GK and Current Affairs Updates

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who turned 47 on Sunday, was named by Forbes as the most powerful woman in technology for five consecutive years from 2012 to 2016. 
•    Sandberg was also one of the youngest female billionaires in the world in 2014, and currently has an estimated net worth of $1.42 billion.
•    Sheryl Kara Sandberg is an American technology executive, activist, and author. 
•    She is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and founder of Leanin.org. 
•    In June 2012, she was elected to the board of directors by the existing board members, becoming the first woman to serve on Facebook's board. 
•    Before she joined Facebook as its COO, Sandberg was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google and was involved in launching Google's philanthropic arm Google.org. 
•    Before Google, Sandberg served as chief of staff for United States Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers.
 

Japanese automaker Toyota is the most valuable automobile brand in the world, according to Forbes. 
•    Toyota, which was founded 79 years ago on August 28, 1937, has a brand value of $42.1 billion. 
•    German luxury automobile manufacturer BMW comes second on the list, with a brand value of $28.8 billion.
•    As for the second most valued car brand in the world, it was taken by German luxury car maker BMW, which also saw an increase in brand value of 2 per cent at $ 26.8 billion.
•    Right behind was rival Mercedes-Benz, which saw the highest increase in brand value of 4 per cent among the top 10 cars at $ 22.7 billion.
•    This year American luxury electric carmaker Tesla joined the top 10 list at the No. 10 spot with a brand value of $ 4.4 billion

 

Scientists in Japan studying earthquakes for the first time have detected a rare deep-Earth tremor, known as an S (secondary) wave microseism. 
•    Microseisms are very faint tremors. 
•    The detection was made by scientists from the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention in Japan. 
•    The rare deep-Earth tremor S wave microseism was detected for the first time and traced its location to a distant and powerful storm. 
•    The storm in the North Atlantic known as a weather bomb which was a small but potent storm that gains punch as pressure quickly mounts. 
•    During the storm, groups of waves had sloshed and pounded the ocean floor which struck between Greenland and Iceland. 
•    Using seismic equipment on land and on the seafloor researchers found a tremor known as an S wave microseism. 
•    S wave Microseisms are very faint tremors compared to P (primary) wave microseisms and they occur in the 0.05 to 0.5 Hz frequency range. 
 

The Union Finance Ministry has constituted an 11 members high-level committee to suggest steps to promote card payments with an aim to discourage cash transactions. 
•    The 11-member committee will be headed by former Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal. 
•    They will recommend various measures to incentivise transactions through cards and digital means, e.g., through tax incentives/rebates, introduction of cash back/lottery. 
•    Review the payments system in the country and recommend measures for encouraging digital payments. 
•    Study feasibility of creating a payments history of all card and digital payments and ensure that merchants and consumers can leverage the data to access. 
•    Study and recommend ways for leveraging Unique Identification Number (UID) or any other proof of identity for authentication of card and digital transactions. 
•    Study introduction of single window system of payment gateway to accept all types of cards and digital payments of government receipts.
•    Look into the scope of integration of all government systems like Public Finance Management System, Bharatkosh, PayGov and eKuber. 
 

An Australian teenager has become the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a single- engine aircraft, completing the 45000 km trip in almost two months.
•    Lachlan Smart touched down on the Sunshine Coast at Maroochydore on Saturday, having departed from the same airstrip on July 4.
•    Smart, who is 18 years, seven months and 21 days, stopped in 24 locations and 15 countries on his way. 
•    During his expedition, Smart said some of his highlights were visiting relatives in England, flying over the white cliffs of Dover and partying on a Cannes beach in France.
•    But it was not all smooth sailing for Smart, with dangerous weather conditions, lack of support from airport staff and the language barrier hindering his progress.
•    He encountered heavy storms over the Pacific and a hurricane between California and Hawaii delayed him for 24 hours, but he said "there was not anything I could not overcome".
Govt. launches E-box for reporting child sexual abuse.

