19th May 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• The Indian Navy sent 4 warships on a 2.5 month-long operational deployment to South China Sea and North West Pacific today..
• The fleet will take part in bilateral exercises while halting at Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and Malaysia. 
• Important Note : The ships will also participate in MALABAR-16, an Indo-Japan-USA trilateral exercise.

National Affairs

• Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK today swept the Tamil Nadu polls to become the first incumbent regime to retain power in the state since 1984. 
  
• According to the final results, AIADMK has won 134 of the 232 seats, while the Congress-DMK combine won 97 seats.  
• Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress today retained power in West Bengal, winning 211 seats in the 294-seat Assembly, the highest number of seats won by a single party in the state's history. 
• TMC, with a vote share of 44.9%, improved upon its 2011 tally of 184 seats. Meanwhile, CPI(M) and Congress won 26 and 44 seats respectively.
• Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partners have won an absolute majority in 2016 Assam state assembly election by winning 87 seats (16.46% votes) in the 126 member House. 
• The Congress-DMK alliance today claimed victory in Puducherry by winning 17 of the 30 seats with a combined vote share of 39.5%.  
• The BJP today won a seat in the 140-member Kerala Assembly for the first time in history after its leader O Rajagopal emerged victorious from the Nemom constituency.  
• The Jharkhand government has decided to include regional and tribal languages in Jharkhand Public Service Commission and Staff Selection Commission examinations, the recruiting bodies for government jobs. 
• Further, the exams will include a higher percentage of Jharkhand-specific questions. 
• The move to reduce emphasis on Hindi and English is reportedly aimed at giving locals a level playing field.
• Indian Army mountaineers led by Lieutenant Colonel Ranveer Jamwal today summitted the Mount Everest. 
• Important Points to Note : 
• The Indian Army Everest Massif Expedition, to scale Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse, began on March 30. 
• Five of the 30-member team will also participate in the ‘Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon’ on May 29, reportedly considered one of the world's toughest trail marathons. 

New Appointments

• Late spiritual leader Baba Hardev Singh's wife Savinder Kaur became the first woman head of the Nirankari mission today. 
• Following the demise of the spiritual leader, who was the head of the mission, in an accident in Canada on May 13, this announcement was made by the organisation's headquarters in Delhi. 
• Note : The Nirankari mission was formed in 1929.
• Shell India appointed Nitin Prasad as the new Chairman, he will take charge from October.
• Indian journalist and Councillor Philip Abraham has been elected the Deputy Mayor of Loughton town in the United Kingdom. 
• Belgium based visualization technology leader Barco has announced the appointment of Rajiv Bhalla as Managing Director for India.
• United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Patricia Espinosa Cantellano of Mexico as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

Awards & Honors

• 116-year-old Emma Martina Luigia Morano from Italy has been confirmed as the oldest living person in the world by Guinness World Records. 
• Born in November 1899, Morano is believed to be the last person living born in the 19th century.  

Business & Economy

• British banking major HSBC today announced that it will almost halve its branches from 50 to 26 in India, which will lead to 300 job cuts. 
• The bank said the impacted branches account for about 10% of the bank's customer base in the country. 
• HSBC added that the reduction in branches is due to customers' adoption of digital solutions.
• US personal and consumer technology giant Apple Inc. opened a new Development Office in Hyderabad, Telangana. 
• The office was formally opened by Apple’s CEO Tim Cook who is on official visit to India. 
• The facility located on the Waverock campus will focus on development of Maps for Apple’s flagship products, including iPad, iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch. T
• he new facility will provide a world-class, LEED-certified home for the expanding Maps team and create up to 4000 jobs. 

MOUs

• Cab aggregator Ola has signed a MoU with National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) to focus on building a sustainable framework by supporting entrepreneurship, skill development training and self-defence courses for Safai Karamcharis and Scavengers.
• This partnership has the potential to generate synergies that will result in a better future for driver entrepreneurs by creating sustainable careers and livelihoods for them. 

People in News

• Pranjal Patil, a 26-year-old visually-impaired girl from Ulhasnagar cleared the Civil Services Examination (CSE) this year on her first attempt, reported The Better India. .
• She ranked 773rd in the exam, and will now become an IAS officer. S
• he lost her eyesight at the age of six, after a classmate hit one of her eyes with a pencil.

Deaths

• Veteran Gujarati folk singer Diwaliben Bhil (80) passed away.
• She had given her voice to various Gujarati folk songs, film songs and Garba (Gujarati folk dance). 

Sports

• Sevilla Football club was crowned the UEFA Europa League champions for the third straight year after it defeated Liverpool 3-1 in the final today.  
• Indian women's badminton team defeated fourth-seeded Thailand 3-1 to reach 2016 Uber Cup semi-finals, where they are guaranteed a bronze medal.  

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