1. Global Passport Index 2017 released by financial advisory firm Arton Capital. It ranks countries based on the number of nations their citizens can visit without a visa or on arrival visa.
- India ranked low at _________ position with visa-free score of 46.
- Top 2 - Germany (1st), Singapore (2nd).
- Afghanistan’s is least powerful passport. China and Pakistan were ranked 58th and 94th respectively.
2. 13th Chitwan Elephant Festival held at Chitwan National Park in Kathmandu (_______) ?
3. 30 More countries applied for joining China-sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), apart from existing 57 founding members. AIIB was established in 2015 with headquarters in Beijing (China). ________ is the largest shareholder with 26.6% voting shares. India is second largest shareholder with 7.5% followed by Russia 5.93% and Germany with 4.5% ?
4. A baby has been born using a new type of 3 person IVF to a couple in ______________. Doctors used a method called‚ pronuclear transfer. This is world’s second modern three-parent baby, second to a child earlier created using a slightly different method in Mexico.‚ ?
5. American It Firm __________ launched world’s first laptop that charges wirelessly -‚ Latitude 7285. It is embedded with wireless receiving coil based on magnetic resonance technology ?
6. An International meeting on Syrian settlement held in the Astana (capital of ______________). During This Meet - Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed on establishment of a trilateral mechanism to jointly monitor ceasefire between Syrian regime and rebels. ?
7. Annual‚ Surya Namaskar Yajna OR Health for Humanity Yogathon was recognised in _______'s House of Representative on occasion of its 10th anniversary ?
8. Ant Financial, ___________ e-commerce Firm Alibaba’s financial arm acquired American money-transfer major MoneyGram for $880 million ?
9 Business process management company WNS acquired ________ - based Denali Sourcing Services for $40 million ?
10. ______________ built world’s biggest solar park‚ - Longyangxia Dam Solar Park‚ in western province of Qinghai. It covers area of over 27 square km and has capacity to produce 850 MW of power ?
11. ___________ commissioned its 31st Type 056 class corvette stealth warship named‚ CNS Ezhou ?
12. _____________ enhanced naval patrols in disputed Sankakus islands (Diaoyu islands) under administrative control of Japan in East China Sea. It could anger Japan as both countries doggedly trying to enforce the claims over these uninhabited islands, that are strategically well located and may contain oil reserves. ?
13. ______________ handed over 2 ships to Pakistan Navy - Hingol and Basol, to safeguard strategic Gwadar port and trade routes under the ambitious CPEC Corridor. ____________ will also provide two more ships to Pakistan Navy which have been named‚ Zhob and Dasht ?
14. ______________ is setting up world’s highest altitude gravitational wave observatory‚ Ngari No.1,‚ to detect and gather precise data on primordial gravitational waves in Northern Hemisphere. It will be operational by 2021 ?
15. __________ launched its first Direct freight train to London (Britain). It will travel approx 12000 KMs in about 18 days, passing through 6 Nations ?
16. ________ successfully launched first commercial mission using updated version of low-cost‚ Kuaizhou-1A‚ rocket, launching 3 satellites - JL-1, CubeSats XY-S1 and Caton - 1 ?
17. __________’s Navy commissioned sophisticated electronic reconnaissance ship CNS Kaiyangxing or Mizar (hull code 856) ?
18. Consulate General of India in ______ announced‚ Diplomats Cricket Championship Cup‚ promote harmonious relationship among diplomatic missions of __________ ?
19. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016 by Berlin (Germany) based Transparency International -
- India has been ranked _______ out of 176 countries, Shared with China, Brazil and Belarus.
- Top 5 - Denmark and New Zealand (1st, Score -90), Finland (3), Sweden (4), Switzerland (5)
- Bottom 5 - Somalia (179th), South Sudan (178th), North Korea (177th), Syria (176th), Yemen (175th)
- BRICS - Brazil (79), Russia (131), China (79), South Africa (64)
- Neighbours - Pakistan (116), Nepal (131), Sri Lanka (95), Bangladesh (145)
20. _____________ became first country to appoint a special‚ digital ambassador‚ to work on building ties with the global tech giants ?
21. __________ taken over from Thailand as chair of Group of 77 (G77) countries of United Nations for 2017 ?
22. Europe’s first underwater art museum, Museo Atlantico (Atlantic Museum) opened for public in Canary Island in ____________ ?
23. _______ became first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income of 560 euros (USD 587 approx) ?
24. First __________ satellite -‚ Aoba Velox-III‚ launched into space from International Space Station (ISS), as a joint project between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) ?
25. Government approved India’s full membership of International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Governing Council. It involves payment of annual contribution of US $ 5,00,000 to the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), _________.
26. Government approved MOUs -
- With Portugal and Kenya for cooperation in Agriculture and allied sectors.
- With Uruguay for Cooperation in Customs Matters.
- With USA for cooperation in field of cyber Security (India-CERT and USA-CERT) and collaborate in development in third world countries.
