27th January 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

Today (27th January) is International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust (International Holocaust Remembrance Day).
- This day commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated 6 million Jewish people, 2 million Romani people, 250,000 mentally and physically disabled people, and 9,000 homosexual men by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
- Theme of the year 2016 : The Holocaust and Human Dignity
India has been ranked at 76th position in public sector corruption out of 168 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2015, improving its slot from 85 in 2014 and 94 in 2013.
- Denmark took the top spot of this Index for the second consecutive year as the least corrupted country.
- North Korea and Somalia remained at the bottom, as most corrupted countries in the world.
- Top 9 countries in the list
- 1. Denmark
  2. Finland
  3. Sweden
  4. New Zealand
  5. Netherlands
  6. Norway
  7. Switzerland
  8. Singapore
  9. Canada

National Affairs

Cabinet today approved a proposal for raising 17 more India reserve battalions by Jammu and Kashmir and Left-wing extremism affected states.
- A decision to this effect was taken during Cabinet meeting in New Delhi.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to increase the authorised capital of National Scheduled Caste Finance Development Corporation.
- Now, its capital will increase from one thousand crore to one thousand two hundred crore rupees.

Business & Economy

On this day (27th January) in the year 1921, The Imperial Bank of India which became The State Bank of India (SBI) post independence, came into existence.
- SBI is a government-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai.
- It is also the largest banking and financial services company in India in terms of assets.
On the 67th Republic day, Bajaj Auto has announced that it is going to release the new 'V' range of motorcycles forged from the metals of India's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, that was decommissioned in 2014.
- The new range is expected to be launched in the 150cc segment with a top speed of 110 kmph.
Japanese telecommunications company Soft Bank today revealed its plans to start a phone store staffed mainly by ‘Peppers’, its humanoid robot.
- The store will reportedly be run by five or six Pepper robots, demonstrating and helping customers choose phones to purchase.
- Note : Launched in June 2015, Pepper is capable of recognising and responding to human emotions and remembering faces.
Japanese automaker Toyota topped 2015 global sales by selling 10.15 million vehicles, thereby retaining its top position for the fourth consecutive year.
- Volkswagen and General Motors stood at 2nd and 3rd positions behind Toyota with 9.93 million and 9.8 million vehicle sales respectively.

People in News

Microsoft Founder Bill Gates is the World's wealthiest man with a net worth of $87.4 billion, according to Wealth-X.
- Spain's Amancio Ortega, Co-founder of Zara, is at the second position with a net worth of $66.8 billion.
- Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet occupies the third spot followed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at fourth.

New Appointments

American Express executive Leslie Berland has been named by Twitter as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
- Berland is currently Vice President, global advertising, marketing at American Express.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has joined the World Economic Forum (WEF) task force to study the future of the global financial system.
- It will look into the emerging markets, regulatory and monetary policies, technology, and loss of trust in financial services.
- The task force also includes the Governor of Bank of England and Chairman of Bank of America, among others.

Awards & Honors

An Indian origin Dentist Sajeev Koshy, settled in Melbourne was honoured with the highest civilian honour, the Order of Australia.
- Koshy was given the award for his service to dentistry in Victoria, Australia.
- He was honoured at the Australia Day Awards 2016, by the Governor General of Australia.

Deaths

Hollywood Actor Abe Vigoda (94) passed away.
- He was best known for his role as mobsterTessio in the movie The Godfather.
- He is also famous for the television series Barney Miller.

Recent Committees in News

Delhi Government has constituted a commission of inquiry to probe into the complaints of crime against women in the national capital since February 2013.
- The commission will look into sexual violence, harassment of women and such other crimes.
- It will also suggest necessary amendments to relevant laws and recommend whether any case of negligence is made out prima facie in these cases.
- The commission will have a two-year tenure and submit report of its findings every three months from the date of its first sitting.
- This commission is headed by : Dinesh Dayal (Retired District Judge)

Sports

India's top pistol shooter Heena Sidhu claimed Gold medal in women's 10-meter air pistol event at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers.
- With this gold, she secured Olympic Quota.
India has regained the top spot in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test rankings after a gap of almost four-and-a-half years.
- Note : India had previously held the No. 1 Test position from December 2009 to August 2011.
- Australia is ranked second and the third-placed was occupied by South Africa.
Top-ranked, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis defeated German-Czech pair of Juilia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova today to book a place in the Australian Open doubles finals.
- The Indo-Swiss pair will face the seventh-seeded all-Czech combination of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the finals of the tournament.