GK Updates from 5th December to 9th December 5th December 1. Narndra Modi named Asian of the Year by Singapores Straits Times i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was today named ‘Asian of the Year’ for being a development-focused leader by editors of Singapore’s leading daily, The Straits Times. ii. “Despite being relatively new to the job, he has already made a mark on Asia, reaching out to neighbours and receiving national leaders including Xi Jinping of China and Tony Abbott of Australia,” said the Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, publisher of the daily. iii. It said Modi has had a highly successful visit to Japan for a summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. iv. “Mr Modi has got India and the world excited about his country’s prospects again. He has given his people a renewed sense of direction and purpose, and there are hopeful signs that he is minded to using his strong mandate to good effect in one of Asia’s major powers. We wish him and India every success,” Warren Fernandez, editor of the daily said. v. Every December, editors of the Singapore daily pick an Asian whose actions have significantly impacted his own society or the wider Asian continent in the 12 months past. 2. Govt relaxes norms for licenses for e-rickshaw drivers i. The government on Friday approved relaxation in norms for e-rickshaw drivers, paving the way for the battery-operated vehicles to ply on national capital roads, which were banned by the Delhi High Court on safety concerns. ii. Cabinet has approved relaxation in norms for driving licences for e-rickshaw drivers, a source said after the Cabinet meeting in New Delhi on Friday. iii. The norms have been relaxed for issuing licences for e-rickshaw drivers. The provision that no person shall be granted a learners licence to drive a commercial vehicle unless he or she has held a driving licence for light motor vehicle for at least one year has been waived, another source said. iv. E-rickshaw is a legal entity and any driver passing the driving test would now be granted a licence, he added. v. The government in October had notified the rules for plying of e-rickshaws making drivers licence mandatory for operating them and limiting the maximum speed to 25 km per hour. 3. RBI relaxed norms for PPIs and doubled the limit to one lakh rupees i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3 December 2014 relaxed the norms for Pre-paid Payment Instruments (PPI) and doubled the limit of PPI from 50000 rupees to one lakh rupees. ii. The move would help in achieving the objective of limiting cashtransactions in the system. Highlights of RBI norms on PPI i. The maximum validity of gift cards has been enhanced from one year to three years. Other provisions of PPI guidelines with respect to gift cards will continue. ii. RBI also allowed issue of multiple PPIs by banks from fully-KYC compliant bank accounts for dependent or family members. iii. Only one card can be issued to one beneficiary. iv. The bank may put in place mechanisms to monitor and report suspicious transactions on these PPIs to Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND). v. The central bank also permitted banks to issue rupee denominated PPIs for visiting foreign nationals and NRIs. 4. RBI issues norms for trading platform for MSME receivables i. RBI issued guidelines for setting up a trading platform for trade receivables and bills of exchanges of Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises - MSME. ii. In a notification issued from Mumbai, RBI said that the Trade Receivables Discounting System - TReDS should have a minimum paid up equity capital of 25 crore rupees and non-promoters would not hold over 10 per cent of the equity capital of TReDS. iii. The foreign shareholding in the TReDS would be as per the extant foreign investment policy. According to RBI, TReDS will facilitate financing of invoices/bills of MSMEs drawn on corporate and other buyers, including government departments and PSUs by way of discounting. It would discount invoices so that final payment of the bill to the MSME is made by buyer on a due date. iv. RBI has said that entities, other than the promoters, will not be permitted to have shareholding in excess of 10 per cent of the equity capital of the TReDS. v. The overall financial strength of the promoters/entity seeking to set up TReDS would be an important criteria of assessment/selection. 