UPDATE - 8 - 9th June 1. Lithuania to become 19th country to adopt Euro as currency from 1 January 2015 i. Lithuania is set to adopt the euro on 1 January 2015, after the European Commission said it had met the criteria for joining the single currency. ii. It will become the 19th member of the euro zone out of 28 countries in the European Union, and the last of the Baltic states to join. iii. The Commission, in its report, said a formal decision would be made by EU governments next month. iv. The UK and Denmark are the only EU states with opt-outs from the euro. v. All other countries are expected to join. Estonia was the first Baltic state to become a member of the eurozone in 2011, followed by Latvia on 1 January 2014. Lithuania Capital: Vilnius President: Dalia Grybauskaitė Prime Minister: Algirdas Butkevičius Criteria to join Euro: In order to qualify to join the euro, a country must fulfill the following conditions: i. Government debt no higher than 60pc of gross domestic product (GDP), ii. Budget deficit below 3pc of GDP, iii. Low inflation and interest rates and iv. Country’s own currency has to be stable against the euro About the Euro The euro is the single currency shared by 18 of the European Unions Member States, which together make up the euro area. The introduction of the euro in 1999 was a major step in European integration: more than 333 million EU citizens now use it as their currency. 2. 40th G-7 summit 2014 held at Brussels i. 40th G-7 summit 2014 was held at Justus Lipsius building, Brussels at the Council of the European Union . ii . It was the first time that the EU hosted a G7 summit. The summit is jointly represented by the European Council President Herman van Rompuy and the European Commission President. iii. The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission (G7 leaders) met for the summit. Note: Originally, a G8 summit was scheduled to take place in Sochi (Russia) in early June 2014 under a Russian presidency. Due to the Russian Federations violation of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, the G7 leaders decided to meet in Brussels on 4-5 June 2014 in the G7 format instead. 3. Chandrababu Naidu sworn-in as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister i. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of new Andhra Pradesh at a grand function this evening. ii. Governor ESL Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Naidu at a public function held at Nagarjuna Nagar between Vijayawada and Guntur at 7.27 pm. iii. A host of dignitaries, including 15 Union ministers, veteran BJP leaders like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi and film stars, besides Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab and Goa are expected to attend. iv. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy did not attend the swearing-in though Naidu had extended personal invitations to them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Naidu and assured him all possible help and hoped that his administrative experience would be great asset to the state. v. Naidu has earlier served as the longest chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004 4. Kathleen Stephens took charge as US interim Ambassador i. Kathleen Stephens took charge as US interim Ambassador to India. ii. She took charge just ahead of Indias first official engagement with Washington in the form of a visit by assistant secretary for south and central Asia Nisha Biswal. iii . Stephens is replacing the former US Ambassador Nancy Powell. Nancy Powell had left India on 22 May 2014 after announcing the end of her tenure in March 2014. iv. She will head the US mission until a new permanent ambassador is nominated and confirmed by the US Senate. 5. Tennis: Nadal wins French Open title for 9th time; Retains no. 1 spot i. Rafael Nadal of Spain won the French Open title for the ninth time, and the fifth time in a row, beating Novak Djokovic of Serbia 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 last evening in the Mens Singles final. ii. Nadal, who will retain his place at the top of the rankings with the victory, has now won 14 Grand Slam titles, tied in the second place with Pete Sampras. Only Roger Federer, with 17 majors, has more. 6. Sharapova Defeat Simona Halep to win French Open Title i. Maria Sharapova won her second French Open title in three years at Roland Garros on Saturday, defeating Romanias Simona Halep 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 in a gripping final, the first to go the full distance in Paris in 13 years and the second longest on record. ii. It was the 27-year-old Russians fifth Grand Slam title, bringing her level with Martina Hingis on the all-time list and it came 10 years after she won her first major at Wimbledon 2004. iii . Sharapova, who completed a career sweep of all four Grand Slam titles in Paris in 2012 before losing to Serena Williams last year, also moved to number two on the all- time prize money earnings, with only the American ahead of her. 7. Book titled Getting India Back on Track released i. The book titled Getting India Back on track – An Action Agenda for Reform was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 June 2014 in New Delhi. ii. The book edited by Bibek Debroy, Ashley Tellis and Reece Trevor was published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. iii . The book contains insightful essays by eminent academicians and public policy experts and the foreword has been written by Ratan Tata. It says how Indian policymakers can return the country to a path of high and sustained economic growth. 