GK Updates - 25 August | Banking Quiz

U.S. Open Tennis Championships begins today
I. The U.S. Open Tennis Championships begin today. Serena Williams, who opens her quest for a third successive US Open title with a meeting against fellow African American Taylor Townsend tomorrow, said Arthur Ashe would have been proud.
II. On Arthur Ashe Kids' Day that drew legions of young hopefuls to the National Tennis Center on Saturday, Williams pondered the significance of her clash against the 18-year-old Townsend and the legacy of Ashe, whose name graces the center court stadium.

Mumbai Metro 3 to be launched on Tuesday
I.The ground breaking ceremony for the third line of Mumbai metro would be held on Tuesday. The 32.5 km line will connect Colaba in South Mumbai with Andheri in Western suburbs. It would be the first metro line in the city, which would be fully underground.
II.The line will comprise of 26 underground stations and a car depot at Aarey Milk Colony in Goregaon.
III.This line would be the first to be constructed by the newly constituted Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, which is a special purpose vehicle of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
IV.The line is likely to be completed by 2021 and it will cost about Rs. 23,136 crore. It would be financed by Government of Maharashtra, Centre and Japanese International Cooperation Agency, a press statement issued by MMMRDA said.

Union Government launched India's first ethanol-run bus in Nagpur
I.Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari launched ethanol-run environment-friendly public buses in Nagpur on 22 August 2014. These buses were launched as India's first pilot “The Green Bus project” to test ethanol-run buses.
II.It was claimed that the carbon-dioxide emissions from the bus will be as low as 75 per cent to 90 per cent - depending on the purity of ethanol. The Union government, Maharashtra state government and Nagpur Municipal Corporation will monitor the emissions of the new bus.
III.Ethanol-run bus project would help to reduce India’s petroleum product imports.India imports petrol, diesel and gas worth over six lakh crore rupees each year and can reduce the imports by at least two lakh crore rupees by using alternative fuels. Ethanol-run bus project is the first initiative in this direction.

Textiles Ministry, Flipkart join hands for handloom weavers
I. Textiles Ministry today inked a pact with homegrown e-retailing major Flipkart to provide an online marketing platform to handloom weavers across the country, an initiative to boost the handloom sector, empower the weavers and uplift manufacturing in the country.
II. Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar, who was present on the occasion, emphasised that the focus of this association should be to help weavers and weaver entrepreneurs to produce products in tune with the buyer requirements and grow them significantly so that they may become manufacturers not only at a local but also at a national level.
III. This (MoU) will help us reach out to thousands of weavers across India... Through this initiative we are giving a direct platform to the weavers to reach out to the customers. There will be no middlemen.
IV. The customer will get access to variety of products across India. Flipkart will help them (weavers) to list on the marketplace,” Ankit Nagori, Vice President—Marketplace at Flipkart.

'Gandhi' filmmaker Richard Attenborough dies at 90
I. Oscar-winning British filmmaker Richard Attenborough, renowned for his critically-acclaimed biopic on Mahatma Gandhi, has died at the age of 90.
II. Lord Attenborough won an Academy Award for best director for 'Gandhi', one of many highlights of a distinguished career that spanned six decades, on both sides of the camera.
III. One of Britain's leading actors before becoming a highly successful director, he appeared in films like 'Brighton Rock', World War II prisoner of war thriller 'The Great Escape' and later in blockbuster 'Jurassic Park' as a theme park developer.

Deutsche Bank launches two transaction banking apps
I.Deutsche Bank today launched two new transaction banking apps in India on the Autobahn App Market.
II.“Leveraging a global payment processing engine, the Cash Manager app facilitates straight-through processing of payments and collections for corporates in India, including e-Tax payments. The app also has an innovative dashboard feature that consolidates information, enabling clients to gain quick visibility into their account balance positions, payment statuses and key reports,” the bank said in a statement.
III.The new Securities Portfolio Manager app acts as a single access point to a large variety of reports across custody, securities clearing and fund administration. With an intuitive, flexible and user-friendly report retrieval process, Deutsche Bank’s institutional clients, such as mutual funds and insurance companies, benefit from a more efficient daily workflow.

