Daily Current Affairs, 16th May 2018

1) Fastest Growing Blackhole Of Universe Discovered

•Scientists have discovered the fastest-growing black hole known in the universe, describing it as a monster that devours (eats) a mass equivalent to our Sun every two days. The astronomers have looked back more than 12 billion years to the early dark ages of the universe when this supermassive black hole was estimated to be the size of about 20 billion suns with a 1% growth rate every one million years.

•This black hole is growing so rapidly that it's shining thousands of times more brightly than an entire galaxy, due to all of the gases it sucks in daily that cause lots of friction and heat. The energy emitted from this newly discovered supermassive black hole, also known as a quasar, was mostly ultraviolet light but also radiated x-rays. The discovery of the new supermassive black hole was confirmed using the spectrograph on the Australian National University (ANU) 2.3-metre telescope to split colours into spectral lines.

2) PM Modi To Visit Russia For Informal Summit With Vladimir Putin

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on for an informal Summit with President Vladimir Putin in Sochi city. As per the External Affairs Ministry, this informal Summit is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest level. 

•This visit will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective. 

3) Smriti Irani Chairs Meeting Of Stakeholders On ‘Samarth’- Scheme In Delhi

•A meeting of stakeholders on 'Samarth' – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector under the Skill India Mission was held in New Delhi to familiarize the stakeholders about the scheme and its guidelines. The meeting was chaired by Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani.

•The broad objective of the new scheme is to skill the youth for gainful and sustainable employment in the textile sector covering the entire value chain of textiles, excluding spinning and weaving. The scheme targets to train 10 lakh persons (9 lakh in organised and 1 lakh in traditional sector) over a period of 3 years (2017-20), with an outlay of Rs. 1300 crore.

4) 2-Day Regional Conference On “Physical And Social Infrastructure For Regional Development” Held In Guwahati

•The Governor of Assam, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi inaugurated the two-day Seminar being organized by the Ministry of Finance on the theme of “Physical and Social Infrastructure for Regional Development” in Guwahati, Assam.

•The Seminar is organized in collaboration with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI). The theme of the Seminar provides an opportunity to do an in-depth analysis of the core infrastructure related issues of the North Eastern States.

5) India 3rd Largest Solar Market In World: Mercom Report

•India emerged as the third largest solar market in the world in 2017 behind China and the US, according to the report of Mercom Communications India. India has grown at a CAGR of approximately 170% since 2010.

•As per the report, India set a new record with 9.6 GW of solar installations in 2017, which was more than double the 4.3 GW installed in 2016. The robust growth boosted the country's total solar installed capacity to 19.6 GW as of December 2017.

6) Anindita Honoured With Jayadev Rashtriya Yuva Puraskar Award

•US-based Kathak dancer Anindita Anaam was honoured with the prestigious 'Shri Jayadev Rastriya Yuva Pratibha Puraskar 2018' for outstanding contribution to the field of art.

•The award was presented to the Kathak exponent during the 'Jayadev International Dance Festival' in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The four-day festival has been organised under the aegis of Odisha's culture department and National Culture Mission.

7) Shashank Manohar To Serve 2nd Term As ICC Chairman

•Former BCCI President Shashank Manohar will serve a second two-year term as the independent chairman of the International Cricket Council after he was elected unopposed by the governing body's Board. 

•Mr. Manohar became the first independent ICC Chairman in 2016. According to the election process, ICC Directors were each allowed to nominate one candidate, who had to be either a present or a past ICC Director.

8) Neymar Named France's Player Of The Year

•Neymar was named as France's player of the year at an awards ceremony in Paris, France despite the Paris Saint-Germain superstar missing the last three months of the season due to injury.

•The Brazilian, the world's most expensive player, scored 19 goals in just 20 league games for PSG before suffering a foot injury in February that required surgery.