19th November 2016 Important Daily Current Affairs

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Dear Great Ambitionists, here are today's (19th November 2016) Important Current Affairs updates. Happy Reading :)

Daily Current Affairs of 19th November 2016

International Current Affairs

• Today (19th November) is International Men's Day.
• Theme of International Men's Day 2016 : Stop Male Suicide
• Today (19th November) is World Toilet Day.
  
• The United Nations has designated November 19 as 'World Toilet Day', to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. 
• Theme of World Toilet Day 2016 : 'Toilets and Jobs'
• Services in the UK and France yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Somme, a 141-day offensive during World War I that left over a million soldiers dead or wounded. 
• A two-minute silence was observed at the Thiepval Memorial in France. 
• The Philippines is set to host the 65th Miss Universe pageant in January. 
• Miss Universe 2016's coronation night will be held in Manila, while the pre-pageant events will be held in several cities including Cebu and Davao. 
• The Philippines, which became the first Asian country to host the pageant in 1974, is hosting the event for the third time.
• The UN Security Council approved a one-year extension of an international inquiry to determine blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. 
• The inquiry had earlier found that Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas. 
• Note : Syria had agreed in 2013 to destroy its chemical weapons.
• Russia's lower house has approved a motion to levy monetary fines on MPs who miss parliamentary sessions without a valid reason. 
• The new rules mandate that the members get themselves registered for the State Duma sessions, failing which they could be fined one-sixth of their monthly salary.
• The money collected from the fines would be returned to the parliamentary budget.

MOUs & Agreements

• India and Cyprus have inked a revised Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal evasion (DTAA) with respect to taxes on income, along with its Protocol. 
• This agreement will replace the existing DTAA that was signed by two countries in June 1994.
• The provisions of new DTAA will enter into force after completion of necessary internal procedures in both countries.
• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signed three Bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with the Competent Authority of United Kingdom (UK) to reduce tax litigation.
• With this, CBDT so far has entered into 111 APAs. These three APAs cover international transactions in the nature of payment of intra-group service charges and pertain to the telecom industry. They also have a roll-back provision.

National Current Affairs

• Communal Harmony Week or Quami Ekta Week is being observed around India, beginning today. 
• The Home Ministry has said that the week, during which several meetings and seminars will be held, will help highlight the strength of the nation. 
• Important Days which are being observed during this week are :
• 19th November - National Integration Day, 
• 20th November - Welfare of Minorities Day, 
• 21st November - Linguistic Harmony Day 
• 22nd Novevmber - Weaker Sections Day
• 23rd November - Cultural Unity Day 
• 24th November - Women's Day
• 25th November - Conservation Day
• The state of Hawaii would soon have a formal Sister-State relationship with Goa, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said while addressing the World Hindu Economic Forum. 
• The world’s first Genetic Garden of Halophytes (naturally occurring salt-tolerant plants) was inaugurated at the coastal town of Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu. 
• The first of its kind garden in the world was inaugurated by Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib Fakim through video-conferencing.

Deaths

• American singer Sharon Jones (60), the lead singer of soul and funk bad 'Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings', died from pancreatic cancer today.
• Jones released her first record when she was 40 years old. 
• She was nominated for her first Grammy in 2014 for the album 'Give the People What They Want'.

Business & Economic Affairs

• India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya has announced that around ₹1.4 lakh crore has been deposited in the bank since the demonetisation of old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today announced the cash withdrawal limit from Point of Sale (POS) in large cities and towns has been doubled to ₹2,000 per day. 
• Further, customer charges, if any, being levied on all such transactions have been waived off till December 30. 
• Note : The RBI earlier instructed banks to waive ATM charges for all transactions.
• India added around 1.9 GW solar energy in the April-October period, taking the total solar power generation capacity in the country to 8.7 GW, Power Minister Piyush Goyal has informed. 
• Further, Goyal said the World Bank has recently approved an amount of $625 million for India's grid-connected rooftop solar programme. 
• Note : The said loan will be taken by the SBI.
• India and the US have solved over 100 transfer pricing dispute cases worth ₹5,000 crore over a one-year period. 
• India had signed the framework agreement with the US revenue authorities in January 2015 to resolve about 200 transfer pricing cases. 

General Knowledge

• Mahatma Gandhi first featured on Indian currency notes in 1969 when a design series in honour of the 100th birth celebrations of the leader was issued. 
  
• Till 1996, only certain notes had a portrait of Gandhi and since 1996, the RBI started to print banknotes with the portrait of Gandhi on all currency notes from ₹5 to ₹1000.

New Appointments

• The Union government has appointed Jagdish Singh Khehar, a judge of the Supreme Court, as the new Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). 
• He will replace Anil R. Dave who retired as Judge of Supreme Court after completing tenure of over six years.

Sports Current Affairs

• India's Rio Olympics silver medal-winning shuttler PV Sindhu defeated South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun to reach the final of the China Open Super Series Premier 2016 in Fuzhao today. 
• The 21-year-old will take on world number nine Sun Yu from China on Sunday to win the $700,000 tournament.

This is the end of today's Daily Current Affairs session friends. Good Day :)

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