Latest Daily News Update (6 Feb To 15 Feb 2015)

• Feb 15, 2015
  1. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt announced that he will retire from athletics after the 2017 World Championships in London.
  2. Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli became first Indian to score a century against Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup.
  3. Scientists Tessy Thomas and Geeta Varadan have been selected for Dr.Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award 2014. 
• Feb 14, 2015
  1. India successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from INS Kolkata off the Goa coast. 
     • BrahMos has range of 300 kilometers and may carry warhead up to 300 KG with top speed about 3000 KM/Hour.
  2. Tintu Luka won gold in 800m in 35th National Games in Kerala.
  3. United Arab Emirates closed its Embassy in Yemen due to the ongoing political instability and security situations.
  4. Parle Products launched nationwide Litter Free Campaign for urging consumers for puttng garbage at proper places.
  5. Supreme Court directed CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to investigate role of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the multi-crore chit-fund scam.
• Feb 13, 2015
  1. 13 Feb - World Radio Day
  2. Iranian nuclear power plant Bushehr and India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant projects are named as projects of the year 2014 by US Power Engineering magazine in the Nuclear energy category.
  3. All India Football Federations (AIFF) Player of the Year Awards 2014 -
     • Men - Sunil Chhetri
     • Women - Bala Devi
  4. Balasubramaniam Venkataramani will be new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).
  5. World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) 2015 released by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) -
     • India was placed at 136th position out of 180 nations, It improved from 140th rank last year.
     • Finland is at the top in terms of freedom for press with Norway and Denmark following.
     • Eritrea is the worst in terms of freedom for press as per the report, North Korea is second worst.
  6. Telugu novelist Kesava Reddy passed away.
  7. Indian-origin scientist Gurpreet Singh has been given the presented with the prestigious National Science FoundationCareer award wit cash prize money of 500000 USD for his research on Scalable liquid exfoliation processing of ultrathin two-dimensional metal dichalcogenides nanosheets for energy storage devices.
  8. Editor Unplugged: Media, Magnates, Netas and Me has been written by Vinod Mehta.
  9. ICICI Bank patnered with global payment solutions company UAE Exchange to offer an instant bank transfer service named FLASHremit.
     • Using FLASHremit, customers of the bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may send money instantly to any ICICI Bank account in India in rupees in a secure manner.
  10. Aerospace firm SpaceX successfully launched a Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite through the Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on its third attempt.
      • The satellite will be used by United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for monitoring Sun activities.
      • It will collect information on solar storms and will monitor changes in solar wind and will provide warnings to the forecasters on hazardous outbursts from earth to help them predict changes that affect satellites, power grids and communication systems.
• Feb 12, 2015
  1. Brigade of The Guards and the Sikh Regiment were collectively awarded Best Marching Contingents Trophy for Republic Day Parade 2015.
  2. 35th National Games mascot Ammu, The Great Hornbill (State bird of Kerala) has been included in Limca Book of Records for its play, featuring the bird in lead role in Kalikkunna Play.
  3. National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ) launched web based tool named Atrocity Tracking and Monitoring (ATM) System to monitor atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis & to deliver speedy justice.
  4. Kenya's Cabinet Secretary of Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed visited India to Attend Seventh India-Kenya Bilateral Meeting
  5. Himachal Pradesh government launched Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) project in the state for connecting police stations and other related bodies with state crime records bureau. 
• Feb 11, 2015
  1. Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks has been written by SK Rath.
  2. Noted Journalist Diptosh Majumdar passed away.
  3. Indian Navy conducted large Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise in the Lakshadweep Islands.
  4. Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Awards were given to 84 Students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
  5. USA closed its Embassy in Yemen due to the ongoing political instability and uncertain security situations in Yemen.
  6. Reliance Communications tied-up with social networking site Facebook to offer free internet access to people in India through Facebook's initiative, Internet.org.
     1. Internet.org will provide access to popular websites and services with zero data charge to make it easier for people to access the Internet.
