GK and Current Affairs Updates: 27 July 2015

Friends..Here is the Daily Current Affairs and GK Updates for 27 July 2015 useful for all upcoming exams. We are covered important National, International happenings for the day in competitive Exam point of view. Also don't forget to participate in our Current Affairs Quiz 2015 and GK Quiz.

1) Sebastian Vettel won Hungarian Grand Prix 2015:

--> Ferrari’s driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany won the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1).

--> Sebastian Vettel is a four-time world champion and this was his 41st career win and first since the Malaysian GP in the second race of this season.

--> Vettel dedicated his win to Jules Bianchi, the French driver who died last week at the age of 25 from injuries sustained in a head-on crash at the Japanese GP last October.

--> Daniil Kvyat finished second and Daniel Ricciardo finished third. 

2) IDFC gets banking licence from RBI:

--> IDFC Ltd said on 24 July 2015 the Reserve Bank of India had granted a banking licence to the financial company, making it the second lender to enter the banking sector after more than a decade.

--> The Indian microfinance company Bandhan Financial Services and Mumbai-based IDFC were the only two companies to be granted preliminary bank permits last year.

--> Bandhan said in June it would launch banking operations in August.

3) World's largest flower blooms in Tokyo for first time in 5 years:

--> A Titan Arum, believed to be the world's largest flower, bloomed this week in Tokyo's Jindai Botanical Garden for the first time in five years.

--> The flower Titan arum measuring 2-meter (6.5 feet) in height rarely flowers and is notoriously difficult to propagate.

--> It is commonly called the corpse flower because it smells like rotting meat that helps attract pollinators such as beetles and flies.

4) World's 1st malaria vaccine gets regulatory nod:

--> The world's first malaria vaccine cleared one of the final hurdles as it received a positive scientific opinion from European regulators and now awaits approval from the WHO before it could be administered within the next few years across Africa.

--> The vaccine, named Mosquirix, was on 24 July 2015 given the green light by London-based European Medicines Agency after more than 30 years of research, detailed in 230,000 pages of data.

--> The vaccine will be examined by the WHO which will give its recommendation in November this year.

5) Dhoni named as 9th most marketable sportsman:

--> According to figures released by the London School of Marketing, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as the ninth most marketable sportsman in the world.

--> He sits ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Maria Sharapova, Kobe Bryant and Usain Bolt among others.

--> The list is headed by tennis star Roger Federer who lost in the Wimbledon this year to Novak Djokovic.

6) Anand Krishnamurthy appointed CEO and MD of CSB bank:

--> Anand Krishnamurthy is now the new MD and CEO of Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) replacing Rakesh Bhatia who had quit due to personal reason.

--> This appointment was done by the board of directors of CSB among the three named sent to RBI.

7) Earth-like planet found by NASA's Kepler telescope:

--> Scientists using NASA's powerful Kepler telescope have found a planet beyond the solar system that is a close match to Earth.

--> The planet, which is about 60 percent bigger than Earth, is located about 1,400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus.

--> While similarly sized planets have been found before, the latest one, known as Kepler-452b, is circling a star that is very similar but older than the sun at a distance about the same as Earth's orbit.

8) 16th Anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas observed:

--> The 16th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas observed across the nation on 26 July 2015.

--> On this day in 1999 Indian Army defeated Pakistan Army in the Kargil War.

--> The observance of the day in 2015 was marked with paying tribute to Kargil War heroes by laying a wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti in Delhi by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and three service chiefs - Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan.

9) PM Modi launched ‘Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana’:

--> Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 July 2015 launched the ‘Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana’ for power sector reforms in rural areas with a view to ensuring round the clock electricity supply to farmers and rural households.

--> Speaking at the launch of the scheme at Patna, Modi said that development is the panacea for all problems related to poverty and unemployment.

--> The new power scheme focuses on feeder separation (rural households and agricultural) and strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure, including metering at all levels in rural areas.

--> The earlier scheme for rural electrification, Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), which was launched by previous UPA government, has been subsumed in the new scheme as its rural electrification component.

10) S. Sreesanth discharged in Indian Premier League 2013 Spot-Fixing Case:

--> S. Sreesanth and 41 others have been discharged by a Patiala House Court in New Delhi in the Indian Premier League 2013 spot-fixing scandal.

--> The entire case has been dropped due to lack of evidence.
Check & Read Daily Current Affairs 2015