in September 2017.
- XFEL will shoot 27000 laser pulses per second, 200 times more per second than next highest-performing gun in California (USA).
- 1.5 billion-euro laser replaces its predecessor, FLASH, in Germany.
- European XFEL is constructed such that electrons produce x-ray light in synchronisation, resulting in high-intensity x-ray pulses with properties of laser light and at intensities much brighter than those produced by conventional synchrotron light sources.
18. ___________ Government abolished a vast national reserve in the Amazon to open up area to mining, covering 46000 sq km. This area straddles northern states of Amapa and Para and is believed to be rich in gold, zinc, phosphate, manganese and other minerals ?
19. Cabinet approvals -
- MOU with Spain on cooperation in renewable energy.
- Establishment of BRICS Agriculture Research Platform (BRICS-ARP), as a natural global platform for science-led agriculture-based sustainable development for addressing the issues of world hunger, under-nutrition, poverty and inequality.
- India and Somalia signed agreement for transfer of sentenced persons, to deepen humanitarian cooperation between two nations.
- Proposal to extend proxy voting to overseas Indians by amending electoral laws has been cleared. NRIs will also be allowed to use option of proxy, which as of now is only available to service personnel.
- MoU with Sweden on cooperation in the field of IPRs (_________________)
20. _______________ government announced to allow Transgender citizens to obtain gender neutral passports, by marking X in space of gender on their passports and other identity documents. ?
21. China and ______________ have signed three pacts to further boost their ties. Areas of co-operation are gas resources exploration, economic and technological cooperation and promotion of investment ?
22. ____________ launched its first cyber court specialising in handling internet-related cases in the e-commerce hub of Hangzhou, amid a spike in number of online disputes ?
23. ______________ electronics company TCL Corporation will launch a full touchscreen, waterproof Smartphone under BlackBerry name in October 2017 ?
24. East African Nation ___________ has put Toughest laws against use of Plastic Bags, with imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40000 ?
25. __________ acquired artificial intelligence (AI) startup Ozlo, aimed at building more elaborate personal assistant for Messenger users. ?
26. _______________ rolled out Watch video platform to take on Google-owned YouTube. It is a platform for all creators and publishers to find an audience, build a community of passionate fans, and earn money for their work ?
27. Finance Ministry imposed anti-dumping duty on certain textured toughened (tempered) glass imported from ___________ (for five years), to protect domestic industry from cheaper imports ?
28. First _____________ satellite for environmental research - Venus has been launched from French Guiana (France) ?
29. First meeting of _____________ -India Coordination Forum for Development of North-Eastern Region held in New Delhi ?
30. First regional centre of New Development Bank has been opened in ________________. NDB has been set up by India and other BRICS nations with anauthorized capital of USD 100 billion. Its headquarters is in Beijing (China). ?
31. Five Indian-origin persons featured in Fortune’s annual list of 40 young and influential people in business globally.
- Indian Origin Persons - Leo Varadkar (Prime Minister of ________________), Divya Nag, Rishi Shah, Shradha Agarwal and Leila Janah.
- List is topped by 39-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron (France’s youngest leader since Napoleon)
32. Forbes' Highest Earning Male Actors List 2017 -
- Mark Wahlberg ($68 million)
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ($65 million)
- Vin Diesel ($54.5 million)
- Adam Sandler ($50.5 million)
- Jackie Chan ($49 million)
- Robert Downey, Jr. ($48 million)
- Tom Cruise ($43 million)
- ______________ ($38 million)
- Salman Khan ($37 million)
- Akshay Kumar ($35.5 million)
33. Forbes’s list of The World’s Most Innovative Companies. 2017 -
- Top 5 - ____________ (1st), Tesla Motors (2), Amazon (3), Shanghai Raas Blood Products (4) and Netflix (5)
- Indian Companies - Hindustan Unilever Limited (7th), Asian Paints (8th) and Bharti Airtel (78th).
34. Google launched its version _________ of operating system as Android Oreo. It boasts of a double faster boot speed, autofill option, and a longer battery life. The new update comes with a Picture-in-Picture feature that allows the user to see two apps simultaneously. ?
35. Government imposed a five year anti-dumping duty on Sodium Nitrite imports from ____________, amid injury caused to domestic industry by the same ?
36. Government restricted imports of gold and silver items from ___________ in a bid to contain rise in inbound shipments of precious metals ?
37. India and China agreed to disengage 2 month old border standoff at Doklam (____________), brining end to possibilities of an armed conflict Between India and China over the matter ?
