17th August 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today is Independence Day of Indonesia
• On August 17, 1945, Indonesia declared its independence from Netherlands.
• About Indonesia
• Capital : Jakarta
• Official language : Indonesian
• President : Joko Widodo
• Vice-President : Jusuf Kalla
• Currency : Indonesian rupiah
• Today is Independence Day of Gabon (Gabonese Republic)
• Gabon, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa that had been under French rule till August 17, 1960.
• About Gabon :
• Capital : Libreville
• Official Language : French
• President : Ali Bongo Ondimba
• Prime Minister : Daniel Ona Ondo
• Currency : Central African CFA franc
• The Indo-United States Combined Military Training Exercise will be held from September 9 to 23 at the Joint Base Lewis McChord in the US. 
• The aim of this exercise is to strengthen  and broaden  interoperability and cooperation between the two armies.
• Note : This will be the eleventh exercise in 'Yudh Abhyas' series which started in 2004 under US Army Pacific partnership programme. 
• Ecuador President Rafael Correa has declared a state of emergency over increasing activity at the Cotopaxi volcano near the capital, Quito.
• The home ministry has decided to establish a National Fingerprint Database of nearly 28 lakh convicts and those arrested for criminal offences, by collating records from all the states.
• The move is expected to aid in the speedy identification of criminals and investigation of crimes accross the country.
• Note : At present, the Delhi-based Central Finger Print Bureau (CPFB) has data of over 9.7 lakh finger print records of convicted or arrested persons in digitized form, but over 18 lakh finger print records with finger print bureaus of states and Union Territories are not linked to this central database. 
  
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on Two-Day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• On the first leg of his visit, Modi held talks with Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum of UAE today.
• He also toured Masdar in Abu Dhabi, a zero carbon smart city, taking a ride in a self-driving car that runs on batteries powered by solar energy.
• In a joint statement released by India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), both nations rejected extremism and any link between religion and terrorism. 
• They also condemned efforts by states, to use religion to justify, support and sponsor terrorism against other countries.

 Business & Economy

• To rapidly expand its portfolio and reach, property portal Housing.com has acquired HomeBuy360, a cloud-based sales lifecycle management platform that connects developers, agents and buyers, for $2 million.
• Note : This is the second acquisition made by the company in 2015, after it bought Indian Real Estate Forum (IREF), a platform providing unbiased property information to consumers and realty business intelligence to empower property buyers and financial institutions to assess risks and take informed decisions.
• The state government today approved Odisha Fisheries Policy, 2015, with an objective to increase the productivity and production of fish from island, brackishwater and marine resources.
• The sector specific policy targets 7.15 lakh tonne of total fish production by the end of 2019-20 from present level of 4.13 lakh tonnes.
• HDFC today announced that it will sell 9 per cent stake in HDFC Life to its British joint venture partner Standard Life for a little over Rs 1,700 crore.
• HDFC : Housing Development Finance Corporation 

Deaths

• Pakistan’s Punjab province Home Minister Shuja Khanzada and 8 others killed in a suicide blast.

New Appointments

• Former Rajya Sabha member and dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind was sworn in as new governor of Bihar.
• Former Cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth was on appointed as the Chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).
• He has been appointed for a period of three years or till he attains 65 years of age.
• Seth has been appointed in place of Atul Chaturvedi, who has completed his tenure.
• Note : IAS officers Gauri Kumar and Anshuman Das, former CMD of NALCO, have been appointed as members in PESB.

Sports

• Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri has created history after he finished tied Fifth at the PGA Championships.
• Note : This is the highest position by any Indian, at PGA championship.
• PGA -  Professional Golfers Association
• World Cup Archery
• The Indian re-curve mixed team comprising archers Deepika Kumari and Mangal Singh Champia settled for the Silver Medal after losing to their Mexican opponents Aida Roman and Juan Rene Serrano in the finals.

Careers

• The CBSE has announced the results of the re-test of AIPMT 2015.
• The results are available online on the official websites of CBSE and AIPMT aipmt.nic.in or cbseresults.nic.in.

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