Current Affairs February 03, 2014

Current Affairs

February 03, 2014

National Affairs

1. Union Health Minister m Nabi Azad has been given additional charge of Water Resources Ministry after resignation by Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat who has been appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.

2. Karnataka clinches their 7th Ranji Trophy title beating Maharashtra by seven wickets in the final.  Maharashtra has never won this title in the 8 decade long history of Ranji Trophy despite competing in the final thrice.

3. Bogibeel Bridge: India's longest rail cum Road Bridge.

4. The Central Government has appointed Jatinder Bir Singh as Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB). Before this, He was an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources. At PSB, Jatinder Bir Singh succeeded DP Singh who had superannuated recently.

International Affairs

5. Michael Rogers to take over as the Director of National Security Agency from incumbent Keith Alexander in March 2014. Keith Alexander has been serving as such for almost the past 9 years. 

6. US cautions China against any move to declare a new Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea. The region is ridden with territorial disputes with the neighbouring countries in general and Japan in particular. 

Banking

7. Teresa Kho has been appointed as the new Country Director for India of the Asian Development Bank. Kho, who assumed charge as Country Director for India on Monday, was previously heading the Bangladesh Resident Mission of ADB. She replaces Hun Kim, who has been appointed as the Deputy Director General of ADB’s South Asia Department in Manila. She has handled the planning, processing and implementation of diverse operations in the urban sector in India covering water, wastewater, waste management and urban transport spread across several states.

Business and Economy

8. Social networking giant Facebook is celebrating its 10th birthday this week. The company was launched by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004, from Harvard University. With more than 1.2 billion users worldwide, this is the largest company in the social networking space.

9. India becomes the 3rd largest crude oil importer in the World behind China and US as per a report released by Reuters.   

World’s Top Five Oil-Importing Countries:

China: China imports 6.30 million barrels per day

U.S.A: USA imports 6.24 million barrels per day

India: India imports 3.86 million barrels per day

Japan: Japan imports 3.64 million barrels per day

Germany: Germany imports 2.67 million barrels per day

Sports

10. Karnataka won their seventh Ranji Trophy title after defeating Maharashtra by seven wickets on the fifth and concluding day of the final match yesterday. Chasing a modest victory target of 157 in little over two sessions, Karnataka batsmen reached the destination with ease as they achieved the target in 40.5 overs. Karnataka have won the trophy for seventh time. Young opener Rahul was awarded the man-of-the-match for his century in the first innings.

11. India’s Virat Kohli slipped to fourth position in the latest ICC Twenty20 rankings issued today, still the best-placed Indian batsman. He was followed by Suresh Raina at fifth and Yuvraj Singh at sixth. Australia opener Aaron Finch jumped five places to a career-best third position after Australia won the series 3-0 against England. New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum and England’s Alex Hales secured 1^stand 2^nd position respectively in the same ranking.

12. Rafael Nadal remains top of the men’s ATP tennis rankings released today with 14,330 points. He was followed by Serbia’s Novak Djokavic (10,580 points) and Australian Open winner Switzerland’s Statislas Wawrinka (5,710 points). Spain’s David Ferrer (With 5,280 points) and UK’s Andy Murray (with 4,795 points) secured 5^th and 6^th position respectively while Roger Federer slipped to 8^thposition with 4,355 points.

13. Serena Williams retained her top position in the WTA women’s tennis rankings issued today with 13,000 points. She was followed by Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka (with 6,581 points) and Australian Open winner China’s Li Na (with 6,570 points). Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland (with 5,750 points), Maria Sharapova, Russia (with 5,600), Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, (With 4,745 points), Sara Errani, Italy (with 4,425 points), Jelena Jankovic, Serbia (with 4,310 points), Angelique Kerber, Germany (with 4,030 points) and Simona Halep (Romania) (with 3,760 points) secured 4^th to 10^th rank in the same ranking.

Passed away

14. Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment yesterday. He was 46. Drug overdose could be a reason for his unexpected death. Hoffman won an Oscar for best actor in 2006 for “Capote” and was seen as one of the pre-eminent actors of his generation. He was a character actor with over 60 film credits to his name, including Magnolia, The Master, Boogie Nights, the Big Lebowski, Mission Impossible.

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