Daily GK Updates - 3rd December, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Nation pays tribute to RajendraPasad on his 131^stbirt anniversary: Remembering Rajendra Prasad, the first President of Independent India on the 131st birth anniversary on 03rd December 2016, Prime Minister NarendraModi said the nation bow to him forhis inspirational guidance in the time when India was getting freedom.Dr.Rajendra Prasad was an eminent freedom fighter, a renowned jurist, an eloquent parliamentarian, an able administrator, a statesman par excellence and above all, a humanist to the core. Dr.Rajendra Prasad, affectionately addressed as ‘RajenBabu’, was born at Village Ziradei in Saran district (now in Siwan) of Bihar on 03 December 1884.

2. Delhi’s airport world’s 22^nd connected : The Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi is the 22nd most connected airport in the world, according to air travel intelligence company OAG. Mumbai Airport has been ranked 28th,while OAG's 2016 Megahubs Index has been topped by Chicago Airport in the United States. Meanwhile, the Atlanta and Dallas Airports, also in the US, have ranked second and third.

3. Kolkata gets best cities award for tackling climate change: Kolkata, along with 10 other cities from across the globe, has been honoured with the best cities of 2016 award in recognition of its programme on solid wastemanagement. Kolkata, the only Indian city to win the honour, received the award during the C40 Mayors Summit held in Mexico. Other cities which won the award include Copenhagen, Sydney, and Paris.

4. Chitra Ramkrishna quits NSE, J.Ravichandran interim chief: Ramkrishna unexpectedly quit as chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange (NSE), ending her 24-year career at the country’s largest bourse that she helped found. Ramkrishna, who took over as head of the exchange in 2013, quit due to personal reasons, J Ravichandran, group president, will be in charge till the board appoints a new CEO.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. International Day of Persons with Disabilities being observed on 3^rd December:

International Day of Persons with Disabilities being observed on 03rd December 2016.Disability Day is a day that has been promoted by the United Nations since 1992. The aim of Disability Day is to encourage a better understanding of people affected by a disability, together with helping to make people more aware of the rights, dignity and welfare of disabled people, as well as raise awareness about the benefits of integrating disabled persons into every aspect of life. The theme of World Disability Day for 2016 is: Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want, which draws attention to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and how these goals can create a more inclusive and equitable world for persons with disabilities.

2. Spanish city changes name for third time in a decade: A Spanish city has changed its name for the third time in adecade, renaming itself Palma from Palma de Mallorca. The regional government voted for the name change, claiming the "de Mallorca" tag to be a leftover from Spain’s centralist past. The city was renamed Palma in 2008, but its name was changed to Palma de Mallorca in 2012.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:                                                                                         

1. RBI defers Aadhaar-enabled devices: RBI defers mandatory implementation of Aadhar-enabled  PoS (Point of Sale) devices till June30,2017. The RBI said banks, authorised card payment networks and white-label ATM operators have time till June 30, 2017, for deployment of Aadhaar-enabled devices. The central bank said the rate of deployment of acceptance infrastructure has slowed owing to the mismatch between demand and supply of such Aadhaar-enabled devices. As there is currently a limited capacity to produce such devices.

2.Airtel Patments Bank to offer Talk-Time on new savings account: Airtel Payments Bank, the first payments bank in India introduce that any customer opening a savings account with it will get one minute of talk time on his/her Airtel mobile for every rupeedeposited.If a customer opens an account with a deposit of Rs1,000 then he/she will get 1,000 minutes of free talk time on his/her Airtel mobile number. The talk time can be used for calling all over India. This benefit is applicable on first time deposits only.The offer will be valid from Airtel to Airtel mobile minutes with a validity period of 30 days. 

3. Ruchi Soya to provide assistance to farmers: Edible oil firm Ruchi Soya Industries in association with State Bank of India (SBI) launched an initiative to provide banking assistance to farmers.To start off, banking assistance will be provided to soybean farmers in Indore, Samwer, Manglia and Ujjain mandis in Madhya Pradesh.The company will further plans to expand this initiative across the country in states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.Under the initiative ‘KisanKalyanAyojan’, the company will help farmers to open bank accounts, procure the produce directly from farmers at the right price and ensure farmers get their payment immediately through internet banking.

