8th February 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• China is celebrating New Year today (8th February).
• Important Points to Note about Chinese New Year
• The Chinese zodiac calendar, known as Sheng Xiao, is divided into 12 cycles.
• Each of these cycles lasts 12 months and is represented by an animal. 
• According to this callendar, this is the year of the Monkey.
• Note : The Year of the Monkey - begins on February 8th and lasts until Jan 27th, 2017.
• Britain is set to get the world's biggest wind farm after the proposal for the 1.2-gigawatt Hornsea Project One in northern England was accepted. 
• Scheduled to be completed by 2020, the farm would span up to 407 square kilometres and would use 174 wind turbines, each 190 metres tall. 
• The construction of the project will create an estimated 2,000 jobs.
• Indo-Nepal Combined Military Exercise Surya Kiran IX commences today.
• This is the 9th Indo-Nepal Combined exercise and during the next 14 days of combined training, emphasis would be laid on upgradation of tactical and practical skills by sharing each others experiences and also on enhancing interoperability in Jungle Warfare and Counter Terrorism operations in mountain terrain.

Visitors

• The crown prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces,
  
  Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed-Al-Nahyan, will begin his three-day visit to India from 10th February 2016. S
• During this visit, he will meet PM Narendra Modi and discuss "regional and international issues of mutual concern". 
• Important Point to Note : Modi visited UAE last year, the first by an Indian PM in 34 years.

National Affairs

• According to the data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and Varanasi (UP) are most polluted cities in India‬.
• The Haryana government is going to launch the 'Kanya Janamdin Utsav' tomorrow, to celebrate birthdays of girl students, with their parents. 
• The birthday of girls students in all state-run schools falling in the same month would be celebrated as 'Utsav' on every second Tuesday.
• Note : Haryana reported improvement in the sex-ratio for the first time in a decade in December.
• Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje today launched the ‘School on Wheels’ initiative in Jaipur. 
• Under this initiative, a van, which houses a library, has been set up by an NGO 'Taabar Society'. 
• The initiative has been introduced for spreading awareness about education among the tribal and nomadic children. 
• The mobile school will use audio/video mediums to teach children in Jaipur district.
• Punjab government today announced ex gratia payment of ₹25 lakh to the families of Hon. Captain Fateh Singh and Havaldar Kulwant Singh, who lost their lives in the Pathankot terror attack last month. 
• The state will also provide a government job to one member of the family of each martyr.
• India will launch The National Framework for Malaria Elimination, a programme aimed at eliminating malaria in the country by 2027, ahead of the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of 2030. 
• This program set to be launched on February 11, will be implemented in phases across states.

New Appointments

• Jaipur-based Jahan Ara has became Rajasthan's first female Qazi after she completed a two-year training course in Mumbai's Darul Uloom-i-Nisawa. 
• She can now officiate Islamic weddings, also called 'Nikah' among other religious services. 
• Vishal Mehta was appointed as the President of the newly- formed International Grown Diamond Association (IGDA).

Business & Economy

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has barred telecom companies from differential pricing which involves charging different prices for data traffic with immediate effect. 
• Service providers will be fined ₹50,000 a day for discriminatory tariffs. Under 
• TRAI's new guidelines, products like Airtel Zero and Facebook's Free Basics will not be allowed in India. 
• The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has tied-up with tea cafe chain 'Chaayos' to deliver tea and snacks to train passengers at their seats. 
• The facility will initially be available only for trains at the New Delhi station. 
• The orders can be made either through the IRCTC app or catering website, or through a dedicated toll-free number.
• IT company Tech Mahindra has launched a mobile gaming-focused live streaming service called mSportz. 
• Competing with the likes of Twitch and YouTube Gaming, the integrated platform allows users to broadcast their mobile gaming content in real-time and connect with the mobile gaming community. 
• Currently, the mSportz app is available in beta version on both Android and iOS.
• Firefly, a joint venture firm of Airtel and Vodafone, will install Wi-Fi facilities in all six district courts of Delhi in the next four months. 
• After this, people will have internet access in all public areas of the courts including chamber blocks, lobbies, cafeterias, bar rooms and libraries. 
• Note : Firefly had also launched Wi-Fi at the Delhi High Court in January.

People in News

• UK-based David Anderson and Mathew Hine have entered the Guinness World Records by developing the world's fastest mobility scooter that can hit a speed of 107.6 mph. 

Awards & Honors

• Three Bollywood films have been selected to be screened at the BFI London Film Festival, to be held from March 31 to May 31, to pay tribute to William Shakespeare on his 400th death anniversary. 
• The films are Vishal Bhardwaj's Shakespeare-inspired trilogy ‘Maqbool’ (2004), ‘Omkara’ (2006), and ‘Haider’ (2014) based on his classics ‘Macbeth’, ‘Othello’, and ‘Hamlet’ respectively.
• The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has named Adele as the best-selling artist of 2015, based on the sales of recordings worldwide. 
• The 27-year-old singer has sold over 15 million copies of her latest album '25' globally, since its release in November 2015. 
• Note : Singer Ed Sheeran was ranked second on the list followed by pop star Taylor Swift.
• The Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez won Directors Guild of America award 2015.

Deaths

• Noted Urdu and Hindi poet Nida Fazli (78), passed away. 
• His most popular Bollywood works include 'Aa Bhi Jaa' (Sur), 'Tu Is Tarah Se Meri Zindagi Mein' (Aap To Aise Na The) and 'Hosh Waalon Ko Khabar Kya' (Sarfarosh). 
• Fazli has been conferred with numerous awards including the Padma Shri in 2013.
• American singer-songwriter Dan Hicks (74) passed away.
• He was famous for his traditional mix of folk, jazz and country music.

Sports

• New Zealand defeated Australia by 55 runs in captain Brendon McCullum's final ODI to clinch the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. 
• South Asian Games 2016 Medals Tally
• India
• Gold - 42
• Silver - 13
• Bronze - 5
• Total - 60
• Sri Lanka
• Gold - 8
• Silver - 21
• Bronze - 20
• Total - 49
• Pakistan
• Gold - 4
• Silver - 10
• Bronze - 11
• Total - 25

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