GK Updates - 19-20 Jan | Banking Quiz

1.Interim Iran nuclear deal comes into effect from today
i. The interim Nuclear Deal over Teheran’s nuclear program between Iran and the six major world powers comes into effect from today.
ii. The IAEA nuclear weapons inspectors have already arrived in Teheran to oversee Iranian nuclear facilities in the run up to prepare for the implementation of the deal.
iii. Ahead of the day, Iran’s Atomic Energy Department spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that implementation of mutual commitments in the framework of the Geneva deal will begin from today.
iv. The agreement, suspension of 20-percent enrichment of uranium and the diluting of the current stockpile of enriched uranium are the most important commitments of Iran.
v. Under the deal arrived at in November last year, Iran would scale down parts of its nuclear program in exchange for partial easing of sanctions over a six month period.
vi. Under the agreement, Iran will limit its uranium enrichment to 5 percent ,the grade commonly used to power reactors. The deal also commits Iran to stop producing 20 percent enriched uranium which is only a technical step away from weapons-grade material and to neutralize its 20 percent stockpile over the six months.

2.Cyrus Mistry wins DSC Prize for 2014
i. Reticent author Cyrus Mistry on Saturday beat off stiff competition from five other writers to become the fourth winner of the $50,000 DSC prize for South Asian literature on Saturday for his book “Chronicles of a Corpse Bearer”.
ii. The prize, is given to the best work or translations of a work on or about the South Asian region.
iii. Mr. Mistry’s book is a story of marginalised community and looks at larger questions about life and death, which makes it a different read.
iv. Last year the award was won by Jeet Thayil for his debut debut novel “Narcopolis”. Mr. Mistry was presented with the award at a ceremony at the Jaipur Literature Festival here this evening by Gloria Steinem.

3.National Urban Health Mission launched in Bangalore
i. Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Gulam Nabi Azad launched the National Urban Health Mission in Bangalore today.
ii. The programme aims at providing health security to urban poor. It envisages creation of necessary health check up infrastructure and the manpower requirement.
iii. Central Government will share 80 per cent of the cost to implement the programme. All the 779 urban areas with over 50,000 population in the country will be covered under the programme by March 2015.
iv. Around 20 crore people in urban areas will have access to free health care, with the launch of this programme.

4.Afghanistan likely to join WTO within next three months
i. Afghanistan is likely to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) within the next three months.
ii. According to Afghan Commerce and Industries Ministry the government of Afghanistan has already signed a trade agreement with the United States and now it has to sign agreements with the European Union and two other countries before becoming a member of the World Trade Organization.
iii. Out of the eight negotiating members of the WTO, Afghanistan is required to sign bilateral trade agreements and the negotiations are going on with the European Union, Turkey and Taiwan in this regard.
iv. If Afghanistan becomes a member of the World Trade Organization, the trade, commerce and investment in the country is likely to go up in coming years. It will also provide Afghan businessmen and industrialists to improve the quality of their product by adopting quality control measure.
About WTO :
i. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
ii. It functions on the basis of negotiated agreements between the trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. Currently 160 nations of the world are members of the WTO.
iii. WTO headquarter is in GENEVA.

5.Air India likely to join Star Alliance in summer
i. Air India should join Star Alliance, a global network of airlines by this summer, Star Alliance Chief Executive Officer Mark F. Schwab has said.
ii. Air India was invited to join the global airline alliance once again in December last year following a meeting of the chief executives of the various airlines who are members of Star Alliance in Vienna.
iii. The airline has gone through a difficult merger and has now started executing a fleet renewal plan. Our job in Star Alliance is to create connectivity,” Schwab had said late on Sunday night on Air India joining the Alliance.

6.US producer buys rights to Amish Tripathi’s Shiva trilogy
i. Author Amish Tripathi, who created waves in Indian publishing with a $1 million book contract, has cracked it even bigger this time with an American producer purchasing the rights to “The Immortals Of Meluha.”
ii. While Bollywood director Karan Johar has obtained the rights for an adaption of the popular book, the English rights of the same has gone to an undisclosed American producer.
iii. Tripathi was given a lucrative book deal by publisher Westland for writing his Shiva triology “The Immortals of Meluha” (2010), “The Secret of the Nagas” (2011) and “The Oath of the Vayuputras” (2013).

7.Tendulkar to mentor Gen-Next cricketers
i. Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar will mentor 11 emerging players, including Parveez Rasool and Unmukt Chand, as part of an initiative by sports apparel giant Adidas.
ii. Adidas, which has already signed up Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, added some more names to its roster.
iii. Tendulkar welcomed the newest members of Team Adidas — Unmukt Chand, Parveez Rasool, Vijay Zol, Manan Vohra, Manpreet Juneja, Rush Kalaria, Chirag Khurana, Akshdeep Nath, Vikas Mishra, Sarfaraz Khan and Aparajith Baba.
iv. The 21-year-old Unmukt, is former Captain of the 2012 Under-19 World Cup champion team and played for the Delhi Daredevils in IPL this year.
v. Rasool, 25, is the first Jammu and Kashmir cricketer to represent the Indian senior team. He captained his state team to the Ranji trophy knock-out phase this year.

