Daily GK Update: 08th December, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams

Donald Trump named TIME Person of the Year 2016

i. The TIME magazine has named US President-elect Donald Trump as Person of the Year 2016 and called him the President of the 'Divided States of America'. 

ii. The magazine cited his role for the stunning victory in the US Presidential election.

iii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the 11 candidates shortlisted by Time for its annual honour. 

iv. Meanwhile, Modi won the online readers' poll conducted by Time magazine for Person of the Year 2016, the second time he emerged winner of the reader's choice poll.

Trump selects Iowa Governor Branstad as U.S. envoy to China

i. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as his incoming government's ambassador to China. "Branstad has a tremendous understanding of China and the Chinese people and is someone who very much impressed the President-elect.

ii. Terry Edward Branstad is an American politician who is the 42nd Governor of Iowa, in office since January 2011. Branstad was also the state's 39th governor from 1983 to 1999, and he was president of Des Moines University from 2003 to 2009.

Nabard to provide Rs. 120 cr to banks for setting up PoS devices in villages

i. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on 08 December said it will extend support aggregating about Rs. 120 crore to banks for deployment of two Point-of-Sale (PoS) devices per village in one lakh villages having a population of up to 10,000.

ii. The move is aimed at taking rural India closer towards cashless payment systems.

Important Union Cabinet Approvals: 07 December 2016

i. Cabinet approves MoU with Afghanistan on cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space

ii. Cabinet approves MoU with United Kingdom UK to support ease of doing business in India

iii. India and United Kingdom (UK) MoU for cooperation in field of Intellectual Property approved.

iv. Cabinet approves Indo-Thai agreement on narcotics control

Serendipity Arts Festival to be held in Goa

i. The Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) is scheduled to be held from 16 December to 23 December 2016 in Goa.

ii. The festival will see a stellar line-up of 33 global artists, who will display their work at the eight-day inspiration-packed festival.

iii. More than 40 exciting projects and exhibitions featuring famous artists, like Kabi Raj Lama, Bandu Manamperi, Escif, Billy Chang, SP Pushpakanthan, Lisa Stertz and Paquito Gonzalees, will be a part of the festival.

Justice Mian Saqib Nisar appointed next Chief Justice of Pakistan

i. Senior judge of the Supreme Court Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was appointed as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan.

ii. Justice Nisar will take charge as chief justice of the apex court on December 31.

IOC, BPCL, HPCL join hands to set up India's biggest oil refinery

i. Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corp have signed a pact to build India's biggest oil refinery at a cost of $30 billion on the west coast. 

ii. The three firms signed the pact for the 60-million tonne a year refinery in Maharashtra with IOCBSE 2.78 % as leader of the consortium. The IOC will hold a 50 % stake in the project while BPCL and HPCL will have 25 % each.

Mahila E-haat ties up with India Post, SBI

i. The Women and Child Development Ministry has tied up with India Post and SBI. 

ii. This will offer more payment options to buyers and simplify shipping of products bought from "Mahila E-haat", an online marketing platform for women entrepreneurs. 

Karnataka Bank gets award

i. Karnataka Bank Ltd has bagged the ‘Best MSME Bank Award (private sector) 2016’ instituted by Assocham.

ii. Union Minister of State for MSME Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary handed over the award.

Microsoft launches solutions for SMEs

i. Microsoft has introduced business solutions from its partner ecosystem to meet the business needs of small and medium businesses across Kerala. 

ii. Built by Microsoft’s ISV partners Smarter SMB and IDOS, these solutions address key areas like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Finance & Accounting and enhancing organisational efficiency. These solutions will run on Microsoft cloud and will be available at very low cost.