Top Headlines - 27.02.2016

Top Headlines - 27.02.2016
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1. The government has appointed Rajendra Singh as the Director General (DG) of Coast Guard, the country’s coastal protection force. This is the first time an officer from within has been promoted as its Chief.

2. Leading global telecom operators including China Mobile, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and SoftBank have joined hands to launch five-year programme GTI 2.0, which aims to advance existing 4G technology and industrialization of 5G technologies.

3. Bangladeshi cricketer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was appointed as National Goodwill Ambassador for Youth by the United National Development Programme (UNDP). Mashrafe Mortaza will work for the development of youth.

4. Haiti's provisional president has appointed reputable economist Fritz Jean as the new prime minister of the country.

5. The UAE Space Agency has signed a significant memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UK Space Agency, aiming to facilitate collaboration between the two countries in the short and long terms.

6. China's five biggest commercial banks announced that they will no longer charge fees on domestic yuan transfers through cellphone, including inter-bank transactions.

7. Renowned writer Dr Sunita Jain was selected for Vyas Samman 2015 for her Poetry collection 'Kshama'. This award is given by K K Birla Foundation.

8. U.S. Air Force successfully tested its Intercontinental ballistic missile. This is 15th test of US since January 2011.

9. Eminent actor of Hindi cinema Naseeruddin Shah inaugurated the second edition of 'film preservation & restoration workshop India 2016'.

10. India ranks first in milk production, accounting for 18.5 per cent of world production, achieving an annual output of 146.3 million tons during 2014-15 as compared to 137.69 million tons during 2013-14 recording a growth of 6.26 per cent. The FAO has reported a 3.1 per cent increase in world milk production.

11. According to UN's first global assessment of pollinators report released in Oslo, Bees and other pollinators face increasing risks to their survival, threatening foods such as apples, blueberries and coffee worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Pesticides, loss of habitats to farms and cities, disease and climate change were among threats to about 20,000 species of bees as well as creatures such as birds, butterflies, beetles and bats that fertilise flowers by spreading pollen.

12. Despite the global meltdown, Indian economy will continue to grow more than 7 percent for the third year in succession in 2016-17 helped by a normal monsoon. According to Economic Survey (2015-16), conditions do exist for raising the economy’s growth momentum to 8 percent or more in the next couple of years.

13. Reliance Industries has emerged as the top company in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), having spent over Rs. 760 crore, followed by state-owned ONGC and IT giant Infosys. The new Companies Act mandates every company with a net worth of Rs. 100 crore to set aside minimum 2 per cent of their three-year average annual net profit for CSR activities.