16th December 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism.
• A long list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, together with Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and African states were named in it.

National Affairs

• Today (16th December 2015) is Vijay Diwas (Victory Day).   
  
• We observe this day to remember the martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation during 1971 India-Pakistan war.
• Today is the 46th anniversary of the 1971 India–Pakistan war.
• This is the first war after World War-II that the Indian Army won conclusively.
• This is the only war that the independent Indian Army planned, executed and carried out with precision and captured 93,000 prisoners.
• Today marks the 3rd anniversary of brutal ‎Nirbhaya‬ gang rape case.
• 3 years have passed since a young student in New Delhi died after she was gang raped on a moving bus by 6 men, including a minor.
• Note : The juvenile convict is all set to walk free by 20th of this month, but the parents of the victim say they feel no sense of closure.
• Supreme Court today ordered banning of registration of diesel-run SUVs and cars having engines beyond 2000 cc in Delhi and National Capital Region from first of March next year.
• Giving its decision, Supreme Court said only CNG-run taxis will be allowed to ply in Delhi and NCR.
• The apex court also raised the Green cess by 100% being levied on commercial vehicles entering Delhi.
• It also said commercial vehicles registered before 2005 cannot enter Delhi and those commercial vehicles, which are not Delhi bound, will not be allowed to enter national capital through entry points NH-8 and NH-1.

Science & Technology

• India’s second lunar probe Chandrayaan II will land on moon in 2017 and the country’s first solar mission Aditya L1 is likely to be launched in 2019.
• About Chandrayaan II :
• This will land on the surface of moon in 2017 and this second lunar mission will help explore the possibilities of signs of extra-terrestrial life.
• About Aditya L1 mission :
• This is aimed at studying the sun from an orbit around the sun-earth lagrangian point (L-1) which is about 1.5 million km from earth. 
• It will carry seven payloads including a coronagraph to observe the outermost layers of the sun, the corona. 
• Aditya L1 will be launched during 2019-20 timeframe.
• Pakistan has successfully test-fired Shaheen-1A, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 900 kilometres, days after testing a similar missile capable of hitting targets as far as 2,750 kilometres away, bringing many Indian cities under its range.

Visitors :

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai is on a visit to India.
• During this visit, he will hold sessions with media, developers, entrepreneurs and marketers. 
• He is also scheduled to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• He announced that Google will build new campus and ramp up engineering presence in Hyderabad to make products for India.
• He said Google's rail wi-fi is coming up at at Mumbai Central in January.

Business & Economy

• In a bid to check generation of domestic black money, the government will soon issue a notification making quoting of PAN mandatory for all cash transactions beyond Rs. 2 lakh.
• Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has launched an immediate annuity plan, Jeevan Akshay IV, for post-retirement planning.
• According to the plan, an individual aged between 30 years and 85 years can make a lump sum investment of minimum Rs.1 lakh.

New Appointments

• Senior revenue service officer Arun Kumar Jain was appointed Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
• Supreme Court appoints retired justice Virender Singh as Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta saying the state government and the opposition has failed in their constitutional duty to appoint Lokayukta .

Sports

• 59th National shooting championships
• 10-metre Air Rifle event
• Gold - Apurvi Chandela
• Silver - Geetakshi Dixit
• Bronze - Anjum Moudgil
• Men’s 50-metre Rifle 3 Positions event:
• Gold - Chain Singh
• Silver - Gagan Narang
• Junior men’s 25m sports pistol event :
• Gold - Achal Pratap Singh Grewal
• Silver - Gurmeet Singh
• Bronze - Aadeithya Johal 
• Junior women’s 10m air rifle :
• Gold - Geetakshi Dixit
• Silver - Prachi Pramod Gadkari
• Bronze - Nupur Hagawane Patil
• Youth :
• Gold - Nupur Hagawane Patil
• Silver - Ayushi Podder 
• Bronze - Manini Kaushik
• Northern Ireland's Golfer Rory McIlroy was today named as the 2015 European Tour Golfer of the Year.
• He is receiving this prestigious award for the third time in four years.

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