  7. ICICI Bank launched India’s first digital Bank on mobile phone named Pockets. This digital e-wallet can be downloaded from Google Playstore.  It uses a virtual VISA card that enables transacting on any website or mobile application in India.
  8. Government approved enhancing authorised capital of NMDFC (National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation) to 3000 crore rupees from 1500 crore rupees
  9. West Bengal Government launched a Micro Business Credit Card to give boost to MSME sector in the state. Throug This facility, entrepreneurs in the state will be able to avail cash credit up to 5 lakh rupees for their business activities.
• Feb 10, 2015
  1. Rajasthan Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) for setting up India’s largest solar park with 10000 MW capacity.
  2. Three sub-groups of Chief Ministers constituted within the NITI Aayog -
     1. First Sub-group - Study 66 centrally-sponsored schemes and recommend which schemes should continue, which to discontinue, and which are to be transferred to states.
     2. Second Sub-group - Look after creation of skilled manpower and skill development within states.
     3. Third Sub-group- Taking decisions about institutional mechanisms to be evolved for Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan to make cleanliness a part of life.
  3. Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) stated that Telecom subscriber base in India reached all-time high of 970 million by December 2014. Main highlights of the report -
     1.  Number of telephone subscribers in increased to 970.97 million.
     2. Broadband subscribers base increased by 4.28% on monthly basis to 85.7 million.
     3. Teledensity in India increased to 77.58 (Connections per 100 persons)
  4. Indian Economist Amartya Sen has been given the Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015.
  5. Book Kiran Bedi — Kaise Bani Top Cop is written by her sisters, Reeta Peshawaria Menon and Anu Peshawaria
  6. Four new fish species discovered in Kerala with names - Puntius nelsoni, Puntius nigronotus, Systomus chryseusand and Systomus rufus.
  7. Journalist Vinod Mehta has been conferred with Uttar Pradesh's highest civilian award Yash Bharti.
     1. Yash Bharti Samman is conferred by the Uttar Pradesh Government for excellence in literature, fine arts, folk and classical music and sports. 
  8. Delhi Assembly Elections 2015 Results -
     1. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won by winning 67 seats out of 70 seats. 3 Seats won by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
     2. Arvind Kejriwal will be seventh Chief Minister of Delhi.
  9. 10 Feb - National Deworming Day. 140 Million Deworming tablets distributed to school children across nation to combat worms that make numerous children sick every year.
• Feb 09, 2015
  1. First World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC) held in Kochi (Kerala) with theme Protect Oceans for Posterity and Blue Economy and aim is to find sustainable means to utilize the resources carefully without causing any damage to the oceans and its marine life.
  2. 57th Annual Grammy Awards -
     1. These are recording industry’s most prestigious award presented annually by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States.
     2. 83 Grammy Awards were presented this year.
     3. Main Grammy Awards wnners 2015 -

        1. Category	Album	Artist
           Best album	Morning Phase	Beck Hansen
           Best record	Stay With Me	Sam Smith
           Best song	Stay With Me	James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith
           Best new artist	-	Sam Smith
           Children’s Album	I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai)	Neela Vaswani (India)
           Best Pop solo performance	Happy (Live)	Pharrell Williams
           Best Pop Duo/Group Performance	Say Something	A Great Big World With Christina Aguilera
           Best Rock Performance	Lazaretto	Jack White
           Best Metal Performance	The Last In Line	Tenacious D
           Best Rock Album	Morning Phase	Beck
           Best R&B Performance	Drunk in Love	Beyonce featuring Jay Z
           Best Rap Performance	I	Kendrick Lamar

  3. 68th British Academy Films Awards (BAFTA) (London)
     1. Best Film : Boyhood
     2. Leading Actress : Julianne Moore for Still Alice
     3. Leading Actor : Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
     4. Best Director : Richard Linklater for Boyhood
     5. Supporting Actress : Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
     6. Supporting Actor : JK Simmons for Whiplash
     7. Best Animated Film : The Lego Movie
     8. Original Music : Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel
  4. Patroling Vessel ICGS (Indian Coast Guard Ship) Amogh is inducted into the Indian Coast Guard.
  5. Government will give 6990 crore rupees to nine Public Sector Banks to enhance their capital and meet requirements. This is the first installment of capital infusion of 11200 crore rupees alotted in the Union Budget 2014-15. SBI got most (2970 Crores), BOB Second (1260 Crores) and PNB Third (870 Crores).