5. HDFC Bank rules out a JV for payment bank i. HDFC Bank has become the first in the sector to rule out a joint venture partnership with any applicant for one of the proposed payment banks (PBs). ii. “We will not do a joint venture for this. We are a full bank ourselves and don’t need to form an alliance,” said Aditya Puri, managing director. iii. In final guidelines issued last week, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed entities to form an alliance with a lender to form a PB. iv. The idea is that PBs would tap unbanked areas and such an alliance would help. Puri said HDFC Bank was capable of tapping far-flung areas on its own. Nor does he think they pose a worry on competition. v. “There is enough for everyone to do. There is space for payment banks, small banks, regional rural banks and large banks to exist,” he said. 6. NRAI chief Raninder becomes first elected Indian in ISSF committee i. National Rifle Association of India President Raninder Singh has created history by becoming the first Indian to become an elected member of the all-powerful International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF)s Executive Committee. ii. Contesting his first election, Raninder garnered 22 out of 25 votes in the General Assembly meeting held at Munich,Germany. iii. It is the first time in its 107-year history that an Indian has been elected as the member of the global body representing the sport of Shooting. He was also elected as the member of the Administrative Council of ISSF with 145 out of 293 votes. 7. Private entity cannot hold more than 26% in coal venture i. A private sector entity cannot own more than 26 per cent stake in public-private joint ventures for coal block allocations. However, if it is more than one private sector entity, the structure should be such that its stake does not exceed 49 per cent. ii. “This will ensure that the private party cannot veto board decisions,” a senior Coal Ministry official said. iii. This will also enable Government entities to retain the majority stake. In seeking the Cabinet’s nod for the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014 to replace the ordinance, the Government has proposed this change. iv. A total of 92 blocks are being offered under the first round. 8. Hockey Champions Trophy begins in Odisha i. The Hockey Champions Trophy has been inaugurated at the Kalinga Stadium at Bhubaneswar in Odisha. ii. All the eight Captains of the participating teams were present during the inauguration of the Trophy being organized by Federation of International Hockey (FIH). iii. The Tournament matches are starting from tomorrow as every team will play three league matches. iv. India will play Germany, Argentina and Netherlands on 6th, 7th and 9th this month. Australia, Belgium, England and Pakistan are also participating in the Champions Trophy. 9. Air India, NBCC sign MoU for development of land parcels i. Air India and National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited, NBCC, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU for development of land parcels of Air India at various locations on joint venture basis. ii. The MoU was signed in the presence of Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju. iii. Partnering with NBCC will help both parties unlock more value from Air India’s land, totalling nearly 8 million square feet spread across the country. It will benefit from the government’s recent move to hike the floor area ratio of a buildings constructed area to the size of land. 6th December 1. PSU bank ATMs will be able to print in Hindi soon i. ATMs installed by state-owned banks will soon have the facility for issuing the transaction receipt in Hindi, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday in response to a question in the Lok Sabha. ii. The government has instructed public sector banks (PSBs) to install those ATM machines which can produce receipts in both Hindi and English languages. iii. PSBs have been advised to ensure that all ATM machines have facility of doing transactions/printing in Hindi as well as in English. iv. Most ATMs have a bilingual option on their home screens. Some machines, like those installed by ICICI Bank offer a regional language option as well in non-Hindi speaking states. 2. Ashton Carter new US defense secretary i. US President Barack Obama yesterday named Ashton Carter, a technocrat and academic with deep experience working in the Pentagon, to replace Chuck Hagel as US Defence Secretary. ii. Obama praised the 60 year old former Deputy Defence Secretary, saying that he would bring to the job a unique blend of strategic perspective and technical know how. iii. Carter, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate, takes over as the US military finds itself in an air war against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, a sharp reversal of course for an administration that had sought to bring home troops after 13 years of fighting. iv. Ashton carter was born in 1954 and he is a physicist and former Harvard professor. v. He was professor and chair of the International Relations, Science, and Security faculty in Kennedy school of Harvard. vi. He served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under President Clinton (1993-94). 3. Arun Duggal appointed as non-executive Chairman of Credit rating agency ICRA i. Credit Rating Agency ICRA Limited on 5 December 2014 appointed Arun Duggal as non-executive Chairman after he was elected unilaterally by the ICRA Board. Currently, Arun Duggal is serving as an independent director on the Board of ICRA Ltd. ii. He will replace Pranab Kumar Choudhury who will resign from ICRA Limited and all other affiliated entities on 29 January 2015. He has been associated with the rating agency for 24 years. iii. Duggal is the former Chairman of the non-banking financial company Shriram Capital Ltd. 4. ICICI Bank ties up with price comparison app Zopper i. ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, has tied up with Zopper, an e-commerce app for offline and online price comparison. ii. “This will allow ICICI debit and credit card holders to avail themselves of exclusive discounts at retail stores in their city, which are powered by the Zopper app iii. To be eligible for this offer, ICICI Bank customers need to download the Zopper app on their smartphone,” the company said in a statement. iv. This deal helps Zopper to increase its user base, as ICICI Bank promotes the scheme to its customers via SMS, email, ATMs, etc. An ICICI customer can then download Zopper app to see and avail of offers in their city. v. This unique partnership between Zopper & ICICI has invigorated the retail ecosystem in areas under ambit. Merchants are getting more footfalls and ICICI customers are getting exclusive discounts. 5. ICICI Bank sells Russian subsidiary to Sovcombank i. The board of country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on Friday approved sale of the bank’s shareholding in its Russian subsidiary ICICI Bank Eurasia, to a third party Sovcombank. ii. “ICICI Bank Ltd has informed BSE that the Board of Directors of the Bank at its meeting held on December 05, 2014, approved a proposal for the sale of ICICI Bank’s shareholding in ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company (IBEL), a non-material wholly-owned banking subsidiary in Russia, to Sovcombank, an unrelated third party Russian bank,” ICICI Bank said in a release to the Bombay Stock Exchange. iii. ICICI Bank Eurasia accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of ICICI Bank’s consolidated total assets at that date and consolidated profit after tax for the period, the BSE release said. 6. Govt appoints Dinesh Kumar as CEO of Polavaram Project i. Senior IAS officer Dinesh Kumar was today appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Polavaram Project Authority. ii. Kumar, a 1983 batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, is currently working as Development Commissioner in the Ministry of Textiles. iii. He has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Polavaram Project Authority under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary, for a tenure of three years, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said. 7. Orion spacecraft marks dawn of new chapter in space exploration: US i. The successful test flight of the Orion spacecraft is the dawn of a new chapter in space exploration, the White House today said after NASA’s unmanned spacecraft completed its first test flight. ii. Orion is expected to take up its first crew in 2021. iii. After a successful launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at 7:05 a.m. local time this morning, Orion orbited the Earth twice, reaching speeds of 20,000 miles per hour and travelling through belts of intense radiation before enduring a fiery, 4,000 degree F re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. 8. American, South African hostages killed in Yemen i. An American photojournalist and a South African aid worker held by al-Qaeda militants in Yemen have been killed in a failed U.S. rescue attempt, authorities said on Saturday. ii. Speaking in Afghanistan, U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Luke Somers “and a second non-U.S. citizen hostage were murdered” by al-Qaeda militants during the raid. iii. Lucy Somers, the photojournalist’s sister, told The Associated Press that she and her father learned of her 33-year-old brother’s death from FBI agents at 5 a.m. GMT (10.30 a.m. IST) on Saturday. 9. Fifth World Cup Kabaddi begins today i. The Fifth World Cup Kabaddi begins today at Jalandhar in Punjab. 19 teams from 15 nations are participating in the tournament. These include 11 Mens and 8 womens teams. ii. Though the tournament will be inaugurated today evening, matches will start tomorrow. Prize worth 5.27 crore rupees are up for grabs in team and individual events which will continue till 20th of this month. 7th-8th December 1. Kotak Mahindra Bank launches savings bank account for customers of 55 years and above i. Kotak Mahindra BankBSE 0.38 % (KMB) today announced the launch of Grand, a savings bank account tailored exclusively for customers of 55 years and above. ii. According to a press release issued by the bank, Grand has been designed keeping in mind their need for hassle-free banking, financial independence and personal attention. iii. According to the release, customers will earn 6 per cent pa on savings balance of over Rs 1 lakh and 5 per cent on balances up to Rs 1 lakh. iv. To earn higher return on their balances, they can sign up for the Kotak ActivMoney facility, which converts savings account balance above a certain amount into term deposits. 