Current Affairs

Venkat Rahul Ragala puts on emphatic display to win historic Gold

  • Indian weightlifter Venkat Rahul Ragala lifted a combined total of 338 kg (151 kg in snatch and 187 kg in clean and jerk) in the 85 kg category to win India's fourth gold medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games.

  • His win takes India's medal tally to six, which includes three other golds, one silver and one bronze medal, all in weightlifting. He further became the first Indian to win gold in the 85 kg weight category at the Games.

  • In snatch, his first attempt of 147 kg was higher than all his other competitors, a success that gave him an immediate lead.

  • His second attempt of 151 kg was unsuccessful, but he soon bounced back in his third attempt to lift the same successfully, to go joint top with Samoa's Don Opeloge.


New blood test can diagnose tuberculosis two years in advance

  • Scientists have found a new blood test that can accurately predict the development of tuberculosis (TB) up to two years before its onset in high-risk patients.

  • Those living with someone with active TB are at highest risk for developing the disease, yet only about 5-20 per cent of people infected with tuberculosis actually develop TB, according to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.


A planned space hotel hopes to welcome guests by 2022 — for a cost of almost $800,000 a night

  • Looking for a getaway that offers unmatched views of sunrises and sunsets? Specifically, 384 of them in 12 days?  Try outer space.

  • Houston-based Orion Span hopes to launch the “first luxury hotel in space” — the 35-by-14-foot Aurora Station — by late 2021 and bring guests on board the following year. The hotel will accommodate up to four travelers and two crew members at a time, racing them around the planet at high speeds for 12 days, the company said in a news release.


CWG 2018: Sathish Sivalingam wins 3rd weightlifting Gold

  • Weightlifters continued to make India proud in Gold Coast as Sathish Kumar Sivalingam won yet another Gold medal for the nation in the Men's 77kg Final at Commonwealth Games 2018 on Saturday.

  • With a total of 317kg which included his 174kg lift in Clean & Jerk and 144kg lift in Snatch, Sathish took the top spot beating Jack Oliver of England.


Davis Cup: Leander Paes Becomes Most Successful Doubles Player as 43rd Win Keeps India Alive

  • India were trailing 0-2 after Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal suffered surprise tame defeats on Friday and needed a win in the doubles to stay alive in the tie.

  • The Indian youngsters will now have to win both the reverse singles to advance to the World Group Play-offs.

  • Paes, India's Davis Cup hero for years, was tied on 42 wins with Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli for long but finally surpassed him, albeit, in a foreign land.


GoI, Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank sign New Project to benefit over 25 Million Small and Marginal Farmers in Maharashtra

  • The Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank signed here today a US$ 420 million project to help Small and Marginal farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra.

  • The project will help in increasing climate resilient practices in agriculture and ensuring that farming continues to remain a financially viable activity for them.

  • The aforesaid project is expected to benefit over 7 million people spread over an area of 3.0 million ha and cover 5,142 villages across 15 most climate vulnerable districts of the region.

  • The $420 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a 6-year grace period, and a maturity of 24 years.


India at CWG, Day 2: Sanjita Chanu wins weightlifting gold, Deepak Lather bronze

  • Weightlifter Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu won gold in the women’s 53kg event
  • 18-year-old Deepak Lather claimed bronze in the men’s 69kg weightlifting event
  • Young boxer Naman Tanwar defeated Tanzania’s Haruna Mhando to progress into the men’s 91kg quarter-finals


Trai moots public Wi-Fi grid that will cut internet access cost by 90%

  • The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) mooted on Thursday an ambitious model of a public Wi-Fi grid that aims to slash internet access cost by 90%, and push broadband proliferation in India.

  • Ruing that India significantly trails other nations in providing access to broadband, especially in rural areas, Trai has underscored the need for ushering a new set of small players for Wi-Fi service provisioning.

  • The grid or the mesh conceptualized by Trai (and forwarded to Department of Telecom for further consideration) entails multiple providers coming together on one platform to address aspects such as access, services, payment, and authentication.


RBI to set up Data Sciences Lab to improve surveillance, early warning detection abilities

  • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its release on Thursday said that it has decided to set up Data Sciences Lab to improve its forecasting, surveillance and early warning detection abilities which will aid policy formulation. In a statement, the central bank has decided to gainfully harness the power of Big Data analytics by setting up a Data Sciences Lab in-house. The lab will constitute of experts and budding analysts, internal as well as lateral, who are trained inter alia in Computer Science, Data Analytics, Statistics, Economics, Econometrics and/or Finance. 

  • The release says policy making not only benefits from data collected through regulatory returns and surveys but also from large volumes of structured and unstructured real-time information. RBI said the lab will comprise experts and budding analysts, who are trained in Computer Science, Data Analytics, Statistics, Economics, Econometrics and Finance. The unit is likely to become operational by December 2018.



Japanese animation director Isao Takahata dies

  • Mr Takahata was nominated for an Oscar in 2015 for The Tale of the Princess Kaguya but is best known for his film Grave of the Fireflies.

  • He founded Studio Ghibli with iconic director Hayao Miyazaki in 1985.

  • It became a world-renowned animation studio, producing blockbusters such as Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

  • Mr Takahata started his career in animation in 1959 at Japan's Toei studio, where he met Mr Miyazaki, who is usually seen as the face of Studio Ghibli.