ICICI Bank launches apps for loan details
I.ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector lender, announced the launch of two new mobile banking applications; ‘iLoans’ and ‘iTrack’, for accessing loan account details and tracking status of dispatches, respectively.
II.The Bank aims to enhance customer experience with the launch of these two new mobile applications. Using these apps, all customers, even those having only loan accounts with the Bank can get easy access to their information, thus eliminating the need to call phone banking or visit a branch, the bank said in a statement.
III.These launches come close on the heels of a slew of technology-led innovative services of the Bank including Touch Banking, Tab Banking, Facebook Banking through ‘Pockets by ICICI Bank’, a website that offers a seamless experience across devices such as desktops, mobiles and tablets, iMobile for Windows phones and an upgraded internet banking platform that provides customised and personalised views.
IV.‘iLoans’: This app offers customers the convenience of accessing their loan related details on mobile phones. Customers who have a home, auto, commercial vehicle or personal loan with the Bank can use this application.
V.All one needs to do is to download the ICICI Bank iLoans application on his mobile and activate.
VI.This app allows the loan customers to check their loan account details, disbursement details, check EMI details and payment schedule, generate IT certificate, access the nearest loan servicing branch details, view multiple loan details and e-mail statements to registered as well as an alternate e-mail ID.

Finance Minister Ahmet Davutoglu named as Prime Minister of Turkey
I.Turkey's ruling party named Finance Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as New Prime Minister of Turkey on 10 August 2014. He will replace Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He will resume office from 28 August 2014.
II.Currently, Mr. Davutoglu is serving as finance Minister. He is the Finance Minister since 2009. The nomination of Mr. Davutoglu was done by the congress of the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Mehrotra quits Bhushan Steel
I.Bhushan Steel in a communication to the stock exchange said that VK Mehrotra, non-executive director, has resigned from its board due to health reasons.

TVS Krishna Kumar is new Director (Finance) at RINL
I.Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd has elevated TVS Krishna Kumar, General Manager (Finance), to the position of Director (Finance).

Indian-origin hacker in Singapore faces more charges
I.An Indian-origin man was on Monday slapped with 105 additional charges for hacking into several Singapore websites last year.
II.James Raj Arokiasamy, 35, is alleged to have secured unauthorised access into the Fuji Xerox webserver between March 1 and 24 last year, and of hacking into and making modifications to a fan site created for City Harvest Church co-founder and pop-singer Sun Ho. The Church and its management were facing separate court cases over the management of S$50 million.
III.James Raj, who allegedly goes by the moniker “Messiah”, now faces a total of 162 charges for hacking and unauthorised modification of webservers last year.
IV.Under earlier charges, James Raj is accused of scanning several City Harvest Church-related webservers and several government-related websites including that of the ruling People’s Action Party Foundation webserver, Singapore Prison Service, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore Elections Department, Ministry of Communications and Information, The Straits Times Blog and a town council.
V.James Raj also faces four drug-related charges, according to media reports today. A pre-trial conference date has been set for August 27.

First commercial seaplane flight from Mumbai
I.Maritime Energy Heli Air Services Pvt. Ltd and the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation's first commercial flight of seaplane took off from Mumbai to Pawana dam (Lonavala) in the city on August 25, 2014.
II.The amphibian planes will eventually connect Mumbai with multiple State tourist destinations adjacent to four suitable water bodies even though there are no runways at these destinations. The flights from Mumbai to Pawana Dam, lonavala are priced at ₹2,999/-

Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan resigned
I.Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan resigned from his office on 24 August 2014. He tendered his resignation in the backdrop of being transferred to Mizoram. He refused to take charge of his new assignment. His tenure would have ended in 2017.
II.As per a Rashtrapati Bhawan communiqué released on 24 August 2014, 82-year-old Sankaranarayanan was transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of his term to Mizoram.
III.The communiqué also said that Gujarat governor Om Prakash Kohli has been asked to discharge duties of the Governor of Maharashtra, in addition to his own duties, until regular arrangement for the office of the Governor of Maharashtra is made.
IV.Kohli’s oath of the office of Maharashtra was administered by Bombay High Court Justice Mohit Shah, while Chief Secretary Swadhin Kshatriya read out the warrant of Kohli's appointment, issued by the President.

