Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Aug 27, 2016

ANSWER: Rackspace

Explanation:
Cloud services provider Rackspace Hosting Inc said it would be acquired by Apollo Global Management LLC in a deal valued at USD 4.3 billion. The PE firm will boost investments in the technology sector.

• Rackspace’s shares went up 4.3 percent at USD 31.50 in early trading on 25th August.
• Offer represents a premium of 38.2 percent to Backspace’s closing price on August 3, the day prior to reports that the company was in advanced talks with PE firms for a go private deal.
• Rackspace had been reported to earlier be in talks with Apollo
• As part of the deal closing in the 4th quarter, PE firm Searchlight Capital Partners will also make an investment in Backspace
• Apollo with USD 186 billion in assets have been stepping up investments in technology
• Affiliates of the firm in July agreed to acquire Outerwall Inc, the owner of Redox video rental kiosks private in a deal valued at USD 1.6 billion
• Rackspace leases server space and helps corporations store and access data in cloud.
• It has focused on growing its cloud business in the face of rising competition from established players such as IBM Corp, Microsoft and startups in the field
• Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets LLC and Barclays were financial advisors while Goldman Sachs and Co advised Backspace.
• Financing for the deal is being provided by CItigroup, Deutsch Bank, Barclays, Royal Bank of Canada are providing financing for the deal
• Paul, Weiss Rifkind and Wharton & Garrison LLP are legal advisers to Apollo while Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is Rackspace’s Legal Adviser.

ANSWER: Shaun Stewart

Explanation:
Alphabet Inc’s Google self driving car project has hired top executive from online vacation home rental marketplace Shaun Stewart.

• He will be joining Google as director of the self driving car project
• His role will be to commercialise Google’s self driving technology that has been developing more than 7 years and has seen an increased pace of activity over the past 12 months
• Stewart’s hiring follows the departure of Chief Technical Office of the project, Chris Urmson
• Urmson was the project’s team leader and chief public spokesman until former Hyundai executive John Karfcik was hired by Google as the CEO of the project in 2015
• Urmson was the Google self driving car architect and he had predicated Google’s self driving technology would be ready for production by 2020 and indicates Google was actively seeking partners among global automakers.
• Stewart is an experienced technology executive specialising in building and scaling businesses
• He joined Google from Airbnb which was set up as a vacation rental business of the company
• He was earlier CEO of Jetsetter, a company acquired by TripAdvisor
• Recent hires for the project also include Kevin Vosen, project’s first general counsel and Tim Panandreou, former San Francisco city official and expert in transportation policy.
• Over the past 12 months, Google has expanded to 4 cities
• It has also signed a collaboration agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to double the fleet of autonomous vehicles
• The search engine major has also opened an engineering tech centre in Michigan
• Google current has almost 60 test vehicles on the road and has driven 1.8 million miles autonomously

ANSWER: Both a and c

Explanation:
South Indian Bank has launched UPI or Unified Payment Interface Facility- an initiative to promote cashless society which is one of the few banks in the nation to launch this facility across the nation.

• Unified Payment Interface permits customers to link their bank accounts in a single mobile application. This facility permits customers to make seamless and instant payments or transfer of funds via a virtual address
• UPI facility will be available for customers and non-customers of the bank through mobile banking app SIB M-Pay which can be accessed on Android Play Store
• Karnataka Bank has launched KBL SMARTz, a mobile application built on Unified Payments Interface platform of National Payments Corporation of India NPCI
• NPCI is the umbrella organisation for all retail payment systems in India
• UPI is a new initiative from NPCI in digital payments ecosystem
• Interface is designed to enable customers across UPI member banks to pay and collect money from their smartphones without entering any bank account information
• Launching the product, P. Jayaram Bhat, MD and CEO of bank also said it was a user friendly universal mobile app
• Fund transfer can be done without revealing personal details
• Users can add accounts of different banks to pay and collect funds across bank accounts making it a universal app for payments
• Customers of any UPI member bank can utilise this facility
• Transactions can be done with one click 2 factor authentication.
• App facilitates non financial transactions such as balance enquiry, setting one’s M-pin and so on

ANSWER: Kenya

Explanation:
Kenya has disbanded its National Olympics Committee (NOC-K) on account of poor handling of the east African country’s team during the Rio Olympics.

• Sports minister Hassan Wario has made the announcement on 25th August 2016
• A committee has also been set up to investigate the misconduct and will submit findings by September 30
• Directorate of Criminal Investigation has also been asked to begin the probe
• The entire Kenyan team had accommodation and travel mishaps
• Additionally provision of kits to accredited list of participants never reached the athletes
• NOC-K has been disbanded with immediate effect and responsibilities have been transferred to Sports Kenya which is currently the interim custodian
• Team captain Welsey Korir also complained about the arrangements
• Francis Paul, the secretary general of NOC-K said he would consult with the International Olympic Committee over Wario’s decision
• Despite these problems, Kenya enjoyed its most successful Olympics in Rio winning six gold medals, six silvers and one bronze all in track and field.

