Daily GK Updates - 29th April, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Every village now has access to electricity : According to the government data, all of India’s 597,464 census villages now have access to electricity.The last village to be brought on the national power grid was Leisang village in the Senapati district of Manipur.Prime Minister Modi in his Independence Day speech on 15 August 2015 promised to electrify all un-electrified villages within 1000 days.

2. Budgam shortlisted for Modi’s excellence award : Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district has been shortlisted for PM Modi’s excellence award for promoting digital payments and cashless economy.Digital payments facility has been installed at 670 places across the district so far.In order to ensure successful implementation of the digital payments, the district administration has trained hundreds of local residents at Common Services Centers.

3. India’s longest serving chief minister : Pawan Chamling has created history by surpassing the record of former communist ruler of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, as the longest serving chief minister in the country.Chamling became the chief minister of Sikkim on December 12, 1994, and has ruled the tiny Himalayan state ever since.Chamling joined politics in 1973, and was elected to the Sikkim assembly for the first time in 1985.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.North Korea to rejoin South’s time zone : North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will move country’s clocks 30 mins forward to unify with South’s time zone.The 2 countries on divided peninsula had different time zones since 2015 when North changed its standard time to 30 mins behind the South.North will move to the time zone used before Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of peninsula to mark the 70^th anniversary of its liberation from Tokyo.

2.International Buddhist meet begins in Lumbini : The International Buddhist Conference got underway in Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.The conference aims to disseminate teachings of Buddha and spread the messages of nonviolence, brotherhood, co-existence, love and peace to the international community.Representatives from 16 countries including U.S., Japan, India, China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka will attend the conference.

3.Pompeo sworn in as new US secretary of state : Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo has been sworn in as the 70th US secretary of state after the Senate voted to confirm him, 57-42.Mike Pompeo replaces President Donald Trump’s first Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.His confirmation creates avacancy atop the CIA that will be filled, at least for now, by Gina Haspel,the intelligence agency’s No. 2 official.

4.Saudi Aramco appoints the first woman to the board : Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, the world’s top oil company has appointed its first female board member among five new members to its board of directors.Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, the former chairwoman, president and CEO of U.S. oil refiner Sunoco is the first female board member of Aramco.Elsenhans was named by Forbes as one of the world’s most powerful women in 2008.

5.World Day for Safety and Health at Work : The World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an annual international campaign to promote safe, healthy and decent work.It is held on 28 April and has been observed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) since 2003.The theme for World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2018 is: Occupational safety health (OSH) vulnerability of young workers.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Most trusted Internet brand in India : According to the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018, With 1.2 trillion searches per year Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by Facebook.E-commerce major Amazon, which had been ranking second since 2015, slipped to third position while e-Bay ranked fourth.The biggest falls in trust were seen by Snapdeal, who fell by 142 ranks over last year, Hike and Myntra.

SPORTS:

1. Sumit, Nikhat strike gold at Belgrade Boxing : Sumit Sangwan and Nikhat Zareen were among the three gold-medallists in India’s stupendous campaign at the 56th Belgrade International Boxing Tournament in Serbia.Also claiming a gold was Himanshu Sharma, who defeated Algeria’s Mohammed Touareg 5-0 in his final bout.India ended the tournament with three gold, five silver and five bronze medals in all.

2. India won South Asian U-12 Tennis Championship : India has won the South Asian Under-12 Qualifying Tennis Tournament, defeating host Nepal in the finals.Indian girls and boys team defeated their Nepali opponents in the final by 2-0.Now both the Indian teams will participate in ITF Asian 12 and Under Team Championship to be played in Kazakhstan later this year.

3. ICC scraped 50-over Champions Trophy : International Cricket Council has decided to convert the 2021 Champions Trophy, scheduled in India, into a World T20 event.Champions Trophy was the second-biggest 50-overs tournament after the World Cup. The number of teams competing varied over the years.This means that there would now be two ICC World T20 events in 2 years — the 2020 edition in Australia and the 2021 edition in India.