Daily GK Updates - 29th November, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Goa to become India’s first cashless state: The Indian state of Goa prepares itself to become the first state to operate cashless in the country from 31 December 2016. This announcement was made by Defence Minister ManoharParrikar, who is also the former Chief Minister of the state, during a rally at Sankhali on 25 November 2016.

2. Lt-Gen A K Bhat appointed as new DGMO: Lt-General A K Bhatt was on 28 November 2016 appointed as the Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO). Lt-Gen Bhatt will succeed Lt-General Ranbir Singh, who declared at a press briefing that Army Special Forces had conducted surgical strikes against terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on 29 September 2016.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Susan Kiefel becomes first woman appointed as high court justice in Australia:Susan Kiefel has been named Australia's first female High Court chief justice – ending 113 years of men leading the nation's highest court.After months of speculation about who would replace retiring Chief Robert French, the Turnbull government appointed serving High Court Justice Kiefel to the role. 

2. Plane carrying Brazilian footballers crashes in Colombia: A chartered plane with 81 people on board, including members of Brazilian football club Chapecoense, crashed in Colombia on 28 November 2016, with all of them feared dead. The plane was travelling from Bolivia to Medellín, where the team was scheduled to play the Copa Sudamericana's final, which is considered as the second most prestigious club competition in South American football.

3. Dictionary.com’s 2016 Word of the Year is Xenophobia: The website Dictionary.com named the word 'Xenophobia' as the Word of the Year for 2016. According to Dictionary.com, there was a massive surge in lookups for the word 'Xenophobia' that was larger than any of the peaks seen in 2016.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. RBL Bank ties up with Bajaj Finance for co-branded credit cards: The first of these credit cards is proposed to be launched in the fourth quarter of FY17. The co-branded cards are targeted at the large segment of people in metros and non-metros who have no credit cards.

2. Utkarsh Micro Finance gets final nod to set up Small Finance Bank:Varanasi-based micro-finance institution, Utkarsh Micro Finance has received the final license from The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start operations as Small Finance Bank (SFB). In October 2015, Utkarsh Micro Finance had got the "in-principle" approval to set up SFB as per the guidelines issued by the RBI.

SPORTS:

3. Argentina win their first ever Davis Cup: Argentina has won its maiden Davis Cup title after defeating Croatia in the final. In the final match, Argentina’s Federico Delbonis defeated Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to give Argentina its first title.