Current affairs notes on 21/10/2018-26/10/2018

1.Stephen Hawking's final work "Brief Answers to the Big Questions" was launched recently.

2.An Indian-American woman, Minal Patel Davis has been honoured with a Presidential award by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for her extraordinary contribution towards combating human trafficking in Houston.

3.The 3rd edition of Bihu festival, which is also known as Kati Bihu or Kongali Bihu, was celebrated to bring peace and prosperity in Assam..

4.Angria, India's first luxury cruise ship, has been inaugurated at Mumbai. Union minister for shipping Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis flagged-off the cruise which will operate between Mumbai and Goa.

5.The book “Nehru and Bose: Parallel Lives” has been authored by Rudrangshu Mukherjee. It brings to light the riveting story of two contrasting personallities – Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru.

6.The Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) will form new government in Bhutan,This is the first time in Bhutan's decade old parliamentary democracy that a new party has been chosen to form the government. 

7.Mumbai defeated Delhi by four wickets to win their third Vijay Hazare Trophy title.

8.Wrestler Bajrang Punia won the silver medal after he went down against Japan's Takuto Otoguro in the 65kg final of the Wrestling World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

9.M Nageshwar Rao was appointed as a Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

10.M.S.Swaminathan, an Agricultural scientist, will be receiving the first World Agriculture Prize instituted by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) in New Delhi. Prof.Swaminathan has been hailed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as 'The Father of Economic Ecology'. 

11.24 October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. The theme of this year's concert, which is sponsored by the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, is "Traditions of Peace and Non-violence".

12.UNDP is supporting the  UN Green Climate Fund (GCF), which has recently approved $43 million for India’s coastal communities across the states of  Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.

13.The Sittwe Port is a deepwater port at the mouth of the Kaladan River in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in Myanmar.it in news because India and Myanmar inked a crucial MoU for the appointment of a private Port Operator for the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of Sittwe Port.

14.Renowned jurist Fali S. Nariman has been honoured with the 19th Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration for year 2018 by the Vice President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu.

15.International Conference on Status and Protection of Coral Reefs STAPCOR 2018 was held in Lakshadweep. The conference was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The theme for the conference was: "Reef for Life". 

16.The Government of India (GoI) has recently constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine the existing legal and institutional frameworks for dealing with matters of sexual harassment of women at the workplace. It also launched an Electronic Complaints Box ‘SHe-Box’.

17.The 15th edition of International Dance Festival “Udbhav Utsav 2018” was held in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh from October 20-25. It was inaugurated by Uzbekistan Ambassador to India Farhod Arziev.

18.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been chosen for the 2018 Seoul Peace Prize in recognition of his dedication to improving international co-operation,raising global economic growth, and accelerating the Human Development of people in India.

19.Ethiopia appointed diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde as its first-ever female President. she was serving as the UN's top official at the African Union.

20.India's first engine-less train "Train 18" is set to hit the tracks for trials on October 29, which is designed and manufactured by the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at a cost of Rs 100 crore. It is being regarded as a successor to the 30-year-old Shatabdi Express.

21.India, Afghanistan and Iran has recently hold their first trilateral meeting on Chabahar port project in Tehran during which they reviewed its implementation.The meeting assumes significance as the strategically-located port on the energy-rich Iran’s southern coast was coming under the ambit of US sanctions on Tehran.

22. The 27th Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2018) was held recently in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The scientific scope of FEC 2018 is intended to reflect the priorities of this new era in fusion energy research.

23.Migingo Island in news, Migingo is a small rock Island, located in Lake Victoria which is the largest lake in Africa and the largest Tropical Lake in the whole world.Migingo has been a source of tension between Uganda and Kenya, who have been unable to decide to whom it really belongs.

24.Invest India, the country’s investment promotion body, has won United Nations (UN) Award for excellence in promoting investments in sustainable development.Invest India is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India and acts as the first point of reference for investors in India.

25.Iron Magic 19 is the  joint military exercise between United Arab Emirates (UAE) and United States (US). 

Thank you..