2. India sets new world record for largest human flag i. India today set a new world record for the largest human flag, formed by over 50,000 volunteers, beating the previous record held by Pakistan. ii. The event saw about 1.5 lakh volunteers, mainly youth, turn up for the event at YMCA Grounds here even as 50,000 of them formed the tricolour, Governor of Rotary 3230, organiser of the ‘My Flag My India’ campaign, ISAK Nazar, told reporters here. iii. The Guinness World Record for the largest human flag was previously held by the Sports Club of Lahore with 28,957 people forming the flag, he said. iv. “This is the first record (of its kind) in independent India and our aim was to infuse patriotism and nationalism in the present generation and next-generation youth,” he said, adding, youngsters formed the crux of the participants. 3. Modi, Mukesh Ambani most searched personalities in 2014: Yahoo i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Mukesh Ambani feature amongst the most searched personalities online this year, according to search engine Yahoo. ii. According to the seventh edition of Yahoo India’s ‘Year in Review’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the list of ‘High and Mighty? the Political Top 10’ in 2014, followed by his aides Arun Jaitley (Finance and I&B Minister) and BJP President Amit Shah. iii. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav have also been named in the list. iv. The review is based on users’ daily search habits and an editorial selection of what they read, recommended and shared most on Yahoo in India. v. “The slew of reforms and Modi’s efforts to improve diplomatic ties were of ongoing interest to Yahoo users. ‘Make in India’ made it to the top of the list of Biggest Financial Events of the Year,” Yahoo said 4. Dev Shah becomes world champion in Under-7 category in World Schools Chess Championships i. Seven-year-old Dev Shah of Mumbai has become the youngest rated chess player from India. ii. Dev Shah has become the world champion in the Under-7 category in the World Schools Chess Championships that concluded recently at Juiz de Fora in Brazil. iii. Dev, a trainee of South Mumbai Chess Academy and student of Dhirubhai Ambani School, was among three boys who scored the highest score. The Mumbai boy was ruled the victor on account of a better aggregate score 5. Mandatory for PSUs to procure 20 percent of products manufactured by MSME: Govt i. Government today said that it will be mandatory for Public Sector Undertakings, PSUs from 1st April, 2015 to procure 20 percent of the products manufactured by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME. ii. He said, so far only 32 PSUs have met 20 percent procurement limit. The Minister said that the government is also considering of imposing a penalty against the PSUs and other departments for failing to meet the required limit of procurement of MSME products. 6. India forex reserves up $ 1.432 billion to $ 316.311 billion i. Indias forex reserves surged by 1.432 billion US dollar to 316.311 billion dollar in the week ended 28th November. ii. A RBI press release has informed that foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves, increased by 1.424 billion dollar to 290.822 billion dollar in the reporting week. In the previous week, total reserves had declined by 672.4 million dollar to 314.878 billion dollar. iii. The countrys gold reserves remained unchanged at 19.738 billion dollar. The Special Drawing Rights increased by 6.4 million dollar to 4.229 billion dollar, while the countrys reserve position with the IMF also rose by 2.5 million dollar to 1.521 billion dollar during the week. 7. Indian Blind Cricket Team lifts World Cup after defeating Pakistan i. India lifts the Blind Cricket World Cup after defeating Pakistan by five wickets. In the summit clash Defending Champions Pakistan scored 389 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 40 overs in Cape Town, South Africa yesterday. India had asked Pakistan to bat first after winning the toss. ii. Chasing a tough target, India managed to reach in 39.4 overs, losing 5 wickets in the process. iii. For India, Prakasha Jayaramaiah scored 82 runs, while Ajay Reddy made 74. Interestingly, in the opening match of the tournament Pakistan had beaten India by seven wickets. It was the 4th edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup. 8. GSAT-16 launched from Kourou in French Guiana functioning normally i. India’s communication satellite GSAT 16 is performing normally which was launched successfully from Kourou in French Guiana yesterday morning . The ISRO sources say that the first Apogee Manoeuvre Firing commenced as planned at 03:51 hrs IST early this morning. ii. The Liquid Apogee Motor was fired for a duration of 6131 seconds for targeted perigee-raising from 256 km to 16271 km as well as to reduce orbital inclination from 5.98 degrees to 1.35 degrees. The firing of apogee motor will consume 879 kg propellant during this manoeuvre. ‘ iii. The satellite will be placed in the Geostationary orbit of about 36000 kms after three manoeuvres by 12th of this month. GSAT 16 has highest number of 48 transponders that will be used for television, telephone and internet applications. 9. Kumar Sangakkara became fourth batsman to complete 13000 ODI runs i. Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara on 3 December 2014 became the fourth batsman to complete 13000 One-Day Internationals (ODI) runs. ii. Sangakkara achieved the feat of crossing 13000 run during the third match of ODI series with England. He took 386 matches to complete these many runs. iii. The all-time list of most-run getters in ODI is led by Sachin Tendulkar of India with 18426 runs from 463 ODIs. He is followed by Ricky Ponting of Australia with 13704 runs from 375 ODIs and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka with 13430 runs from 445 matches. 10. Amos Meindi of Kenya won 29th Pune International full Marathon i. Amos Meindi of Kenya won 29th Pune International full Marathon in Men’s category on 7 December 2014. He finished the race by completing 41.175 km in 2 hours 18 minutes and 36 seconds. ii. Regassa Bezida of Ethiopia and Teresse came at second place and third place respectively. 11. Carnatic vocalist Nedanuri Krishnamurthy died i. Veteran Carnatic vocalist Nedanuri Krishnamurthy died on 8 December 2014 in Visakhapatnam. He was 87. He was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. ii. He was born on 10 October 1927 in Kothapalli in the erstwhile Hyderabad State of British India iii. He underwent training in Carnatic music (vocal and violin) with Dwaram Narasinga Rao Naidu in Maharaja’s Music College at Vizianagaram in early 1940s iv. Later he developed his style of music under guidance of Carnatic vocalist, Sripada Pinakapani 12. Uber taxis banned in Delhi, company blacklisted i. The Delhi Government today banned all operations by private cab service Uber with immediate effect and blacklisted it from providing any transport service in the national capital in the wake of the alleged rape incident in a taxi plying for it. ii. The action came a day after a taxi driver employed by Uber was arrested from Mathura for allegedly raping a 27-year-old woman executive in his cab. iii. “The transport department has banned all activities related to providing of any transport service by uber with immediate effect. The department has also blacklisted the company from providing any transport service in the NCT of Delhi in future,” the Delhi Government said in a statement. iv. It said the Transport Department has cancelled the permit and registration certificate of the taxi (DL1YD 7910) and driving licence of the accused. v. According to the department, the taxi permit was granted on May 28, 2014, after due verification of character and antecedents of the permit holder. 9th December 1. Modi wins TIME readers’ poll for ‘Person of the Year’ i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who did not make it to the final eight selected byTIME for the annual ‘Person of the Year’ title, has been hailed as one by its readers in an online poll conducted by the publication. ii. Mr. Modi has been named winner of this year’s readers’ poll for TIME ‘Person of the Year’, securing more than 16 per cent of the almost five million votes cast. iii. Protesters in Ferguson, who were demonstrating against a grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August ranked second with 9 per cent of the votes. TIME said “a strong showing of readers from India” helped drive Mr. Modi’s first-place finish. iv. “More people from the country voted than from any other country, with the exception of the United States,” it said. Readers from more than 225 countries participated in the online poll, with U.S. votes leading the tally at 37 per cent, followed by India at 17 per cent, and Russia at 12 per cent. v. TIME said Mr. Modi became Prime Minister in May after securing a landslide victory on a “platform of rebooting India’s stalling economy”. “But his detractors have questioned his past record,” it added. Note: The annual honour, that has been bestowed by the magazine since 1927, goes to the person who “most influenced the news” during the year “for better or worse”. Mr. Modi was among the 50 global leaders, business chiefs and pop icons named as contenders for the annual honour. 2. Govt bans all unregistered app-based taxi providers i. The Centre has asked States to ensure that all unregistered taxi services cease operations for now, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, after a female passenger reported she was raped by a driver contracted to US online cab company Uber in New Delhi. ii. New Delhi had already decided to ban all unregistered internet taxi firms after the incident, a government official told Reuters earlier on Tuesday. Uber has been operating in 11 Indian cities. 