Current Affairs Update 3 December 2018

Current Affairs is an important part for many exams. Be prepared for this section with ByScoop which brings all the important Current Affairs in one place. 3 December 2018

UP-Nepal to sign MoU declaring Ayodhya-Janakpur Twin Cities

• The Uttar Pradesh and Nepal governments will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to declare Ayodhya and Janakpur as twin cities.
• Janakpur is the birth place of Goddess Sita.
• Adityanath also agreed to visit the Himalayan nation on December 12 to participate in the festivities of Lord Ram and Sita that are held every year.

Moody’s estimates India’s real GDP to grow at 7.2% in FY 2018-19

• Moody’s Investors Service’s annual Banking System Outlook on India estimated the country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) as under:
• Real GDP for 2018-19= 7.2%
• Real GDP for 2019-20=7.4%

ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting begins in Lucknow, UP

• The ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts’ Working Group on Military Medicine being co-chaired by India and Myanmar began in Lucknow. It will continue till December 06, 2018.
• The aim of the conference is to establish better co-operation in medical operations amongst ASEAN and ASEAN-Plus countries.
• ASEAN countries include (10): Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Brunei.
• The ASEAN-Plus includes India, the US, Russia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

‘Nomophobia’ Declared People’s Word of 2018 by Cambridge Dictionary

• Cambridge Dictionary has declared Nomophobia as the People’s Word of 2018. This word has been selected based on the votes given by the people.
• Nomophobia refers to the “fear or worry at the idea of being without your mobile phone or unable to use it”.
• For the first time, the Cambridge editors asked the public to vote for the word that best summed up 2018.
• There were 4 words this year in the race to become the Cambridge Word of the Year that includes: nomophobia, ecocide, no-platforming, and gender gap.

Microsoft to host its 1st ‘Education Days’ in India

• Microsoft India is set to host the first “Education Days 2018” in Gurugram, Haryana, India.
• The 2-day event will start on December 04, 2018 in an attempt to showcase innovation and exchange of ideas to transform the focus of education on artificial intelligence (AI).

World Bank Unveils USD 200 bn in climate action investment for 2021-25

• The World Bank has announced $200 billion (Rs 13.95 lakh crore) towards climate action investment for 2021-2025
• The $200 billion is double the World Bank’s current five-year investment on climate action.
• The United Nations Climate Change Conferences, COP 24 will be held on 3-14 December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.

ADB to provide USD 85 mn loan for skill development in Odisha

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a USD 85 million loan to improve skill development eco-system in Odisha and establish an advanced skill training centre at Bhubaneswar.
• World Skill Centre (WSC) at Bhubaneswar will deliver eight training courses for 13,000 full-time students, provide training for 5,000 teachers, and train 1,000 assessors.

ICICI Securities launches eATM to pay sale proceeds up to ₹50,000 in 30 min

• ICICI Securities has announced the launch of eATM orders through which retail investors can get  as much as ₹50,000 in just 30 minutes when they sell stocks on the BSE through this new facility.
• The facility will be available on 600 select stocks on the BSE representing 99 per cent of market capitalisation.
• This is faster than the usual waiting period of T+2 days under the current settlement system. Shilpa Kumar  is the MD/CEO of ICICI Securities. 

FSSAI launches “Heart Attack Rewind” campaign to eliminate trans fats by 2022

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on November 30 launched a new mass media campaign, “Heart Attack Rewind”, in order to create awareness about trans fats and eliminate them in India by 2022.
• “Heart Attack Rewind”, a 30 second public service announcement (PSA) is the first mass media campaign of its kind and will be broadcast in 17 languages for a period of four weeks on YouTube, Facebook, Hotstar, and Voot. 
• The campaign will support FSSAI’s global target of eliminating trans fat in India to less than 2% by the year 2022, a year ahead (2023) of the global target by the World Health Organization (WHO) for complete elimination of trans fat.
• “Heart Attack Rewind” is a follow-up to an earlier campaign called “Eat Right”, which was launched on July 11, 2018.
• “Heart Attack Rewind” warns citizens about the health hazards of consuming trans fat and offers strategies to avoid them through healthier alternatives.

Qatar to quit OPEC in 2019

• Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) effective January 2019. Qatar has been a member of OPEC since 1961
• The announcement comes ahead of the meeting by OPEC and its allies including Russia on December 6-7 to discuss cutting supply.
• Qatar intends to leave Opec in order for the Gulf state to focus on gas production since it is one of OPEC’s smallest oil producers but it is one of the world’s largest producers and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). When Qatar leaves OPEC, the number of member will come down to 14.
• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) :intergovernmental organization of 15 nations, founded in 1960.
• Headquarter: Vienna Austria

Hindustan Unilever board approves merger with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare India

• Hindustan Unilever Ltd has announced that it will merge with GSK’s healthcare business in India.
• The transaction is an all equity merger with 4.39 shares of HUL being allotted for every share in GSK CH India. This transaction values the total business at Rs 31,700 crore.
• Following the issue of new HUL shares, Unilever‘s holding in HUL will be diluted from 67.2% to 61.9%.
• However, the acquisition is subject to obtaining requisite approvals from statutory authorities and shareholders.
• Post the acquisition the turnover of the company’s Foods and Refreshment (F&R) business will exceed ₹ 10,000 crore.

State Bank of India ropes in Swapna Barman as brand ambassador for YONO

• State Bank of India has roped in Asian Games gold medalist Swapna Barman as brand ambassador for its digital app YONO.
• Swapna won gold medal in Heptathlon in Jakarta Asian Games

International Day of Persons with Disabilities: 03 December

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