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 Israel's Parliament, on 2 January 2018, passed a law requiring a super-majority to relinquish control over any
part of Jerusalem, a move that could hamstring the city's division in any future peace deal.
 Viswanathan Anand was crowned the World Rapid Chess Champion in Riyadh on 28 December 2017 after
the 48-year-old defeated Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev 2-0 in the tie-break play-off.
 The SC collegium created history on 11 January 2018 by picking Indu Malhotra as the first woman advocate
to be recommended for appointment as a judge of the SC, which has had just six woman judges in 68 years.
 Scientists, on 26 December 2017, discovered the first-known hybrid bird species to be found in the Amazon
rainforest- a golden-crowned manakin with yellow feathers.
 The first-ever Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Parliamentary Conference was held in the Pravasi Bharatiya
Kendra (PBK) in New Delhi on the occasion of Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas (PBD) on January 9, 2018.
 ISRO's PSLV, in its forty second flight, successfully launched the 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series Remote Sensing
Satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites on 12 January 2018 from Sriharikota.
 Foreign minister of Maldives Mohamed Asim arrived in India on a three-day visit on January 10, 2018.
 Honduras' electoral tribunal, on 17 December 2017, declared conservative President Juan Orlando Hernandez
the official winner of the November 26 presidential election.
 Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on 2 January 2018, outlined the basic contours of the electoral bonds
scheme announced during the 2017 Budget, including their denominations, validity, and eligibility of the
purchasers.
 Umesh Dattatraya Salvi took charge as the acting Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal on 20 December
2017, following the retirement of Justice Swatanter Kumar.
 India, on 21 December 2017, announced a development assistance of $25 million for Myanmar's Rakhine State,
from where thousands of Rohingya Muslims recently fled following incidents of violence against the community.
 Conservationists, on 16 December 2017, warned that the Asiatic cheetah is on the threshold of extinction
following a UN decision to pull funding from conservation efforts to protect it.
 The Union Cabinet, on 10 January 2018, allowed foreign airlines to invest upto 49 per cent under approval
route in Air India.
 China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, on 26 December 2017, agreed not to allow any country, group or individual
to use their territories for terrorism as their foreign ministers discussed development, security and counter-
terrorism during their first such trilateral dialogue in Beijing.
 Nearly 32 years after the Assam Accord was signed, the first draft of an updated National Register of
Citizens (NRC) for the State listed 1.90 crore names out of the 3.29 crore applicants.
 The Russia's Supreme Court, on 30 December 2017, upheld election officials' decision to bar the opposition
leader Alexei Navalny from running for President in March's election.
 Researchers have found evidence to show that a Sun-like star 550 light years from the earth is slowly
consuming its"offspring" - crushing one or more planets in its orbit into vast clouds of gas and dust.
 The Centre, on 30 December 2017, released the much-required equity capital to six stressed public sector banks
(PSBs) as some of these lenders were on the verge of breaching minimum capital norms on December 31, 2017.
 The UN Security Council, on 22 December 2017, unanimously approved tough new sanctions against North
Korea in response to its latest launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang says is capable of reaching
anywhere on the US mainland.
 Brand Bengaluru got its own logo on 24 December 2017- the tagline 'Bengaluru - Be U' (be you) is expected
to build the city's image on the global stage. The city is the first to gets its own identity badge.
 Bali has declared a 'garbage emergency' as it battles mountains of trash that appear daily on its world-
renowned beaches.
 Astronomers on 8 January 2018 created a global map of Saturn's moon Titan and found that its geographical
features are similar to those seen on the Earth.
 India and China agreed on 22 December 2017 to maintain "regular contact" and "build on their convergences",
while seeking mutually acceptable resolution of their differences with "due respect for each other's
sensitivities, concerns and aspirations".
 The Minister of Communications, on 21 December 2017, launched DARPAN Project to improve the quality
of service, add value to services and achieve "financial inclusion" of un-banked rural population.
 The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on 21 December 2017 to denounce President Donald
Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

148 Competition Wizard March 2018