Indira Sivasailam Endowment Award for T M. Krishna
I. Carnatic vocalist T. M. Krishna has been chosen for the fifth Indira Sivasailam Endowment Medal and Concert.
II. The fifth Indira Sivasailam Endowment Concert will be held at The Music Academy in Chennai on September 25 during the Navaratri season.
III. The artist is selected by a panel comprising members from the Endowments Committee of The Music Academy and Ms. Mallika Srinivasan (Chairman - TAFE Limited), daughter of late A. Sivasailam (Former Chairman - Amalgamations Limited) and late Indira Sivasailam.
IV. Every year, the Indira Sivasailam Endowment Fund recognizes an outstanding Carnatic musician based on an established set of criteria.

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated India's first IIEST at Shibpur in West Bengal
I.The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated India's first Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) at Shibpur, Howrah in West Bengal on 24 August 2014.
II.While inaugurating the IIEST, President Pranab Mukherjee emphasized that the state level institutions need to be prioritized as these institutions account for 96 percent of higher education capacity.
III.The President also emphasized for the synergy between academia and industry. He called for the promotion of higher education in India's academic institutions and development of core competencies.

Renewable energy award for GERMI director
I. Gandhinagar-based Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) Director, Prof T Harinarayana has been conferred with “Energy and Environment Foundation Global Excellence Award-2014 in Renewable Energy Sector” on August 21.

Maharashtra Gov K Sankaranarayanan quits
I. Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan resigned from his office on 24 August 2014. He tendered his resignation in the backdrop of being transferred to Mizoram. He refused to take charge of his new assignment. His tenure would have ended in 2017.

RN Ravi appointed new chief of Joint Intelligence Committee
I. Government has cleared the name of R N Ravi as the new chief of Joint Intelligence Committee, a body tasked to assess intelligence gathered by various intelligence agencies including IB and RAW
II. Ravi, a 1976 batch IPS officer from Kerala, who retired in 2012 as Special Director of Intelligence Bureau, will hold the charge for next three years in the rank and pay of a Secretary to the Government. The JIC functions under the National Security Council Secretariat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Pradhan Mantri Krishi Seenchayi Yojana
I.Pradhan Mantri Krishi Seenchayi Yojana was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 August 2014. The Yojna has been announced to meet the irrigation needs of all farmers across the country. Sum of 1000 crore rupees has been allocated for implementation of the scheme.
II.Modi announced the Yojna after laying the foundation stone for the four-laning of a 166 kilometer stretch of the Kaithal-Narwana-Barwala-Hisar-Siwani National Highway in Haryana. The highway will be developed at an estimated cost of 1393 crore rupees and will be up to Rajasthan Border.

Katie Ledecky of US broke World Record in Women’s 1500 Meter Freestyle
I.Katie Ledecky, an American distance swimmer on 23 August 2014 created a World Record in Women’s 1500 Meter Freestyle at the 2014 Pan Pac Championships on the Gold Coast, Australia. To create the new record Ledecky swam the distance in 15 minutes 28.36 seconds.
II.She crushed her own previous 1500-metre freestyle record of swimming the distance in 15 minutes 34.23 seconds at an untaqpered meet in The Woodlands, Texas in June 2014.
III.Ledecky won her fifth gold medal at the Gold Coast meet after defeating Lauren Boyle of New Zealand by more than 27 seconds. Lauren Boyle placed second completed the race in 15 minute 55.69 second and Brittany MacLean of Canada was third in 15 minute 57.15 second.