8 July 2016 – Daily Current Affairs

India & Mozambique signed MoUs on pulse trading, drug trafficking and sports

Mozambique and India signed three MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) in the areas of pulse trading, drug trafficking and sports. The event took place at Mozambique during Narendra Modi’s (Indian Prime Minister) visit to the country. The MoUs will promote production for pigeon peas as well as other pulses to encourage pulse trading in Mozambique. The validity of the contract is for 5 financial years till 2020-21.

Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, writer from South Africa won the Caine Prize, 2016

Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, noted writer, photographer and filmmaker from South Africa won the Caine Prize, 2016 on 5^th July 2016. It was Caine Award’s 17^th edition. Mqombothi received this award for his work ‘Memories We Lost’ a short story. Furthermore, Mqombothi will be presented with 10000 Euros as award money. Additionally, he will also be acting as writer-in-residence at the US Georgetown University. This story is about tackling schizophrenia. The story unfolds between two lovers across a beautifully depicted Eastern Cape. Caine is an yearly literature award given to African short story writers. It was conceived in UK in 2010 to honor Sir MS Caine, Booker Group’s former Chairman.

Google acquired Moodstocks, Paris-based startup

Search Engine giant Google acquired Moodstocks, a Paris-based startup on 6^th July 2016. Moodstocks creates machine-learning based IRT (Image Recognition Technology) for smartphones. With the acquisition, the SDK and API (application programming interface) of Moodstocks will soon be discontinued. Furthermore, the on-device IRS (Image Recognition Software) of Moodstock’s will be discontinued after joining Google. Also, the team at Moodstocks will be moving over to the R&D center of Google at Paris. Cedric Deltheil and Denis Brule co-founded Moodstocks. The company developed a technology through which objects captured in the cameras of phones can be identified.

Dipa Karmakar crowned ‘World Class Gymnast’ by the IGF (International Gymnastics Federation)

Noted gymnast from India Dipa Karmakar was named as ‘Gymnaste de Classe Mondaile’ (world class gymnast) on 6^th July 2016 by the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation). Dipa received as official letter from the Federation confirming this distinction. Furthermore, she is also the only Indian ever to receive this honor. Dipa hails from Tripura and is a renowned artistic gymnast. She gained worldwide recognition after winning bronze at the GCG (Glasgow Commonwealth Games) 2015. Additionally, she was the first female gymnast from India to win this medal. She also finished fifth at the WAGC (World Artistic Gymnastics Championship). She is also the only female gymnast from India to secure Olympic berth. She will be participating at the Rio Olympics. She was given Arjuna Award in 2015.

Telangana launches HHP (Haritha Haram programme) second phase

Telangana on 8^th July 2016 launched the HHP (Haritha Haram programme) second phase. During the inauguration, Chief Minister of Telangana Chandrasekhar Rao participated in this plantation programme. He planted a sapling of neem. HHP is Telangana’s flagship programme with the aim of increasing tree-cover from the present 24 percent to 33 percent of the state’s geographical area. It is a five-year program.