Daily GK update - 7th and 8th December 2014

US, NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission

i.) The US and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan on Monday,13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.

ii.) NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations, lowered its flag, formally ending its deployment.

iii.) US Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of NATO and US forces, said that the mission now would transition to a training and support role for Afghanistan’s own security forces, which have led the fight against the Taliban insurgents since mid-2013.

Prince William, Kate arrive on first trip to New York

i.) Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Kate, have arrived in New York City on the royal couple’s first official visit to the U.S.

ii.) The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s motorcade pulled up outside the Carlyle Hotel on Sunday night to a throng of media and shrieking admirers, who were kept behind police barricades. Ms. Kate is expecting their second child in April.

iii.) Mr. William is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday while visiting Washington to attend a World Bank conference. At that meeting, he is expected to speak about combating illegal trade in wildlife parks.

Delhi govt bans Uber taxi operations

i.) The Delhi government on Monday banned all operations by private cab service Uber with immediate effect and blacklisted it from providing any transport service in the national capital in the wake of the alleged rape incident in a taxi plying for it.

ii.) The action came a day after a taxi driver employed by Uber was arrested from Mathura for allegedly raping a 27-year-old woman executive in his cab.

iii.) The transport department has banned all activities related to providing of any transport service by www.uber.com with immediate effect. The department has also blacklisted the company from providing any transport service in the NCT of Delhi in future, the Delhi government said in a statement.

Zuckerberg reads Chinese President’s book

i.) The news portal of China’s top Internet agency has released a photo of Facebook

founder Mark Zuckerberg with a copy of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book on governance at his desk while hosting an Internet official from the country.

ii.) Mr. Zuckerberg, who has long sought access to the market in China, where Facebook is blocked, is quoted by the portal as saying he purchased several copies of Mr. Xi’s book so that he and colleagues could learn about “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

iii.) China.com.cn said the photo was taken while Mr. Zuckerberg hosted Lu Wei, China’s top Internet regulator, at his office in California. In October, Mr. Zuckerberg surprised Chinese college students in Beijing when he chatted with them for 30 minutes in Mandarin.

China uses water power to deepen Sri Lanka ties

i.) China has started a major water supply project in Sri Lanka, using its “soft power” to deepen its relationship with Colombo. 

ii.) The China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) has launched the $230-million enterprise — the largest ever undertaken by the Sri Lankan government, Xinhua quoted an official as saying.

iii.) The Chinese company had been earlier involved in the construction of the $ 1.2 billion Lakvijaya coal fired power plant in Sri Lanka. Once completed, the new project will yield clean drinking water that would benefit 600,000 people, spread in 42 villages, in an area not far from Colombo.

Kreeda Bharati unit to be inaugurated on Sunday

i.) Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sarbananda Sonowal will inaugurate the Karnataka unit of the Kreeda Bharati, a sports organisation headed by former cricketer Chethan Chouhan, here on December 14.

ii.) Union Minister for Law and Justice, D.V. Sadananda Gowda will preside over its inaugural function, a release said. An inter-collegiate Kabaddi tournament for men and women would be conducted on the occasion at Nehru maidan. 

iii.) There would be a tug of war competition for men and women. It said that about 50 teams are expected to participate in the Kabaddi tournament and 30 teams in tug of war competition.

Cochin International Half Marathon: Bernard, Helah smash course record

i.) Kenya’s Bernard Kipyego and Helah Kiprop broke the course record while retaining their

elite men’s and women’s titles in the second Muthoot Finance Cochin International Half Marathon here on Sunday. But it was the Kerala-born Railway star O.P. Jaisha who produced the biggest surprise.

Elite men: 1. Bernard Kipyego (Ken) 1:02.38s, 2. Adugna Takele Bikila (Eth) 1:03.00s, 3. Lucas Rotich (Ken) 1:03.17.

Elite women: 1. Helah Kiprop (Ken) 1:11.40s, 2. Caroline Kilel (Ken) 1:13.26, 3. Workenesh Edesa (Eth) 1:14.42.

Indian Elite men: 1. G. Lakshmanan (Army) 1:05.49s, 2. T. Gopi (Army) 1:06.13, 3. Kheta Ram (Army) 1:06.16.

Indian Elite women: 1. O.P. Jaisha (Rly) 1:15.33s, 2. Lalita Babbar (Rly) 1:17.28, 3. Monica Raut (Rly) 1:21.43.

Ban Ki-moon to attend Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2015 

i.) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will take part in the 'Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2015' during his two-day visit to Prime Minister NarendraModi's home state on January 10 and 11 next year. 

ii.) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the UN, is going to take part in our Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2015. He will come to Gujarat on January 10 and he will be present at the inauguration function on January 11," Finance minister and Gujarat Government Spokesperson Saurabh Patel said today. 

iii.) The Secretary General is also likely to visit Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad and a few other places in the state on January 11, Patel added. 

ICICI Bank to hike ATM charges from January 1 

i.) Country's largest private sector lender ICICI BankBSE -1.34 % has announced a hike in its ATM charges for saving account holders from January 1 next year. 

ii.) Under the new method, the number of free transactions in a month is fixed at five using own ATMs, while it has been capped at three for other banks' machines. 

iii.) Customers can enjoy only five free transactions, including financial and non-financial, at the bank's own automated teller machines (ATM), it said in a post on its website.

iv.) After exceeding the free transaction limits, customers will have to pay Rs 20 per financial transaction excluding service tax and Rs 8.50 for every non-financial transaction, it said. 

Ready-to-launch projects worth 3 lakh crore to bolster infrastructure growth: Nitin Gadkari 

i.) The government today said it is creating a shelf of 500 ready-to-bid projects worth Rs

three lakh crore to propel growth in the infrastructure sector. This is in addition to rolling out Rs 1.8 lakh crore worth of projects out of Rs 2.8 lakh crore stuck projects. 

ii.) In our shelf, we are going to have 500 projects worth more than Rs 3 lakh crore ready with processes like land acquisition, forest clearance and other  clearances,"Gadkari said addressing an Infrastructure summit, organised by Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) here. 

iii.) A separate section has been created in the Ministry to prepare detailed project reports (DPR) to keep a vigil on the progress of all onging projects, he said.