Current Affairs 25th July 2016

National News:

• Railway minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated India’s first ‘green train corridor’ – a 114-km stretch between Rameswaram and Manamadurai in Tamil Nadu
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for an MSME technology centre under a World Bank-funded programme
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the broad gauge train service between Delhi and Agartala from the national capital on July 31.The new direct train would be named as ‘Tripureswari Super Fast express’
• Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will lay the foundation stone for a new India-Bangladesh railway project and flag-off the Agartala to New Delhi passenger train service on July 31
• The Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved 12 India Reserve Battalions for Left Wing Extremism affected states
• India is the world’s youngest startup nation with 72% of the founders below the age of 35 years, the Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked people with undeclared assets to come clean by 30th of September this year, and take benefit from the Income Declaration Scheme
• A three-day meeting between Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) began in Agartala to sort out problems along the border

International News:

• Foreign Ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have begun a series of meetings in the Laotian capital of Vientiane
• The Salzburg Festival began in the Austrian town of Salzburg, which was the birthplace of late composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo unveiled the Pestana CR7, his first hotel, developed in association with the Pestana Hotel Group in Funchal on his home island, Madeira

Banking :

• The Managing Director of HDFC bank, AdityaPuri is the highest paid banker in India with a total package of ₹31.53 crore, according to VCCircle’s analysis

Awards & Honours :

• Kochi’s Startup Village has topped the ‘100 Best Startup Incubators in India’ list released on Friday by the India edition of Entrepreneur Magazine

Science & Technology :

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly working on the development of a resource mapping satellite.
• Karbonn launches third manufacturing unit in Haryana
• Apple Inc is planning to open its first Apple Store in Taiwan

Sports:

• Indian para-swimmer Vishwas KS won three medals at the 2016 Speedo Can Am Para-swimming Championships in Canada last week.
• The Indian men’s junior cycling team has topped the Union Cycliste Internationale world rankings, which is a first for India in the sport across any age category
• Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra Becomes 1st Indian to Set World Record in Athletics
• Australian roller-skater Marawa Ibrahim set a record for the longest duration on high-heel skates while spinning three hula hoops, taking 2 minutes 29 seconds to complete the spin 
• In order to create ‘Olympic Fever’ in the country ahead of next month’s multi-sporting spectacle in Brazil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off ‘Run for Rio’ event at India Gate in New Delhi on July 31.