Daily Current Affairs 29 June 2017

Daily Current Affairs 29 June 2017: Your guide for daily General Knowledge Preparation

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This post contains important current affairs of 29 June 2017. It includes all Major National, International, Business and Sports related current affairs of 29 June 2017. A brief explanation of every current affair is provided to further enhance your general knowledge. Once you have gone through these current affairs we would recommend to you to try 29 June 2017 Current affairs test.

National News

1. Congress to boycott GST Launch

The Congress will not attend the roll-out of the Goods and Service Tax at Parliament on Friday at midnight, party leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi told ANI on Thursday.
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress Party is also boycotting the mega event.
Also, a “mini war room” has been set up in the finance ministry to deal with crises related to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.

2. Election for next Vice President on August 5

The election commission announced today that the election of India’s next vice president will take place on August 5. The term of vice president M. Hamid Ansari ends on August 10.
The incumbent vice-president Hamid Ansari served from August 11, 2007 to August 10, 2012 and was re-elected as the 14th vice president on August 11, 2012.
Any person qualified to be elected and intending to stand for election as vice president is required to be nominated by at least 20 MPs as proposers and at least 20 more as seconders.

3. RBI starts printing Rs 200 notes: Report

The Reserve Bank of India has begun printing Rs 200 notes at one of its government facilities, according to a report in The Economic Times.
The apex bank has not yet commented on the report, which quoted two unidentified officials.
The new notes have additional security features to thwart counterfeiting operations, an official said.

4. ISRO’s GSAT-17 successfully launched into space

GSAT-17, India’s latest communication satellite, was on Thursday successfully launched into space from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, PTI reported.
The satellite was propelled using the European Ariane 5 Launch Vehicle.
The GSAT-17 became India’s third communication satellite to successfully reach orbit in the past two months.
The 3,477-kg satellite will help provide various communication services to the country. It also carried equipment for meteorological data relay and satellite-based search-and-rescue services.

5. Kaushik Basu takes over as IEA president

Former chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu has taken over as president of the International Economic Association
“Basu’s leadership kicked off with the closing of IEA’s 18th World Congress in Mexico, at which Basu spoke, along with Cornell’s Ravi Kanbur,” the Cornell University said in a statement.
The IEA is a leading organisation for professional economists and it seeks to shape global economic policy and research. Among IEA’s past presidents are Nobel laureates Kenneth Arrow, Robert Solow, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz.

International News

1. China launches its Biggest Naval Destroyer

China has launched its most powerful naval destroyer, the Type 055, at the Shanghai port. The naval destroyer is one among the largest warships in the world.
It is equipped with new air defence, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“The new ship will be a great boost to China’s marine exploration capability,” Zhong Ziran, director of China Geological Survey said.

2. Milestone for NASA’s quieter supersonic jet

The US space agency completed the preliminary design review (PDR) of its Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) aircraft design.
QueSST is the initial design stage of NASA’s planned Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) experimental airplane, otherwise known as an X-plane.
The QueSST design is capable of fulfilling the LBFD aircraft’s mission objectives, which are to fly at supersonic speeds, but create a soft “thump” instead of the disruptive sonic boom associated with supersonic flight today.

3. Trump Travel Ban: New Visa Rules

The Trump administration has set new criteria for visa applicants from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees, requiring a “close” family or business tie to be eligible to enter the United States.
The move on Wednesday came after the supreme court partially restored President Donald Trump’s executive order that was widely criticised as a ban on Muslims.
People from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen as well as most refugees have to prove their eligibility.

4. Trump appoints Indian-American as US Ambassador to Peru

President Donald Trump has appointed Indian-American Krishna R Urs as the new US Ambassador to Peru.

Krishna R Urs is currently Charge d’ Affaires of the US Embassy in Madrid, Spain and has served at seven US embassies as well in senior leadership positions in Washington.
He has served at seven US embassies as well in senior leadership positions in Washington and has specialised in economic issues and developed extensive policy experience in the Andean region of South America.

