7th August 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download
1. Microsoft's Bill Gates tops the first Forbes list of
the richest global tech billionaires. Gates led the group with an
estimated worth of $79.6 billion, trailed by Oracle founder Larry
Ellison at $50 billion. Jeff Bezos of Amazon came at third with net
worth of $47.8 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg snared the
number four position ($41.2 billion), followed by Google founders Larry
Page ($33.4 billion) and Sergey Brin ($32.8 billion).
2. NASA has extended a contract with Russia's space
agency for $490 million to carry US astronauts to the International
Space Station amid a lack of Congressional funding. The United States
will continue to rely exclusively on Russia to take astronauts to the
orbiting outpost under the new contract, which runs until 2019, even as
relations between the two countries have reached their lowest point
since the Cold War.
3. Indian-American Atul Keshap has been confirmed as
the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, becoming the second
Indian-origin diplomat to be posted to the region after Richard Rahul
Verma. Keshap (44), a former official at the US Embassy in India, was
confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the country’s envoy which would be his
first Ambassadorial posting. He is currently working as Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State in South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau of State
Department.
4. President Mamnoon Hussain approved Justice Jawad S.
Khawaja’s appointment as new Chief Justice with effect from August 17
after retirement of Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk. Justice Jawad S Khawaja will
take charge as Chief Justice from August 17. Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk is
set to retire on August 16 after completing his tenure. Justice Khawaja
is the senior most judge in the ranks after Justice Mulk’s retirement.
5. India’s biggest telescope – Multi-Application Solar
Telescope (MAST) was inaugurated at Udaipur (Rajasthan). MAST would help
in the study of movements of stars and sun even in day time. MAST has
been installed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory, where it is surrounded
by water to keep temperature pleasant. Authorised by the Ministry of
Science and Technology, MAST has been funded by the Department of Space.
So far Rs. 26 crore has been spent on the project.
7th August 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download |
6. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated “Navachara
Kaksh”, a science and innovation museum in the Rashtrapati Bhavan
campus. The museum aims to spark curiosity about technology among
children visiting the Presidential Estate. It has been established with
the assistance of the chip-maker Intel while many of the innovations are
by Indian students.
7. State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) inked
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with government aided telecom
companies BSNL and MTNL for another term of 3 years. PNB, BSNL and MTNL
had joined hands together in year 2004 and since then BSNL & MTNL
are the primary IT link providers for providing connectivity to
branches, ATMS and service outlets of the Bank.
8. In a historic first, a Chinese DNA experiment is set
to fly on the International Space Station (ISS) as per the agreement
signed between a US private firm and a research group from the Beijing
Institute of Technology. The agreement was reached between the
Houston-based NanoRacks and Beijing Institute of Technology. The Chinese
team, led by Professor Deng Yulin, will shell out nearly $200,000 to
NanoRacks for the delivery of the experiment to the ISS on board a
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
9. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and
FICCI took their partnership to the next level by signing a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) to impart training to MSMEs to make them
competitive and boost productivity. This is the second phase of the
signing of SCORE Global Programme, wherein national institutes provide
training to MSMEs. In line with the objective of Sustaining Competitive
and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE), ILO is entrusted with building
capacity of FICCI in three phases.
10. The US space agency NASA has named Kirk Shireman as
the new manager of its International Space Station (ISS) Program, based
at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Shireman has served as
deputy director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston since 2013.
Shireman succeeds Michael Suffredini.