1) Piyush Goyal New Rail Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman Gets Defence
•Piyush Goyal has been appointed as the Union Railway Minister after being inducted into the Union Cabinet. He replaced former Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who had earlier offered to resign following multiple train derailments. Further, Nirmala Sitharaman was given the Defence Ministry, becoming only the second woman to hold the post after Indira Gandhi.
•Nirmala Sitharaman emerged as the biggest gainer of the cabinet reshuffle as Prime Minister Modi gave her the heavyweight Defence portfolio.
2) Narendra Modi Cabinet reshuffled- 9 New Faces as Ministers
•Nine new Ministers of state were inducted into the Union Council of Ministers. Four Ministers of state were elevated to the cabinet rank. They are Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State For Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to them at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The portfolios of the Ministers will be announced later.
•Here is the 9 New Ministers, who take oath-
1. Former IFS officer Hardeep Puri
2. Former Mumbai Police chief Satyapal Singh
3. Former IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam
4. Lok Sabha MP's from Madhya Pradesh Virendra Kumar
5. From Karnataka Anant Kumar Hegde
6. From Rajasthan Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
7. From Bihar Ashwini Kumar Choubey
8. From Bihar Raj Kumar Singh and
9. Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Shiv Pratap Shukla
3) Five banks of BRICS Nations Sign Pact for Credit Lines: Report
•Five banks of the BRICS Bank Cooperation Mechanism have agreed to establish credit lines in the national currencies and cooperate on credit ratings. The agreement to this effect was signed ahead of the BRICS Summit in China’s Xiamen city.
•Brazilian Development Bank, Vnesheconombank, Export-Import Bank of India, China Development Bank and Development Bank of South Africa signed the agreement in Beijing. Ahead of the BRICS summit, the New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries has approved 1.4 billion US dollar loans for sustainable development projects in India, Russia and China.
4) Government Issues Alert on Spread of 'Locky Ransomware'
•The government has issued an alert on the spread of new malware 'Locky Ransomware' that can lock computers and demand ransom for unlocking them. Electronics and IT Additional Secretary Ajay Kumar tweeted that an alert regarding spam spreading Locky Ransomware was issued by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.
•Ransomware is a malicious software and the Locky Ransomware is learnt to be demanding the ransom of half Bitcoin,which at present rate is equivalent to over Rs 1.5 lakh.
5) Kenneth I. Juster Named U.S Ambassador to India
•Kenneth I. Juster, deputy director of the National Economic Council at the White House, has been nominated as thenext U.S ambassador to India.
•The appointment will take effect once the U.S Senate confirms him. The post has been vacant since January 20, 2017.
6) Hockey India Sacks Chief Coach Oltmans
•Hockey India has sacked national coach Roelant Oltmans after a string of unimpressive outings at the international level. High-Performance Director David John will be in charge till a suitable replacement is found for a smooth transition of the men’s team.
•The decision was taken during the three-day meeting of the Hockey India High Performance and Development Committee, which concluded.