3. Satyarthi, Malala to receive Nobel awards on Wednesday i. Child rights activists India’s Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, along with 11 others will receive this year’s Nobel Prizes tomorrow. ii. The Nobel Laureates take centrestage in Sweden’s capital Stockholm and Norwegian Oslo, where they will receive the Nobel medals, Nobel diplomas and documents confirming the Nobel Prize amount. iii. Satyarthi, 60, and Yousafzai, 17, will share the $1.1-million Peace Prize at Oslo, while all the other awards will be presented in Stockholms. iv. Satyarthi, along with his wife Sumedha, son, daughter-in-law and daughter reached Oslo yesterday. v. Frenchman Patrick Modiano will be presented the Literature Nobel, US-British scientist John O’Keefe and Norwegian husband-and-wife duo Edvard and May-Britt Moser Nobel in medicine and Japanese scientists Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano and Japanese-born American Shuji Nakamura the Nobel in Physics. vi. Americans Eric Betzig and William Moerner and German scientist Stefan Hell will share the Nobel in Chemistry, while Frenchman Jean Tirole will be presented the Nobel for Economics. Note: Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been presented to the Laureates at ceremonies on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. 4. Gwladys Nocera of France won Hero Womens Indian Golf Open 2014 i. Gwladys Nocera of France on 6 December 2014 won the Hero Womens Indian Golf Open 2014 at the Delhi Golf Club. She received the prize money of 300000 US dollars. ii. She won her first title of the 2014 season with a score 11 under par total of 208. 5. Subramanian Committee on Leveraging the Post Office Network submitted report to Union government i. Subramanian Committee on Leveraging the Post Office Network on 4 December 2014 submitted its report to the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. ii. The objective of the Committee was to transform the Post Office Network in keeping with changing market trends and competition. iii. The committee has made around 181 recommendations to make the post office competitive and efficient. These recommendations ranges from formulation of a New Postal Law to New Organisational design of India Post to Extension of Post Office network in Rural areas. 6. Hockey Olympian Grihanandan Singh died i. Hockey Olympian Grihanandan Singh died on 7 December 2014 in New Delhi. He was 88. ii. Nick named Nandy Singh was an Indian field hockey player who won two Olympic gold medals, at the 1948 London Olympics and later in 1952 Helsinki Olympics with the Indian team. 7. Warren buffet became second richest person of World i. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Warren buffet became second richest person in the World. He replaced Carlos Slim, business magnate of Mexico. Bill Gates is the world richest person. ii. Buffet chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a net worth of 73.7 billion US dollars and his annual business profits recorded 19.5 billion US dollars which is up 13 percent. Berkshire reached 52 week high in intraday trading which is closed at 185750 US dollars. iii. Slim has net worth of 62.9 billion US dollars. Slim profit has fallen 10.9 billion US dollars since the start of 2014 and his business profits dropped by 14 percent. 8. Andhra Pradesh Government signed MoU with Singapore for development of its new capital i. Andhra Pradesh Government on 8 December 2014 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore for the development of its new capital that is set to come up near Vijawayada region. ii. The MoU was signed by International Enterprise Singapore CEO Teo Eng Cheong and the Infrastructure Corporation of the Andhra Pradesh representative Sambasiva Rao. iii. Under the MoU, Singapore will prepare a master plan for building the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. iv. The master plan will be designed for the capital region that is likely to come up in an area of approximately 7300 square kilometres and also for the capital city that will be spread in an area of 125 square kilometres. 9. Adelaide Test: Warner hits century before India fight back i. Australias David Warner paid a fitting tribute to his deceased teammate Phillip Hughes by cracking a rollicking 145 before India clawed back with three quick blows to share the honours on an emotionally charged opening day of the first cricket Test in Adelaide on Tuesday. ii. Opting to bat first, Australia rode on Warners 10th Test century and were cruising along comfortably before India struck three vital blows at the fag end of the day to reduce the hosts to 354 for six at the Adelaide Oval. iii. The home team was comfortably placed at 258 for two when Warner became debutant spinner Karn Sharmas maiden victim, which triggered a collapse of sorts with Mitchell Marsh (41), night-watchman Nathan Lyon (3) and Brad Haddin (0) falling in quick succession to help India stage a fightback. iv. Steven Smith was unbeaten on 72 when stumps were drawn for the day with four balls still to be bowled. v. Earlier, the stadium witnessed a gamut of emotions before the commencement of the match as spectators clapped for exactly 63 seconds as a mark of respect for Hughes. vi. Both teams wore black arm bands while the Australians had Hughes Test cap No 408 inscribed on their jerseys. vii. Warner was finally out after facing 163 balls and striking 19 boundaries. He holed out in the deep mid-wicket region where Ishant Sharma took a catch off Karns bowling.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 11:11:20 +0000
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