DAILY GK UPDATE 4TH JULY

1.   Adli Mansour sworn in Egypt’s interim President

i. Egyptian chief justice Adli Mansour was sworn in Thursday as the country's interim president, hours after the army ousted incumbent Mohammed Morsi and put him under house arrest.

ii. Mansour, who took oath as head of the Supreme Const

itutional Court (SCC) earlier in the day, said fresh elections were "the only way" forward.

iii. Morsi, the country's first freely-elected leader, described the political developments as a military coup. The army, though, said Morsi had "failed to meet the demands of the people".

iv. Protesters accused Morsi and his party, Muslim Brotherhood, of carrying out an Islamist agenda and failing to tackle Egypt's economic problems.

NOTE: According to military decree the supreme justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, will serve as interim leader until a new President is elected.

About Adli Mansour

i. Born in 1945, Justice Mansour received a licence to practise law from the Cairo University in 1967 and joined the state council in 1970, rising in the ranks until he was appointed deputy president of the HCC in 1992.

ii. He was appointed as its president in May 2013 and took up his post on July 1 following retirement of justice Maher El-Beheiry.

iii. Justice Mansour was appointed in line with a new 2011 law, which stipulated that HCC heads should be appointed from within the court system.

iv. Cairo-born Justice Mansour helped draft the supervision law for the presidential elections that brought Morsi to power in 2012, which included setting a legal timeframe for electoral campaigning.

2.    Not all applicants will get bank licences: Subbarao

i. The Reserve of Bank of India (RBI) today said that not all eligible applicants may necessarily get licence to start a Bank.

ii. After attending RBI’s Board meeting in Chennai today, D Subbarao, governor, RBI said, “We (RBI) do not want to ourself locked with any specific numbers, in terms of giving license. 

iii. Internally we will evaluate the applications in the next 3-4 months  then we will remit this to external committee to stream the applications and then will make decision. We have to see the quality”.

Interest rate for Cash Reserve Ratio

RBI today ruled out offering interest on Cash Reserve Ratio. Decision to raise or lower the CRR determined by monitory policy consideration, which in turn depends on liquidity.

NOTE: It may be noted, RBI received 26 applications for new bank licence. Some of the major corporate houses which shown interest include Tata, Bajaj, Reliance, Shriram, Birla, some of the pubic government owned institutions shown interest include Postal department, LIC Housing Finance and others.

3.    Vandana Gandhi honored with “Emirates Woman Award”

i. Vandana Gandhi became the first ever Indian woman to receive Dubai Government's coveted Emirates Woman Award for business excellence in June 2013.

ii. She was awarded Emirates Woman Award in the Business Category for excelling and providing innovation in preschool education and was selected by the jury based on various criteria like leadership, strategy, community service and innovation. 

iii. Vandana Gandhi is Founder & CEO of British Orchard Nursery - Middle East's only ISO-certified Nursery Chain.

About Emirates Woman Award

Emirates Woman Awards was started in 2003 and is basically an initiative by Dubai Quality Group (DQG) to encourage women, both UAE nationals and residents, to be actively involved in social and economic development initiatives in the country.

4.    MGPSY : Pension scheme for blue-collar Indian workers in Gulf

i. Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Surakhsa Yojna, MGPSY ,a pension scheme for blue-collar Indian workers would be launched in the Gulf next month.

ii. This was announced by the Secretary, ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs at a press conference in Riyadh yesterday.

iii. The MGPSY is aimed at helping the workers to save money for their retirement, their return to India and resettlement and provides life insurance cover against natural death during the period of coverage.

iv. Under the scheme, Government contributes Rs.1,000 per annum for men and Rs. 2000 for women subscribers of MGPSY who save between Rs.1,000 and Rs.12,000 per year in NPS-Lite.

v. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs provides additional government contribution of Rs.900 towards Return and Resettlement of the overseas Indian workers who save Rs.4,000 or more per annum.

NOTE: i. The Pension and Life Insurance fund scheme, is applicable for the Overseas Indian workers having Emigration Check Required, ECR passports.

ii. The gulf region accounts for a large chunk of blue collar Indian workers engaged in various sectors and the scheme would be of great help to them.

