DAILY GK UPDATE 26 -27TH May

1.    Nation pays homage to Nehru on death anniversary

i. The nation on Monday remembered the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his 49th death anniversary with senior leaders paying homage to him.

ii. President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi paid floral tributes to the departed leader at Shanti Van, his memorial on the banks of Yamuna in New Delhi

iii. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and National Commission for Women chairperson Mamata Sharma also paid floral tributes. A large number of Congress workers and school children also paid homage to Nehru.

iv. Devotional songs were played and an all-religion prayer meeting was organised at the memorial. Nehru, who was born on November 14, 1889, died on May 27, 1964.

2.    Sachin announces retirement from IPL

i. Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League(IPL) soon after Mumbai Indians won their maiden title defeating Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final yesterday night. 

ii. Tendulkar said at the end of Mumbai Indians' victory that he waited 21 years to be part of world cup winning team and for IPL victory he had to wait for only six year.

iii. Sachin said that this victory is special for him as he won’t be playing in IPL next season.

iv. He said that it is right time to stop playing IPL and also expressed happiness that it was perfect sendoff.

v. This is the second format from which Tendulkar has announced his retirement after having called quits from the ODIs in December before the series against Pakistan.

3.    India, Saudi Arabia to further deepen counter-terrorism cooperation

i. India and Saudi Arabia have decided to further strengthen and deepen their counter-terrorism cooperation.

ii. The counter-terrorism issue is emerging as a key area of cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia.

iii. Saudi Arabia deported Abu Jundal, wanted in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack about a year back. Riyadh is concerned about the rise of extremism in the region, including in Pakistan, notwithstanding their close ties.

iv. The Nitaqat law and the ongoing drive to identify workers who are overstaying in the Arab Kingdom was one of the main area of focus during the talks held between the two leaders.

v. Khurshid's visit is the first by an Indian External Affairs Minister in the last five years to Saudi Arabia,India's biggest supplier of oil.

4.    Key WTO members to meet in Paris to push Doha talks

i. Seeking to push the long-stalled Doha Round of talks for reaching a global trade deal, trade ministers from key WTO member countries, including India and Australia are scheduled to meet in Paris on Thursday.

ii. "The meeting was convened by Australia. About 15 trade ministers including from Indonesia are expected to participate in the meeting.

iii. "There is an urgent need for political intervention for a positive outcome at the forthcoming Bali meet," an official said.

iv. "The ministers are also expected to discuss economic scenario of the world and its impact on the global trade. They may also discuss a package for least developed countries," 

v. The Director General of the World Trade Organisation Pascal Lamy is also expected to attend the meet besides EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

vi. Key WTO members are trying to resolve some of the major issues and reach a consensus on a early harvest package which would benefit all the members.

vii. The 9th WTO Ministerial Conference is scheduled to take place from 3rd-6th December  in Bali, Indonesia.

viii. The Conference is the highest decision-making body of the 158-member strong WTO. It meets every two years. 

5.    Mumbai Indians outplay Chennai Super Kings to win IPL VI

i. Mumbai Indians finally annexed their maiden Pepsi Indian Premier Legue title upstaging a jittery Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final of IPL6 in Kolkata on Sunday. 

ii. Mired in spot-fixing controversy after the arrest of owner N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings found the 149-run target, usually an easy ask by their standard, a little too much as they finished on 125 for nine on a difficult track.

iii. Kieron Pollard (60 no and 1/34, 1 catch) was the man-of-the-match for his all-round effort.

iv. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni now lost back-to-back IPL finals despite being the lone man standing in the end with an unbeaten 63.

v. Lasith Malinga (2/22) and Mitchell Johnson (2/19) set the tone before Harbhajan Singh (2/14) joined in the act as it was a rare batting disaster for the IPL heavyweights who featured in four straight, five overall, finals.

vi. For Mumbai Indians, Eden Gardens remained a happy hunting ground with six wins from seven outings this season as it Rohit Sharma and Co.

6.    Srinivasan appoints commission to probe Meiyappan's role

i. BCCI President N Srinivasan on Sunday announced setting up of a three-member commission to go into allegations against his son-in-law and CSK Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan and has rejected demands for his resignation.

ii. Meiyappan has been arrested by Mumbai police on charges of betting.

iii. Asserting that he has done nothing wrong and that there was no revolt against him in BCCI, Srinivasan made it clear that he cannot be "railroaded, pushed and threatened to quit".

iv. The three-member enquiry commission will consist of two members of the IPL Operations Commitee and an independent person in whose appointment he will have no role.

v. The five members of the committee are Arun Jaitley, Rajeev Shukla, Sanjay Jagdale, Ajay Shirke and Ravi Shastri.

7.    Baleshwar Aggarwal, the veteran journalist passed away

i. Baleshwar Aggarwal, the veteran journalist as well as the secretary general of Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Parishad (ARSP) died on 23 May 2013. He was 91 years of age. 

ii. Baleshwar Agrawal was born on 17 July 1921 in Balasore, Odisha. 

iii. He was the former Managing Editor of the Hindustan Samachar, the Hindi news agency.