SPORTS:

4.Usain Bolt wins a record sixth “Athelte of the Year” award: Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won the International Association of Athletics Federations' award for male athlete of the year for a record sixth time on Friday. He last won the award in 2013, while his first win came in 2008. Bolt, who is undefeated this season in all distances, completed his 'triple-triple' of 100-metres, 200-metres and 4x100-metres Olympic golds in August. 

AWARDS:

5. UAE-based Indian wins International Children’s Peace Prize: A 16-year-old Indian girl based in the UAE has won this year's International Children's Peace Prizevfor her fight for climate justice and combating environmental degradation. KehkashanBasuwaspresented the award by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus at The Hague. At the age of 12, Kehkashan founded her organisation Green Hope, which now has operations in over 10 countries.

Daily GK Updates - 2nd December, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India’s GDP growth stays healthy at 7.3 in Q2: The Central Statistical Office has announced that India’s Gross Domestic Product accelerated to 7.3 % in the second quarter (July-September) of the 2016-17 financial year from a provisional 7.1 % expansion in the previous quarter. On the other hand, the Gross Value Added (GVA) increased to 7.1 percent. While GDP growth accelerated in the second quarter from the 7.1 percent seen in the April-June quarter, GVA growth slowed from the 7.3 percent registered in that period.

2. Union HRD Minister launches “Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan’: Union HRD Minister launches 'Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan' to use the network of Centrally-run educational institutions for propagating the benefits of digital mode of payment in wake of the government’s demonetisation move. 

3. Maharashtra gets its first cashless village: The Maharashtra Finance Minister, Sudhir Mugantiwar announced that Dhasai village in Thane district has become the first "cashless village" in Maharashtra amidst the Centre's push for the digital transaction. All payments in the Dhasai village are being done through plastic money. Traders, vegetable and fruit vendors and others providing goods and services in Dhasai are using swipe machines for cashless transactions.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. UNESCO includes Yoga in Intangible Cultural Heritage list: Yoga, India’s one of the ancient practices to keep oneself healthy, has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was inscribed on the list during the 11th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The declaration describing Yoga as a Human Treasure got unanimous support of the 24 members of the Committee.

2. Nihonium becomes Asia’s first Periodic table element discovery:Chemistry’s highest gatekeepers have accepted the newly proposed names for elements 113(Nihonium), 115(Moscovium), 117( Tennessine) and 118(Oganesson).Periodic Table elements with atomic number 113, Nihonium (Nh) has become the first ever element to be discovered by an Asian country after it was officially revealed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).Along with three other elements that helped to complete the Periodic table, Nihonium was discovered and proposed by the RIKEN collaboration team in Japan.

3. Pak-China start direct rail and freight service: China and Pakistan have launched a direct rail and sea freight service with the first cargo train departing from China’s south-western Yunnan province. The service was launched with the first cargo train loaded with 500 tonnes of commodities left Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, an inland province in south-west China departed for Karachi, state-run Xinhua reported.

4.Emirates launches shortest service on world’s largest Plane:.Emirates launched the world's shortest scheduled service on an Airbus A380, flying it from Dubai to Doha in 80 minutes. The 378-kilometre route is the shortest on which an Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft, is used. The double-decker aircraft has 14 first class suites, 76 business class flat-bed seats and 429 economy class seats.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1.  Magnus Carlsen wins 2016 Worlds Chess Championship:Magnus Carlsen won the 2016 World Chess Championship on 30 November 2016 in New York City, USA.Carlsen defeated Sergey Karjakin to retain the World Chess Champion title. It’s the third time that Carlsen has won the championship.

2.   India’s Football Federation wins Asian Award: The All-India Football Federation has won the Asian Football Council's Developing Member Association of the Year Award in Abu Dhabi.The award is given on the basis of organisation of courses, seminars and competitions, grassroots, youth development and women's programmes and special projects. In 2014, AIFF had earlier won the AFC President's Recognition Award for grassroots football.

AWARDS:

3.  Katy Perry awarded the Humanitarian Award at UNICEF.

Daily GK Updates - 1st December, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography ‘Playing it my way’ named Book of the Year: The autobiography of India’s batting legend Sachin Tendulkar “Playing it my way” has won the prestigious Crossword Book of the Year Award in the Autobiography category. The book is penned by renowned cricket historian and Tendulkar’s close friend BoriaMajumdar.Earlier, it also had entered the Limca Book of World Records for being the best-selling adult hardback across both fiction and non-fiction.

