Daily GK Updates - 30th July, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. “Sprites” – the world’s smallest spacecraft: “Sprites” launched successfully by an Indian rocket. The world’s smallest ever spacecraft ‘Sprites’ has been successfully been placed in low Earth orbit by ISRO’s PSLV rocket. Spacecraft sprites weighs 4 gram only and runs on sunlight.

2.Sunil subramanyam as Manager of Indian Cricket team: BCCI Picks former Tamil Nadu Ranji team captain Sunil Subramaniam As Administrative Manager Of Team India.

3. Legalising marijuana : Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi has suggested legalising marijuana, a psychoactive drug, in India for medical purposes on the lines of the practice adopted by some developed countries like the US to curb drug abuse.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.Interim PM of Pakistan after Nawaz Sharif’s resignation: Shahid Abbasi has been appointed as as Interim Prime Minister of Pakistan for 45 days till Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif takes over as his eventual successor Shortly after Nawaz Sharif’s exit, the ruling party PML-N proposed his younger brother Shehbaz for the role of the prime minister. Shahbaz, however, cannot immediately replace Nawaz Sharif since he isn’t a member of the Parliament

2. US "Lancer" bombers over Korean peninsula: The United States has flown two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force in response to North Korea's recent missile tests, the US Air Force said in a statement. The US also said it conducted a successful test of a missile defence system located in Alaska. North Korea announced it conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that proved its ability to strike America's mainland, drawing a sharp warning from US President Donald Trump.US airforce flew two B-1B bombers in direct response to the North Korea’s ICBM test. The bombers took off from a US air base in Guam, and were joined by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets during the exercise, according to the statement. The US has in the past used overflights of the supersonic B1-B "Lancer" bomber as a show of force in response to North Korean missile or nuclear tests.

3. Xi Jinping inspects Military parade on PLA’s 90th anniversary: Chinese President Xi Jinping today inspected a massive military parade at the country’s largest military base in Zhurihe in Inner Mongolia as part of the celebrations to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA).The PLA was founded on August 1, 1927 when the ruling CPC under the leadership of Mao Zedong carried on with his national liberation movement. Mao Zedong also known as founding father of People’s Republic of China.

4. Iran parliament adopts motion to reciprocate US sanctions: National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis (parliament) on Saturday passed the general outlines of a motion to reciprocate the US sanctions on the country. It also envisages measures to support the Iranian armed and security forces as well as those Iranians who would be affected by the US action.

5.  Need to know: Parliaments of different countries are called as follows:

Country	Name of the Parliament
Iran	Majlis
Saudi Arabia	Majlis Al Shura
Maldives	Majlis Madagascar
Maldives	Majlis Madagascar
Nepal	National Panchayat
Myanmar	Pyithu Hluttaw
Bhutan	Tshogdu
Iceland	Althing
Colombia	Congress
Japan	Diet
Israel	Knesset

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING & FINANCE:

1. LIC clocks 145% jump in profit from equity investments at Rs 6,100 cr in Q1: India’s largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has booked profits of Rs 6,100 crore from equity investments for the first quarter ended June 30, 2017, showing a 145 percent jump over the same period last fiscal. The insurer had booked profits of Rs 2,489 crore in Q1 of FY17. Notably, the insurance behemoth is looking at a double digit growth in business in the current fiscal.