General Awareness : In The News - February, 2014
(General Awareness For Bank's Exams) In the news
February - 2014
J Prithviraj:
The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) has announced J Prithviraj
as the new president, while Tutu Dhawan will be the vice-president after the
Madras High Court directed the body to make their December election results
public.
The elections were held at the FMSCI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on December
23, but the results were withheld due to a pending lawsuit filed by Shrikant
Karani of Sportscraft (Mumbai) against the national sporting authority.
Satya Nadella:
Hyderabad native Satya Nadella (46) is the new CEO of
Internet giant Microsoft.
After a selection period that saw numerous outside candidates drop off, the
Microsoft Board signalled its intention to focus on innovation by selecting the
man credited with developing the company's cloud computing and Bing search
engine businesses.
Mr. Nadella who holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Manipal
University, a master’s in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, and
an MBA from the University of Chicago, joined Microsoft in 1992.
Malik Ishaq:
-
The US Department of State has designated Malik Ishaq, one of the co-founders of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
-
The consequences of this designation include a prohibition against U.S. persons engaging in transactions with Malik Ishaq, and the freezing of all his property and interests that are in the United States, or come within the United States or the possession or control of U.S. persons.
-
Malik Ishaq is a founding member and is the current leader of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
David Stern
Former NBA Commissioner David Stern has been elected to the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, just two weeks after retiring from a
successful 30-year reign.
The Hall of Fame Committee has acknowledged Stern’s contributions to the NBA
during his three decades as chief.\
N. Ramachandran
The suspended Indian Olympic Association (IOA) amended its
constitution and successfully held its elections, taking the first steps to
returning to the international fold.
World Squash Federation president N. Ramachandran was unanimously named as the
new president of the IOA in the elections held in the presence of three
observers from the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) — Pere Miró, IOC Director of NOC
Relations, Jérôme Poivey, Head of Institutional Relations in the NOC Relations
Department, and Robin Mitchell, head of the IOC delegation.
Indian athletes at the ongoing Winter Olympics in Sochi are participating under
the Olympic flag. However, it is unlikely that the Indians will be able to march
under the tricolour during the closing of the Games.
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were the most
generous American philanthropists in 2013, with a donation of 18 million shares
of Facebook stock, valued at more than $970 million, to a Silicon Valley
nonprofit in December.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that Zuckerberg's donation was the
largest charitable gift on the public record in 2013 and put the young couple at
the top of the magazine's annual list of 50 most generous Americans in 2013.
The top 50 contributors made donations last year totaling $7.7 billion, plus
pledges of $2.9 billion.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, gave their foundation
slightly more than $181.3 million last year, but they were paying off a pledge
of about $3.3 billion they made in 2004. CNN-founder Ted Turner and Berkshire
Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett also made large gifts toward previous pledges
Sonia Gandhi
-
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has been made the Chairperson of the party’s 50-member Campaign Committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in which Rahul Gandhi will be the Co-Chairman.
-
The announcement came less than a month after the Congress had said that Mr. Gandhi, the party Vice President, will lead its campaign in the upcoming general elections due in May.
-
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be a member of the committee along with several union ministers.
Wendy Doniger
-
Wendy Doniger , the author of The Hindus: An Alternative History was criticized for poor historiography and lack of focus in the book and was alleged of inaccuracies and bias .
-
Yet Penguin's removal of the book from circulation in India, was condemned by the international literary community.
K.T. Thomas
The former Supreme Court judge, K.T. Thomas, will head the
eight-member search committee to select the names for various posts of Lokpal,
the anti-corruption ombudsman.
Justice Thomas was unanimously chosen on February 20 by the selection committee,
comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; LokSabha Speaker Meira Kumar; Supreme
Court Judge H.L. Dattu, who is the nominee of the Chief Justice of India P.
Sathasivam; Leader of the Opposition in the LokSabhaSushmaSwaraj; and Jurist
P.P. Rao.
This committee will scrutinise the more than 300 applications received for the
post of chairperson and eight members (four judicial and four non-judicial) and
forward the names to the selection committee.
The chairperson can be a serving or former Chief Justice of India, a sitting or
former judge of the Supreme Court or a person of impeccable integrity and
outstanding ability.
Wayne Rooney
-
The 28-year-old England international has extended his current contract by four years in a deal worth up to £300,000 a week.
-
Rooney has won five Premier League titles and the Champions League in his time at Old Trafford.
-
The forward, who returned to first-team action at the end of January after nearly a month out with an injury, has made 28 club appearances this season and scored 11 goals.
