Daily GK Updates - 3rd September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

  

 I.            PHDCCI launched Intellectual Property Rights Facilitation Centre for MSMEs in Lucknow: PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched Intellectual Property Rights facilitation centre for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The focus of the centre is to nurture innovative activities in the MSME.

II.            Bazmi Husain appointed as Chief Technology Officer of ABB India Ltd.

III.        4^th India-Bhutan Development Cooperation talks for the 11^th Five year plan held in New Delhi: During the talks, both sides reviewed the overall progress of Project Tied Assistance (PTA) projects and agreed to a reprioritized list of projects. Further, the two sides agreed to hold the next Annual Development Cooperation Talks in 2016 in the Bhutanese capital Thimpu.

IV.        2^ndAustrailia-India Defence Minister’s dialogue concluded in New Delhi: The meet was chaired by visiting Australian Minister of Defence Kevin Andrews and Defence Minister ManoharParrikar.

V.          Union Government launched Indian Wind Resource Atlas as an online GIS tool: The atlas will help policy makers at centre and state governments to deal with issues related to tariff fixation, transmission, grade frequency, etc.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  

 I.            Canada entered first technical recession in six years: Pulled by falling energy prices and economic troubles in China, Canadian economy entered into the first technical recession in six years. Technical recession means negative economic growth by a country’s GDP for two consecutive quarters.

 II.       Low cost device to monitor air quality unveiled by UNEP in Nairobi: The United Nations Energy Programme (UNEP) unveiled a low cost device to monitor air quality in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi.

III.        IGAD-Plus brokered Peace Agreement came into effect in South Sudan: IGAD-Plus brokered Agreement on the Resolution of the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan came into effect on 29 August 2015. South Sudan is the youngest nation and came into existence in 2011. The objective of this agreement is to end the inter-ethnic Dinka-Neur conflict that led to the killing of around 1 lakh civilians.

IV.         Logo for 2020 Tokyo Olympics scrapped amid plagiarism accusation: The logo was scrapped amid allegations by a Belgian Graphic Designer Oliver Debie that it was plagiarised from his work.

V.     Russia rejected French proposal to limit veto power of UNSC’s permanent members.

 VI.     HIV prevention drug PrEP showed positive results: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a drug designed to help people at risk of contracting HIV, was in news as the practical tests have shown that people who took the drug stayed HIV-free.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

 I.      Forward Markets Commission to be merged with SEBI with effect from 28^th September 2015: For this purpose, the government repealed the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) 1952 and made a way to shift the Regulation of Commodity Derivatives Market to SEBI under Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA) 1956.

II.            NSE enters into MoU with Stock Exchange of Mauritius: The MoU will facilitate the development of channels for knowledge sharing and developing mutual synergies for the growth and development of SEM (Stock Exchange of Mauritius) and NSE (National Stock Exchange).

III.       ICICI Lombard in Bancassurance tie-up with CSB: ICICI Lombard General Insurance has tied up with Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) for sale of its products through 431 branches of the bank.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

  

 IV.        Book titled ‘Globalisation, Democratization and Distributive Justice’ authored by M C Sharma was released by Vice President Hamid Ansari.

OBITUARIES:

 V.            Disney Star Dean Jones dies at 84.

VI.            Hollywood actress Amanda Peterson dies at the age of 43.