5.    Antony leaves for China on his first official visit

i. Defence Minister A. K. Antony Thursday left for China on a four-day official visit during which he is slated to have talks on Sino-Indian border and discuss regional and global security.

ii. During the visit, Antony will have delegation-level talks with his counterpart, State Councillor and Minister of National Defence Chang Wanquan.

iii. Both ministers are expected to discuss a number of issues, including those related to maintenance of peace and tranquility on the border, interactions between the armed forces of both sides, and matters relating to regional and global security.

iv. Antony's visit to China comes within days of border talks between the two countries.

v. Antony is accompanied by senior defence ministry officials and senior officers from the armed forces.

vi. The last defence minister to visit China was Pranab Mukherjee in 2006.

6.    Shriniwas Patil new Sikkim Gov.

i. Shriniwas Patil, former NCP MP and a close associate of party chief Sharad Pawar, has been appointed the new governor of Sikkim.

ii. President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed 72-year-old Patil as the new governor of the northeastern state with effect from the date he assumes charge 

iii. Patil has represented Maharashtra's Satara in the Lok Sabha as an MP. A former IAS officer, he will succeed incumbent B P Singh.

7.    India International leather fair starts in New Delhi

i. The 3rd edition of India International leather fair began today in New Delhi.

ii. Around 182 producers from 8 countries including India are participating in the event. 

iii. This year's event is organized in collaboration with Government of Italy.

iv. India Trade Promotion Organization Chairman Rita Menon and Charge De Affairs of Italian Embassy Giantuluca Grandi jointly inaugurated the 3 day event.

8.    Brazil beats Spain to win Confederations Cup

i. As host Brazil convincingly defeated world champion Spain 3-0 to win the Confederations Cup

ii. The win for the host nation was surprisingly easy against the current world champion.

iii. Brazil came in hoping a victory would help it regain its status as a global powerhouse after recent struggles.

iv. Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals in the last two World Cups and hadn’t won a significant title since the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa.

v. The title gives Brazilian fans hope that the five-time world champions have a chance to win the World Cup title next year, although no Confederations Cup champion has ever won football’s showcase event the following year.

vi. Fred scored two goals and Neymar added another as host Brazil convincingly defeated world champion Spain 3-0 to win the Confederations Cup.

vi. In final Golden boot goes to Spain's Fernando Torres and Silver boot goes to Fred from Brazil (left) and bronze boot  to Neymar.

Brazil surges up in FIFA rankings

i. Brazil has surged to ninth in the FIFA rankings after winning the Confederations Cup, rebounding from its historic low standing.

ii. The five-time World Cup winner and 2014 host had fallen to 22nd before a five-match victory streak earned the warm-up event title.

iii. World and European champion Spain tops the rankings despite its 3-0 beating from Brazil in the final.

iv. Italy, third-placed at the Confederations Cup, climbed to No. 6, while Uruguay rose seven to No. 12 after finishing fourth in the eight-team tournament.

v. Germany follows Spain, and Colombia rose four to its highest-ever position of No. 3.

9.    Chris Martin announced Retirement

i. Chris Martin, the fast Bowler of New Zealand has announced his retirement on 3 July 2013 from all forms of cricket.

ii. 38 years old Chris Martin is New Zealand's third-highest Test wicket taker only after Richard Hadlee and Daniel Vettori. He had taken 233 Test wickets with an average of 33.81.

iii. Chris Martin originally hails from Canterbury and played for the first class cricket team called the Canterbury Wizards before shifting to the Aces in 2005/06.

10.  Asian Indoor Games: India wins gold in kabbadi

i. Indian men and women's kabaddi teams maintained their domination by winning a gold each in the 4th Asian Indoor Games at Incheon in South Korea on Wednesday.

ii. India has so far won five medals - two gold, two silver and a bronze.

iii. The men's snooker team comprising Kamal Chawla, Brijesh Damani and Aditya Snehal Mehta finished runners up, while the second silver for the country was claimed by Harbans Kaur in 60kg category of women's Muay Thai.

iv. Chitra Mahima Rajan, on the other hand, won a bronze.

11.  Mahesh Bhupathi's Wimbledon campaign ended 

i. Mahesh Bhupathi's Wimbledon campaign ended after losing the fiercely-fought men's doubles quarter-final along with partner Julian Knowle to top seeded American twins Mike and Bob Bryan.

ii. The eighth-seeded Indo-Austrian pair fought their hearts out before bowing out with a 6-7 (5) 6-7 (3) 6-7 (4) scoreline against one of the best doubles teams in the world.

iii. Bhupathi has already exited from the mixed doubles with Slovakian partner Daniela Hantuchova.

iv. However, it was a remarkable day for India's Rohan Bopanna as he sealed spot in his first ever Wimbledon semifinals with French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin.