CURRENT AFFAIRS 5TH DECEMBER 2017 COMPRESSED

1.Sixth International Tourism Mart 2017 begins in Assam
Sixth International Tourism Mart
Current Affairs In Assam, the 6th International Tourism Mart 2017 began in Guwahati. Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal and Union Tourism minister K L Alphons will attend the inaugural program this evening.  The three-day program has been organized by Ministry of Tourism in association with all North Eastern states. Panel discussions, workshops, business to business meetings, cultural programs are being organized. The Senior officials from Railway, Civil Aviation, DoNER, Road Transport ministry will share their views for the betterment of the tourism sector of North East including Assam.

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Assam Capital	Dispur
Assam Chief Minister	Sarbanand Sonowal
Assam Governor	Jagdish Mukhi

2. Google launches Android Oreo Go edition for low-end phones
Android Oreo
Technology giant Google launched a lightweight Android Oreo Go edition operating system designed for devices with RAM up to 1 GB.  According to Google, the Android Go offers 30% faster startup time and up to 2 times optimisation of storage space. There's also a Go version of the Play store with lightweight apps including YouTube Go and Gmail Go.

3. Indian-American Senator Harris Tops Global Thinkers Li

Indian-American California senator Kamala Harris topped the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine's 2017 list of '50 Leading Global Thinkers' which also features US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. Besides Harris and Haley, Indian-origin stand-up comedian Hasan Minhaj has also made it to the list. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is ranked second in the list for trying to rebuild decent democratic leadership in South Korea. Popular comedian Minhaj is placed third in the ranking for defining the narrative of a "New Brown America".

4. Amitabh Bachchan Launches Book on Indian Cinema

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan launched a book based on Indian cinema in showbiz capital Mumbai. The book, titled 'Bollywood: The Films! The Songs! The Stars!', is a coffee table book, which provides historical insights, lesser-known facts and behind-the-scenes exclusives of the most iconic movies made in the history of the Indian film industry. The book is co-authored by S.M.M. Ausaja, Karan Bali, Rajesh Devraj and Tanul Thakur, the book on India's tinsel town is published by British multinational publishing company Dorling Kindersley (DK).

5. US withdraws from UN Global Compact on Migration

The United States of America pulled out of UN Global Compact on Migration. It has argued that Obama-era negotiated UN compact process deal contains numerous provisions that inconsistent with country’s immigration and refugee policies and Trump Administration’s immigration principles. Its genesis can be found in New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants adopted in September 2016 by UN General Assembly.

6. Ellie Goulding Honored as UN Environment Global Goodwill Ambassador

British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding signed as a Global Goodwill Ambassador for UN Environment, joining the fight to save the lives and habitats of people and animals by cleaning up our air and seas, fighting climate change and protecting species. Ellie is also backing UN Environment’s #CleanSeas campaign.

7. Prithvi Shaw Named India's Captain for 2018 U-19 World Cup

Mumbai's 18-year-old batsman Prithvi Shaw has been named the captain of the Indian Under-19 team for the 2018 U-19 World Cup  The tournament is scheduled to be held in New Zealand starting January 13, 2018. This comes after Shaw slammed three tons and two fifties in five Ranji Trophy matches this season. Punjab's Shubman Gill has been named as Shaw's deputy.

8. Paytm Payments Bank Unveils Paytm FASTag Across India

Paytm Payments Bank rolled out Paytm FASTag to enable electronic toll fee collection on highways across the country, in line with the government's move to make FASTag mandatory on every new vehicle sold from December 1. The Paytm FASTag - which is a simple and reusable tag based on radio-frequency identification technology (RFID) that can be placed on a vehicle's windscreen - will allow commuters to pass through 380 toll plazas across India covering 55,000 km without having to stop. 

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Paytm Headquarters	Noida
Paytm CEO	Vijay Shekhar Sharma

9. World Soil Day is observed on 5th December

World Soil Day is observed on 5th December across the world. The 2017 Theme for World Soil Day is 'Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground’. The main aim to communicate messages on the importance of soil quality for food security, healthy ecosystems and human well-being. It is celebrated annually on the 5th of December at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, the regional offices and through national and local events.

10. Indias Largest Floating Solar Power Plant Opens in Kerala

The largest-ever floating solar power plant in India inaugurated by state power minister MM Man at the Banasura Sagar dam in Wayanad. The solar power plant that floats on the surface of the water has a capacity of 500 kilowatts (kW). The solar plant consists of 1,938 solar panels with a capacity of 260 watts, a 500-kilo volt ampere (KVA) transformer and 17 inverters. The unique feature of this plant is the anchoring mechanism used by the overwhelming technology to maintain the plant with the alteration of the water level. Constructed by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Ad Tech Systems, the plant will generate seven lakh units of power in a year. The total cost of the project is Rs. 9.25 crore.

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Kerala Capital	Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala Chief Minister	Pinarayi Vijayan
Kerala Governor	P. Sathasivam

11. Venezuela launches new virtual currency called Petro

Venezuela launched its own cryptocurrency called Petro to circumvent US-led financial sanctions. It will be backed by the country’s vast natural resources. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro approved the creation of BlockchainBase observatory to oversee development and rollout of new cryptocurrency. The main aim to help Venezuela to advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome financial blockade. Crypto Currencies or Virtual Currencies are the type of unregulated digital money that is neither issued by central bank/public authority.

12. Maharashtra records max violations under Environment Protection Act:

• With a total of 97 cases, Maharashtra has recorded the most number of violations in 2016 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, National Crime Records Bureau has revealed.
• Compared to 2015, the state saw a 33% increase in 2016 in overall environment-related offences which cover violations under five laws including the Forest Act and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

13. Fitch cuts full-year growth forecast to 6.7%:

• Fitch Ratings has reduced the growth forecast for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, to 6.7 per cent from 6.9 per cent.
• Simultaneously, the global rating agency has pared the FY19 forecast for the country to 7.3 per cent from 7.4 per cent.
• The Indian economy picked up in the second quarter (July-September) of 2017, with GDP growing by 6.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), up from 5.7 per cent in the preceding quarter.

14. Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor passes away:

• Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor has passed away. The actor who has entertained us with some stellar performances breathed his last.
• Shashi Kapoor is known for his films like ‘Kabhie Kabhie’, ‘Deewar’ and ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’. Kapoor had a bypass surgery before suffering from a chest infection in 2014.
• The actor is survived by his three children Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, and Sanjana Kapoor. Kapoor was a maverick actor, film director and a producer and has done over 175 films in his career.