The 22nd edition of the Delhi Book Fair (DBF) began at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.  
•    Focus of the this edition of DBF will be to highlight initiatives undertaken by Union Government for its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan to inculcate better reading habits among the younger generation. 
•    The Delhi Book Fair has been organised by Indian Trade Promotion Organisation in association with Federation of Indian Publishers.
•    Initiatives like Make in India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Digital India, Skill India, Startup India, Smart Cities and Startup India will dominate these pavilions. 
•    It will also showcase a wide range of fictions and non-fictions, academic books besides plenty of children’s literature. 
•    Exhibitors will include both Indian and foreign publishers, book sellers and distributors, educational institutions, periodicals and magazines and e-books Special facilities will be offered for students and the teaching community, who will be provided free entry to the fair.

Pakistan is going to host the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad (capital city) and Murree on November 9 and 10, 2016. 
•    It will be the meeting of the head of states or head of government of the eight SAARC countries. 
•    SAARC is regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia. 
•    It promotes development of economical and regional integration. 
•    As of 2015, SAARC member countries compromise of 3% of the world’s area, 21% of the world’s population and 9.12% of the global economy. 
•    Member Countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan .
•    Nine observer states: Australia, China, European Union, Japan, Iran, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea, and United States. 
•    The idea for the SAARC was proposed by Ziaur Rahman, the then President of Bangladesh on May 2, 1980. 
•    The first SAARC summit was held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in December 1985. 
•    The SAARC Secretariat was established in Kathmandu (Nepal) on 16 January 1987.

President Barack Obama has announced to create the largest protected area anywhere on Earth—a half-million-square-mile arc of remote Pacific waters known for both exceptional marine life and importance to native Hawaiian culture.
•    The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, established in 2006 by President George W. Bush, already covered 140,000 square miles. 
•    Obama more than quadrupled Papahānaumokuākea’s size, to 582,578 square miles. 
•    Using his executive authority under the U.S. Antiquities Act, he extended most of the monument’s boundary—and its prohibition of commercial fishing—out to the 200-mile limit of the exclusive economic zone.
•    Papahānaumokuākea is a sanctuary for endangered species, including blue whales, short-tailed albatrosses, sea turtles, and the last Hawaiian monk seals. 
•    The seamounts and sunken islands of its deeper waters are inhabited by more than 7,000 species, including the oldest animals on Earth—black corals that have lived for more than 4,000 years.
 

Scientists in Japan studying earthquakes for the first time have detected a rare deep-Earth tremor, known as an S (secondary) wave microseism. 
•    Microseisms are very faint tremors. 
•    The detection was made by scientists from the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention in Japan. 
•    The rare deep-Earth tremor S wave microseism was detected for the first time and traced its location to a distant and powerful storm. 
•    The storm in the North Atlantic known as a weather bomb which was a small but potent storm that gains punch as pressure quickly mounts. 
•    During the storm, groups of waves had sloshed and pounded the ocean floor which struck between Greenland and Iceland. 
•    Using seismic equipment on land and on the seafloor researchers found a tremor known as an S wave microseism. 
•    S wave Microseisms are very faint tremors compared to P (primary) wave microseisms and they occur in the 0.05 to 0.5 Hz frequency range. 

Maharashtra Government has unveiled ambitious Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway project in Mumbai. 
•    The 46,000-crore rupee ambitious project will create state-of-the art road connectivity within a period of three years and give a fillip to investment in the state. 
•    Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway project will be implemented by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
•    The project aims to create state-of-the art road connectivity within a period of three years and give a fillip to investment in the state. 
•    It will be a six-lane super communication highway covering a distance of 750 km through 10 districts. 
•    It will connect entire breadth of Maharashtra It will require 9000 hectares of land and will be carried out in the Land Pooling model with farmers being made partners and some percentage of developed land given back to them. 
•    It will have facilities like trauma centers, electronic toll points, CCTV cameras, two lanes of service roads, utility shifting, bypass. 
•    Besides, it will also have other structures will be installed to enhance operational and safety standards.