- Approved holding negotiations for Trade Agreement with _____________ on trade in goods, services and investment.
- With Sri Lanka to construct 3000 rain water harvesting systems in Rin Jaffna District at a cost of 300 million Sri Lankan Rupees.
- With Serbia for cooperation in Information Technology and Electronics.
- With Russia for cooperation in Youth matters.
- With Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for cooperation in outer space exploration.
- With Vietnam for cooperation In cyber security.
- MSME Cooperation with 21 Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member Countries.‚
27. Government imposed an anti-dumping duty on imports of _________ and its products from Nepal‚ and Bangladesh‚ for 5 years, to protect domestic industry ?
28. HSBC Expat survey 2016 ranked India __________ in terms of offering highest average annual salary to expatriates (Foreign Workers) of $145057 (Approx 7.8 Lac / Month). List was topped by Switzerland followed by Hong Kong ?
29. Inclusive Development Index (IDI) 2017 in World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Inclusive Growth and Development Report’ -
- India ranked _________ among 79 developing countries.
- Top 5 developing economies - Lithuania (1st), Azerbaijan (2nd), Hungary (3rd), Poland (4th), Romania (5th).
- Top 5 advance economies - Norway (1st), Luxembourg (2nd), Switzerland (3th), Iceland (4th) and Denmark (5th)
- BRICS - Russia (13th), China (30th) and Brazil (30th), South Africa (70).
- Neighbours - China (15th), Nepal (27th), Bangladesh (36th) and Pakistan (52nd).
30. India and ___________ signed‚ White Shipping agreement‚ to enable information sharing on maritime traffic and maritime domain awareness in Indian Ocean Region (IOR), during second Joint dialogue on maritime cooperation for IOR in New Delhi ?
31. India and Middle Asian Nation _________ signed Protocol to amend Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) to avoid Taxation Issues ?
32. India partnered with ___________________ Experts (led by University of Birmingham) for‚ ASAP-Delhi (An Integrated Study of Air Pollutant Sources in Delhi)‚ Project to address air pollution issues in Delhi ?
33. India ranked ___________ in list of‚ Eight Great Powers of 2017‚ list by‚ The American Interest magazine.‚ List is topped by USA, Followed by China, Japan, Russia and Germany as top 5 in same order. Iran is 7th and Israel is ranked 8th ?
34. India rejected an EU and ______________ proposed agreement that aims to incorporate a contentious Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism at World Trade Organisation (WTO) level.
- Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism permits companies to drag governments to international arbitration without exhausting the local remedies and It also allows them to claim huge amounts as compensation citing losses due to reasons including policy changes and Others.
- India held that only after all local options have been exhausted for settling disputes between a corporate and a government, then the issues can be taken up in international arbitration tribunals.
35. India's ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) won rights to bid for oil and gas development projects in _________ ?
36. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and ______ Space agency (CNES) signed agreement in satellite launch technology. Agreement also signed for equipping Axiom Research Lab’s lunar rover with two latest-generation CASPEX micro-cameras, developed by CNES in partnership with French firm 3DPlus.
37. _______________ is building world’s tallest solar tower to harness solar energy as part of its ambitious‚ Ashalim‚ project. Centrepiece of this solar tower will be 250 m tall and will be encircled by 50,000 mirrors, known as heliostats ?
38. _______________'s upgraded ballistic missile shield Arrow-3 system has become operational, jointly developed by _______ Aerospace Industries and USA firm Boeing ?
39. ____________ Signed Agreements with Australia and Indonesia, to enhance Defence ties ?
40. ___________ successfully launched its first military communications satellite - Kirameki-2 ?
41. ___________ PM Shinzo Abe signed 1-trillion yen ($8.7 billion) aid package to Philippines over next 5 years ?
42. Jones Lang LaSalle’s City Momentum Index (CMI) Released, tracking speed of change of a city’s economy and commercial real estate market. ___________ is named most dynamic city in the world.
43. ______________ will lauch 2 missions - Lucy and Psyche to explore early Solar System.
- Lucy - It has been named for a critical hominin fossil set found in Ethiopia in 1974. It will be launched in 2021 and involves sending a robotic spacecraft to study Jupiter’s so-called Trojan asteroids.
- Psyche - It will explore a huge, one-of-a-kind metal asteroid 16 Psyche. It will be launched in 2023. Most asteroids are rocky or icy but 16 Psyche is thought to be mostly of iron and nickel, like Earth’s core
44. ____________ launched a 10 year plan to cut reliance on vegetable imports from India and boost domestic production. It imports around 25,000 metric tonnes of vegetables worth INR 5000 Crores every year from India ?
45. __________ ’s Supreme Court allowed government to go ahead with crucial Constitution amendment bill to accommodate demands of Madhesi and ethnic groups ?
46. ________ became first country in world to switch off FM radio network as its Parliament approved shifting to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) ?
47. Over 3.5 lakh people from __________ have set up new world record for singing national anthem, breaking previous record of 2.5 Lakh people singing national anthem in Bangladesh in 2014 ?
