28th April 2016

A.Mouamba Clement appointed as Prime Minister of Congo 

1.Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso has appointed Mouamba Clement as the new Prime Minister of the central African country. 

2.With this appointment, Clement will be responsible for forming a new government in accordance with the 2015 constitution in consultation with the President. 

3.His appointment comes a month after Sassou Nguesso was elected as President for a 5 year term. 

4.Earlier Sassou Nguesso had led Congo between 1979 and 1992 and again had returned to power after a civil war in 1997. 

About Mouamba Clement 
1.Mouamba Clement is an economist and had served as the officer of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) in the 1980s. 

2.Between 1992 and 1993, he had served as finance minister of Congo under the country’s first elected President Pascal Lissouba. 

3.He has also served as the opposition leader into the government. He was a senior member of the opposition Pan-African Union for Social Democracy party but was expelled in 2015.

B.India, France launch $1 Trillion Potential Solar Programme under ISA 

1.India and France have launched a programme with $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under the International Solar Alliance (ISA). 

2.It is a solar finance programme that aims at helping developing countries to fully harness their solar resources for a clean energy future. 

3.It was announced by Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal and French Environment Minister Segolene Royal at the ministerial side event on ISA at the United Nations. 

4.The solar finance programme aims at lowering the cost of finance and facilitates the flow of more than 1 trillion dollars investment to members of the ISA. 

5.Both countries also launched a second programme at the ISA meeting which aims to make available solar technology for farmers. 

6.The meeting was attended by representatives of over 25 countries including the US, Bangladesh, Brazil and Nigeria. 

About International Solar Alliance (ISA) 
1.The ISA was launched at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Summit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande. 

2.It seeks to empower solar-rich countries located between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn to make collaborative efforts to harness solar energy to generate the electricity. 

3.Under this alliance, 121 countries that fall within the tropics have been invited. Most of these countries fall within Asia, Africa and South America. Three Objectives: (i) To force down prices by driving demand, (ii) To bring standardization in solar technologies and thirdly and (iii) To foster research and development.

C.Rafael Nadal wins 2016 Barcelona Open 

1.Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal (World No 5) from Spain has won the 2016 Barcelona Open title of Tennis. 


2.It was Nadal’s overall 9th Barcelona Open title and 69th win from 101 finals on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour. 

3.He also has now won his first 10 matches of the European clay-court 2016 season. In the final match played at in Barcelona, Spain he defeated Kei Nishikori (World No 6) of Japan in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. 

4.With this victory, Nadal has equalled Guillermo Vilas’ decade’s old record of 49 clay-court titles. 

5.Guillermo Vilas from Argentina had bagged 49 clay-court titles in 1970s and early 1980s. In tennis Nadal is famously known as the King of Clay. 

6.So far, Rafael Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, 28 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and 16 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments. 

7.He also had won 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles.  in Current Affairs 2016, Persons in News, Sports