Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Daily Current Affairs 18 April 2019. These are important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2019, NHB Assistant Manager, CWC 2019 and SBI PO 2019 Exams.
Daily Current Affairs 18 April 2019
Finance
Jet Airways shut down temporarily for want of funds
- Jet Airways (India) Ltd flew its last flight on Wednesday night—9W 2502 from Amritsar to Mumbai—after lenders declined to hand out emergency funds, bringing the curtains down on an era in which it broke into a state monopoly sector to become India’s largest private airline at one point.
- It’s unclear whether the airline will ever return to the skies, but if it does so, it will be under a new ownership structure.
- “Late last night, Jet Airways was informed by the State Bank of India (SBI), on behalf of the consortium of Indian lenders, that they are unable to consider its request for critical interim funding,” Jet Airways said in a statement on Wednesday. “Since no emergency funding from the lenders or any other source is forthcoming, the airline will not be able to pay for fuel or other critical services to keep the operations going.”
- The airline said it would await the bid finalization process by the lenders that is likely to bring in fresh equity by the end of May.
India and states
India, UK sign ‘step change’ defence MoU
- India and the United Kingdom this week signed a memorandum of understanding on defence and security equipment described as a ‘step change’ in the long-standing defence relationship between the two countries.
- The agreement follows a visit by India’s chief of naval staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba, to HMS Queen Elizabeth in Portsmouth in March, and HMS Dragon’s visit to Goa in December last year, where the ship took part in the naval exercise, the Konkan Series.
- The defence equipment MoU was signed by Air Marshal Richard Knighton on behalf of the UK’s ministry of defence and Barun Mitra, additional secretary (defence production) in India’s ministry of defence.
DGCA notice to IndiGo COO over Pratt & Whitney engines issues
- Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show-cause notice to budget carrier IndiGo’s Chief Operating Officer and Engineering Head over the Pratt & Whitney engines issues.
- Indian carriers IndiGo and GoAir, which have Pratt & Whitney-powered Airbus A320 neo planes, have been facing problems with these engines since their induction in the fleet three years ago.
- The DGCA is conducting a special safety audit of the airline’s operations and engineering.
India, Pakistan held meeting to discuss issues related to Kartarpur corridor
- India and Pakistan held a meeting to discuss various issues related to the speedy completion of the proposed Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab to Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Narowal.
- The meeting was proposed by India and was agreed upon by Pakistan.
- Experts and technicians from both countries discussed the timing of the completion of the bridge, alignment of roads and engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points.
- Kartarpur is located in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the Ravi, about 4 km from the Dera Baba Nanak.
Second Edition of Indo-Vietnam Bilateral Exercise ‘IN – VPN BILAT EX’ concludes
- The Indian Navy held the second edition of the bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Vietnam Peoples’ Navy at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam during April 13-16, 2019.
- The exercise was undertaken as a part of the ongoing Overseas Deployment of Eastern Fleet ships to South East Asian countries.
- INS Kolkata under the command of Captain Aditya Hara and INS Shakti under the command of Captain Sriram Amur participated in the exercise.
- The maiden edition was conducted in May 2018 at Da Nang, Vietnam.
World
PIO Keshav Raghavan-led team’s CubeSat to be sent to space by NASA
- Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Keshav Raghvan has been chosen to lead the team CubeSat to be sent to space by NASA. CubeSat is a mini research satellite to detect cosmic rays, flown into space on future missions.
- The researchers from the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association (YUAA), led by 21-year-old Keshav Raghavan, are among the 16 teams across the country whose CubeSats will be flown into space on missions planned to launch in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
- The team’s CubeSat BLAST (Bouchet Low-Earth Alpha/Beta Space Telescope) is named for physicist Edward A Bouchet, the first African American to receive a PhD in America.
UN cultural experts offer to help in rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
- UN cultural experts have offered to help in rebuilding the iconic structure of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
- The announcement came after the UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Mechtild Rossler visited the site on April 16, 2019 after it caught fire.
- The Cathedral is part of the World Heritage Site officially known as “Paris, Banks of the Seine”, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991.’
- The cathedral’s construction began in the 1160s extending for more than a century, is considered to be the finest example of the French Gothic style of architecture.
Sony launches S. Ride taxi-hailing service in Tokyo
- Sony has launched a taxi-hailing service in Tokyo named S.Ride.
- Sony S.Ride uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict where demand will be highest and dispatch drivers accordingly.
- Daiwa and Kokusai, two of Tokyo’s biggest operators and Sony says the total size of the fleet will exceed 10,000 cars.
- The S in S.Ride stand for simple, smart, and speedy. Everybody’s Taxi Corporation was formed last year by Sony Payment Services, Sony Corp. S.Ride isn’t the first app of its kind in Japan, chat app Line launched a similar collaboration with leading taxi company Nihon Kotsu in 2015, although it ended service last year.
Astronomers Discover Third Planet in the Kepler-47 System
- A team of scientists led by San Diego State University has discovered a third planet in a two-star system named Kepler-47, which is seven times the size of the Earth and the largest in its system.
- To study of this system, team used NASA’s Kepler space telescope to find the Neptune-to-Saturn-size planet orbiting between two previously known planets.
- The planets in the Kepler-47 system were detected via the “transit method.”
- It means if the orbital plane of the planet is aligned edge-on as seen from Earth, the planet can pass in front of the host stars, leading to a measurable decrease in the observed brightness. The new planet, dubbed Kepler-47d, was not detected earlier due to weak transit signals.
Scientists print world’s first 3D heart using human tissues
- Researchers from Tel Aviv University, Israel have made world’s first 3D printed vascularised engineered heart using a patient’s own tissues and biological materials.
- Their findings were published in Advanced Science Magazine.
- Researchers managed to produce an entire heart, complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers. It is a noteworthy improvement over previous attempts that only printed simple tissues without vessels.
- This first 3D heart is the size of a rabbit’s heart. Professor Tal Dvir, who led the research now hope to stimulate the printed heart into functioning like a real one. The cells are currently able to contract, but not yet have the all-important ability to pump.
Sports
BCCI names Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu as standbys for ICC World Cup 2019
- The BCCI named young wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant and veteran batsman Ambati Rayudu among the standbys for India’s World Cup 2019 squad.
- Speedster Navdeep Saini also found a place in the list of three back-ups for the world cup starting on May 30.
- Pant and Rayudu’s exclusion from the India’s World Cup 2019 squad had earlier created quite a stir.
- On the other hand, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan and Deepak Chahar will be travelling with the team as net bowlers; they can also be drafted in the squad if the management feels so.
2020 Tokyo Olympic organising committee unveils details of Olympic Competition Schedule
- The 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee unveiled a detailed schedule of Olympic competitions, including setting the start times of some finals.
- The 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic will feature a record 33 sports and 339 events from July 24 to August 9, 2020.
- The preliminary events for softball and women’s football will be held on July 22, 2020, two days before the opening ceremony.
- Rowing and archery events will be held on the day of the opening ceremony.
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