29th July 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (29th July) International Tiger Day.
• This is an annual celebration to raise awareness for tiger conservation
• This day was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit.
• The goal of the day is to promote a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and to raise public awareness and support for tiger conservation issues.
• Kazakhstan has officially became 162nd member of WTO
• The agreement of accession was signed between the WTO Director General Robert Azevedo and Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev at Geneva. 
• Important Details about Kazakhstan
• Capital : Astana
• Official languages : Kazakh (state) / Russian (official)
• President : Nursultan Nazarbayev
• Prime Minister : Karim Massimov
• Currency : Tenge

National Affairs

• The Cabinet today approved amendments to the GST bill to compensate states for revenue loss for five years on introduction of the uniform nationwide indirect tax regime, as has been suggested by Rajya Sabha Select Committee.
• Note : The Constitution Amendment Bill for a Goods and Service Tax (GST), to replace all indirect taxes like excise and sales tax on all products, except alcohol, has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending passage in the Upper House.
  
• The government has also approved amendments to anti-hijacking law that provides for death penalty even if ground handling staff and airport personnel are killed during such acts, besides broadening the definition of hijacking, official sources said.
• In the earlier Bill, hijackers could be tried for death penalty only in the event of death of hostages, such as flight crew, passengers and security personnel. 
• Besides broadening the definition of hijacking, the Anti-Hijacking Bill, 2015 also provides for an enhanced punishment to the perpetrators as well as the area of jurisdiction.

MOUs

• Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) today inked USD 300 million loan agreement with the government to support the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).
• The NUHM is aimed at improving health status of the country's urban population.

People in News

• Supreme Court dismisses 1993 Mumbai blasts' convict Yakub Memon's plea to stay his execution scheduled for tomorrow.
• Yakub Memon, the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict, will be hanged on at 7 AM tomorrow at the Nagpur Central Jail.

Awards & Honors

• Former AIIMS CVO Sanjiv Chaturvedi and NGO Goonj founder Anshu Gupta to be conferred with The Ramon Magsaysay Award for the year 2015.
• Check complete list of Ramon Magsaysay Awardees from here

Science & Technology

• Microsoft launches Windows 10.
• Windows 10 includes features such as Cortana, Microsoft's voice-based smart assistant, an Xbox app for gaming and a Microsoft Edge, a new web browser that replaces Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
• Windows 10 marks the return of the Start menu in an avatar similar to the one we've seen in Windows 7 and earlier releases. 
• It retains Windows 8's Live Tiles showing streaming updates on app icons.
• Windows 10 also comes with enhancements to Windows Defender and SmartScreen to help safeguard against viruses, malware and phishing, in addition to Windows Hello, which offers a fast, secured, password-free way to log in with face recognition.

Business & Economy

• Private sector lender IndusInd Bank has completed the acquisition of the diamond and jewellery financing business and related deposit portfolio of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
• In April this year, IndusInd Bank said it has entered into an agreement with Royal Bank of Scotland to acquire the latter's diamond and jewellery financing business in the country for an undisclosed sum. 

Deaths

• The leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has died, Afghan Government announced today.
• Former South African captain Clive Rice passed away with an advanced stage of brain tumour.

Sports

• The Sports Ministry today constituted a nine-member Working Group which will prepare a revised draft of the National Sports Development Code (NSDCI) and submit its recommendations within three months.
• The Working Group will be headed by Delhi High Court Judge CK Mahajan (Retd.) and has former hockey skipper Ajitpal Singh and former national TT champion Indu Puri as its prominent members.
• Note : The Sports Code came into force in 2011 but Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and several other National Sports Federations (NSFs) refused to follow Age and Tenure Guidelines.

Download Current Affairs Quick Review of June 2015 from here

Daily Current Affairs of July 2015

• Read Current Affairs of 28th July 2015 from here  
• Read Current Affairs of 27th July 2015 from here 
• Read Current Affairs of 26th July 2015 from here  
• Read Current Affairs of 25th July 2015 from here   
• Read Current Affairs of 24th July 2015 from here 
  
• Read Current Affairs of 23rd July 2015 from here  
• Read Current Affairs of 22nd July 2015 from here  
• Read Current Affairs of 21st July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 20th July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 19th July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 18th July 2015 from here   
• Read Current Affairs of 17th July 2015 from here  
  
• Read Current Affairs of 16th July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 15th July 2015 from here
  
• Read Current Affairs of 14th July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 13th July 2015 from here  
  
• Read Current Affairs of 12th July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 1th July 2015 from here 
•  Read Current Affairs of 10th July 2015 from here 
• Read Current Affairs of 9th July 2015 from here   
• Read Current Affairs of 8th July 2015 from here  
• Read Current Affairs of 7th July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 6th July 2015 from here
• Read Current Affairs of 5th July 2015 from here 
• Read Current Affairs of 4th July 2015 from here  
• Read Current Affairs of 3rd July 2015 from here 
• Read Current Affairs of 2nd July 2015 from here 
• Read Current Affairs of 1st July 2015 from here    

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