GK Updates - 6 May | Banking Quiz

First female submariners in the history of the Royal Navy appointed

i.Three lieutenants have become the first females to serve in the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service in its 110-year history.

ii.Maxine Stiles, 29, Alexandra Olsson, 26, and Penny Thackray, 39, joined the Vanguard-class nuclear submarine HMS Vigilant for months of tough training.

iii.Lt Olsson, from Tranmere, will now study to be a deputy weapons engineering officer.She said: “I look forward to seeing more women getting on board.”

iv.Lt Stiles, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Gtr Manchester, will stay on board as a logistics officer while Lt Thackray, from Hightown, West Yorks, is to be an education officer.

v.Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, who quashed a ban on women joining subs in 2011 after a review, said: “This is an historic moment for the Royal Navy.

Lalit Modi elected as RCA president

i.Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was on Tuesday elected president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, setting the stage for yet another round of legal tussle between him and BCCI, which had threatened to ban RCA in anticipation of this result.

ii.The election was conducted in December 2013 but the results were sealed following a Supreme Court directive. After much deliberation, the result was finally announced by a court-appointed observer in Jaipur.

iii.As expected Modi won by a landslide margin, polling in 24 out of 33 votes, while his opponent Rampal Sharma earned just five.

iv.Among other office-bearers, Somendra Tiwari was elected as the new secretary, while Pawan Goyal won the treasurer’s post. Mehmood M Abdi, counsel of Modi, has been elected as the deputy president of the RCA.

RBI cancels registration of 5 TN-based NBFCs

i.The Reserve Bank of India has cancelled the certificate of registration of five Tamil Nadu based non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for carrying on the business of non-banking financial institution.

ii.Of the five NBFCs, four -- SKLS Finance Pvt. Ltd, B.K.T. Finance Ltd, M.C.T. Finance Pvt. Ltd, and Thanjavur Investment Ltd -- are based in Chennai while K.K.P. Credits Pvt. Ltd is Namakkal based, the central bank said in a statement.

iii.The RBI said following cancellation of registration certificate, the companies cannot transact the business of non-banking financial institution.

iv.The Reserve Bank can cancel the registration certificate of a non-banking financial company under the powers conferred under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

Skyscanner launches bus ticket booking in India

i.Global travel search site Skyscanner has launched the bus ticket booking feature on its website in partnership with redBus. The company said that this feature has been specially designed for the Indian market.

ii.Kavitha Gnanamurthy, Senior Marketing Manager, Skyscanner India said, “Through this initiative we are offering a more complete online travel service and will provide our users a convenient and smart way for domestic and city travel. For us redBus was the obvious choice considering its unmatched reach in the Indian market.”

Sunil Mittal to co-chair World Economic Forum on Africa

i.Sunil Mittal to co-chair World Economic Forum on Africa Bharti Enterprises founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal will co-chair this year’s edition of the World Economic Forum on Africa.

ii.The group’s flagship company Bharti Airtel is the largest mobile operator in Africa in terms of geographical footprint and provides services in 17 African countries with close to 70 million customers, the company said in a statement.

iii.The event, will be held in Abuja (Nigeria) from May 7-9, 2014 under the theme ‘Forging Inclusive Growth, Creating Jobs’ and is expected to be attended by over 900 leaders from business, government, civil society and academia.

Twitter has finally joined Rajinikanth

i.Superstar Rajinikanth, who has millions of fans around the world, is now onboard social media with a Twitter account that is seeing its following jump by the thousands every minute. The superstar opened his account with the tweet: Salutation to the Lord. A big thank you to all my fans, excited on this digital journey (sic).

ii.The superstar has bagged over one lakh followers on the platform. Announcing his arrival, he said he was happy to connect with his fans through social media starting with Twitter.

iii.“I have always believed that my career graph is a miracle I owe my fans. I have been contemplating joining the social media platform for a while to connect with them, hear what they have to say and share my thoughts. Unfortunately, I never got around to it until now.”

Vidyashankar appointed IESA president

i.India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the trade body representing the Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry, has appointed M N Vidyashankar, as its new President.

ii.Vidyashankar has in the past served as Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Commerce & Industries, and Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT and Science &Technology, Government of Karnataka.

iii.He has around three decades of experience in management and administration of various government offices, autonomous bodies, boards and corporations and is serving on the board of various industry & academia committees, the major ones being AMSI, IIIT-B, and CEO of KIADB, according to a IESA statement.

Pallikal back in top-10 after Texas Open high

i.A final appearance at the Texas Open last month has pushed India's top squash player Dipika Pallikal back to the top-10 of the world rankings.

ii.Pallikal gained two places to be number 10 in the Women's Squash Association (WSA) rankings, the spot she has reached for the first time in December 2012.

iii."It is obviously a good feeling when you climb up the rankings. I have to be consistent now and try to get into the top five and eventually the number one spot," Pallikal told PTI today.

iv.India's other women's player Joshana Chinappa remains in 21st position despite winning the Richmond Open last month.

v.While Malaysian legend Nicol David surges on to a 94th successive month as world number one, it is Ireland's Madeline Perry who has grabbed maximum attention in the latest rankings.

