The Central Excise Day (CED) is celebrated on which date in India ?

 

The 22nd edition of Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) has started at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on July 6, 2017 and will continue till July 9, 2017. Athlete Tintu Luka was the flag bearer for the Indian contingent which received a rousing welcome from the crowd. Odia athlete Srabani Nanda had the honour of taking the oath on behalf of athletes at the inaugural ceremony. Over 1,200 athletes and officials from 43 countries in Asia witnessed the largest sporting event. The official mascot of the Championship is “Olly Turtle” that represents the famous Olive Ridley sea turtle.

Sharjah, the city of United Arab Emirates (UAE), has been designated as the UNESCO World Book Capital 2019 by Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, at the Headquarters of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) at La Haye. The honour is in recognition of the Emirate’s pioneering role in supporting and expanding the local and regional publishing industries, promoting reading to become an intrinsic cultural practice, as well as embracing inter-cultural, knowledge-based dialogue. Sharjah was the first emirate in UAE to establish a formal school and a library. It was also the first emirate to house many cultural institutions like the Emirates Publishers Association and the Emirates’ writers Union. Sharjah is the 19th city to become World Book Capital. It is preceded by Conakry in 2017 and Athens in 2018.

Luanda, the capital of Angola, has topped the list of most expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer’s 23rd annual Cost of Living Survey. Hong Kong has acquired 2nd position, followed by Tokyo, Zurich, Singapore, Seoul and Geneva. From India, Mumbai is the most expensive city for expatriates that has ranked 57th on the list, followed by New Delhi (99), Chennai (135), Bangalore (166) and Kolkata (184). The Mercer’s survey includes 209 cities across five continents. The world’s least expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer’s survey, are Tunis (209), Bishkek (208) and Skopje (206). Mercer’s authoritative survey is one of the world’s most comprehensive, and is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

In a first, China is planning to send mini-ecosystems — containing potato seeds and silkworm eggs — to the Moon next year, in an attempt to study how the organisms develop on the lunar surface. The 3-kilogramme mini-ecosystem, developed by research teams led by Chongqing University in China, will be sent to the Moon by the Chang’e 4 scheduled to be launched in 2018, authorities announced at the Global Space Exploration Conference. An 18-centimetre-tall cylinder will carry potato seeds and silkworm eggs to be incubated.

Bengaluru has became the second city in the country, and the first in south India, to have a full-fledged Metro rail in operation following the opening of a final 12-km section of the 42-km first phase of the Metro project. The first phase, comprising an 18-km east-west line and a 24-km north-south line, built at a cost of Rs 13,845 crore, was dedicated to the nation by President Pranab Mukherjee at an event in Bengaluru.