India’s Q4 GDP growth likely at 7.4%: Icra report

  • Rating agency Icra has estimated that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2017-18 will be 7.4%.
  • This will be an increase from 7.2% in the 3rd quarter of the fiscal.
  • The agency made it rating because of a good rabi crop harvest and improved corporate earnings.

India receives first cargo for Mangalore Strategic Petroleum Reserve from Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC

  • India received its first crude oil cargo shipment from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) at Mangalore.
  • The shipment is the first under an agreement to allow ADNOC to store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India’s SPR facility at Mangalore.
  • The first shipment include 2 million barrels.
  • ADNOC will bring in additional crude oil barrels later this year.
  • This is the first time that a private foreign entity is filling up an Indian SPR cavern with crude oil.
  • According to the agreement, during an emergency oil shortage, the Indian government can use the entire available crude oil stored by ADNOC in the Mangalore SPR facility for its use.

Arunachal’s first commercial flight lands at Pasighat airport

  • Arunachal Pradesh has seen its first commercial flight land at Pasighat Airport, or Advance Landing Ground (ALG), in East Siang district.
  • The flight was a 42-seater ATR aircraft of the Alliance Airlines and carried 25 passengers including chief minister Pema Khandu.
  • It had taken off from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport in Guwahati and took 1.5 hours to get to Pasighat.

Madhya Pradesh launches ‘My MP Rojgar Portal’ for jobs for youths

  • Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, launched ‘My MP Rojgar Portal’ to provide youths with jobs.
  • Jobs will be provided to youths based on their educational qualification, skills and interest.
  • The portal will ensure availability of able candidates to employers depending on the need of their businesses.
  • The portal was launched as a part of the ‘Ham Chhu Lenge Asman’ Mukhyamantri Career Counselling programme ‘Pahal,’ in Bhopal’s Model School.

NY Stock Exchange names 1st ever woman chief in 226-year history

  • The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has named a woman as its president for the first time in the history of the 226-year-old exchange.
  • Stacey Cunningham, who was previously chief operating officer (COO), will take over from Tom Farley.
  • Cunningham became COO in June 2015, and she will begin as president on May 25th.
  • America’s two leading stock exchanges will be led by women, after Adena Friedman took over as CEO of Nasdaq in January 2017.

SBI reports loss of Rs.7,718 crore in Q4: Report

  • Owing to higher provisions, State Bank of India (SBI) reported a whopping net loss of Rs.7,718 crore for the fiscal quarter that ended in March 2018.
  • Just a year ago, SBI reported a net profit of Rs.2,815 crore.
  • This is the second-largest quarterly loss reported by an Indian bank. Punjab National Bank has recorded the largest ever loss of Rs.13,417 crore.
  • This is the second consecutive quarterly loss for SBI. It had registered a net loss of Rs.2,416 crore for the December 2017 quarter.

Habitat loss may have triggered Nipah outbreak: WHO report

  • According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), habitat loss due to deforestation and climate change could have set off infectious outbreaks such as recent Nipah cases in Kerala.
  • Habitat destruction can lead to greater stress on the fruit bat (also known as the flying fox), leading to a weak immune system. This can cause the virus to intensify in animal populations, increasing the chance of the virus jumping the species barrier to humans.
  • Also, loss of habitat brings bats closer to urban areas, also increasing the chances of human contact with the animal virus.