38. India and China jointly submitted a proposal to World Trade Organisation (WTO) calling for the elimination of the most trade-distorting form of farm subsidies, known as AMS (________________)
- It has come ahead of upcoming 11th Ministerial Conference of WTO (to be held in Buenos Aires (Argentina)) in December 2017.
- It counters efforts of some countries to target subsidies of developing countries while letting developed countries retain their huge farm subsidies.
- Developed countries have more than 90 percent of the global AMS entitlements amounting to nearly US$ 160 bn. While, Most of developing countries including India and China do not have AMS entitlements.
39. 10th India-European Union Counter Terrorism Dialogue held in ___________ ?
40. India and _____________ signed agreement on technical cooperation under Joint Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors. Green Energy Corridor Project aims to synchronise electricity produced from renewable sources (solar / wind), with conventional power stations in grid ?
41. India and _____________ established new two-by-two (2 by 2) ministerial dialogue to enhance strategic coordination maintaining peace and stability in Indo-Pacific region, replacing earlier Strategic and Commercial Dialogue. It will be similar to India-Japan 2+2 dialogue format between foreign and defence secretaries of two countries. ?
42. India became 80th country to ratify second commitment period (_______________) of Kyoto Protocol (or Doha Amendment) that commits countries to contain emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) ?
43. India granted ________'s pharmaceutical company Pfizer a patent for its pneumonia vaccine Prevnar 13. Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine is used for prevention of pneumococcal pneumonia and invasive diseases caused by 13 Streptococcis pneumoniae strains. There are currently 3 types of PCV available on global market - Prevnar, Synflorix and Prevnar 13 ?
44. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Ministry of Health inked MoU with International Vaccine Institute (IVI) to collaborate on vaccine research and development, committing annual contribution of ___________ to IVI. ?
$2,50,000
$1,00,000
$10,00,000
$15,00,000
$5,00,000
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45. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) (Ministry of Earth Sciences) inaugurated Ocean Forecasting System for Indian Ocean countries Comoros, Madagascar, and Mozambique, during 3rd Meeting of Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Asia and Africa (RIMES) held in __________.
- Ocean Forecast System will offer, high wave alerts, port warnings, forecast, oil spill advisory services along the ship routes in addition to tsunami and storm surge warnings and help in search and rescue operations.
46. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) bought 1.9 million barrels of _____________ crude in its second import tender making it first Indian refiner to purchase Eagle Ford shale oil. IOC bought 950,000 barrels of light sweet Eagle Ford shale oil and 950,000 barrels of heavy sour Mars crude oil ?
47. Indian Pharma Company ___________ received approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Lanthanum Carbonate chewable tablets in various strengths. These tablets are used in treatment of patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) ?
48. Indian Software services firm ______________ acquired London-based firm Brilliant Basics for Rs 62 crores (£7.5 million) ?
49. Indian Space Research Organistaion (ISRO) and USA's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are working to develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite in the NISAR (____________) mission 2021.
- It will be first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency and it is planned to be used for remote sensing purposes, to observe and understand natural processes of the Earth.
- NASA will be responsible for development of L-band SAR, a 12m unfurlable antenna & its deployment elements, GPS system and data recorder. ISRO will be responsible for development of S-ban SAR, Spacecraft Bus, data transmission system, Spacecraft integration & testing, launch using GSLV and on-orbit operations.
50. Institute of Charteted Accountants of India (ICAI) signed MoU with Institute of Chartered Accountants of _______ ?
51. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened world’s first low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank in Oskemen in ________________. It will be the first of its kind LEU bank not to be under control of any individual country ?
52. International Seabed Authority (ISA) in its 23rd session recently held at Kingston (________________) has extended India’s exclusive rights to explore polymetallic nodules from seabed in Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB). Estimated polymetallic nodule resource potential of this area is around 380 million tonnes, containing nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese ?
53. Iran’s IDRO and the privately owned Negin Group signed Iran’s biggest-ever car deal ($778 million) with ____________ automobile manufacturer Renault to produce 150,000 cars, beginning in 2018. ?
54. ______________ launched Michibiki No. 3 satellite of its new quasi-zenith satellites to improve the global positioning system (GPS) navigation services ?
55. Mumbai Based Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Tourbo accquired INR 3375 crores metro order from ___________ government to design and build an Integrated Light Rail-based Urban Transit System ?
