Current Affairs Quiz -18th August, 2018 - Current Affairs MCQ

Three US scientists James Allison, Carl June and Steven Rosenberg were declared winners 2018 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research. They were awarded in recognition of their research in immunology and translation of their ideas into effective therapies that have led to innovative treatments for cancer, HIV and other diseases. They will share this $500,000 medical prize. They will receive the award at the ceremony to be held in September 2018 in Albany, New York.

Taiwan is building up and developing missiles and interceptors in order to counter the military expansion of China. Since 2016, under the Presidentship of Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan has deployed one set of missiles, perfected another and sped production of a third. This development in its defence is to reduce Beijing's military advantage over the self-ruled island. As a training mission, Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent warships, bombers and fighter planes over the self-governed island in a show of strength.

IAS officer K S Srinivas has taken over as Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). Prior to this appointment, he had served as Joint Secretary in Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmer's Welfare in Ministry of Agriculture.

Indian football team improved a rank and secured 96th position in the latest FIFA world rankings. India's improvement in the ranking is seen after the introduction of a new ranking system called ELO by FIFA. As per ELO, points will be added or subtracted to a national team's already existing total before a match.

Indian Government released additional NPR 470 million for the Postal Highway being constructed in Southern Plains of Nepal. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri handed over NPR 470 million to the Secretary of Nepal's Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Madhusudan Adhikari. This amount has been released for the ongoing construction of 14 road packages under Postal Highway Project. With this payment, a total of NPR 2.35 billion has been released to Nepal out of the total grant assistance of NPR 8 billion committed by Indian Government for implementing 14 road packages. With this payment, a total of NPR 2.35 billion has been released to Nepal out of the total grant assistance of NPR 8 billion committed by Indian Government for implementing 14 road packages.With this payment, a total of NPR 2.35 billion has been released to Nepal out of the total grant assistance of NPR 8 billion committed by Indian Government for implementing 14 road packages. Indian Mission in Nepal also gifted books to 68 libraries and educational institutions in Nepal worth NPR 17 Lakhs.

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee will be one of the recipients of the annual Directors Guild of America (DGA) honours at its ceremony. The event will be held at the DGA Theatre in New York City on October 18. Apart from the 63-year-old director, Fox Searchlight chairman Nancy Utley, US Senator Amy Klobuchar, SAG-AFTRA senior adviser John McGuire and costume designer Ann Roth will also be honoured at the ceremony.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was re-elected as president of Mali. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won 67 percent of the vote and defeated his opponent Soumaila Cisse in the presidential election. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will serve his second five-year term as President of Mali. He is 73 years old. He will assume office on 4th September 2018.

By commemorating its golden jubilee 'iCRAFPT '18' , the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT), started an international conference on recent advances in food processing technology till August 19, 2018 at its campus in Thanjavur. It would be inaugurated by union minister of food processing industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal. The theme of the conference is: 'Doubling Farmers Income through Food Processing'.

Indian cyclist Esow Alben has won India's first medal (a silver medal) at the 2018 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland. In the Men's Keirin event, Czech Republic's Jakub Stastny won gold medal. Esow Alben finished 0.017 seconds behind him and won silver medal. Kazakhstan's Andrey Chugay won the bronze medal. Esow Alben also participated in the men's team sprint event with Mayur Pawar and James Keithellakpam Singh. But the team did not qualify for the finals. Esow Alben is 17 years old. He hails from Andaman and Nicobar islands. He trains at the Sports Authority of India's National Cycling Academy in Delhi.

Microsoft India and Apollo Hospitals together have built an Artificial Intelligence powered CardioVascular Disease (CVD) risk score Application Program Interface (API). The API is built on Microsoft's cloud computing platform Azure. It is the first of its kind in India. It has been designed to predict the risk of CVD in the Indian population. The aim is to prevent heart disease, save lives. It is expected that AI can augment human ingenuity. It would also enable doctors across the Apollo network of hospitals to drive preventive cardiac care across the country. The collaboration is because Microsoft needed to partner (Apollo hospitals) with a firm that can provide key ingredients such as relevant data and the right level of domain expertise in cardiology to build the technology.

Amnesty International India launched a new campaign named 'Our Safety, Our Rights', among children against sexual abuse. The campaign will culminate on October 11 - International Day of the Girl Child. The campaign in collaboration with Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, People's Action for Rural Awakening (PARA) and Institute of Social Education. 50,000 students, parents, teachers and children from 400 schools, across four Indian states will be participating in this campaign. This include schools in Amnesty International India's Human Rights Education network in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

According to BSE data, TCS overtakes RIL to become most valued Indian company. The market capitalisation (m-cap) of TCS stood at Rs 7,69,065.04. RIL stood at Rs 7,60,644.73 crore. There is a difference of total Rs 8,420.31 crore in m cap.

This year's Asian Games, also known as Jakarta Palembang 2018, has started from 18th August to 02nd September in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang. It is the second time when Jakarta is hosting the sports games after 1962. A total of 572 Indian athletes will be participating in the event in 36 different sports categories. The contingent will be led by Chef de Mission Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

N Raghuram has been elected the Chair of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI), a global policy making initiative. N Raghuram is an Indian scientist and academician. He is a professor at the GGS Indraprastha University, New Delhi. He has been the President of the Indian Nitrogen Group and a Steering Committee member of the UNEP Global Partnership on Nutrient Management. He is the first Indian and Asian to be elected as Chair of INI. He will succeed Mark Sutton as chair of INI.