Persons in News
1. The oldest Indian Test cricketer Madhav Mantri has died, aged 92. A steady opening batsman and wicketkeeper, he played four Tests for
India
between 1951 and 1955. His Ranji record was stellar – 2787 runs at an average of 50.67 in a career that stretched over 25 years.
2.
Thailand
’s
Constitutional Court
dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (left) and her cabinet for abuse of power. Ms Shinawatra, who has faced six months of protests aimed at toppling her government, denied wrongdoing. “Throughout my time as prime minister I have given my all to my work for the benefit of my countrymen... I have never committed any unlawful acts as I have been accused of doing,” she said.
3. Highly decorated police officer and former Intelligence Bureau Chief Ajit Doval, considered one of the finest operational brains, was appointed as the National Security Adviser. His appointment will be co-terminus with the term of the Prime Minister or till further orders, whichever is earlier.
4. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (left) was sentenced to six years in prison for bribery. He was found guilty in March this year of accepting bribes when he served as mayor of
Jerusalem
in exchange for helping the developers of the city’s
Holy Land
Park
, a residential project.
5. Jitan Ram Manjhi, a Dalit leader, will be the new Chief Minister of
Bihar
after he was handpicked by Nitish Kumar who resigned in the wake of the JD (U) electoral debacle. The effective strength of the House at present is 239; of this, JD (U) has 117 members, BJP 90, RJD 21, and the Congress 4.
6. Acclaimed poet, author, playwright, actress and activist Maya Angelou (right) has died at age 86 in
Winston-Salem
,
North Carolina
,
USA
. The prolific African-American writer provided eloquent commentary on race, gender and living fully. She penned more than 30 books, such as ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’. She won numerous awards and was honoured last year by the National Book Awards for her service to the literary community. In 2011, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour.
7.Former finance minister Jose Mario Vaz has been elected president of the West African nation of Guinea–Bissau. He defeated Nuno Gomes Nabiam, an independent candidate who comes from the Balanta ethnic group, the country’s largest, and is seen as close to the army. Weak state institutions, along with its maze of islands and unpoliced mangrove creeks, have made the former Portuguese colony a paradise for smugglers of Latin American cocaine destined for
Europe
.
8. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed the first woman to command a United Nations peacekeeping force. Maj. Gen. Kristin Lund, (left) a Norwegian general who has served in
Lebanon
, the first Gulf War,
Bosnia
and
Afghanistan
, will replace Chinese Maj. Gen. Chao Liu on August 13 as commander of about 1,000 UN peacekeepers in
Cyprus
.
9. The Central Bank of Investigation (CBI) gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others, saying it did not have sufficient evidence to charge sheet him.
10. Senior IPS officer Archana Ramasundaram (right) took over as CBI’s first woman Additional Director but was suspended by Tamil Nadu government on the same day for allegedly not following rules before joining the central probe agency. She is the first woman to be elevated to the rank of an Additional Director of CBI. She was also the agency’s first woman Joint Director, handling cases pertaining to economic offences between 1999 and 2006, which includes Telgi stamp scam.
11.
Panama
’s Vice President Juan Carlos Varela pulled off a surprise victory in the presidential election, thwarting an attempt by former ally President Ricardo Martinelli to extend his grip on power by electing a hand-picked successor.
12. A court in
Egypt
sentenced former President Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzling public funds. His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also convicted and given four-year terms. The three were also fined U.S.$3 million and ordered to repay the U.S.$17.6 million they were accused of stealing.
13. Slovenia’s Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek (right) has resigned and is urging early elections in the small EU nation next month, which is grappling with an acute banking crisis. The 44-year-old financial expert has steered the country, which is one of 18 European Union countries that uses the euro, through the region’s debt crisis but resigned after losing the leadership of her Positive Slovenia party to Mayor Zoran Jankovic of
Ljubljana
, the country’s capital.
Places in News
1. At least 200 people were killed by insurgents, dressed in military uniforms, in Gamboru, a remote town of the northeastern state of Borno, in
Nigeria
.
2. Vietnamese naval ships and Chinese vessels have collided in the
South China Sea
. The incident happened as the Vietnamese navy was trying to prevent the Chinese from setting up an oil rig in an area claimed by both nations.
3. At least 301 miners were killed in
Turkey
’s worst-ever coal mine disaster at Soma. Most of the workers died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Awards & Honors
66th
Cannes
Film Festival
* Palme d'Or: Nuri Bilge Ceylan, for Winter Sleep
* Grand Prix: Alice Rohrwacher, for The Wonders
* Jury Prize: Xavier Dolan, for Mommy, and Jean-Luc Godard, for Goodbye to Language
* Best Director: Bennett Miller, for Foxcatcher
* Best Screenplay: Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin, for Leviathan
* Best Actress: Julianne Moore, for Maps to the Stars
* Best Actor: Timothy Spall, for Mr Turner
* Camera d’Or: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis, for Party Girl
Sports
BADMINTON
Thomas Cup,
New Delhi
Winner:
Japan
Runner-up:
Malaysia
Uber Cup,
New Delhi
Winner:
China
Runner-up:
Japan
FOOTBALL
20th Senior National Women’s Football Championships
Manipur outplayed defending champions Orissa 3-1 to clinch the 20th Senior National Women’s Football Championships title, their 17th crown overall, in Golaghat, Assam. Bala Devi of Manipur was adjudged player of the tournament.