ANSWER: UEFA award

Explanation:
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the UEFA award as the best player in Europe last season after helping Portugal to win the European Championship.
Ronaldo has won another stellar campaign for Real Madrid.

• He was a favourite for the fourth world player of the year award
• He beat club teammate Gareth Bale of Wales and French Atletico Madrid star Antoine Greizmann
• Vote by journalists from UEFA’s 55 member countries was announced at the Champions League draw Thursday
• Ronaldo also received the award in 2014
• Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Franck Ribary previously won the award
• This award was conceived in 2011
• UEFA created the prize after the original European footballer of the year honour, known as the Ballon d’Or merged with FIFA world player award
• Lyon forward Ada Hegeberg won the women’s award

ANSWER: SN Subrahmanyan

Explanation:
Deputy Managing Director and President, Larsen & Toubro, SN Subrahmanyan will take over as chairman of the USD 16 billion engineering and construction powerhouse from AM Naik.

• Naik introduced Subrahmanyam as his successor at the company’s 71st AGM
• Naik has been with L&T for over 50 years now
• Company is expecting to double its revenue to INR 2 lakh crore by 2021 based on India’s success story
• India is currently at the cusp of a turnaround. All indicators are positive as the projected GDP growth rate is 7.4 percent in 2016-2017
• India is the fastest growing large economy in the world
• Government’s thrust on infrastructure and its Make in India initiatives will fuel growth
• The company is banking on the defence sector
• It is expected the defence sector will generate business opportunities worth INR 13 lakh crores over the next 10 years.
• With the resolution of the issues pertaining to fuel supply and clearer understanding on nuclear liability issues, Nuclear power sector is expected to grow over the next 10 years to INR 50,000 crore.
• L&T plans to make missiles one day, Naik said.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Following the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, the health ministry plans to frame regulations for in vitro fertilisation, embryo transfers and sperm banks.

• Estimates show that assisted reproductive technology of which IVF and surrogacy services are most common is a INR 3000 crore industry
• While regulating clinics, ART Bill is expected to set forth norms for procedures, sperm donations and embryo transfers as well
• ART or Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill is also expected to draw a clear framework for compensation and bringing out guidelines on pricing of such procedures.
• The bill will be brought to public domain very soon
• Draft bill is quite old and requires some changes. Things need to be brought under its purview and work is on to accomplish this
• While regulations for surrogacy were also part of the overarching ART Bill, surrogacy was hived off and a separate legislation was framed for it
• Union Cabinet approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016 imposing a ban on commercial surrogacy while allowing altruistic surrogacy where only close relatives can be surrogate mothers for Indian couples
• Infertility in India is on the rise on account of erratic modern lifestyles and late marriages
• Increasing number of couples are opting for ART
• There are serious concerns over the success rate of ART
• No official estimates or data on ARTs, sources in the government as well as industry say success rate of ART in India is not more than 20-30 percent.

ANSWER: G Satheesh Reddy

Explanation:
Indian aerospace scientist G. Satheesh Reddy on 25th August 2016 won the first IEI-IEEE award for engineering excellence in 2015.

• Award is a recognition of Reddy’s significant national contributions towards missiles and aerospace technologies
• Award was presented by the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Asia Pacific region
• It was presented during the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Asia Pacific region
• It was presented during the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Reddy is a renowned aerospace and navigation scientist
• He is currently working as scientific adviser to Raksha Mantri and DG Missiles and Strategic Systems
• He is credited with the development of the Medium Range Surface to Air weapon system.
• He also developed India’s first guided bomb
• He was also the first from India to be a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation in London
• He is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society
• Apart from his he is a foreign member of the Academy of Navigation and Motion Control Russia
• He is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and a honorary fellow of the Computer Society of India

ANSWER: Delhi, Goa

Explanation:
First children’s court was inaugurated in Hyderabad for South India on 25th August 2016.

• Two other states, Goa and Delhi have got their child friendly court.
• Court was jointly inaugurated by acting HC CJ Ramesh Ranganathan and TS directory general of police Anurag Sharma.
• It features separate waiting rooms for children and a video camera trial for the accused
• Child who is the witness/victim will be allowed direct interaction with the judge
• Accused will be in a different location and hear the proceedings via two way video conferencing in the courtroom
• A two way video communication system will allow the child to identify the accused on camera
• The judge will not sit on the dais, so that he can be more approachable
• Police accompanying the child will not be in uniform
• WCD Minister Smt. Maneka Gandhi on 26th August launched the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences/POCSO e-box
• The POCSO e-box is a platform where child victims of sexual abuse can report such cases online
• It is an initiative of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights for direct online reporting of child sexual abuse
• The e-box is an online complaint management system which facilitates direct reporting of sexual offences against children and timely action against offenders under toe POCSO act
• It is incorporated on the home page of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) website http://ncpcr.gov.in/.
To register a complaint, the complainant will have to push a button named POCSO e-box that will navigate him or her to a page where at least one picture option will have to be selected (describing the category of harassment)
• Later, a form will have to be filled along with details such as mobile number, email and description of the harassment followed by the submit button after which a unique auto generated complaint number will be flashed
• e-Box is incorporated in the home page of the NCPCR which is a national level body for the protection of child rights
• Sexual offences against children are rampant, yet a small percentage is reported
• Government enacted the POCSO Act 2012 to protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.
• The Act also safeguards the interest of children at every stage of the judicial process by incorporating child friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated Special Courts
• Any human being up to 18 years of age is recognised as a child under the Act.

