DAILY GK UPDATE 1ST July

1.    Croatia becomes 28th EU member state

i. Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union at midnight Sunday (1 July), a decade after it started the process and less than 20 years after the end of its war of independence from Yugoslavia.

ii. "Welcome to the European Union!" said EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

iii. Croatia is the first country to join the EU since 2007, when Bulgaria and Romania came on board, and only the second of the seven ex-Yugoslav states after Slovenia was part of the big bang eastward enlargement in 2004.

iv. The path to join has been more exacting, with the EU having learnt that once countries join the bloc they lose momentum to reform and, particularly, to tackle corruption.

v. Croatia, with a population of 4.4 million, has an unemployment rate of around 20 percent. Its economy has for the past four years either been in recession or stagnant.

2.    Russia signed Anti-Gay Measures into Law

i. Russian President Vladimir Putin on 30 June 2013 signed into law a measure that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality.

ii. The lower house of Russia's parliament unanimously passed the Kremlin-backed bill on 11 June 2013 and the upper house approved it last week.

iii. The ban on propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values over Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to the protests against Putin's rule.

iv. Hefty fines can now be imposed on those who provide information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to minors or hold gay pride rallies.

v. The Kremlin announced on Sunday that Putin has signed the legislation into law.

3.    India's first navigation satellite set for launch from Sriharikota tonight

i. India's first regional navigational satellite IRNSS -1A is ready to be launched at the wee hours from Sathish Dhawan Spaceentre,Sriharikota,120 kms from Chennai.

ii. IRNSS will have a network of twenty one ranging stations geographically distributed across the Country and will be wholly controlled by the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu,near Bangalore. 

iii. The satellites will be equipped with high precision atomic clocks to continously transmit navigational signals. 

iv. PSLV C22 will inject the satellite 20 minutes after its scheduled take off at 11.41 pm. IRNSS 1 A will be the first one in a constellation of seven satellites. 

v. The process is planned to be completed around 2015. By launching these satellites India will be one among US, China and some European Countries.

vi. This is the fourth time that an XL configuration has been flown, earlier satellites under the configuration were Chandrayaan, PSLV C11,17,19,GSAT 12 and RISAT 1. The satellite will provide accurate information of tracking vehicles on land, air and water. 

vii. The applications in the satellite can also provide datas on disaster management,guiding hikers and travellers and also voice navigation for divers.

4.    SBT launches doorstep banking

i. The State Bank of Travancore Monday launched a new service for its customers - doorstep banking.

ii. Customers who opt for this service have to just ring up the bank and inform it that money has to be deposited and soon the bank's vehicle along with its staff will arrive at the doorstep to collect the amount.

iii. This facility is now available for business groups and government establishments in the capital city and would soon be extended to other major cities in the state.

iv. The first vehicle was flagged off Monday by Sajeev Krishnan, managing director of the Bank that is fitted with hi-tech gadgets to ensure utmost security to the customers money.

v. To start with, the van will pick up cash from the customer's doorstep from 10 a. m. to 4.30 p. m. and the collection hours are likely to be extended.

vi. The minimum pick- up will be Rs. 5 lakh and the maximum would be Rs. 20 million.

vii. The customers can choose their time of cash pick-up at their convenience with prior appointment with the bank

5.    Yes Bank gets government nod to hike foreign holding

i. he government has approved private sector lender Yes Bank's proposal to increase foreign holdings in the company to 60 percent that is likely to result in overseas equity inflow of Rs. 2,650 crore.

ii. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the proposal.

iii. The cabinet has given its approval based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

iv. The FIPB had sent the proposal to the cabinet as the amount involved was more than Rs. 1,200 crore, the limit beyond which the board cannot take final decision.

v. The bank will raise foreign money through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) of its equity shares to eligible non-residents and/or issue of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) to eligible non-resident investors.

vi. "The approval would result in foreign investment amounting to Rs. 2,650 crore approximately being received in the country," according to a statement released here by finance ministry.

