Current Affairs Updates - 12th March 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 12th March 2018

As we all know the competitive exams are nearing by. Here we have listed all the important current affairs in our today's Current Affairs Updates - 12th March 2018. These consists of all the important headlines and the rest in bullet points mentioned below. We hope candidates will go through them in details if they are preparing for IBPS PO, IBPS CLERK or SSC and Rail exams. We also request our readers to go through the One Liner GK Note Down Points and Current Affairs Quiz for better performance in the examinations.

New Appointments: National

Twitter has appointed distinguished engineer Parag Agrawal, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), as its Chief Technology Officer

• He takes the position most recently held by Adam Messinger, who left in late 2016.

Rankings & Indexes

According to Airports Council International (ACI), Mumbai is the world’s best airport

• ACI announced its annual airport service quality (ASQ) awards on Tuesday and Mumbai tied with Delhi for the top position among airports handling over 40 million passengers annually. 
• Beijing and Shanghai Pudong have been ranked second.

Tata Consultancy Services, a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, has been named as the fastest growing IT services brand in the world in an assessment done by Brand Finance

• According to Brand Finance IT Services 15 annual report for 2018, TCS now has a total brand value of US 10.391 billion dollar – a growth of 14.4% from last year’s total of 9.081 billion dollar, with an increase of 1.309 billion dollar. 

National Affairs

Telangana launches India's 1st state-led incubator for women

• The government of Telangana on Thursday launched Women Entrepreneurship Hub (WE-Hub), India's first state-led incubator for women entrepreneurs. 
• The incubator will help women entrepreneurs establish their own enterprises by providing services including seed funding, mentoring, and business guidance. 
• Deepthi Ravula is heading the incubator as its Chief Executive Officer.

The Karnataka government unveiled the State flag (nada dhwaja ).

• Kashmir will be the next state to have a flag after karnataka.

Passport details of borrowers taking loans of Rs 50 crore and more have been made mandatory to ensure a swift action in case of fraud and prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country.

• Passport details will help banks to take timely action and inform the relevant authorities to prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country.

Commerce and Industries minister Suresh Prabhu was given additional charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry.

• In a brief communique, the spokesperson said, "The President, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed that Suresh Prabhu, Cabinet Minister, shall be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, in addition to his existing portfolio." 

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has decided to offer security consultancy to five-star hotels so that they can be prepared to deal with 26/11 type terror attacks.

• The central paramilitary force, which is celebrating its 49th raising day, has already prepared a blueprint in this regard. 

President Ram Nath Kovind left for a five-day visit to the island nations of Madagascar and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean .

• The president will be the chief guest at the celebration commemorating the 50th year of the independence of Mauritius.

Defence & Railway News

The first-ever multi-nation naval exercise at sea, MILAN-18, began at the Andaman sea today. 11 naval ships of 8 countries and nine Indian ships are participating in the three-day exercise.

• Apart from enhancing interoperability, the exercise aims to hone search and rescue procedures, maritime interdiction operations, core operational skills and exercise a variety of maritime security scenarios.

A Multilateral Air Force exercise, ‘Ex Samvedna’, is being spearheaded by Indian Air Force and conducted by Southern Air Command (SAC) from 12-17 Mar 18. 

• ‘Samvedna’ means ‘Empathy’ and will ensure better understanding and sharing of response procedures between a number of friendly neighbouring nations.

Agreements/ MoUs Signed

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the African Development Bank (AfDb), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Green climate fund (GCF), and the New Development Bank (NDB) signed Joint financial partnership Declarations. 

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) also signed a Joint partnership Declaration with the ISA.

Summit /Conference / Events

Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao inaugurated the biennial event on Civil Aviation and Aerospace titled 'Wings India 2018' at the Begumpet Airport.

• Addressing the occasion, KTR said that Hyderabad city was set to become the centre for Aviation Sector and is an ideal location for the establishment of Aviation University.
• The Minister even mentioned that many aviation industry giants including Boeing had come forward to establish their units in the city.

Awards & Honours: Sports

Australia beat England 2-1 to lift 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

• Australia took the lead in a tightly contested game when Blake Govers drilled a low shot into the bottom corner from a penalty corner.

Akhil Sheoran wins gold in 50m Rifle 3-Position at ISSF Shooting World Cup

• Akhil Sheoran was the youngest amongst three shooters who had qualified for the men’s 50 metres Rifle 3 Positions event at the ISSF World Cup in Mexico

Awards & Honours: Miscellaneous

India has won the "Best Exhibitor Award " at ITB – Berlin

• ‘ITB- Berlin World Tourist Meet’ was convened at Berlin, Germany from March 7 to 10

Noted actor Amol Palekar was honoured with the ‘Godavari Gaurav’ award

• The 73-year-old actor, known for his performance in films like “Gol Maal” , “Choti Si Baat”, “Chitchor” among others, was presented with the award, which has been instituted by city-based ‘Kusumagraj Prathishthan’

Obituary 

Sir John Sulston human genome pioneer dies

• Sir John won a Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work on the development of cells within a humble worm, which paved the way for innovations in cancer research.

Senior editor Ranjan Roy dies at 57

• Senior journalist Ranjan Roy, who died on Saturday after battling cancer for several years, was cremated in New Delhi