ANSWER: Tillakaratne Dilshan

Explanation:
Tilakaratne Dilshan, veteran Sri Lanka batsman retired from international cricket.

• He will play his last One Day International on 28th August 2016
• He will play his last T20 International in Colombo on September 9, 2016
• He is most famous for inventing the Dilscoop
• He retired from test cricket in 2013
• He played 87 tests and scored 5492 runs at 40.98 and picked 39 wickets
• Dilscoop is his signature of hitting the ball behind the keeper
• He was also a Test wicket keeper of repute
• He made his debut against Zimbabwe in 1999
• Amassing 10248 runs, including 22 centuries and 47 half centuries, he has scored 1884 runs in 78 T20 Internationals so far
• He is the fourth Sri Lanka batsman and the 11th in the world to pass the 10,000 run mark
• His career best score is 161 not out against Bangladesh in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.
• His career spanned his talents as an all rounder- he was a good off-break bowler taking 106 ODI wickets with best figures of 4 for 4 against Zimbabwe in Pallekele in 2011.
• In 78 T20 Internationals, Dilshan has amassed 1884 runs including a high score of 104 against Australia

ANSWER: Thongchai Jaidee

Explanation:
Thai golfer Thongchai Jadiee on 25th August 2016 was voted as the Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of the Month for July 2016

• He wins the award ahead of Chinese Taipei sensation Chan Shi-chang and Carlos Pigem of Spain
• The players were nominated by a selection panel before going into the voting process
• Thai professional golfer Jaidee plays on the Asian and European Tour
• On the Asian tour, he has the record for the most career earnings and is second in victories having won a record 13 times
• He was also the winner of Order of Merit on the Asian tour three times in his career
• In February 2004, he became the first Thai to win a tournament on the European tour by winning the Carlsberg Malaysian Open
• In 2006, he received a special invitation to play in the Masters Tournament and the second Thai to play in the Masters after Sukree Onsham
• He was also the first Thai to play 4 major championships
• He topped the Asian Tour order of Merit for the third time in 2009
• He won for the fifth time on the European Tour in June 2012 at the ISPS Handa Wales Open
• He qualified for the 2015 Presidents Cup squad for the first time
• He thus became the first Thai player to win this honour
• In September 2015, he won his seventh European Tour title at the Porsche European Open in Germany. He claimed his eighth European Tour victory in July 2016, with a four stroke victory at the Open de France.

ANSWER: August 27

Explanation:
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of the Republic of Moldova on the eve of their Independence Day (August 27, 2016).

• Mr. Nicolae Timofti is the current President of the Republic of Moldova
• This year also marks 25 years of diplomatic relations between India and Moldova.
• In a demonstration of India’s commitment to its ties with Seychelles and maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region, Indian Naval Ships Kolkata, Trikand and Aditya under the Command of the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, Rear Admiral Ravneet Singh,NM have arrived at Port Victoria on a two day visit.
• INS Kolkata is commanded by Captain Rahul Vilas Gokhale, INS Trikand is commanded by Captain Arjun Dev Nair
• INS Aditya is commanded by Captain Vidyanshu Srivastava.
• The ships are part of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet based at Mumbai under the Western Naval Command and are on a two month long deployment in the Western Indian Ocean.
• During the visit, the IN ships would engage with the Seychelles People Defence Force on professional issues.
• The deployment adds another positive to the warm bilateral defence ties between the two nations

ANSWER: Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Explanation:
Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) for promoting renewable energy.

• BCCI energy committee chairman Deb A Mukherjee said the agreement will forge an alliance between the chamber and TERI to work together in the domain of renewables.
• The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is a research institute based in New Delhi that conducts research work in the fields of energy, environment and sustainable development.
• Established in 1974, it was formerly known as Tata Energy and Resource Institute.
• As the scope of its activities widened, it was renamed The Energy and Resources Institute in 2003.
• TERI was registered in Delhi in 1974 as the Tata Energy Research Institute.
• The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a chamber of commerce based in West Bengal, India.
• Established in 1853, it is the only such institution in India.
• The organisation has its headquarters at the former Royal Exchange in B. B. D. Bagh, Kolkata.