Elena Baltacha, the former British Tennis player died due of liver cancer

i.Former British No 1 tennis player, Elena Baltacha died on 4 May 2014 due to liver cancer at the age of 30. She was diagnosed of liver cancer in January 2014.

ii.She fell ill, just two months after her retirement from the sports. Elena retired from tennis in November 2013.

Martin Klizan won Munich ATP title

i.Martin Kilzan on 4 May 2014 won the Munich ATP tournament to claim second title of his career. In the final match, he defeated Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

ii.Martin Kilzan of Slovakia ranked 111th in the world after winning the tournament was presented with a white BMW 420d Convertible car and winner’s cheque of 77315 Euros by the tournament organisers.

F-Secure appoints Amit Nath as Country Manager, India, SAARC

i.F-Secure, a global security company, has appointed Amit Nath as Country Manager, India and SAARC. He will be responsible for the company’s India relations, strategy and growth for channels mid-market and enterprise business.

ii.Amit has over 17 years of IT industry experience across different verticals such as sales, marketing, operations, programme management and management functions.

Skyscanner launches bus ticket booking in India

Global travel search site Skyscanner has launched the bus ticket booking feature on its website in partnership with redBus. The company said that this feature has been specially designed for the Indian market.

ICICI Bank offers new savings account products for NRIs

i.ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector lender, has launched two new saving account products — NRI Pro and NRI Premia — for NRI customers.

ii.“NRI customers can choose from two types of regular savings accounts — NRE and NRO. An NRE savings account is used for overseas income and an NRO savings account is mainly used for income earned in India like, for example, rental income,” an ICICI Bank statement said.

Pakistani parliament lifts YouTube ban

i.Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday approved a resolution to lift a ban on video-sharing website YouTube, a media report said.

ii.Pakistan People Party’s Shazia Marri submitted a resolution demanding the ban be lifted, which was unanimously accepted by the lower house of parliament, Dawn online reported.

iii.Ms. Marri said the ban be lifted as the website has deleted all objectionable material in question.YouTube was first banned in Pakistan Feb 22, 2008, by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) because of the number of “non-Islamic objectionable videos”

G7 ministers seek alternatives to Russian gas supplies

i.Alleviating Europe’s dependence on gas supplies from Russia - a problem exacerbated by the crisis in Ukraine - was the key focus as energy ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) concluded a two-day meeting in Rome.

ii.Seeking alternative gas supplies has been on Europe’s agenda since at least 2006, when Russia and Ukraine first rowed over gas supplies.

iii.The current fear is that escalating tensions with Kiev and Western powers may lead Moscow to again cut off gas deliveries passing through Ukraine on their way to Europe.

New Govt should respect Rajan’s appointment: Chidambaram

i.The new government should respect the appointment of Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, who was selected to head the central bank on the basis of his reputation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said.

ii.His comments to Bloomberg on the sidelines of ADB’s annual conference at Astana, Kazakhstan, come amid media speculation that the BJP-led NDA may not be keen to retain Dr. Rajan as RBI Governor.

iii.Dr. Rajan had last month dismissed the talks about his differences with BJP as “media invention”, saying “I haven’t had any discussion with the new government. I think its all press-invented difference. I think it should be seen as speculation rather than any actual differences

iv.His comments came against the backdrop of certain BJP leaders questioning his policies to deal with the current economic woes.During the 8-month stint, Dr. Rajan has raised key policy rates thrice by 0.25 per cent each.

Rangarajan says CAD to be around 2% of GDP

i.India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) is likely to be around 2 per cent of GDP in the coming few years due to slackening of gold imports, among other factors, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan said on Monday.

ii.“With inflation showing signs of decline and gold prices also not rising, the attraction of gold as an asset is coming down. And as we go ahead we should find the demand for gold falling. There are also other factors contributing to improvement in exports. Therefore, I expect the current account deficit to remain around two per cent of the GDP over the years,” Dr. Rangarajan told reporters here on the sidelines of a programme organised by Centre for Economic and Social Studies.

Ahmed Maiteeg elected New PM of Libya

i.Businessman Ahmed Maiteeg was elected on Sunday as Libya’s new prime minister after receiving 121 votes in parliament.He was then sworn in and given two weeks to form a cabinet.

ii. His election came in the second session of the day after an earlier session failed to secure him the 120 votes needed among the 200 members for victory.Maiteeg, 42, is a businessman born in the coastal city of Misurata who studied economics in London. He is supported by the Islamist bloc in parliament, according to the broadcaster Al Arabiya.

Juan Carlos Varela to be new President of Panama

i. The opposition leader Juan Carlos Varela has won the Presidential election in Panama with almost 40 percent of the votes.

ii. Mr Varela, who is currently the country's Vice President, had distanced himself from President Ricardo Martinelli.The President's preferred candidate, the governing party contender Jose Domingo Arias, came second.

BCCI suspends RCA to prevent Lalit Modi's return

i.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday suspended Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) soon after controversial cricket administrator Lalit Modi was declared elected as its president.

ii.The decision was taken by BCCI interim president Shivlal Yadav in the light of a provision in the Supreme Court order that allowed the world's richest cricket board take action against the RCA.

iii.The BCCI has also decided to issue a show cause notice to the RCA over the contentious election held in December last year. It would now appoint an ad hoc committee to take care of Rajasthan cricket affairs until a full-fledged state body takes charge.