Current Affairs 9 January 2018

1. Iran bans English from being taught in primary schools Iran has banned teaching the English language in primary schools, calling th...

1. Iran bans English from being taught in primary schools

Iran has banned teaching the English language in primary schools, calling the subject a "cultural invasion".

The education ministry "envisages strengthening Persian language skills and Iranian Islamic culture of pupils at the primary school stage".
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has previously expressed concern about the teaching of English.

2. Annual Haj 2018 agreement between India and Saudi Arabia

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that Saudi Arabia has given the green signal for India’s decision to revive the option of sending Haj pilgrims through sea route also.

Officials from both the countries will discuss on all the necessary formalities and technicalities so that Haj pilgrimage through sea route can be started in the coming years.
A decision in this regard was taken, during the signing of bilateral annual Haj 2018 agreement between India and Saudi Arabia by Shri Naqvi and Haj and Umrah Minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Dr Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten at Makkah.
Shri Naqvi said that sending pilgrims through ships will help cut down travel expenses significantly.
The practice of ferrying Haj pilgrims between Mumbai and Jeddah by waterways was stopped from 1995.

3. India unveils Pratyush, its fastest supercomputer yet

India’s supercomputing prowess moved up several notches after it unveiled Pratyush, an array of computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops.

One petaflop is a million billion floating point operations per second and is a reflection of the computing capacity of a system.
Pratyush is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated for weather and climate research, and follows machines in Japan, USA and the United Kingdom.

4. PM attends Conference of DGsP and IGsP

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi arrived at the BSF Academy at Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh, for the Conference of Director Generals of Police and Inspector Generals of Police.

Through the day, there were presentations and useful discussions on various subjects relating to security. A presentation was also made on the implementation status of decisions taken during the last three years.

5. Defence Innovation Centre to be set up at Coimbatore

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the release of ₹20 crore to the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) for setting up a defence innovation centre.

The proposed centre will help the micro, small and medium enterprises and start-ups engaged in the manufacture of components for the defence sector conduct tests and trials of the components, the Minister said.
She said India is the third biggest armaments procurement country in the world.

6. PNB ties up with NSFDC for assisting SC families

Punjab National Bank (PNB) and National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) have tied up to provide financial assistance for economic empowerment of persons belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) families living below Double Poverty Line (DPL).

Under this tie-up, PNB would act as a channelising agent for the loan schemes of NSFDC.
Concessional finance and skill training grants would be provided to unemployed SC persons living below Double Poverty Line.

7. Dilip Asbe appointed MD & CEO of NPCI

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for retail payment systems in India, has appointed Dilip Asbe as Managing Director and CEO of the organisation.

Prior to this, Asbe was CEO-in-charge of NPCI.
Asbe was appointed CEO-in-charge in August last year.
He had come in place of AP Hota, whose term as MD and CEO had ended on August 10 last year.

8. Nitish conferred with 1st Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been selected for the 1st Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life.

He was conferred the award at an official function of Jammu & Kashmir government held at Jammu.
The award was constituted recently by the Jammu and Kashmir government to commemorate the death anniversary of PDP founder and two-time J&K chief minister Sayeed.
Sayeed was father of J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti.

9. The full list of winners of the Golden Globes 2018

Best actress in a limited series or television movie: Nicole Kidman
Best supporting actor in a motion picture (drama): Sam Rockwell
Best supporting actor in a series, limited series or TV film: Alexander Skarsgård
Best actor (comedy/musical): James Franco
Best animated film: Coco
Best foreign film: In the Fade
Best film director: Guillermo del Toro
Best actress in a film (comedy/musical): Saoirse Ronan
Best film (comedy/musical): Lady Bird
Best actor (drama): Gary Oldman
Best actress (drama): Frances McDormand
Best film (drama): Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri