Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Apr 20, 2016

ANSWER: 2016

Explanation:
The hottest March in modern history and the 11th consecutive month in which monthly global temperature record was broken was in 2016. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated a string of record setting months is the longest in the 137 years of record keeping.

• Globally averaged temperatures over land and ocean surface for March 2016 was the highest for the month of March in the NOAA global temperature dataset record dating back to 1880.
• Planet wide, average temperature was 1.22 degree celsius above the 20th century average of 12.7 C
• 2015 was the hottest on record, edging out 2014.

ANSWER: Novak Djokovic

Explanation:
Novak Djokovic pipped the likes of Usain Bolt and Lionel Messi to win the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ trophy for a third time

• Serena Williams clinched the top honour in the women’s category at the Laureus World Awards in Berlin.
• Djokovic, who won this award in 2012 and ’15, walked away with it for a second successive time after clinching three Grand Slams – Australian, Wimbledon and US Open – last year.
• He was also the finalist in the French Open.
• Messi, who had been nominated for a fifth time, once again lost out on the top award.

ANSWER: Serena Williams

Explanation:
Novak Djokovic pipped the likes of Usain Bolt and Lionel Messi to win the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ trophy for a third time

• Serena Williams clinched the top honour in the women’s category at the Laureus World Awards in Berlin.
• Djokovic, who won this award in 2012 and ’15, walked away with it for a second successive time after clinching three Grand Slams – Australian, Wimbledon and US Open – last year.
• He was also the finalist in the French Open.
• Messi, who had been nominated for a fifth time, once again lost out on the top award.

ANSWER: Bill Campbell

Explanation:
Bill Campbell, a legendary mentor to some of Silicon Valley’s most important entrepreneurs and executives including Steve Jobs and Larry Page, has died at age 75. He had been suffering from cancer.

• Mr. Campbell, who served as president, chief executive and chairman of financial software maker Intuit Inc., became far better known for advising tech leaders. T
• This activity earned him the nickname, “The Coach.”
• Campbell is survived by his wife, Eileen Bocci Campbell, as well as his son and daughter, Jim Campbell and Margaret Campbell.

ANSWER: Joseph Pulitzer

Explanation:
The Pulitzer Prize is an awarded to persons from newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States.
- It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher
- It is administered by Columbia University in New York City.

The 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners

• National Reporting
• The Washington Post Staff
• International Reporting – Alissa J. Rubin of The New York Times
• Feature Writing – Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker
• Commentary – Farah Stockman of The Boston Globe
• Criticism – Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker
• Editorial Writing – John Hackworth of Sun Newspapers, Charlotte Harbor, FL
• Editorial Cartooning – Jack Ohman The Sacramento Bee
• Breaking News Photography – Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter of The New York Times, Photography Staff of Thomson Reuters
• Feature Photography – Jessica Rinaldi of The Boston Globe
• Public Service – Associated Press
• Breaking News Reporting – Los Angeles Times Staff
• Investigative Reporting – Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
• Explanatory Reporting – T. Christian Miller of ProPublica and Ken Armstrong of The Marshall Project
• Local Reporting – Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of the Tampa Bay Times
• History – Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Biography – Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (Penguin Press)
• Poetry – Ozone Journal by Peter Balakian (University of Chicago Press)
• Fiction – The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press)
• Drama – Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Nonfiction – Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick (Doubleday)
• Music – In for a Penny, In for a Pound by Henry Threadgill (Pi Recordings)

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Residents of Delhi now have a choice and can themselves restrict use of plastic bags by using eco-friendly, biodegradable and low-cost jute bags.

