Daily GK Updates - 14th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Prabhat Singh takes over as MD & CEO of Petronet LNG: Prabhat Kumar Singh took over as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s biggest liquefied natural gas importer.

II.            Hormusji N Cama elected as Chairman of Press Trust of India: H N Cama was unanimously elected as the new chairman of the Press Trust of India (PTI). He is also the Managing director of India’s oldest continuously published newspaper ‘Bombay Samachar’.

III.            DMRC to execute 6769 crore rupees worth Vijayawada Metro Rail Project: The state government of Andhra Pradesh gave in principle approval to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the execution of the Vijaywada and Visakhapatnam Metro Rail Projects.

IV.            Hindi Diwas observed on 14 September 2015 across India: The day was observed to promote the MatraBhasha- the mother tongue of India and show its importance as a language in the country and the world at large.

V.            Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalitha announced to set up Tamil Nadu Fibernet Corporation:Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalitha announced to set up Tamil Nadu Fibernet Corporation to implement the Union Government’s Bharatnet scheme. The corporation will be established at an estimated cost of 3000 crore rupees and will oversee the linkage of 12524 villages in the state through optical fibre network.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            Indian Bankers top Fortune’s most powerful women list: Bankers ChandaKochhar and Arundhati Bhattacharya have been ranked as top two in a list of most powerful women in Asia-pacific prepared by the global magazine Fortune.

II.            Ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) won Singapore general elections for record 12^th time: Lee Kuan Yew was the founding father of modern Singapore and also the People’s Action Party. Incumbent Prime Minister Lee HsienLoong who is heading the party presently is the son of Lee Kuan Yew. This was the 1^st election held after his death. The PAP won the elections for the record 12^th time since Independence from Malaysia in 1965.

III.            Germany introduced border controls along Austrian border to check migrant influx from Syria: The controls along the borders imply that its temporary exit from the Schengen Agreement that facilitates unhindered movement of people within the EU region.

IV.            Mount Aso, the largest volcano of Japan erupted: The Volcano situated on main southern Island of Kyushu erupted unexpectedly; however there have been reports of no casualties or damage from the volcano’s eruption.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.               FlaviaPennetta won 2015 US Open Women’s Singles title: The Italian defeated her fellow Italian Roberta Vinci in the final summit clash held in New York. It was her maiden Grand Slam Title and after the victory she announced that she will retire from professional tennis after the 2015 season.

II.               Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer to win 2015 US Open Men’s Singles title.

III.               French pair of Pierre Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut won the 2015 US Open Men’s doubles title.

IV.               Narsingh Pancham Yadav books an Olympic berth for 2016 Rio Olympics: He qualified for Olympic Games after winning bronze medal in the Men’s 74 kg Freestyle category at the World Wrestling Championship held at Las Vegas, US.

OBITUARIES:

   I.            Classical dancer KalamandalamSathyabhama passed away in Palakkad district of Kerala at the age of 77.

Daily GK Updates - 13th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Union Government extends e-Tourist visa scheme to 37 more countries: It was announced by Secretary of Union Tourism Ministry VinodZuthsi in New Delhi. With this extension, total 150 countries will come under the ambit of e-tourist visa scheme from present 113 countries.

II.            IndraNooyi, 2^nd powerful women in 2015 Fortune’s business list:IndraNooyi, CEO of Food and Beverage giant PepsiCo is the sole Indian-origin executive in 2015 edition of Fortune’s list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. CEO of General Motors Mary Barra has topped the list.

III.            ABVP sweeps Delhi University Polls: The BhartiyaJanata Party affiliated AkhilBhartiyaVidyarthiParishad (ABVP) has for the second consecutive year trounced National Students Union of India (NSUI) to win all four seats in the student union elections of Delhi University.

IV.            Google to provide free Wi-Fi across 400 Indian Railway stations under ‘Project Nilgiri’: Google and Indian Railways have partnered to launch a new project under the code name Project Nilgiri that will deliver free Wi-Fi access to around 400 railway stations across India.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            India and Pakistan agreed to maintain peace along border after DG level talks: Both the countries agreed to maintain peace along the border after the DG level talks which are being held at New Delhi. Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) D K Pathak is leading 23 member Indian delegation and his counterpart Major General Umar FarooqBurki, DG of Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) is leading a 16 members Pakistani delegation.

