11th January 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Nepal has been elected to the Unicef executive board, representing the group of Asia-Pacific countries for the term 2016-2018.
• Note : Nepal's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN Durga Prasad Bhattarai, has also been unanimously elected as vice-president to the bureau of the executive board.

Visitors

• Syrian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Walid Al Moualem, is on a four-day visit to India.
• During this visit, he will hold talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other leaders to seek India’s support for President Bashar al-Assad ahead of peace talks in Geneva.
• Note : The visit assumes importance in view of fresh initiatives taken by the UN to bring about peace in war-torn Syria, where more than 300,000 people have been killed in the past four years and seven million have fled to other countries.

New Appointments

• Former Gujarat cadre IAS officer Devender Kumar Sikri has taken oath as the Chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI).
• He will become the third chairman of the fair trade regulator.
• He will succeed Ashok Chawla, who superannuated on January 7. 
• Additional Secretary of Home Affairs, Sailesh was appointed as the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
• Sailesh, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is presently Additional Secretary in Home Ministry. 
• He will replace C Chandramouli, who completed his tenure.
• e-commerce firm Flipkart today appointed Binny Bansal as the Chief Executive Officer and Sachin Bansal as the Executive Chairman.
• Homegrown smartphone vendor Micromax has appointed Vikas Thapar as its new senior Vice President for finance.

Awards

• 73rd Golden Globe Awards
  
• Famous Titanic actor Leonardo Di Caprio recieved the Best Actor award for his performance in 'The Revenant'.
• The Revenant also took two more honours in the Best Movie and Best Director categories.
• Brie Larson has won the Best Actress award for the, Room. 
• Check complete winners list of 73rd Golden Globe Awards 2016 from here. 
• Veteran poet Balkrishna Garg was honoured with the second edition of Harikrishna Devsare Baalsahitya Award 2015 for his collection of poems for children titled ‘Baal Geet’.
• Apart from Mr. Garg, Yogendra Kumar and Hem Bhatnagar were also felicitated for their contributions to childrens literature.

People in news

• A 11-year-old Indian-origin girl Kashmea Wahi, has achieved the top possible score of 162 on a IQ test of Mensa, becoming one of the youngest brainiest students in the country.
• She achieved the top score of 162 out of 162, putting her in the league of scientists Albert Einstein and Steven Hawking and in the top 1 per cent of the country's brightest.
• Srinivas Murthy, senior vice president of marketing at e-commerce major Snapdeal, resigned to start his own venture.
• Note : This is the second major exit at Snapdeal after its Head of Strategy Ranjan Kant quit to join online apparel retailer Jabong as its chief marketplace officer.

Science & Technology

• The government plans to reach up to 50 crore internet subscribers in next 6-7 months, besides installing 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots at 256 places by the next fiscal, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.
• The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has successfully test fired the new Penetration-Cum Blast (PCB) and Thermobaric (TB) Ammunition tank at Chandipur, Odisha.  
• This was specially designed for Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT).

Deaths

• Noted Hindi writer and journalist Ravindra Kalia (78) passed away.
• He was known for his works like Ghalib Chutti Sharab and Nau Saal Chotti Patni.
• He had served as Director of Bharatiya Jnanpith. 
• British Singer David Bowie (69), one of the most influential musicians of his era, has died of cancer.
• The artist's hits include Let's Dance, Changes, Space Oddity, Starman, Modern Love, Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel Rebel and Life on Mars.
• He was also well known for creating his flamboyant alter ego Ziggy Stardust.
• First female Formula One driver, Maria Teresa de Filippis passed away.
• Note : She was the first woman to compete in a world championship Formula One grand prix.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here

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