8.India successfully test-fired nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile
i. India on 20 January 2014 test-fired nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile with a range of 4000 kilometers from Wheeler Island in Dhamra of Odisha Coast.
ii. The missile was launched from the launch complex number 4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Wheeler Island.
iii. DRDO conducted the test-firing today at the Integrated Test Range on the Wheeler Island.
About Agni-IV
i. It is the fourth missile in the series of Agni missiles. It was earlier known as Agni-II prime
ii. In missile technology, Agni represents a quantum leap of its own type
iii. With light weight, the missile has two stages of solid propulsion and a payload with re-entry heat shield
iv. Earlier, the missile has been tested three times
v. Agni-IV was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
vi. It is 20 meters in length weighs 17 tonnes and carries a pay load of one tonne .

9.Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka won Miss South India Pageant Title
i. Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka on 19 July 2014 was crowned as the Miss South India 2014 at the Le Meridien in Coimbatore.
ii. The first and second dice were also won by Aditi Shetty and Meghana Shetty of Karnataka as runners-up of the 11th Edition of Miss South India Pageant organised by Pegasus.
iii. Abhishikta was crowned by Anusha Venkataraman of Tamil Nadu, who was the winner of the title of 2013. Founder Chairman of Pegasus is Ajith Ravi. First runner-up Aditi and second runner-up Meghna were crowned by the MD and CEO of Manappuram Finance Ltd, VP Nandakumar.

10.Johnson beats skipper Clarke to win coveted Allan Border medal
i. Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson won the coveted Allan Border medal at an event in Sydney on Monday.
ii. The fast-bowler beat out competition from captain Michael Clarke , who was the favourite to win the award for a record fifth time.
iii. Meg Lanning, just 21-years-old, won the Belinda Clark medal for the best female cricketer of the year.
iv. Johnson took 37 wickets and helped Australia complete the Ashes whitewash.
v. Clarke was declared the Test player of the year, finishing above Steve Smith and Chris Rogers.George Bailey was the runaway winner of the ODI player of the year

11.Maria Sharapova crashes out of Australian Open
i. In a sudden and second shock of Austraian Open, Dominika Cibulková beat Sharapova 3-6,6-4, 6-1 in 4th round.
ii. Russian star Maria Sharapova revealed she was struggling with a hip injury but refused to blame it for her shock loss at the Australian Open and insisted she will bounce back.
iii. The four-time major-winner was knocked out in the fourth round by Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, the second upset in as many days after world number one Serena Williams was sent packing.

12.Netherlands Wins maiden Hero Hockey World League title
i. The Netherlands won Hockey World League Final beating New Zealand 7-2 in New Delhi. Constantijn Jonker slammed a hat-trick to help the Netherlands lift the inaugural title at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium last night.
ii. England won the bronze medal by defeating world champions Australia 2-1 in a hard-fought third-fourth place match.
iii. Belgium retained its fifth place, while India secured sixth place.

13.New Zealand defeat India by 24 runs in first ODI
i. Despite Virat Kohli's sparking ton hosts New Zealand staged a thrilling 24-run win against India in the first cricket one-dayer at Napier today. With this New Zealand has taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
ii. Chasing 293 for victory, India were bundled out for 268 in 48.4 overs. India got off to a shaky start, losing 4 wickets for just 129.
iii. But it was the 95-run 5th wicket stand between Kohli and Skipper Dhoni that brought the visitors back into the game. Virat Kohli scored his 18th ton with an exhilarating 123, while Dhoni scored 40.
iv. Skipper MS Dhoni wrote his name in the history books, as he became the first Indian wicketkeeper and the fourth overall to effect 300 dismissals in ODIs
v. The second ODI will be played at Hamilton on Wednesday.

14.Wal-Mart registered Wal-Mart India Private Ltd in India
i. Global Retail giant Wal-Mart registered a new entity called Wal-Mart India Private Ltd in India to enter the lucrative multi-brand market in India. Wal-Mart India Private Ltd was registered as a new entity with Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
ii. A Joint venture of Wal-Mart and Bharthi private Ltd was setup to operate wholesale stores and it was not catering directly to retail consumers.
iii. The Wal-Mart and Bharthi Enterprises in 2013 decided to independently own and operate their business formats in India.
iv. Earlier, a controversy broke, when Wal-Mart declared that it has spent 25 million dollars on lobbying activities that included enhanced market access for investment in India and for no law that bars it from lobbying in India.