The Daily Brief – 11th July, 2016

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  • India and Tanzania have signed five agreements to accelerate bilateral ties between both nations. These agreements were signed in Dar-es-Salaam in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tanzanian President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
  • The second phase of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project attained criticality yesterday. Attaining criticality refers to the successful starting of fission in the reactor. Once the reactor starts generating 400 MWe of power, possibly within 45 days from the date of criticality, it is likely to be connected to the grid. Generation of power will be raised to 500 MWe, 750 MWe, 900 MWe and 1,000 MWe in stages.
  • Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy has sworn in as the acting Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Kolkata is all set to host its first dedicated festival of Chinese films. Seven films, including a controversial but much-admired film on China, Not One Less , will be screened in the government-owned film centre, Nandan, from July 17. West Bengal government and the Chinese Consulate are jointly hosting the festival.
  • Air India has decided to lower fares to the level of AC two-tier fares of Rajdhani trains between Delhi and Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru four hours before the departure of flights.
  • Airtel has entered into an agreement with Aircel to acquire rights to use 4G spectrum of Aircel in eight telecom circles for Rs 3,500 crore. These circles are Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam, the North—East, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
  • The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) has conferred rare and singular species genetic recognition tag to the threatened breed of Kendrapara sheep found in Odisha.
  • An excavation in Israel has unearthed a Philistine cemetery for the first time. The Philistines are a civilisation thought to have come from the Mycenaean civilisation of the Aegean. They were traders and seafarers and spoke a language of Indo-European origin. Beyond the previously scanty archaeological record, the Philistines are known mostly from the Old Testament account given by their neighbours and bitter enemies, the ancient Israelites. From these biblical descriptions of savage marauders comes the modern usage of “philistine” to mean a person without culture or manners.
  • Classical musicians performed in a German football arena to set the world record for the biggest-ever orchestra. With 7,548 musicians involved, the event trumped the previous biggest such performance in the Guinness World Records, set in Brisbane, Australia in 2013, with 7,224 musicians.
  • NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has imaged the supernova Crab Nebula’s ‘beating heart’, an inner region that sends out pulses of radiation and tsunamis of charged particles. Crab Nebula is the most historic and intensively studied remnants of a supernova, an exploding star. The neutron star at the very centre of the Crab Nebula has about the same mass as the Sun but compressed into an incredibly dense sphere that is only a few miles across.
  • Portugal has won the 2016 UEFA European football championship (Euro Cup 2016) by defeating host France. It was Portugal’s first UEFA European Championship title. With this victory, Portugal has earned the right to compete at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by Russia.
  • At the finals of the Wimbledon tournament this year, the Men’s Singles Title was won by Andy Murray of Britain, beating Canada’s Milos Raonic. It was his second Wimbledon title after he had won it for first time in 2013.
  • The Wimbledon Women’s Singles Title was won by Serena Williams of the USA. She beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber. It is Williams’ seventh Women’s Singles Wimbledon title (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015) and overall 22nd Grand Slam title. Her record now equals that of Steffi Graf, who held the highest number of Grand Slams thus far.
  • Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut won the Men’s Doubles Wimbledon In the Women’s Doubles, Serena Williams and Venus Williams won.
  • Lewis Hamilton from Britain has won the 2016 British Grand Prix title of Formula One. It his overall fourth British Grand Prix title after winning it in 2008, 2014 and 2015. It was also his fourth title of the 2016 season after Monaco Grand Prix (May 2016), Canadian Grand Prix (June 2016) and Austrian Grand Prix (July 2016).

Today’s Quiz

  1. The Kudankulam Nuclear Plant recently attained criticality in its second phase. Where is the plant located?





2. How many Grand Slam titles has Serena Williams won through her career, post the latest Wimbledon win this year?





3. Whose record did Serena Williams meet, with her latest Grand Slam win at the Wimbledon?





4. Who has recently won the 2016 British Grand Prix title?





5. Who did Portugal beat to win the Euro Cup this year?





6. Who won the Men’s Singles Wimbledon title this year?





7. NASA’s Hubble Telescope recently imaged the beating heart of a supernova. Which supernova?





8. Airtel recently entered into an agreement with which of the following telecom companies, to acquire and use its 4G spectrum in eight circles?





9. Who has been sworn in as the acting governor of Arunachal Pradesh?





10. The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) has conferred rare and singular species genetic recognition tag to the threatened breed of Kendrapara sheep. Where is this specie found?









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