2. Andhra CM Chandrababu to head central committee to promote e-payments: NITI Aayog, under the banner of the Union Government, on 30 November 2016 constituted a 13-member committee to promote cashless economy. The committee will be headed by Andhra Pradesh CM ChandrababuNaidu.The committee will be formed by Chief Ministers of various states representing different political parties to examine and promote the use of digital payment systems across the country.

3. Naveen Patnaik inaugurates Tata Steel’s 55,000 TPA ferro-chrome plant in Gopalpur: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurates the 55,000-tonne per annum (TPA) Odisha ferro-chrome plant set up by Tata Steel at a cost of Rs 542 crore in its Gopalpur Industrial Park in Ganjam district. The plant is a unique environment-friendly unit with state-of-the-art pollution control equipment and technology such as ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant) and STP (Sewage Treatment Plant).

4. National Anthem must be played in theatres before movies, orders Supreme Court: A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy said that “People must show respect to the national anthem and the national flag and pay respect to the anthem.

5. Himachal Pradesh Raj Bhawan adopts cashless system after PM’s appeal: Raj Bhawan of Himachal Pradesh has adopted the cashless system for all kind of payments. Governor Acharya Devvrat has directed Raj Bhawan’s official in Shimla to use a cashless system or cheque in all kinds of payments.

6. 15 new castes to be included in Central OBC list: The Union Government has approved inclusion of 15 new castes and modification of 13 other castes in the Central List of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) on 30 November,2016.

7. Government approves Rs 2,000 crore for displaced families from POK: Union Cabinet has approved Rs 2,000 Cr development package for one-time settlement of 36,384 displaced families from Pakistan occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Chhamb. It followed the announcement of the Prime Minister’s Development Package for Jammu and Kashmir in November last year.

8. Cabinet approves Mumbai Urban Transport Project: The Union Cabinet has approved the Mumbai Urban Transport Project Phase-III estimated to cost Rs 10,947 crores on completion. The Cabinet was chaired by the Prime Minister NarendraModi. The project is expected to be completed in the next five years during 13th Five Year Plan period.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World Aids Day: 1^st December: World AIDS Day is observed across the world on 1st December annually. The theme for 2016 World Aids Day is ‘Hands Up for HIV Prevention’.The day is observed to raise awareness to the Aids pandemic caused by the spread of the HIV infection.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Federal Bank ties up with Spice Digital: Federal Bank has tied up with Spice Digital for cash management services through the bank’s e-collection facility. As per the arrangement, 20,000 plus retail outlets of Spice Digital can now remit its cash collection at the Federal Bank branches pan India.

Daily GK Updates - 30th November, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Akodara in Gujarat becomes India’s first Digital Village: Akodara village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat recently has earned the title of the first digital village in India. The village, which sustains a total population of 1191 people, uses various cashless systems for payments of goods and services. All transactions in the village are carried out through digital modes like net-banking, SMS or debit cards.

2. India’s first cycle highway inaugurated in UP: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has inaugurated India’s first and Asia’s longest bicycle highway between Agra and Etawah in UP. A rally of 90 cyclists from five countries and across India followed the inauguration ceremony at the Lion Safari in Etawah.

3. Bapu’s Charkha among 100 ‘Most Influential Photos of All Time’: A 1946 picture of Mahatma Gandhi with his Charkha (spinning wheel) in the foreground is among the 100 most influential images of all time, according to a compilation by Time magazine of “images that changed the world.” The Time collection includes 100 of the most iconic and history-altering images, dating from the 1820s to 2015 that have remained engrained in the human psyche from the time they were taken.Among the pictures is the tragic photo of the lifeless body of three-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi lying face down on the shore near the coastal town of Bodrum.

4. Lok Sabha passes Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016: It imposes a higher rate of tax and penalty in respect of undisclosed incomes. The Bill proposes to introduce the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan (PMGK) Yojana, 2016.

