World
Alibaba to Launch E-Commerce Satellite
China’s online marketing giant Alibaba plans to launch the world’s first e-commerce satellite next year.
It will aim to provide people with the best vegetables after analysing agricultural cultivation & harvesting data.
The company aims to develop a series of customised products with the help of satellites.
The project is in cooperation with China Academy of Launch Vehicle & China Space Museum.
World’s 1st Zero-Emission Train Unveiled
French company Alstom unveiled a zero-emission train powered by hydrogen at the InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin.
The hydrogen train called the Coradia iLint will be running from Dec 2017 in Germany.
The new train is CO2-emission-free & is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, stored in a hydrogen fuel tank on the roof of the train.
The train produces just steam and water as opposed to greenhouse gases.
Indian-origin Get Humanities Medal in the US
An Indian-American physician & author, Abraham Varghese has been presented with the National Humanities Medal by President Obama.
He was presented with the medal for his contribution in the field of medicine.
Currently, he is a professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine.
The award recognizes individuals whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience.
Obama Vetoes 9/11 Victims Bill
US President Obama has vetoed a bill that would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government.
President Obama said the law would be detrimental to US national interests.
Saudi Arabia foreign minister had warned that the bill could cause his govt to withdraw US investments.
If the bill became law, it would allow victims’ families to sue any member of the government of Saudi Arabia.
India
IAF Successfully Test Fires MICA Missile
Indian Air Force has successfully fired recently acquired long-range air-to-air MICA missile from Mirage-2000 Upgrade combat aircraft.
The missile achieved a direct hit on a target.
IAF has become one of the few air forces in the world with the capability of such beyond visual range air-to-air missile.
The MICA is an anti-air multi-target,fire-and-forget short and medium-range missile system.
India, France Ink Deal for Rafale Jets
India & France signed an around Rs 59,000 crore deal for 36 Rafale fighter.
The Agreement was signed by Manohar Parrikar & French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian.
Under the deal, there is a 50% offset clause under which French industry will invest half of the contract value back in the country.
The features that make the Rafale a strategic weapon is its Beyond Visual Range Meteor missile.
20th India-International Sea Food Show
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated the 20th India International Seafood Show 2016 at Vishakapatnam along with Nirmala Sitharaman.
It is aimed to boost the country’s aquaculture industry with the US, EU, Southeast Asia, Japan & China as major sea food partners.
The theme of IISS 2016 will be Safe and Sustainable Indian Aquaculture.
The first seafood show was held at Mumbai in 1973.
India & Russia Kick off Military Exercise
India & Russia kicked off a joint military exercise Indra in Vladivostok,Russia.
This is the eighth edition of Exercise Indra,which has been held since 2003.
The main focus of this edition of the joint drills is on Counter-Terrorism Operations in semi-mountainous & jungle terrain.
Each side has fielded 250 soldiers for the 11-day wargame,aimed at achieving interoperability in joint operations.
Awards & Appointments
White Helmets Win Right Livelihood Award
The Syria Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue service also known as the White Helmets, has won this year’s Right Livelihood Award.
The three other recipients sharing the prize are Mozn Hassan, an Egyptian feminist; Svetlana Gannushkina, a Russian human rights activist & Cumhuriyet, a Turkish newspaper.
The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull.
Vijay Kelkar Elected President of ISI
Former petroleum secretary Vijay Kelkar has been elected president of the prestigious Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).
He succeeded former RBI governor C Rangarajan.
He was elected at the general body meeting of the institute, which functions under the Ministry of Statistics & Programme.
ISI is an academic institute of national importance as recognised by a 1959 act of the Indian parliament.
Sudhir Pratap Singh Named New NSG chief
Senior IPS officers Sudhir Pratap Singh & O P Singh were appointed as Directors General of National Security Guard (NSG) & Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) respectively.
P Singh is a 1983-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre & at present working as Director General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Sudhir Pratap Singh is a 1983 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre.
OPGC Bags Gold in Asian Power Awards
The Odisha Power Generation Corporation Ltd. (OPGC) has clinched the much coveted “Gold Award” in the Category “Power Plant Upgrade of the Year” in Asian Power Awards 2016.
The award ceremony was held at held in Seoul,South Korea.
It is the most prestigious awards in Asia & is dubbed as the Oscars of the power industry.
OPGC earned this award for Pressure Reducing & De-Superheating System.
Sanjiv Singh is New Chairman of IOC
Sanjiv Singh will be the new Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
He has been Director of Refineries at IOC since July 1, 2014.
He will replace B Ashok on his superannuation at end of May 2017.
He will have three-year tenure at the helms of India’s largest oil refining and marketing company.
IOC is also the nation’s biggest company by revenue.
Sports
India 3rd in ICC ODI Standings
India were placed third in the latest ICC ODI rankings released in Dubai.
With 110 points, they were behind Australia and New Zealand.
In the batting list, India’s mainstay Virat Kohli holds the second position with 813 points.
He is behind South African talisman AB de Villiers.
No Indian bowler features in the ODI chart & there is no one from the country in the all rounder list as well.
Business & Economy
Apple Joins Global Initiative RE 100
Apple Inc has joined global renewable energy initiative RE100.
Apple is already powering its operations with 100% renewable energy.
RE100 is a collaborative, global initiative of influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
Companies joining RE100 are encouraged to set a public goal to procure 100% of their electricity from renewable sources of energy by a specified year.
Ftcash Ties up with ICICI Bank
Ftcash has tied up with ICICI Bank to launch Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for merchants.
Ftcash is a virtual POS for micro-merchants to accept payments through credit cards, debit cards & wallets.
It will enable to provide flexibility to merchants to accept electronic payments at a lower cost.
UPI builds on the Immediate Payment Service,which is used by banks for real-time transfer of cash.
Andhra Bank Inks Pact with Insurance Cos
Andhra Bank has entered into a partnership with two insurance companies for distributing their products.
It has entered agreements with Cigna TTK Company Ltd & Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd.
These partnerships will provide the mutual benefit to the bank and insurance companies in tapping the potential in the market.
It will also help in increasing the insurance coverage.
GST Threshold Fixed At Rs. 20 Lakh
The Centre & states have reached an agreement on keeping traders with annual revenue of up to Rs. 20 lakh out of the new national sales tax regime GST at the first meeting of the GST Council
The state authorities will have jurisdiction over assessees with annual turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore.
For traders above Rs.1.5 crore is regulated either by the Central govt or the state govt & not both.
United Bank Receives Rs 608 cr from Govt
United Bank of India (UBI) has received Rs 608 crore from the govt through preferential allotment of equity shares.
The UBI received the funding from the Centre in line with an announcement made earlier to make capital infusion of Rs 22,915 crore towards recapitalisation of 13 PSBs during 2016-17.
The Union Ministry of Finance has earmarked a total of Rs 810-cr fund for the bank.
Person in NEWS
President Releases Book by VP Ansari
President Pranab Mukherjee has released the book ‘Citizen and Society’ written by Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari .
The book is a collection of lectures delivered by Hamid Ansari ranging from the role of women in a multicultural society to other dynamics of democratic nation.
The PM also congratulated the Vice President for presenting his thoughts to the future generations through the book.
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