N. Kiran Kumar Reddy
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy submitted his resignation
to the Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan recently.
Mr. Reddy had earlier announced his decision to quit from the post and the party
in protest against the Central Government decision to “divide the Telugus for
the sake of votes and seats". Flanked by eight Cabinet colleagues and over a
dozen MLAs/MLCs, the Chief Minister alleged that the Congress leadership in
collusion with the main Opposition BJP had ensured passage of the bifurcation
Bill in LokSabha setting aside all the democratic conventions and practices.
The Chief Minister evaded replies when asked whether he would float a new party
as was being reported. Mr. Kiran Reddy said he was not against the
aspirations of the people of Telangana. But he was opposed to the decision to
divide the State as it was not in the interests of the two regions.
Sheila Dikshit
-
· The Delhi High Court has fixed for February 26, the hearing on Kejriwal government’s plea to withdraw the appeal of previous Congress dispensation against a lower court order to register an FIR against former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in a corruption case.
-
A bench of Justice V.P. Vaish, which had pre-poned the hearing on the application , now fixed the plea on February 26, after Delhi Government informed that Additional Solicitor General, who will argue the case, was not available.
-
ArvindKejriwal-led AamAadmi Party Government had moved the high court seeking to withdraw the appeal on February 14, the day when the Chief Minister and his council of ministers submitted the resignation on the controversy over passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
-
Highlighting its stand against corruption, the outgoing AAP government, in its plea, has said the Cabinet’s decision to take back the appeal, filed by the previous Congress government, has been approved by the Lt. Governor and Ms. Dikshit will have to defend herself as she is no more the Chief Minister and consequently, it lacked the “locus” standi to fight for her.
MatteoRenzi
-
MatteoRenzi was sworn as Italy's youngest Prime Minister, alongside his new Cabinet of 16 ministers.
-
It's a step many hope will bring much-needed political stability to the country.
-
The former Florence mayor, who won control of the Democratic Party in a primary a couple of months ago, ousted fellow party member Enrico Letta in a party vote .
-
Renzi, 39, is nicknamed ilRottomatore -- or "the demolition man" -- for his pugnacious style of politics.
-
Half of Renzi's ministers are women, the largest proportion in Italian history. Most of the ministers are young by Italian standards, with an average age of 48.
-
Italy, the third largest economy in the eurozone, has had more than its share of political turmoil over recent years.
SushilkumarShinde
- The Supreme Court refused to entertain a PIL seeking probe in the allegation by former Home Secretary R K Singh that Home Minister SushilkumarShinde had interfered in the inquiry into the IPL betting scam and prevented Delhi Police from questioning a businessman’s role.
- A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam asked the petitioner to file the complaint before an appropriate authority.
- The petition said the allegation levelled by Singh against Shinde is a matter of “serious concern” which call for immediate and urgent intervention of the court.
D.K. Joshi
-
India’s navy chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi resigned as chief of the Indian navy, owning “moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents during the past few months”.
-
Admiral Joshi is the first Indian military commander to have resigned since General KodanderaSubayyaThimmaiah in 1959 -- and the only to have his resignation accepted by the government.
-
The naval chief's resignation came hours after a fire on board the newly-refitted Sindhuratna claimed the lives of two naval officers and injured seven -- the third in a series of submarine accidents, including an explosion on the Sindhurakshak which exploded and sank in Mumbai’s naval dockyard in August, 2013, killing 18 crew. Last month, the Sindhughosh ran ground on its way to Mumbai harbour, though without loss of life.
-
The Navy has long complained of delays in submarine fleet modernisation, at a time when regional navies, notably China, are dramatically expanding their fleets. India also does not have a full-fledged submarine rescue vessel.
Rashid Latif
-
Former Pakistani Test captain Rashid Latif has been appointed as the chief selector of the Pakistan national cricket team and also tasked with helping in the fight against corruption.
-
The whistleblowing former player, who played 37 Tests and 166 ODIs for Pakistan as a wicketkeeper-batsman, is known for taking a stand against match-fixing, which has dogged cricket in Pakistan over the years.
-
According to Sport24, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) release stated that Latif would become the chief selector with effect from April1 to fill the vacancy after the appointment of another former captain, AamirSohail, was cancelled by the new PCB chairman NajamSethi .
Chandi Prasad Bhatt
- Eminent Gandhian and environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt has been selected for the 2013 Gandhi Peace Prize.
- A pioneer of the Chipko Movement for which he was also awarded the Magsaysay Award in 1982, Mr. Bhatt was given the Padma Bhushan by UPA-I in 2005.
- The decision was taken by the jury headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
