GK Updates - 13 May | Banking Quiz

India-born Hinduja brothers emerge richest in Britain

i.India-born Hinduja brothers, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, have emerged as the richest men in Britain with a net wealth of 11.9 billion pounds (about $20 billion), according to a report.

ii.The owners of the global conglomerate Hinduja Group saw their fortune rise by 1.3 billion pounds during last year, the Daily Mail reported citing the 2014 Sunday Times Rich List that will be published May 18.

iii.The London-based businessmen, who ranked third last year, replaced last year's richest man Russian business magnate Alisher Usmanov at the top after the Arsenal shareholder saw his fortune fall to 10.65 billion pounds, the report said.

iv.Lakshmi Mittal, an Indian steel tycoon owning ArcelorMittal, ranked third in the list with a fortune of 10.25 billion pounds.

v.The study revealed a total of 104 billionaires based in Britain with a combined wealth of more than 301 billion pounds

President conferred National Florence Nightingale Awards on 35 nursing personnel

i.The President of India conferred the Florence Nightingale Awards to 35 nurses from across the country at the Durbar Hall, here today, in the presence of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and Santosh Chowdhary, MoS (Health) and A H Khan Chowdhury, MoS (Health).

ii.Congratulating the awardees, the President said that they have distinguished themselves through their exceptional service and extraordinary dedication in the care of the sick and the infirm, and that they have brought credit to a vocation that is chosen by the most selfless and compassionate among us. In recognizing them, we pay tribute to the entire corps of nursing personnel in India, the President stated. He said that today nurses are the largest workforce in the healthcare industry in India.

iii.Nursing services and capacity building have expanded considerably since Independence and their roles and responsibilities have multiplied over the years, the President said. The theme selected by the International Council of Nurses, “Nurses: A force for change – A vital resource for health”, is quite appropriate, he said. The Council has rightly recommended that the nursing workforce in India can be an instrument of change – through better workforce planning, improvement in its education and work environment and through a constructive process of assessing and addressing the nursing workload, the President stated.

19 killed in Baghdad car bomb attacks

i.A wave of car bombings in mainly Shia areas of Baghdad killed 19 people on Tuesday, officials said.

ii.The attacks came as Iraqi Shias were celebrating the birthday of Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad and Shia Islam’s most sacred martyr.

iii.Police officials said a car bomb went off in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr city, killing four people and wounding six in the morning hours. Another car bomb elsewhere in Sadr city went off near a cluster of homes, killing two people and wounding seven.

Magnitude-6.8 quake hits off Panama coast

i.The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 has hit just off the coast of Panama.

ii.The quake, which was at a depth of 10 km, was recorded at 1.35 a.m. (6.35 a.m. GMT). Its epicentre was in the sea, 130 km south of the city of David.

iii.No tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage.

Maruti Alto sales crosses 25 lakh units

i.The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday said its compact car Alto has become the second model from the company’s portfolio to cross the 25 lakh unit sales mark in the domestic market.

ii.The Alto has entered the 25 lakh club, where the only other car is the Maruti 800, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

iii.“Launched in 2000, the Alto has attained the 25 lakh milestone in less than 14 years, the fastest by any brand; we are overwhelmed and humbled by its popularity,” MSI Vice President (Marketing) Manohar Bhat said.

iv.Over the years, the Alto has retained its numero uno position even amid intense competition in the small-car segment, he added.

Maria Sharapova defeated Simona Halep to win Madrid Open title

i.Tennis: 4-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova came back from one set down to beat Simona Halep in three sets 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final of Mutua Madrid Open to win the title.

ii.Halep had reached the career high ranking of 4 after reaching the final and she had a winning streak of 6 matches in the finals of the WTA tournament. The Romanian had lost to Sharapova in two previous meetings but she was looking to win her 7th WTA final in a row.

iii.24-year-old Halep started on a high note and broke Sharapova in the very first game. Shr broke Russian again in the third game and raced to a 4-0 lead. Sharapova held her serve in the fifth game to take her first game but Halep was too solid on her serve as she did not face even a single break point in whole set and broke Sharapova again in the 7th game to take the set 6-1.

