Daily GK Updates - 3rd February, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Invest Karnataka Meet 2016: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah urged the global investor community at ‘Invest Karnataka 2016’ to consider Karnataka as their partner for growth. He pointed out that Bengaluru is the only Indian city to be ranked amongst the 20 Start-up Eco-systems in the World. 

2. Vice President visits Thailand: Vice President Hamid Ansari reached Thailand on a three-day visit during which he will hold discussions on a range of issues with the country’s top leadership to boost bilateral ties.

3. Titli became first Indian film to win Best Foreign Film award by French Syndicate of Cinema Critics 2016 (FSCC).

4. Reliance Entertainment and film maker producer duo Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia’s Friday Filworks join hands to form film production venture named Plan C Studios.

5. Haryana, Ontario ink pact for cooperation: Haryana and the province of Ontario in Canada inked pact for enhancing commercial and cultural ties.

6. ZTE Soft inks pact with Andhra Pradesh: Chinese Telecom Company ZTE has inked pact with the Andhra Pradesh government to work on smart city projects in the state.

7. H L Samariya given additional charge Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC).

8. R S Reddy appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court.

9. R S Mann appointed as the Chairman of 6^th Punjab Pay Commission.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon appointed Retd. Major General Jai Shanker Menon as the head of a key United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) stationed in Golan to maintain the ceasefire between Israeli and Syrian forces.

2. TCS rated world’s most powerful brand in IT Services as per Brand Finance’s 2016 annual report.

3. UK granted licence to use gene editing techniques on human embryos: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) of United Kingdom granted licence to the Francis Crick Institute to use new gene editing techniques on human embryos.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Kerala emerged as the winner of 61^st National School Athletics championships held at Kozhikode, Kerala.

AWARDS:

2. Amitabh Bachchan conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award at the NDTV Indian of the Year Awards for his contribution to the Indian film industry.

OBITUARIES:

3. Former Deputy Governor S S Tarapore passed away at the age of 80.

4. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar passed away at the age of 92.

5. Veteran Urdu writer Intizar Hussain died at the age of 92.