Current Affairs-GK 15-16 March, 2016

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will leave for Nepal to attend SAARC ministerial meet. Before the Ministerial meeting, a session of Programming Committee of SAARC will be held in Pokhara (Nepal). Standing Committee of the SAARC, which is a Foreign Secretaries-level Forum, will be held on 16th of this month.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the meetings are part of regular interactions within the SAARC framework.

Myanmar's Parliament on 15 March 2016 elected Htin Kyaw as the first civilian president to lead the country after 53 years of military rule. Army took power in a 1962 coup. He is a close aide and adviser of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
He was elected with 360 of the total 652 votes casted while, military-nominated Myint Swe received 213 votes and stood second followed by the other NLD candidate, Henry Van Thio, who got 79 votes.
They will serve as first vice-president and second vice-president respectively. Kyaw will replace Thein Sein who will step down at the end of March 2016 after five years of army-backed rule.

Venezuela president extended economic emergency to protect citizens from economic warfare

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro on 14 March 2016 declared a two-month extension on emergency powers meant to help shore up the country's crippled economy.
The declaration will bestow more time on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to intervene in the market, boost productivity and redress a flagging financial sector.
It will also allow the government to take more anti-crisis measures to reduce fiscal moratorium and to tap up funds from the 2015 budget to address short-term social needs.

India Post has selected Deloitte to advise it on setting up a payments bank and an agreement between the two will be signed on March 14. The Public Investment Board has already approved the Rs 800-crore proposal of India Post and in 15 days, it will go to the Cabinet for final approval.

An unmanned spacecraft named ExoMars 2016 was successfully launched jointly Europe and Russia to search for biosignatures on Mars (or Martian life) in past or present.
The spacecraft was launched on a Proton-M rocket operated by Russia’s Roscosmos from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. ExoMars 2016 is the first of a two-phase of ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) program.
ExoMars program is an astrobiology mission of European Space Agency (ESA) and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).

India Inc. became first in the world to formally adopt the United Nations’ (UN) agenda for the world’s sustainable development and 17 goals identified for its implementation.
It was formally adopted by the India Inc. at the 11th National Convention on Sustainable Development Goal (NCSDG) organized by the Global Compact Network in Mumbai.
The convention was inaugurated by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
It was for the first time UN is involving private and public sector corporates across the globe to drive its development agenda.
With this India Inc. became the first in the world to adopt the SDGs and implement them at their companies.

13th meeting of Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development
Aims to promote the power of broadband networks and services for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Lin Dan from China has won the prestigious 2016 All England Badminton title in the men’s singles category.In the final match played at Birmingham, England he defeated Chinese teammate Tian Houwei by 21-9, 21-10 score.
It was his overall sixth All England badminton title and earlier he had won it in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012. Nozomi Okuhara of Japan marked her 21st birthday with her first All England title after beating two-time champion Wang Shixian of China 21-11, 16-21, 21-19 in their thrilling final.
Lin Dan is a professional badminton player from China. He is a two-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion, and six-time All England champion.

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