  6. Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki (Japan) will be first completely Robot-staffed Hotel in the World.
  7. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was included in the LIMCA book of records for being first Indian woman to represent the same Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket for eight times in a row.
  8. Marathi Writer Bhalchandra Nemade has been given then the Jnanpith (Gyanpeeth) Award 2014 for his novel Kosala.
  9. M Ravindran is appointed as Chairman of Indraprastha Gas Limited that looks after distribution of Natural gas mainly across NCR (National Capital region).
  10. Uttarakhand Government launched Himalaya Darshan Campaign to boost tourism in the state of Uttarakhand.
• Feb 08, 2015
  1. Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri won Malaysian Open by defeating Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger.
  2. Tenth Joint Exercise of India - Mongolia armies began in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
  3. Maharashtra government signed an MoU with Major engineering and construction company L&T, for setting up closed-circuit television (CCTV) based surveillance in Mumbai to guarantee safety to citizens.
  4. Indian Railways concluded its first bilateral power procurement agreement between Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and North Central Railway.
     1. Under the agreement, Railways will buy 50 MW of power from DVC at Auraiya Grid Sub-station facilitated by Railways Energy Management Company Limited, a Joint Venture (JV) of Indian railway and RITES, a PSU of Ministry of Railways.
     2. Indian Railways is the largest consumer of electricity with consumption of 18 Billion Units per year.
• Feb 07, 2015
  1. United Natons appointed Bulgaria 's Nickolay Mladenov as Special Coordinator for Peace Process in Middle East and Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority.
  2. Jharkhand Government will provide laptops to all girls student in class 9 - 12 in government Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV).
• Feb 06, 2015
  1. M O Garg has been appointed as Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).
  2. Indian sculptor and artist Mrinalini Mukherjee passed away.
  3. Madras High Court on directed Tamil Nadu government to ban beauty contests in colleges and educational institutions. 
  4. Micromax took over Samsung and became India’s biggest and world's third largest smartphone vendor in the world. According to the report, in October-December 2014 (Quarter 4), Micromax handled 22 % market share in smartphones shipments in India compared to 20 percent market share of Samsung.
  5. The Hurun Report Inc released the Hurun Global Rich List 2015 sponsored by Chinese home builder Star River Property.
     1. 2089 billionaires from 68 countries were listed in the ranking list.
     2. Around 649 billionaires saw their wealth increase and there were 341 new faces in the list.
     3. Bill Gates (85 USD) topped the List followed by Mexican Carlos Slim (83 USD) on second position and Warren Buffett on third Position.
     4. In India, Mukesh Ambani is richest Indian at Rank 41 followed by Dilip Shanghvi (53), Pallonji Mistry & family (60). 
     5. Bill Gates remains the world's wealthiest individual increasing his wealth to 85 billion US dollars while Mexican Carlos Slim is second in the list with wealth of 83billion US dollars.
     6. Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg is youngest member of the Top 10 rich list. His wealth increased by 42 %, moving him up to number 7. 
     7. New York has highest number of billionaires (91) and Russia's capital city Moscow is second with 73 billionaires.
     8. USA and China have 537 and 430 billionaires respectively.
     9. In China, solar energy tycoon Li Hejun replaced e-commerce giant Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma as the richest chinese with 26 billion USD Worth.
     10. Richest family in world: The Walton family, owner of Wal-Mart, with the wealth of 138 Billion US dollars is the richest family in the world by far.