5. India-born CEOs on Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year list: Four leading India-born CEOs, including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Mastercard’s Ajay Banga, who delivered big in taking their companies ahead, have featured in Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year list topped by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Nadella has been ranked fifth among 50 global corporate heads by Fortune Magazine in its annual ‘Businessperson of the Year’ compilation, followed by CEO of the Milwaukee-based maker of water heaters A O Smith, AjitaRajendra on the 34th spot, HDFC Bank’s Managing Director Aditya Puri on the 36th position and Banga on 40th.

6. M M Kutty appointed as Delhi Chief Secretary.

7. Morgan Stanley lowers India’s Growth Forecast by 40 bps to 7.3% for FY’17: American Morgan Stanley has lowered its growth forecast for FY’17 to 7.3% from 7.7% earlier on account of currency replacement programme.
ii. As global growth accelerates to 3.4% in 2017 from 3% in 2016, Morgan Stanley expects India’s exports to support the overall recovery in 2017 after being a drag in 2016. 2018 will be the first year of recovery in private capacity expansion after six years of a weak trend.

8. Government approves 6 new SEZs for IT, Biotech: The Government of India has approved 6 proposals from four developers to set up a new special economic zona (SEZs) IT and biotechnology across Telangana, Haryana and Karnataka. The decision was taken by the Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia during the board meeting on November 9, 2016. The four developers are Vaxenic India, EON Kharadi Infrastructure, GAR Corporation and KRC Infrastructure.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Bhartiya Mahila Bank merger with SBI cleared: Paving the way for consolidation in the banking sector, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the amalgamation of Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) into State Bank of India (SBI). Both the banks offer various banking products to their retail and corporate customers.

SPORTS:

2. Pankaj Advani claimed bronze medal at IBSF World Snooker Championship: Fifteen-time world champion Pankaj Advani suffered a 2-7 loss in the semifinals against Andrew Pagett of Wales to settle for a bronze medal at the IBSF World Snooker Championship.

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.

Daily GK Updates - 28th November, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. e-Commerce firms like Flipkart and Snapdeal to deduct TCS under GST: As per the new GST law, E-commerce giants Flipkart and Snapdeal will have to deduct 2% TCS(Tax Collected at Source) while making payments to their suppliers and deposited TCS amount with the governmentE-commerce firms like Flipkart and Snapdeal to deduct TCS under GST. The new model GST law provides for 1 per cent TCS and 1 per cent tax levied on inter-state movement of goods. It will not apply to aggregators like Ola,Uber etc.

2. UNESCO Salon Competition: Toonz wins award for ‘Magical Piano’: 'Magical Piano', a short film by the Toonz Media Group has won an award at the prestigious UNESCO Salon Youth Video Competition 2016. Dr Avaneesh, Head of Development, Toonz Media Group received the award from Salon Films Chairman Fred Wang and UNESCO chief of Public Relations and Partnerships, Armelle  Arrou.  ‘Magical Piano’ is the story of a child who receives a magical piano for his birthday. The story was written by Mayul Verma from Agra, India.

3. Delhi has overtaken Mumbai to become India’s economic capital: Oxford Economics Study: According to data released by Oxford Economics, Mumbai is at number 31 among 50 top metropolitan economic entities globally in 2015, while Delhi is at 30. The Delhi extended urban agglomeration (EUA) had a Gross domestic product (GDP) at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of $370 billion.Mumbai EUA had a GDP of $368 billion.

4. PM Modi flags off state of art Hamsafar train from Kushinagar, UP: PM NarendraModi flagged off the Humsafar train between Gorakhpur and Delhi`s AnandVihar terminus from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh.

5. Railways and IRCTC include transgender as the third gender: Indian Railways and IRCTC have included "transgender as the third gender" in the option alongside male and female in ticket reservation and cancellation forms.

6. PM launches Indian Police app that helps you locate nearest police stations:An app launched by Prime Minister NarendraModi on 27th November helps the citizen locate the nearest police stations wherever he or she is Not just that, the Indian Police app provides the names of the police stations, the telephone numbers, the distance from the place where you are and how much time it will take to reach whichever police station one wants to go to.