56. NASA launched TDRS-M (______________________) aimed at ensuring efficient communication of astronauts at International Space Station with Earth. TDRS-M is last of 13 such satellites that have been launched since 1983 ?
57. ____________ launched climate-smart snow leopard landscape management plan to safeguard endangered species of snow leopard, as first climate-smart landscape management plan for snow leopard conservation in world ?
58. _____________’s Parliament passed a law that criminalises an ancient practice called Chhaupadi that banishes women from home during mensuration and after childbirth ?
59. Newly established Constitutional Assembly of South American Nation _________________ announced itself superior to all other governmental institutions, including opposition-controlled congress. It prohibit opposition-held National Assembly and other government bodies from taking any action that would interfere with constituent assembly's laws. ?
60. Noted Software Firm ______________ launched Project Brainwave as a deep learning acceleration platform for real-time artificial intelligence (AI), amid AI becoming increasingly important . Project Brainwave uses company's massive field-programmable gate array (FPGA) infrastructure ?
61. ONGC Videsh will invest ___________ million in exploration to drill more wells in Colombia, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh ?
62. Online entertainment platform _________ made its first ever acquisition after it acquired comic book company Millarworld. ?
63. Powerful Hurrinaces Harvey and Irma struck _____________, triggering huge Financial and Human Losses. ?
64. _________ approved law for making permanent residency available to some non-citizens like children of its women residents married to foreigners, people who offered valuable services to the country and those with special skills. This has made it first Gulf Arab state to make permanent residency available to some non-citizens ?
65. __________ launched a new direct route between its Hamad Port and Pakistan’s port of Karachi. It also restored full diplomatic relations with Iran, disregarding demands of other Arab Nations. ?
66. Scimago Institutions ranking World Report 2017 -
- India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is ranked ___________ best government organisation in world and overall ranked 75th institution globally.
- Ranking of Government Institutions was topped by Chinese Academy of Sciences, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) and Helmholtz Gemeinschaft (Germany).
- Overall global ranking was topped by Chinese Academy of Sciences, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) and Harvard University (USA).
67. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) signed agreement with its ____________'s counterpart Securities & Exchange Organization (SEO), to promote technical assistance and facilitate cross-border co-operation in area of securities regulations ?
68. ___________, Prime Minister of Nepal Visited India. 8 MOUs were signed during his visit -
- MoU on Modalities for Utilization of India’s Housing Grant Component to support Reconstruction of 50,000 Houses.
- MoU on Implementation of India’s Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Package in Education, Cultural Heritage and Health Sectors in Nepal
- MoU for Implementation Arrangement on Cost Sharing, Schedules and Safeguard Issues for Construction of Mechi Bridge under ADB's SASEC Road Connectivity Programme.
- MoU on Drug Demand Reduction and Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursor Chemical and Related Matters
- Agreement on Cooperation in Field of Standardization and Conformity Assessment
- MoU between Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal.
69. _________ Navy commissioned ______________, an India-built state-of-the-art Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV), first-ever purchase from a foreign ship builder, to boost its search and rescue capabilities ?
70. __________ defence firm SAAB and Indian conglomerate Adani group signed collaboration agreement, mailny aiming at a contract for single- engine fighter jets for Indian Air Force ?
71. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) signed letter of intent (LoI) with _________ Communications and Multimedia Commission to deepen cooperation. It was signed during ITU-TRAI Asia-Pacific Regulators’ Roundtable jointly organised by International Telecom Union (ITU) and TRAI in New Delhi ?
72. US and ________ began 10-day-long annual military exercise - Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill.
73. _________ named Pakistan based Kashmiri terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen as a “Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO)”, the list that has Other organizations like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
74. USA will install radar systems in independent nation ____________. It is located in south-west of Guam, the US territory that North Korea has threatened to target ?
75. Unicity International (___________) launched world's first ever Genomeceutical (gene controlling) range of products to India. DNA contains DNA undergoes a process called transcription or gene expression that creates a "messenger" molecule, telling body to make a specific protein ?
76. World Bank allowed India to construct hydroelectric power facilities on tributaries of Jhelum and Chenab rivers with certain restrictions under _____________ Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) ?
77. World Health Organization (WHO) declared __________ free of polio as it had not recorded any case of polio disease in last 3 years ?
78. World breastfeeding week 2017 is being celebrated from ____________ August 2017 with theme Sustaining Breastfeeding Together ?
79. World’s largest data center - Kolos facility is being developed by a US-Norwegian partnership in Ballangen, a small town in Northern ______________. It will draw on a record-setting 1000 megawatts of power ?