Daily GK Updates - 22nd December, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Emami ropes in Sania Mirza as brand ambassador of Kesh King Hair oil and shampoo.

2. Parthasarathi Mukherjee appointed as MD and CEO of Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

3. Cochin Shipyard Limited became first licensed Indian shipyard to make LNG ships: CSL received certification to build LNG-transporting ships for any client world-wide making it the first shipyard in India to get the nod. The shipyard successfully completed a Mark-III Flex Mock-up, which has been certified by the GaztransportetTechnigaz (GTT), France, thereby completing all requirements to be licensed by GTT.

4. Delhi Government appointed Gopal Subramanium Commission on DDCA scam: The commission will probe the alleged financial irregularities by the administrators of the DDCA.

5. Odisha Government launched Anwesha scheme to provide free education to SC/ST students: Under the scheme, 5000 SC and ST children will annually be enrolled into Standard I in leading private schools in urban areas of the state.

6. Search engine giant Yahoo named Cow as the Personality of the Year 2015.

7. National Mathematics Day observed on 22^nd December 2015 to commemorate birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

8. Digital media company Arre acquired Apalya Technologies: Arre, the digital media brand of UDigital, a venture found by Ronnie Screwvala, B Saikumar and Ajay Chacko announced the acquisition of Apalya Technologies.

9. Gurgaon based on-demand grocery service PepperTap acquired Bengaluru based hyper-local grocery delivery start-up Jiffstore in a cash and stock deal.

10. Union HRD Ministry launched the 6^th All India Survey on Higher Education: The survey covers all the Higher Education (HE) institutions of the country including universities, colleges and stand-alone institutions from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indian-American named Secretary of Texas’ Engineering Board: Sockalingam ‘Sam’ Kannappan, a professional engineer and senior design engineer for SNC Lavalin Hydrocarbons and Chemicals has been appointed as the Secretary of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers that licenses qualified engineers and regulates the practice of professional engineering in the USA.

2. 10^th WTO Ministerial Conference adopted Nairobi Package: The five day long 10^th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference concluded in Nairobi, Kenya.The conference concluded with the adoption of the Nairobi Package that is aimed at benefitting organisation’s poorest members.

3. EU extended economic sanctions against Russia for 6 months: It has extended its economic sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the Ukraine crisis.The 28-member body renewed the sanctions until 31 July 2016.

4. SpaceX successfully launched and landed Falcon 9 rocket:  American Space Company SpaceX achieved a historic feat of successfully launching and landing Falcon 9 rocket. It is the 1^st time in the history of rocketry that a rocket has returned back after delivering a spacecraft to its orbit, so that it could potentially fly again.

5. Nepal Cabinet decided to amend constitution to address Madhesis’ demands: The Government of Nepal decided to amend the constitution to address the key demands of agitating Madhesis regarding proportional representation and constituency delimitation.

6. Australian Sea Snake species Aipysurusfoliosquama and Aipysurusapraefrontalis rediscovered by a team of scientists from James Cook University, Australia.

7. UNSC extended sanctions against Taliban in Afghanistan: The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2255 (2015) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

8. China launched DAMPE satellite to shed light on mysterious dark matter: China launched the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite to shed light on mysterious dark matter.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. New Zealand Captain Brendon McCullum announced retirement from all forms of cricket.

AWARDS:

2. MalayalaManorama Journalist picked for IPI India Award: Shajil Kumar of Malayala Manorama has been chosen for this year’s International Press Institute (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism for his outstanding work on ‘endangered tribal communities’ who live on the slopes of Western Ghats in Kerala.

3. Andy Murray won 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.