II.            AUSINDEX15, first Australia and India maritime exercise begins in Visakhapatnam: Inaugural bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy AUSINDEX15 commenced off the coast of Visakhapatnam.

III.            Las Vesgas declares September 10 as ‘AnupamKher Day’: Bollywood actor AnupamKher has been awarded for his commendable contribution to cinema and art globally in Nevada with the US state’s most populous city Las Vegas declaring September 10 as ‘AnupamKher Day’.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.               Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won US Open Women’s Doubles Title 2015: The 1^st seeded Indo-Swiss pair defeated Casey Dellacqua and YaroslavaShvedova in the finals.

AWARDS:

II.            G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister has been conferred with Silver Medal of Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).

Daily GK Updates - 12th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            National highways to grow by 50,000 km in 6 months: The road transport and highways ministry will add nearly 50,000 km of roads to the National Highways network in the country in the next six months.

II.            Rakesh Sharma appointed as MD and CEO of Canara Bank: Prior to his appointment as MD and CEO of the Bengaluru headquartered Canara bank, he was holding the same position at Laxmi Vilas Bank.

III.            Union Government approved the purchase of 10 Heron TP drones from Israel: The Drones will be operated by the Indian Air Force. This 400 million US dollars proposal for buying missile-armed drones from Israel will enhance India’s cross border military strike capability.

IV.            Professor KumkumDhar appointed as Vice Chancellor of Bhatkhande Music Institute.

V.            CarDekho acquired Auto portal Zigwheels: Jaipur based CarDekho acquired Zigwheels, an auto portal owned by Times Internet.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            Radical Leftist Jeremy Corbyn becomes head of Britain’s Labour Party: He won with nearly 59.5% of first preference votes beating rivals Andy Burnham and Y. Cooper.

II.            J K Tyre, Singapore arm to buy 100% stake in Cavendish Industries: J K Tyre & Industries and J K Asia Pacific Singapore Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of J K Tyre has signed a binding term sheet with Kesoram Industries Ltd (KIL) to acquire 100% equity in Cavendish Industries Ltd at a value of Rs 2,200 crore.

III.            Singapore’s ruling party wins elections, returns to power: Singapore’s PM lauded the city-state’s youth  vote for helping return his party to power in a massive victory for the 12^th time since independence a half century ago. The People’s Action Party (PAP) got 83 of the 89 seats. PM L H Loong won from the Ang Mo Kio constituency.

IV.            Russian record-breaker Astronaut Padalka returns to Earth: Russian astronaut Gennady Padalka has returned to earth with the record for having spent the most time in space. He has spent a total of 879 days in space over five trips.

V.            Google launches new mobile wallet Android Pay in US: Android Pay allows the users to make contactless payments using their smartphone at participating retailers.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.            Current Account Deficit narrows to 1.2% of GDP in April-June: A decline in merchandise imports helped the country narrow its current account deficit to 1.2 % of GDP in the 1^st quarter of the current financial year compared with 1.6 % inthe year ago period.

II.            Rs 500 notes most in demand, Rs 1000 notes at second place: Rs 500 bills top the demand charts in India, followed by thousand-rupee notes at second place, an Assocham study said today.

SPORTS:

III.               Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won US Open Mixed Doubles Title 2015: The 4^th seeded Indo-Swiss pair defeated Americans B Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey in the finals.

IV.               Indian Golfer Aditi Ashok claims Singha Thailand Amateur title.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

V.            Book titled ‘Novelist by Profession’ authored by Japaneese authorHaruki Murakami was released. 

VI.            Vice President Hamid Ansari releases book by Jamia Faculty: He has released the book titled ‘Feminist and Orientalist Perspectives- A study of Lady Mary Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters’ authored by Dr.FarhaHibaParvez.

OBITUARIES:

VIII.            Veteran Congress leader G K Chatrath died.

IX.            Actor John P. Connell dies aged 91.

X.            Dennis Greene, a founding member of the rock and roll group Sha Na Na and former Columbia Pictures executive died at the age of 66.