ASSAM

Assam: 173-year-old church to reopen this week

Considered by some to be the oldest church in the northeast, the Christ Church nestled in the city’s Nehru Park will mark a new beginning. The 173-year-old structure has been renovated by the church’s modest congregation, which cuts across religious lines.

The church will open its doors to the public on Thursday for the first post-restoration service. The first service here was held in the 1840s. Pooling in their own resources, it took the 50 members of the church the last four-five months to achieve the impossible and make the church regain its former glory.

Christ Church was founded in 1844 and consecrated in 1850. The church was destroyed twice by two powerful earthquakes which ravaged the state in the middle of the 19th century. The first church building collapsed during the 1856 earthquake and was rebuilt by 1861. The second building collapsed during the earthquake of 1897 and was rebuilt by 1901. This second building underwent a renovation in the late 1970s.

INTERNATIONAL

Saudi Arabia bestows humanoid robot with citizenship

A humanoid named Sophia has made history by becoming the first robot in the world to be granted citizenship.

Saudi Arabia offered citizenship to the robot, designed by entrepreneur David Hanson.

The particulars of the citizenship were not discussed, and it’s not clear if Sophia will have the same rights as a human Saudi Arabian citizen.

· Qatar Introduces Minimum Wage for First Time

The tiny Gulf state host of the 2022 football World Cup Qatar committed that it will introduce a minimum wage for workers in the country.
The announcement was made by labour and social affairs minister Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi.
The announcement came a day before a meeting of the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO)

· India has 3rd Highest Number of Family-Owned Businesses

Indiahas 108 publicly-listed family-owned businesses, third highest in the world, while China tops the tally with 167 such companies followed by the US which has 121, according to the Credit Suisse report.
As per the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s (CSRI) latest “CS Family 1000” report, with an average market capitalisation of USD 6.5 billion, India ranks 5th in Asia Pacific excluding Japan, and 22nd globally, in terms of average m-cap.

NATIONAL

Letters of Intent’ for 14 monuments under ‘Adopt a Heritage Scheme

Seven shortlisted companies were given ‘Letters of Intent’ for fourteen monuments under ‘Adopt a Heritage Scheme’ of Ministry of Tourism at the closing ceremony of ‘Paryatan Parv’ at Rajpath Lawns, New Delhi.

These companies will be the future ‘Monument Mitras’ who would associate pride with their CSR activities.

SBI Foundation shortlisted for the adoption of – Jantar Mantar, Delhi.

NBCC shortlisted for the adoption of Purana Quila, Delhi.

The ‘Adopt a Heritage Scheme’ of Ministry of Tourism was launched on World Tourism Day i.e. 27thSeptember, 2017 by the President of India.

· Indian Navy approves new mission-based deployment plan

During the ongoing Naval Commanders’ Conference, Indian Navy approved a “new mission-based deployment” planunder which mission-ready ships and aircrafts will be deployed along critical sea lanes of communications.

A new transition cycle for ships from maintenance periods to operational deployments has also been approved by Chief Admiral Suni Lanba.

Several operational issues and efforts to make Indian Navy self-reliant and modernize its warfare capability were also discussed at the conference.

· Piyush Goyal launches first set of solar plants with capacity of 5 MW

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal launched the first set of solar plants with a total capacity of5 megawatt in New Delhi area.
The project is part of the government’s National Solar Mission in which Indian Railways plans to commission one thousand Megawatt solar plants across its network.
The railways are working towards speeding up its electrification and road-map for identifying various solutions to achieve larger goal of transforming Railways as a 100 per cent de-carbonised and most energy efficient.

· Gokul Natesan Second Indian-Origin Player to be Signed by NBA G-League Side

Gokul Natesan is the 97th pick in the NBA draft to became only the second Indian-origin player to be signed by an NBA G-League side.
Amjyot Singh recently became the third Indian to walk into the National Basketball Association (NBA) league.
The Managing Director for India of NBA is Yannick Colaco.

· Puducherry Becomes an Associate Member of BCCI

TheCricket Association of Puducherry (CAP) was chosen by the Committee of Administrators (CoA)as an associate member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
This means Puducherry will be allowed to play the Ranji Trophy in 2018.

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