MOTORRACING
Chinese Grand Prix
Winner: Lewis Hamilton (Britain/Mercedes)
Second: Nico Rosberg (Germany/Mercedes)
Third: Fernando Alonso (Spain/Ferrari)
Monaco
Grand Prix
Winner: Nico Rosberg (Germany/Mercedes)
Second: Lewis Hamilton (Britain/Mercedes)
Third: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia/Red Bull Racing)
Spanish Grand Prix
Winner: Lewis Hamilton (Britain/Mercedes)
Second: Nico Rosberg (Germany/Mercedes)
Third: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia/Red Bull Racing)
TENNIS
Mutua
Madrid
Open
Men’s
Winner: Rafael Nadal (
Spain
)
Runner-up: Kei Nishikori (
Japan
)
Women’s
Winner: Maria Sharapova (
Russia
)
Runner-up: Simona Halep (
Romania
)
Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Men’s
Winner: Rafael Nadal (
Spain
)
Runner-up: Novak Djokovic (
Serbia
)
Women’s
Winner: Serena Williams (
U.S.
)
Runner-up: Sara Errani (
Italy
)
UN and IOC sign historic agreement to use sport to promote peace
The United Nations (UN) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have signed a historic agreement to use the power of sports to promote peace and economic development, a move that strengthens collaboration between two of the world’s major organizations.
IOC President Thomas Bach said that celebrating the strengthened relationship that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was right when he said “Olympic principles are United Nations principles”. He pointed to the UN and Olympic charters, which both call for international cooperation to promote peace, a better life for people around the world and preserving human dignity. “Yes sport can change the world but it cannot change the world alone,” Mr Bach said. “When placing sport at the service of humankind, we need and we want the partnership with other players in society.”
Secretary-General Mr Ban said the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the IOC was “a logical and historic step after years of ever closer collaboration in using sport to promote development and peace”. The agreement calls for joint sporting initiatives between the IOC, national Olympic committees, international sports federations, organizing committees and international athletes and the 193 UN member states, UN agencies, envoys and goodwill ambassadors.
The two organizations will be promoting education for youth through sport without discrimination of any kind, access to sport for all communities especially the most disadvantaged and marginalized, healthy lifestyles and peace-building and community dialogue.
Mr Ban stressed the importance of sport in reducing stigma and increasing the social and economic integration of marginalized people and in bridging cultural, religious, ethnic and social divides. He quoted former basketball star Magic Johnson’s statement in the dispute over racist comments purportedly made by embattled Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, “We all play with different races of people when you’re in sports.
That’s what makes sports so beautiful.” He said sports values such as teamwork, fairness and respect for opponents and the rules of the game “are understood all around the world and are useful well beyond the playing field, in our personal and professional lives”.
Economy & Business
1. Financial Technologies and Multi–Commodities Exchange (MCX) promoter Jignesh Shah was arrested by the economic offences wing (EoW) of Mumbai Police for his alleged involvement in the 5,600–crore National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam.
Mr Shah came under scanner last year, when his group company NSEL faced a payment crisis and nearly 18,000 investors allegedly lost millions in late July. He had been the chairman and managing director of Financial Technologies since January 2001 and now serves as group chief executive. He served as the chief business strategist at Financial Technologies.
2. Unilever has sold its Ragu and Bertolli pasta sauce business to Japanese food manufacturer Mizkan Group for about U.S.$2.15 billion as the maker of Dove skin creams continues to shed food brands.
3. State-owned power equipment maker BHEL has commissioned all the four units of the 520 MW Parbati hydro electricity project in Himachal Pradesh. The first three units at Parbati project were commissioned by BHEL in February and March 2014. Parbati project is located near village Bihali in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.
4.
India
’s steel production grew by 5.3 per cent in April outpacing the world’s average growth of 1.7 per cent, the World Steel Association (WSA) said.
India
produced 7.015 million tonne steel in April, compared to 6.659 MT in the same month last year.
5. Showing no signs of recovery, factory production remained in negative territory for the second month in a row, contracting 0.5 per cent in March due to declining output in manufacturing, especially capital goods.
6.
India
’s economic growth is poised to inch up 4.9 per cent in 2014 and is expected to gain momentum with a decline in “political uncertainty” after the general elections, although rising bad loans would weigh on recovery, Paris–based think–tank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said. The estimate by OECD for 2014 is higher than 4.5 per cent growth projected for 2013.
Miscellaneous
1. The European Court of Human Rights ordered
Turkey
to pay 90 million euros (about U.S.$124 million) in damages related to its 1974 invasion of
Cyprus
. The invasion led the northern part of
Cyprus
to declare independence, although this is recognized only by
Turkey
. About one–third of this amount is supposed to go to the relatives of those who went missing during the conflict, and the remainder is intended for Greek Cypriots living in an enclave in
Northern Cyprus
.
2. The World Health Organisation warned that polio has reemerged as a public health emergency, after new cases of the crippling disease began surfacing and spreading across borders from countries like
Syria
and
Pakistan
.
3.
Russia
,
Kazakhstan
and
Belarus
have signed a deal to form a new political and economic bloc called the Eurasian Union.
4. Top officers can be investigated without the government’s sanction, the Supreme Court ruled, saying that “a corrupt servant is a corrupt servant”. A provision in the law governing the CBI says the agency needs sanction from the government to investigate senior bureaucrats accused of corruption. That provision, Section 6A of the Delhi Police Act, was struck down by the court, which called it unconstitutional.
5. Marking the beginning of a new era in Indian politics, Narendra Modi was sworn in Prime Minister at the head of a 45–member coalition government after the elections that saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gain absolute majority in 30 years.
63–year–old Mr Modi, the first leader to get a landslide victory for the BJP, became the 15th Prime Minister in a virtual ‘coronation’ ceremony in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan before a 3000–strong gathering, the largest audience at the swearing in a of new government.
6. Military seizes power in coup in Thailand
Thailand’s army chief General Prayuth Chan–ocha seized control of the government in a coup, two days after he declared martial law, saying the military had to restore order and push through reforms after six months of turmoil and that the move was necessary to prevent violence.
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