International Nurses Day 2014 observed across the world

i.International Nurses Day was observed across the world on 12 May 2014. The day is observed every year on the 12 May on anniversary of birth of Florence Nightingale’s birth. The day is observed to mark contributions of nurses towards people’s health.

ii.On this day, the International Council of Nurses commemorates nurses by distributing International Nurses’ Day (IND) Kit. This IND Kit 2014 contains educational and public information materials for use by nurses everywhere.IND theme for 2014 is Nurses: A Force for Change – A vital resource for health.

2 Indian-American chefs win US food awards

i.Two Indian-origin chefs have been conferred with the prestigious James Beard Food Awards for 2014, considered as the Oscars of the US food and beverage industry.

ii.Chefs Vikram Sunderam, 47, and Vishwesh Bhatt were awarded the Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic and Best Chef in South respectively.

iii.The James Beard Food Awards, which were presented during a ceremony at Lincoln Centre at the James Beard Foundation's annual awards ceremony here on Monday, are widely considered the top honours in American cooking.

iv.Named after the father of American cuisine, the award is cashless in nature.

v.Sunderam was earlier nominated thrice for the same award while Bhatt was a semi-finalist for Best Chef South two years running.

Post Haste: Quintessential India written by B.G. Verghese

i.A book Post Haste: Quintessential India written by B.G. Verghese was released on 1 May 2014 at India International Centre in Delhi.

ii.B.G.Verghese decided to illustrate the book with stamps rather than photographs or drawings. He opined that stamps commemorate events such as winning the Kargil War or a monument to a great hero.

Post Haste offers a 350-page magical tour through its space and time. It is also possibly the only book in the world that tells the story of a country through postage stamps.

Archana Ramasundaram appointed as first Woman Additional Director of CBI

i.Senior IPS Officer Archana Ramasundaram on 8 May 2014 appointed as first Woman AdditionalDirector of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).After hours of her sworn-in, Tamil Nadu government suspended her.

ii.She was suspended allegedly for not following rules before joining the central probe agency.

iii.Her name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after the recommendation of CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to the Department of Personnel.

iv.Ramasundaram 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.

Scientist created First realistic virtual universe called ILLUSTRIS

i.Scientists on 8 May 2014 created the first realistic virtual Universe using a computer simulation called Illustris. Astronomers led Dr Mark Vogelsberger of MIT/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics create it.

ii.Illustris tracked the development of the universe from 12 million years after the Big Bang up to the present, and identified more than 41,000 galaxies in a simulated space 350 million light years on each side.

iii.The computer simulation enabled researchers to understand how galaxies, black holes and other cosmic phenomena evolved. It followed the complex development of normal and dark matter over 13 billion years, matching features observed in the real universe.

Rafael Nadal won Madrid Open Title

i.World No. 1 Rafael Nadal on 11 May 2014 won his 27th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at Mutua Madrid Tennis Open final. He won after Kei Nishikori of Japan was forced to withdraw with a back injury when was trailing 2-6, 6-4, 3-0 in the final set.

ii.With this win Nadal of Spain became the first player to win four Madrid open tennis titles. His previous victories were

• In 2005 against Ljugicic

• In 2010 against Federer

• In 2013 against Wawrinka

Motorola launches Moto E

i.Motorola Mobility on Tuesday launched its latest smartphone -- Moto E, priced at Rs 6,990. It will be available exclusively through Flipkart.com starting midnight.

ii.Moto E has a high-resolution 4.3-inch display with Gorilla Glass and a water-resistant splash guard to help protect it for lasting durability, the company said.

iii.The new handset runs on the latest Android, has Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor with dual-core CPU and 1GB RAM and a microSD slot for up to 32GB of expandable memory.

iv.It has a 5MP rear-facing camera with Motorola’s streamlined camera interface -- touch anywhere on the screen to take a shot, capture panoramic pictures or record video.