Current Affairs in Short: 11 June 2018

UNSC elects 5 non-permanent members for two-year term

• The United Nations General Assembly voted to elect Germany, Belgium, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia for a two-year term in the Security Council with effect from January 1, 2019.
• The council makes legally binding decisions and has the power to impose sanctions and authorise the use of force.
• The General Assembly elects five new members every year.

WIPO notifies declaration by India

• The World Intellectual Property Organization notified a declaration referring to the deposit by India, on October 7, 1974, of its instrument of ratification on the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
• India has been the Member of Berne Convention since April 28, 1928.
• The said declaration entered into force on March 28, 2018.

Milky Way disc much bigger than thought

• Scientists recently discovered that it will take us 200000 years to cross the Milky Way disc, even if we travel at the speed of light.
• Spiral galaxies, such as the Milky Way, have discs which are really thin.
• These discs are limited in sizeso that beyond certain radius, there are very few stars left.

8 States to implement ‘Ayushman Bharat’

• Eight States and four Union Territories signed MoUs with the Union Health Ministry to implement the government’s ambitious national health protection mission — Ayushman Bharat.
• Ayushman Bharat aims to provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family annually to 10 crore vulnerable families.
• The scheme will be available at the point of service in public and private empanelled hospitals.

Sunil Mehta Committee to set up Asset Reconstruction Company

• Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced setting up of a committee to give recommendations on formation of an Asset Reconstruction Company.
• The committee will give recommendations in two weeks for faster resolution of stressed accounts.
• The committee was formed under Chairmanship of Sunil Mehta, non-executive chairman of Punjab National Bank.

1st Indian-made artillery gun Dhanush clears final test

• India’s first indigenous artillery gun ‘Dhanush’ cleared its final test and is ready to be inducted into the Indian Army.
• Earlier this month, fifty rounds of shells each were fired from six Dhanush guns.
• These guns are reportedly called ‘desi Bofors’.

Andhra Pradesh declared as open-defecation free

• Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu has declared the state Open-Defecation Free after achieving the goal of constructing 2.77 lakh individual toilets.
• Notably, the state’s urban areas were declared ODF in 2016.