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Current Affairs 9 Dec.2016
Accent Institute Hisar

Donald Trump is Time magazine’s Person of the Year

  • Donald Trump, the US President-elect who bitterly divided his nation by running a campiagn that close to half the US considered racist and sexist, has been named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year.Time magazine named President-elect Donald Trump its Person of the Year.
  • Time editor Nancy Gibbs said on the programme that Democrat Hillary Clinton was the No. 2 finalist.
  • The Time cover reads, “Donald Trump — President of the Divided States of America” and the cover image features a photograph of the President-elect sitting in his private residence at Trump Tower.

World Bank cancels Rs.674 crore loan to Pakistan

  • The World Bank has cancelled a $100 million (around Rs.674 crore) loan promised to Pakistan for a natural gas efficiency project, citing a lack of interest by the Pakistani gas distribution company. The project was aimed at reducing losses of gas in the pipeline system. Rating the project “unsatisfactory”,

Trump appoints former WWE CEO as Small Business Admin head

  • US President-elect Donald Trump has picked ex-CEO of WWE Linda McMahon to head the government’s Small Business Administration.

English most powerful language in the world: WEF

 

  • English has been ranked first in the top 10 most powerful languages in the world according to the 2016 World Power Language Index (PLI).
  • The index was published by World Economic Forum (WEF).
  • Indian language Hindi was ranked 10th in the 2016 PLI. According to the index there are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world. Of these 2,000 count fewer than 1,000 speakers.
  • Moreover, just 15 languages account for half of the languages spoken in the world. English is dominant language of 3 G7 nations (USA, UK and Canada).
  • Top 10 Languages in 2016 PLI: English (1st), Mandarin (2nd), French (3rd), Spanish (4th), Arabic (5th), Russian (6th), German (7th), Japanese (8th), Portuguese (9th) and Hindi (10th).

 

Triple talaq unconstitutional, violates rights of Muslim women: Allahabad high court

  • The Allahabad High Court has ruled that the practice of triple talaq (Talaq-e-bidat) among Muslims is unconstitutional and violates the rights of women enshrined in constitution.
  • The order was passed by HC Justice Suneet Kumar while hearing a petition filed by a woman who claimed her husband arbitrarily divorced her.
  • Besides, the High Court also held that No Personal Law Board is above the Constitution i.e. it was indirectly referring to All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB).
  • Talaq-e-bidat is Muslim man divorcing his wife unilaterally by pronouncing the word ‘talaq’ thrice in one go.
  • Thus, it is oral talaq pronounced for irrevocable instantaneous divorce at one go. Many activists say that this practice is not of Islamic origin.

    Uttarakhand HC orders liquor ban in three districts

  • Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday banned liquor in Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli districts of the state.
  • The court also announced a ban on liquor and tobacco products within a radius of 5 kilometers from prominent Sikh shrines – Reetha Sahib and Hemkunt Sahib.

FSSAI bans use of newspapers for packing food

  • The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Wednesday issued an advisory stating it has decided to ban the use of newspapers for wrapping and packing of food items.
  • Newspaper ink can contaminate food items.

    Japan launches ‘magnetic fishing net’ to collect space garbage

  • Japan on Friday launched a spaceship carrying a 700-metre-long tether to pull some of the space debris from Earth’s orbit out into the atmosphere.
  • The Japanese space agency, JAXA, will pilot its “electrodynamic tether” for the first time. It is one of many possible solutions that have been proposed to deal with space garbage.

India removes import duty on wheat

India has scrapped its 10% import duty on wheat after droughts in the past two years depleted stocks,