Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Dec 18, 2015

ANSWER: Base Rate Formula

Explanation:
On 17th December 2015, RBI announced a new base rate formula moving towards marginal cost of funds methodology for interest rate on advances. The final norms on marginal costs for banks will take effect from April 1, 2016. All loans and credit limits for April 1 will be priced in the context of MCLR or Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate.

ANSWER: Jeff Williams

Explanation:
Apple has named Jeff Williams as the new COO since Tim Cook left the position to become a CEO of the company. Williams has been in Apple for 17 years and supervised the launch of Apple Watch. Apple has already named Johnny Srouji as the senior vice president.

ANSWER: Lyft

Explanation:
Ride hailing app Lyft has hired Evan Cohen on 17th December 2015 to head its east coast operations to win over regulators and fend off competitors. Cohen is a former executive from Foursquare, a mobile app providing recommendations for restaurants and nightlife. He has joined as regional director of the company.

ANSWER: Baljeet Singh

Explanation:
Baljeet Singh, Twitter product lead in charge of video will quit the company next month, according to a Twitter spokesperson. Singh is currently senior product director and joined Twitter 2 years after he worked for more than 5 years with YouTube. Singh will be the latest product leader to leave Twitter after Glenn Brown.

ANSWER: Steven Spielberg

Explanation:
ADAG Reliance Entertainment and acclaimed Hollywood director Spielberg has announced formation of Amblin Partners with his company DreamWorks. This is a new film television and digital content creation company. Also part of the venture are Participant Media by Jeff Skoll and Entertainment One, a US based media company.

ANSWER: Gaurang Shetty

Explanation:
Jet Airways, India’s second largest airline by market share, saw the resignation of its CEO Cramer Ball w.e.f February 29, 2016. Ball has stepped down to pursue new opportunities in Europe for family reasons. Whole time director at the airline G. Shetty will be acting CEO. Ball joined Jet Airways last year. He will now work for Italian airline Alitalia as the CEO, replacing Silvano Cassano who quit the company in September 2015. Jet was trying to implement a turnaround strategy and Etihad Airways has a 24% stake in the airline, the first time a company has made profits in the second quarter in 8 years.

ANSWER: Aequs

Explanation:
Fokker Technologies, a division of GKN Aerospace and Aequs India signed a long term agreement for supply of machine components for Boeing’s Chinook helicopter. The LTA was signed at the Boeing India Supplier Conference in Hyderabad and Fokker Technologies will build parts into final sub-assemblies in facilities in Papendrecht, The Netherlands. Fokker Technologies commenced operations in 2014.

ANSWER: Fundamental

Explanation:
Physicists working with LHC at CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research have found traces of what could be a new fundamental particle of nature. One possibility is that it is a heavier version of Higgs boson while another is that it could be a graviton, the quantum carrier of gravity.

ANSWER: Supernova

Explanation:
Hubble Space Telescope has captured the image of the first every predicted supernova explosion offering scientists the capability of testing how mass- especially of dark matter- is distributed within the cluster of a galaxy. Few stellar explosions have been caught in the process and on December 11, astronomers not only caught the supernova in action, but also saw it was exactly when and where they predicted it would be for the first time. The supernova, nicknamed Refsdal, has been spotted in the galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223. The supernova itself had exploded nearly 10 billion years ago.

ANSWER: Morelladon beltrani

Explanation:
Scientists have discovered a new species of unusual, sail backed dinosaur in Spain called Morelladon beltrani. Researchers from UNED, National University of Distance Education in Spain have discussed the discovery of this specimen which is a partial skeleton mainly composed of dorsal and sacral vertebrae and pelvic bones, researchers said. Morelladon, a medium-sized styracosternan ornithopod of around 6m long and 2.5m high, is similar in body length and proportions to its relative Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis.

ANSWER: The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence: An Insider’s Account

Explanation:
A book entitled “The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence: An Insider’s Account” was released by the grand niece of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Madhuri Bose. This book was released on November 1, 2015 and came into news when a copy of it was presented to PM Narendra Modi on 17th December. It portrays the iconic life and times of Subash and Sarat Chandra Bose.

ANSWER: Reva Khetrapal

Explanation:
Delhi HC Reva Khetrapal on 17th December 2015 took oath as the new Lokayukta of Delhi since November 2013 when Justice Manmohan Sarin resigned from office. 4 member panel comprising Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, CM Arvind Kejriwal and CJ of Delhi HC G. Rohini as well as Leader of Opposition Vijendar Gupta unanimously chose Khetrapal.

ANSWER: Garwood award

Explanation:
India’s President Pranab Mukherjee was conferred with the Garwood Award for Outstanding Global Leadership in Open Innovation from the prestigious UC Berkeley Haas School of Business which has generated more Nobel Laureates till date than any other university. This was the first public university of the world and it was established in 1860s. Prof. Solomon Darwin, Executive Director Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation presented the award to the President.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings to the people of Republic of Niger on the eve of their national day which was December 18th, 2015. Mr. Mahamadou Issoufou, the President of the Republic of Niger, was also congratulated by the President. Greetings were also extended to the people and State of Qatar on their national day. The Emir is presently His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

ANSWER: Arbitration and Reconciliation (Amendment) Bill 2015

Explanation:
LS passed the Arbitration and Reconciliation (Amendment Bill), 2015 by voice vote. The Bill seeks to make the arbitration process more investor-friendly, cost effective and affordable apart from meeting standards of international arbitration.

ANSWER: 0.25

Explanation:
Fed Reserve the central banking system of the US on 16th December 2015 increased interest rate by 0.25 percent in a decision approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System chaired by Janet L Yellen. Interest rates in US are now between 0.25-0.50 as against o.25 and o range. This marks the first increase since 2006.

ANSWER: Dark Matter Particle Explorer

Explanation:
China launched the first space telescope in search of signals for dark matter on 17th December 2015. This DAMPE or Dark Matter Particle Explorer Satellite has been given the name Wukong after the kind in the classical Chinese fiction Journey to the West. This satellite was launched on a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre and will enter a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 500 km to observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space.