Daily GK Update: 19th December 2015

1. British Novelist Peter Dickinson passed away

i. British Novelist Peter Dickinson passed away on 16 December 2015 following a brief illness in Winchester, Hampshire. He was 88. He was a prolific novelist for adults and children.

ii. He wrote almost 60 books which have been translated into 53 different languages.His first novel for children The Weathermonger was published in 1968 and was followed swiftly by Heartsease (1969) and The Devil’s Children (1970).

iii. He was the first and so far only author to win the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger award for two consecutive novels for his detective books Skin Deep in 1968 and A Pride Of Heroes in 1969.

iv. Two of his books Tulku (1979) and City of Gold (1980) won the Carnegie Medal.

v. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and former chairman of the Society of Authors.

vi. His last book In The Palace Of The Khans was published in 2012.

2.Jeff Williams appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Apple Inc

i. Jeff Williams was on 18 December 2015 appointed as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Apple Inc. The post of COO of the company had been lying vacant since Tim Cook's ascension to position of Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc in 2011.

ii. Jeff joined Apple in 1998 as head of worldwide procurement and in 2004 he was named vice president of Operations.

iii. Since 2010, he has overseen Apple’s entire supply chain, service and support, and the social responsibility initiatives.

iii. He played a key role in Apple’s entry into the mobile phone market with the launch of iPhone.

iv. He continues to supervise development of Apple’s first wearable product Apple Watch.

v. Before joining Apple, Williams worked at IBM for three years in engineering and operations roles.

3. Harvard University’s Public Health School opening Mumbai centre

i. The Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health is to open its new centre in Mumbai, the first in South Asia, this Sunday, in a bid to help broaden and coordinate the School’s nearly 60 years of collaboration to improve health in India and around the world.

ii. The centre is to open at the Piramal Tower Annexe, in a space that has been provided by Swati Piramal and Ajay Piramal, two Harvard alumni. Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson of Piramal Enterprises, graduated from Harvard’s School of Public Health in 1992.
iii. Ajay Piramal, is a graduate of Harvard Business School and is the Chairman of the Piramal Group.Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health is part of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Harvard Business School has had a centre in Mumbai since 2006.

4. 2nd World Internet Conference concluded in Wuzen, China

i. The three-day long 2nd World Internet Conference was concluded on 18 December 2015 at Wuzen in China. Wuzen is located in Zhejiang Province in eastern China.

ii. The conference was held with theme An Interconnected World Shared and Governed by All—Building a Cyberspace Community of Shared Destiny.

iii. It was jointly organized by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province.

iv. The conference focused on facilitating strategic-level discussions on global Internet governance, cyber security, the Internet industry as the engine of economic growth and social development, technological innovation and philosophy of the Internet.

5. Mumbai’s iconic Marine Drive turns 100

i. Mumbai’s iconic boulevard Marine Drive, also popularly called the Queen’s Necklace, completed 100 years, and residents of the city’s western waterfront flagged off the centenary celebrations with a postcard showcasing the crescent-shaped bay off the Arabian Sea.
ii. A part of city’s collective consciousness associated with the name Bombay, Marine Drive was part of the great revival as the metropolis transitioned from its 19th century fort ramparts to a modern city in the 1860s during the tenure of British Governor Sir Bartle Frere. In the rebuilding process, the city was blessed with two great architectural styles — the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco.

6. Narendra Modi hands over Shyamji’s UK Bar certificate to CM Anandiben Patel

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday recalled nationalist leader Shyamji Krishna Varma as the first “non-Brahmin” to have received a “degree of Pandit” in Varanasi.

ii. He was speaking after handing over the certificate of reistatement of Varma to the UK Bar to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel at an event here.
iii. The certificate was given to Modi in the presence of UK Prime Minister David Cameron, during his visit to London last month. Modi, visiting the state only the third time after becoming Prime Minister, was in Kutch to inaugurate the three-day annual DGPs conference, being held at Dhordo in the White Rann. 

7. DAC approved purchase of Russian S-400 Triumf Air Defence Missile System

i. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 18 December 2015 approved the purchase of Russian advance S-400 Triumf Air Defence Missile Systems from Russia at an estimated cost of 40000 crore rupees.
ii. The approval was given by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar during DAC meeting in New Delhi.

iii. This system is capable of destroying incoming hostile missiles, aircraft and even drones within a range of up to 400 km. 

iv. This air defence system is capable to take on upto 36 targets at range of over 150 kilometres.

v. It is also capable of taking out ballistic missiles and hypersonic targets.

vi. Considered to be the most modern air defence system in the Russian arsenal, the new S-400 has a 2.5 times faster firing rate as compared to its predecessor S-300.