6.    West Indies beat India by one wicket in an exciting finish

i. Kemar Roach got himself a perfect birthday present as he guided West Indies to a thrilling one-wicket victory over India in a nail-biting encounter of the Celkon Mobile Cup Tri-Series in Kingston on Monday.

ii. Chasing a modest target of 230, West Indies made a heavy weather of the chase despite a sparkling knock of 97 by opener Johnson Charles but finally managed to register their second win in the tournament with 14 balls to spare.

iii. With nine points from two matches, West Indies are in with a bright chance of making it to the finals.

iv. Roach (14 no) kept his cool as he flicked Umesh Yadav (3/43) towards square leg to bring up the victory in a match where fortune swung like a pendulum.

v. The foundation of the victory was laid by opener Charles who faced 100 balls hitting eight boundaries and four huge sixes. He added 116 runs for the fourth wicket with Darren Bravo (55) and the victory didn't look out of sight.

7.    DMRC to take over Airport Express link from midnight

i. The Delhi Metro will take over the operations of the 22.7 km long Airport Express link from Sunday midnight

ii. Accordingly, the services of airport metro will commence as usual at 5.15 AM Monday under DMRC's supervision," Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Corprate Communications said.

iii. Reliance Infra owned Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) had written a letter to DMRC on 27^th June expressing its inability to continue operations of the Airport Express link.

iv. DMRC has created an Operations and Maintenance team of 100 officials to handle the line.

v. The Delhi Metro management has also decided to invite feedback and suggestions from the commuters so that the services can be further improved.

vi. Commuters will also be able to post their feedback and suggestions on Delhi Metro's website.

vii, On 28^th June, the DMRC had rejected the notice given by Reliance Infra, and termed it as violation of the Concessionaire Agreement and the ongoing Arbitration proceedings.

viii. The metro line was shut down last July after problems arose due to defects in the civil structure, which were later rectified and it resumed operations in January this year.

8.    Satellites Launched to Bring Rural Areas Online

i. O3b Networks, whose name represents the other 3 billion in month of June 2013, launched a series of satellites which is supposed to provide fast, cheap Internet and phone service to remote areas in 180 countries.

ii. The idea behind launching such satellite is to bring people from remote area online by the end of the year 2013. Google have already committed to invest about 1.2 billion dollars in support. 

iii. O3b Networks is planning to supply the bandwidth for voice and data traffic to mobile phone operators instead of being sold directly to customers and internet service providers who will be able to track the satellites with ground stations.

iv. A group of four satellites was launched on 25 June 2013 in a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana and it is going to be followed with similar satellite launch of four more in September 2013 and another four next year.

v. The Outstanding property of the satellite is that is every satellite will be able to transfer data at a rate of 12 gigabits per second. Other satellites may eventually be launched to increase the data capacity of the cohort. 

vi. The launch of satellite will provide cheap, fast data transfer to remote areas without Internet access or phone service. 

vii. The satellite service accessible and affordable, even in poorer regions.

9.    Arunendra Kumar given additional charge of Railway Board Chairman

i. Railway Board Member (Mechanical) Arunendra Kumar on Monday assumed additional charge as the Chairman of the apex body, which has been mired in controversy over bribery allegations.

ii. Kul Bhushan, Member (Electrical), Railway Board, will look after the duties of Member (Traffic) from July 1 in addition to his own duties, said an official release.

iii. Rajendra Kashyap, Additional, Member (Budget), Railway Board has assumed the additional charge of Financial Commissioner.

iv. While Member (Traffic) post was vacant since last two months ago, the posts of CRB and the Financial Commissioner fell vacant after the retirement of the incumbents on June 30.

v. The post of Member (Staff) held by Mahesh Kumar, who is under suspension for his alleged role in the cash-for-post scam, will be held by Member (Engineering) Subodh Jain.

vi. Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge had said that steps were being taken to fill vacant posts in the board and appointments would be made after getting clearance from the Central Vigilance Commission.

10.  Suresh Kalmadi loses AAA elections

i. Suresh Kalmadi was on Monday ousted as President of the Asian Athletics Association, losing the re-election bid to Qatar’s Dahlan Jumaan Al-Hamad on the opening day of the continental body’s two-day Congress in Pune.

ii. Kalmadi, who is out on bail after spending 10 months in jail for his alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games scam, lost 18-20 while seeking re-election to a post he has held for 13 years.

iii. Al Hamad is the Qatar Athletics Federation President and is also senior vice-president of the Asian body.

iv. The biennial Congress, before the July 3-7 Asian Athletics Championships, at a five-star hotel here is being attended by IAAF President Lamine Diack, besides some top officials from the AAA and the world body.

v. The Congress, which is the governing body of the association, consists of a Council and not more than two delegates from each member of the AAA.

vi. However, each member country has only one vote in the elections.