8. Sourav Ganguly joins Mudgal panel i. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Sunday joined the Supreme Court-appointed Mudgal committee, which is probing the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal, as an expert on cricketing affairs. ii . The panel is headed by Retd Justice Mukul Mudgal and includes advocates L. Nageswara Rao, Niloy Dutta and senior IPS officer B.B. Mishra. iii. We had requested Sourav Ganguly to join the IPL probe panel and he has agreed to join us in the investigations. iv. The Supreme Court had directed the probe committee to select a cricketer of ‘impeccable integrity’ who would help the committee on the cricketing matters related to IPL betting and spot-fixing. 9. Triple jumper Arpinder Singh breaks national record, qualifies for Glasgow Commonwealth Games i. Arpinder Singh of Punjab smashed the national record in mens triple jump with a stupendous jump of 17.17 Metres to win gold and qualify for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on the concluding day of the 54th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Lucknow on Sunday. ii. The 21-year-old Arpinder erased Renjith Maheswarys earlier national record by 10 cms. Arpinder is now both the Commonwealth and Asian leader this season so far. 10. Sania Mirza achieves career-best ranking of six in doubles i. Touching a new high, Indias tennis ace Sania Mirza today became world number six in doubles. ii. This is her career-best ranking. The new chart was released following the conclusion of the French Open. Sania earned 430 ranking points along with partner Cara Black during a quarterfinals appearance at the Roland Garros, to jump eight places in the ranking charts. iii. In the mens doubles, Leander Paes continued to be the highest ranked player at number 13. Rohan Bopanna was next best at number 17. iv. In the ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman dropped out of top-100 as he lost 23 places to be 119 in the singles chart. He had made a first round exit at the French Open. 11. BrahMos missile test-fired from warship INS Kolkata i. India today successfully test-fired the 290 km-range BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile from the country’s largest indigenous warship INS Kolkata off the coast of Karwar in Karnataka. ii. INS Kolkata is the first of its class of warships in the country and is undergoing extensive trials before its planned induction into the Navy in July. iii . The missile was test-fired from INS Kolkata, which is a new ship under Project 15-Alpha series, off the coast of Karwar this morning and all the parameters were met during the test, defence officials told. iv. The Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace has developed several variants of the missile for different kinds of warfare and is now developing a much-faster hypersonic version of the weapon system. 12. Daniel Ricciardo wins Canadian Grand Prix i. Daniel Ricciardo won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, breaking the Mercedes stranglehold on the Formula One circuit. ii. The Red Bull driver earned his first Formula One victory and the first win this year for any driver other than Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo passed Rosberg, the points leader and pole- sitter, with two laps to go. Hamilton went out in the 48th lap with a brake problem. iii. Ricciardo may finally be coming out of the shadow of his more celebrated Red Bull teammate, the four-time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel. The 24- year-old Australian now has two fourth places, two thirds and a victory in his last five races. 13. Nadal holds onto No. 1; Sharapova up to No. 5 i. Rafael Nadal has held onto the ATP’s No. 1 ranking thanks to his ninth French Open title. ii . Maria Sharapova’s second trophy at Roland Garros moved her up three spots to No. 5 on the WTA list on Monday. iii. If Nadal had lost Sunday’s final to No. 2 Novak Djokovic, they would have swapped places in the rankings. iv. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and No. 4 Roger Federer also stayed put, but Andy Murray climbed from No. 8 to No. 5 by reaching the French Open semifinals. First-time major semifinalist Ernests Gulbis jumped seven places to a career-best No. 10. v. In the women’s rankings, No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 2 Li Na didn’t move despite early losses in Paris, while runner-up Simona Halep rose one spot to No. 3. 14. Pradeep Chandras Aamir Khan: Actor, Activist, Achiever book launched in Mumbai i. D alip Tahil, Pritish Nandy, Prahlad Kakar and may others were spotted at the launch of Pradeep Chandras Coffee table book Aamir Khan: Actor, Activist, Achiever in Mumbai. ii. Speaking at the event, Pritish Nandy said, Aamir is a great actor, famous activist; he has done some remarkable movies. And he is a remarkable man. But this book is more about a man who has paid tribute to Aamir Khan . iii. The book published by Niyogi Books is a pictorial biography that contains rare pictures of the actor.
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 06:34:17 +0000
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