7. Amitabh Bachchan starrer Pink to be screened at UN Headquarters on Special Invitation: Pink, the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Bollywood film, has been invited by the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for a special screening at its headquarters in New York, USA.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Pakistan appoints Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa as Army Chief of Staff: Lt. Gen Qamar Bajwa has been appointed as the chief of Pakistan Army by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He will replace Gen Raheel Sharif who will retire on November 29, 2016.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:                                 

1. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board sets up two advisory panels: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has sets up 2 high-level committees under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to consolidate and amend laws relating to reorganisation as well as insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner.The Advisory committee on service providers consists of 9 members; the panel is led by educationist Mohandas Pai. Corporate insolvency and liquidation panel is chaired by noted banker UdayKotak.

2. Ola teams up with SBI, PNB for setting up mobile ATMs: Indian online transportation Network Company Ola cabs has tied up with lenders like State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) to set up mobile ATM in the cab to help people withdraw cash easily. Ola will first introduce the service on the test basis in its cabin Kolkata and Hyderabad where the taxis with POS machine and a bank officer will be parked at different locations and an amount of Rs. 2,000 can be withdrawn per card.

SPORTS:

3. IAS officer wins gold in Para-Badminton Championship: Uttar Pradesh-based IAS officer Suhas LY won the Asian Para-Badminton Championships in Beijing after defeating Indonesia's Harry Susanto 21-4, 21-11 in the final.

OBITUARIES:

4. Marathi litterateur Anand Yadav passes away at the age of 80.

Daily GK Updates - 27th November, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. RBI introduces Incremental CRR to manage excess liquidity in Banking System: In order to absorb the surge in liquidity in banking system following demonetisation of high value notes, the Reserve Bank introduced an incremental Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of 100 per cent for the fortnight which began from 26th November 2016. CRR is the portion of the deposits which banks are required to park to the RBI. Currently it is at 4 per cent.

2. IFFI nominates 8 movies for ICET UNESCO Gandhi Medal: The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has nominated eight movies for this year’s International Council for Film, Television and Audio-visual Communication UNESCO Gandhi Medal. Festival Director Senthil Rajan said,Allama is the only Indian film competing for the prestigious award. The remaining seven are from Canada, Spain, Iran, Turkey, Israel, The Netherlands and Latvia. All 8 films are being screened at the ongoing IFFI in Panaji, Goa.

3. Assam Hill Station to host festival on sports, culture: Assam's picturesque hill station Haflong will host the three-day 'Judima Festival' next month. The theme of the festival, to be held on December 18-20, will be centered on preservation, promotion and nurturing of ethnic culture, music, dance, craft and folk-art of Dimasa tribals living in Dima Hasao district of the state.

4. Jharkhand adopts new bill to curb job racket: The Jharkhand government has introduced a strict law against placement agencies to rein in those involved in exploiting people on the pretext of giving employment outside the state. The government framed ‘Jharkhand Nizi Niyozan Abhikaran and Gharelu Kamgar (viniyam) vidheyak 2016 (Jharkhand private employment agency and domestic employee bill) which was passed by the assembly recently..

5. Old Rs 500 notes valid for stamp purchase in UP till December 15: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to allow old currency notes of Rs 500 for purchasing stamps. Giving this information, Inspector General of Registration Anil Kumar said that in this regard necessary orders have been issued.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. New Zealand and Australia most searched by Indian Travellers: Skyscanner has drawn comparisons between travel searches from 2015 and 2016, highlighting the places where Indian travellers will be ushering in 2017. Crunching numbers from over 50 million users every month, New Zealand emerged as a favourite among Indian travellers, witnessing a growth of 52 per cent in travel searches from last year. With a host of airlines offering economical deals to the country, New Zealand is now well within the reach of the aspriring traveller.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Sachin 3^rd Indian Boxer to win gold at Youth World Championship: Sachin Singh became only the third Indian boxer to win a gold medal at the Youth World Championships after registering a 5-0 unanimous win over Cuba's Jorge Grinan in St. Petersburg, Russia. The 16-year-old boxer, who fought in the 46-49 kg weight category, will be given Rs.1 lakh as a reward for his performance at the championship.

2. PV Sindhu loses Hong Kong Open Super Series Final: She lost to fourth seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, in straight games, 15-21 and 17-21. This was Ying's fifth victory over Sindhu. The ace Indian has defeated the Taiwanese thrice in the past.