Important Current Affairs 16th May 2016

Interceptor Missile Test Fired in Odisha

• India successfully test fired an indigenously developed Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile.
• Interceptor missile is capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile.
• Dubbed as Ashwin, the missile was test-fired from the launch complex of Abdul Kalam Island in Bhadrak district of Odisha.
• India is the fourth country to have successfully developed this anti-ballistic missile system.

Andy Murray Wins Italian Open Title

• Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic on clay for the first time to win the Italian Open Men’s Singles Tennis title.
• The third-ranked Murray defeated the top-ranked Djokovic 6-3, 6-3.
• It is Murray’s first title in Rome.
• Serena Williams defeated Madison Keys in an all American women’s Singles final.
• Sania Mirza & her Swiss partner Martina Hingis won the Women’s Doubles Title.

ICICI Launches Contactless Credit Card

• ICICI Bank has launched contactless business credit card in association with Jet Airways for small & mid-sized enterprises.
• Jet Airways ICICI Bank Business Advantage Card credit helps customers to save on their business expenses.
• The card is powered by the VISA payWave contactless technology that enables the cardholder to make payments by tapping the card at contactless enabled terminals.

Italy Approves Gay Civil Unions

• Italy’s parliament approved same-sex civil unions and gave some rights to unmarried heterosexual couples.
• Italy is the last major Western country to legally recognize gay couples.
• The bill had faced stiff opposition from Catholic groups who said it went too far.
• The bill cleared its final real hurdle earlier with the confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies, which passed it by 369 votes to 193.

Indian Women Win Silver in Squash C’ship

• Indian women’s squash team has won the Silver medal in the Asian Team squash Championships.
• In the final played at Taipei in Chinese Taipei, they lost to Malaysia by a 0-2 margin.
• India’s performance was better than their bronze-medal finish in the earlier edition of the championship.
• Sachika Ingale lost in straight games 7-11, 6-11,10-12 to Sivasangari Subramaniam in the first match.

Mudgal in FIFA Governance Committee

• Football world governing body FIFA has appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal as deputy chairman of its governance committee.
• Portuguese Luis Miguel Maduro will head FIFA’s governance committee.
• Mudgal & Maduro will also head FIFA’s International Review Committee which will assess all major decisions.
• Mexico City hosted the 66th Fifa Congress.

Indian Wins Award at UN Poster Contest

• Anjali Chandrashekar,a New York-based designer & artist, won the third prize in UN Poster for Peace contest presented by the UN Office for Disarmament.
• Titled Cutting Barriers through Peace,the poster features a peace dove slicing through a nuclear weapon.
• She received third-prize from Ban Ki-moon at an award ceremony.
• UN poster competition aimed at raising awareness about nuclear disarmament.

Indo-US Brain Trust Formed

• India & the US have formed a Brain Trust aimed at deepening and strengthening cooperation between scientific community of the world’s two largest democracies.
• The partnership is a win-win for not only the two countries, but also the entire world.
• The idea is to create a platform which partners scientific minds from both countries to explore & create timely solutions to pressing global challenges.

Kumble Reappointed as ICC Committee Head

• Anil Kumble was re-appointed ICC Cricket Committee chairman for a second term of three years.
• Rahul Dravid & ex-Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena were appointed to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket Committee.
• The Committee is representative of all stakeholders in the modern game.
• It is empowered to make recommendations on cricket playing issues to the Chief Executives’ Committee.

Govt Launch 2nd Phase of Ujjwala Scheme

• Government launches 2nd phase of Pradhanmantri Ujjwala Yojana from tribal dominated Dahod district of Gujarat.
• BJP chief Amit Shah & Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan jointly launched the second phase.
• The first phase of Ujjwala Yojna was launched by PM Modi at Ballia in Uttar Pradesh on May 1.
• The scheme aims to distribute five crore gas connections to BPL families in the next three years.