5. India gives $100,000 to UN Tax Fund

India has contributed $ 100,000 to a UN fund to help developing countries actively participate in the discussion of tax issues, becoming the first country to make the contribution.
The UN Tax Trust Fund aims to support the work of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (the UN Tax Committee).
Voluntary contributions for the fund have been called for by the UN and the committee since its establishment in 2006.

Business News

1. Cabinet approves Air India disinvestment

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday formally approved the privatisation of national airline Air India Ltd and five of its subsidiaries. Disclosing this, finance minister Arun Jaitley said at a press briefing that he would be heading a group to work out procedures for the Air India disinvestment.
The move will not only embellish the credentials of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as a reformist administration, but also ease the fiscal pressure on the union government — especially in indirectly servicing the airline’s outstanding debt burden of Rs52,000 crore.
Indian billionaire Anand Mahindra said he was not brave enough to take on debt-laden Air India after the government said it would privatise the ailing national carrier.

2. InFocus to invest Rs 65 crore in India

InFocus, the handset arm of Taiwan’s Foxconn, plans to invest $10 million (about Rs 65 crore) to get a foothold in India
Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer, also plans to launch smartphones from Sharp — the Japanese company’s business it acquired last year — by the end of the year.
It will focus on the Rs 10,000-price segment as part of its second attempt to make a mark in the world’s second largest mobile phone market.
InFocus is also working on a 4G Volte feature phone, priced under Rs 3,000, which is likely to be launched before Diwali.

3. 43 out of 55 McDonald’s outlets in Delhi shut down

Forty-three of the 55 McDonald’s outlets in Delhi are shutting down, media reports said on Thursday, blaming the tussle between the north Indian franchisee and the global food giant for the shock decision.
Over reports saying the shutdown will result in a loss of 1,700 jobs, MIPL said, “We understand that CPRL is retaining the employees of affected restaurants and will pay them their salary during the period of suspension.”
According to reports, falling revenues, lack of investment and a legal battle over ownership of the fastfood chain led to the trouble

4. Coca-Cola to shut down Pune analytics centre

Coca-Cola is downing shutters of its biggest analytics, technical and innovation centre in the country, based in Pune, as part of a restructuring undertaken by the beverages maker to become a leaner organisation.
The company will provide compensation for all the impacted resources as per its policy and in adherence to local laws.
The five other countries with similar facilities are Belgium, China, South Africa, Mexico and the US. India is Coca Cola’ sixth largest market.

Sports News
1. Venkatesh Prasad joins fray for Team India coach

Former India seamer and current junior national chief selector, Venkatesh Prasad, is the latest to apply for the India coaching job, TOI reported
Prasad and former India team director Ravi Shastri are thus the two new applicants for the post.
Prasad is set to finish his three-year term as the junior India chief selector in September this year.
Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput and Dodda Ganesh are also in the fray.

2. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga given suspended one-year ban

Lasith Malinga received a suspended one-year cricket ban after the fast bowler pleaded guilty to a charge of speaking to the media without permission, said the Sri Lanka’s cricket
The sanction is suspended for six months and Malinga will also be fined 50 percent of the match fee from his next one-day international, Sri Lanka Cricket said.board.
The charge against Malinga came from his response to criticism by Sri Lanka’s sports minister over the team’s fitness levels.

3. ISL gets recognition from AFC

The cash-rich Indian Super League has been finally granted official recognition by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), meaning there will be two national leagues in the country from 2017-18.
The winner of the I-league will participate in the AFC Champions League qualifiers, while the next ISL champion will be eligible for an AFC Cup qualifying slot.

4. Rajeev Shukla to head BCCI Special Committee

Rajeev Shukla, a former vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), will head a newly-formed seven-member Special Committee to oversee reforms recommended by the Lodha Committee, as decided at Monday’s Special General Meeting (SGM)
According to a BCCI statement, the committee has been asked to submit a report by July 10
Besides Shukla and BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, who will be the convener of the meeting, the committee will include former India captain Sourav Ganguly (Bengal), T.C. Mathew (Kerala), Naba Bhattacharjee (Meghalaya), Jay Shah (Gujarat) and BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry.

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