• Mother Dairy, National Jute Board (NJB) and Birds Jute & Exports Ltd. (BJEL) have joined hands in this green venture, to provide attractive, low cost jute bags at the thousand-odd booths of Mother Dairy/Safal in Delhi – NCR.
• The venture is promoted by NJB, bags are manufactured by BJEL and supplied to Mother Dairy for distribution at its booths.
• The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Textiles in April 2016

ANSWER: Mauritius

Explanation:
India has signed an MoU with Mauritius on cooperation in the field of traditional system of medicine and Homoeopathy. The MoU was signed during the visit of Minister of State for AYUSH(Independent Charge) and Health & Family Welfare, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik to Mauritius.

• This MoU will promote cooperation in the field of traditional system of health and medicine between the two countries which already share these traditions due to unique historical and cultural ties.
• It envisages exchange of experts, supply of traditional medicinal substances, joint research and development and recognition of the traditional systems of health and medicine in both countries.
• It also aims at popularising AYUSH.

ANSWER: Cognizant

Explanation:
Mobile apps, mobile app designs and mobile back end services to increase business process efficiency and security solutions will be jointly launched by Cognizant and Kony

• The two will work together to develop new cross platform mobile applications for industries such as banking, healthcare, retail, government and manufacturing
• They will also develop horizontal mobile applications which can be used by sales and field services, workflow and human resources organisations

ANSWER: Brain print

Explanation:
Scientists have developed a new system that can identify people using their brain waves or ‘brain print' with 100% accuracy, an advance that may be useful in high-security applications.

• The researchers at Binghamton University recorded brain activity of people wearing the EEG handset when they looked at images and unique brain response was elicited
• Participants' brains reacted differently to each image, enough that a computer system was able to identify each volunteer's 'brainprint' with 100% accuracy.
• According to Laszlo, brain biometrics are appealing because they are cancellable and cannot be stolen by malicious means the way a finger or retina can.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!

ANSWER: Swimming

Explanation:
Novak Djokovic pipped the likes of Usain Bolt and Lionel Messi to win the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ trophy for a third time

• Serena Williams clinched the top honour in the women’s category at the Laureus World Awards in Berlin.
• Djokovic, who won this award in 2012 and ’15, walked away with it for a second successive time after clinching three Grand Slams – Australian, Wimbledon and US Open – last year.
• He was also the finalist in the French Open.
• Messi, who had been nominated for a fifth time, once again lost out on the top award.

The winners in the 2016 Laureus World Sports Awards

• Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award: Novak Djokovic (Tennis)
• Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Serena Williams (Tennis)
• Laureus World Team of the Year Award: All Blacks (Rugby)
• Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award: Jordan Spieth (Golf)
• Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award: Dan Carter (Rugby)
• Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Daniel Dias (swimming)
• Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Jan Frodeno (Ironman Triathlon)
• The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation patrons Daimler and Richmond established this award in 1999. It was supported by its global partners Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen.

ANSWER: T-cells

Explanation:
An Indian-American scientist has engineered T-cells - a type of immune cells - to break the pancreatic cancer's physical and immunological walls using immunotherapy.

• Dr Sunil Hingorani, member of the clinical research and public health sciences unit at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre created T-cells with a high affinity to a relatively tumour-specific antigen.
• Hingorani looked for proteins expressed in massive amounts in tumour cells and minimally expressed elsewhere- T-cells were then engineered to attack it.

ANSWER: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

Explanation:
Republican front-runner Donald Trump easily won New York state's presidential nominating contest on 9th April, moving closer to capturing enough delegates to win the party's White House nomination

• The New York City billionaire's big win pushed him closer to the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination.
• Meanwhile among the Democrats, Hillary won with ease beating sanders
• New York voting was marked by irregularities called the Brooklyn purge

ANSWER: first largest

Explanation:
In a move to influence both the domestic and international price of gold, the Shanghai Gold Exchange has launched a price index denominated in the Chinese yuan.

• SGE, which is the world's largest physical gold exchange, said the new benchmark price will reflect the supply and demand situation in the China and reflect the price movements in the local market.
• SGE said the present system of market pricing was inequitable and needs to be changed.
• China is the biggest consumer of gold in the world