48. ________ conducted first successful test of‚ Ababeel‚ surface-to-surface medium range ballistic missile with Range 2200 KMs, using Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology and it also test-fired its first Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM) Babur-3.
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49. Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.(POWERGRID) signed MOU with __________ Water & Electricity Authority ?
50. ______________ banned sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2015 as part of its part of a tough anti-tobacco strategy, being first country to completely phase out tobacco ?
51. __________ increased India’s annual Haj quota by 34,500. It is biggest hike in nearly three decades. With this, size of India’s Haj quota increased from 1,36,020 to 1,70,520. ?
52. Scientists named 3 diseases as the next potential global health emergency threat - MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), Lassa fever and Nipah virus. CEPI (_____________________) has committed 460 million dollars to speed up vaccine development for these diseases.
53. Scientists officially named a new endangered species of __________ as‚ Neopalpa‚ donaldtrumpi,‚ found in parts of Southern California and Baja, Mexico ?
54. Seven More countries - Lithuania, Gabon, Hungary, Indonesia, Malta, Mauritius and Russia signed Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for Country-by-Country Reporting (CbC MCAA), taking number of Total signatories to 57.
- CbC MCAA is a tax co-operation agreement to enable automatic sharing of country-by-country information. This exchange of information is facilitated as part of Action 13 of BEPS (___________________) Action Plan adopted by OECD and G20 countries in 2013.
55. Social network __________ will introduce new tools in Germany to combat spread of fabricated news stories (fake news). ?
56. Talent competitiveness Index list 2017 released, measuring ability of countries to compete for talent. The index is produced by global business school INSEAD in partnership with Adecco Group and Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) of Singapore.
- India ranked _______________ among 118 countries in List.
- Top 5 Countries - Switzerland (1st), Singapore (2nd), United Kingdom (3rd), United States (4th), Sweden (5th).
- BRICS - China (54th), Russia (56th), South Africa (67th) and Brazil (81st).
- Neighbours - Pakistan (111), Bangladesh (113), Sri Lanka (82).
- Bottom 5 Nations - Tanzania (114), Mozambique (115), Zimbabwe (116), Burkina Faso (117), Madagascar (118)
57. Tech Firm ___________ named as most innovative company of 2016 by Boston Consulting Group’s annual list of corporate innovators for 11th consecutive year. Google ranked second while electric carmaker Tesla is ranked third ?
58. Tech Firm ___________ accquired AppDynamics for USD 3.7 billion (approx 24400 Crores). Both the companies are USA Based ?
59. ___________ Parliament passed constitutional reform bill to strengthen powers of President. After being accepted by people through a referendum, It will enable President to issue decrees, declare emergency rule, appoint ministers and top state officials and dissolve Parliament. It will also allow incumbent President Tayyip Erdogan to stay in office until 2029 ?
60. U.S. healthcare Firm Johnson & Johnson buys Switzerland based bio-pharmaceutical firm‚ Actelion‚ for ________ billion ?
61. US fast-food Chain ___________’ sold its China and Hong Kong businesses for $2.08 billion to‚ Citic, a Chinese Firm ?
62. USA President __________ formally pulled Out USA from Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a mega trade deal of 12 Pacific Rim countries - Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, US and Vietnam.
- TPP was set up by Previous USA Prez Barack Obama, aimed to bind US allies against growing Chinese economic impact by easing flow of goods, services and investments among member countries.
63. USA President Donald Trump signed executive order to ban travel of people from 7 Muslim-majority countries in USA for 90 days - Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Syria.
- He also suspended US Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days and indefinitely barred entry of refugees from ___________________.
- Admission of Refugees in 2017 is cut to 50000, less than previously planned figure of 110000.
64. USA President Donald Trump signed order to build a 2000 Miles wall along US border with _________ and crack down on US cities that shield illegal immigrants ?
65. ___________ based‚ SpaceX‚ successfully launched constellation of 10 satellites into orbit on board of its two stage Falcon 9 Rocket from California, as part of Virginia-based Iridium’s project‚ McLean
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66. USA lifted 20-year old trade and financial sanctions on ____________ ?
67. __________ military launched Geo-3 satellite mounted with Atlas V rocket into space to monitor possible missile attacks from space ?
68. __________ unveiled 12-point plan to leave European Union for implementing Brexit deal within 2 years. ?
69. United Nation Security Council (UNSC) approved resolution expressing full support to ___________’s new President Adama Barrow. Longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh refused to step down after loosing December 2016 presidential elections. It has deepened political crisis in _______.
70. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared _______ as‚ International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development ?
71. ____________ released 12th Global Risks Report 2017. As per report, most significant long-term risks worldwide in 2017 are - Extreme weather, Involuntary migration, Major natural catastrophe, Large terrorist attacks and Massive data fraud / theft ?
72. World’s first Gender Literature Festival will be held in ________ in April 2017 ?
73. XCMG, __________ Based construction machinery company will invest 150 million in India for setting up new manufacturing unit.
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