1. John Key re-elected as the Prime
Minister of New Zealand for a third term
i. John Key was re-elected
as the Prime Minister of New Zealand for a third term. This was revealed by the
preliminary results released by the Electoral Commission of New Zealand. He has
led New Zealand as the Prime Minister since 2008.
ii. In the 2014 General
Elections of New Zealand held on 20 September 2014, the centre-right National
Party led by John Key won 48 percent of the vote.
iii. The Labour Party of
New Zealand led by David Cunliffe won 25 percent of the votes whereas the Green
Party won 10 percent and New Zealand First (NZF) party won 9 percent of the
total votes.
2. Ashraf Ghani declared
next Afghanistan new president
i. Afghanistan's
election commission on Sunday has named Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner of
the country's presidential election.
ii. The commission's
announcement came hours after Ghani Ahmadzai signed a power sharing agreement
with opponent Abdullah Abdullah, who will fill the newly created position of
government chief executive.
iii. A Ghani Ahmadzai supporter — Halim
Fidai, a former governor — said Sunday that UN representative Jan Kubish told
the commission not to release detailed vote tallies.
3. Voreqe Bainimarama
sworn in as Fiji's PM
i. Coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama was sworn in as Fiji's new
Prime Minister on Monday.
ii. With official
results confirming Voreqe Bainimarama had swept the election with almost 60 per
cent of the vote, he was sworn in by President Epeli Nailatikau at a brief
ceremony in Suva's Government House.
iii. The final count in the election gave
Bainimarama's Fiji First Party 59.2 per cent of the vote, equating to 32 seats
in the new 50-seat parliament set up under a constitution introduced last year.
iv. The Social Democratic Liberal Party was a distant second at 28.2 per cent (15 seats), with the National Federation Party next on 5.5 (three seats).
iv. The Social Democratic Liberal Party was a distant second at 28.2 per cent (15 seats), with the National Federation Party next on 5.5 (three seats).
4. Alibaba IPO ranks as world's biggest
after additional shares sold
i. Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd's initial public offering now ranks as the world's biggest in history at
$25 billion, after the e-commerce giant and some of its shareholders sold
additional shares.
ii. The IPO surpassed the previous global
record set by Agricultural Bank of China Ltd in 2010 when the bank raised $22.1
billion.
iii. Under the option, Alibaba agreed to sell 26.1 million
additional shares and Yahoo Inc 18.3 million, netting the two companies an extra
$1.8 billion and $1.2 billion respectively.
iv. Jack Ma founder of Alibaba agreed to
sell an extra 2.7 million shares and company co-founder Joe Tsai agreed to sell
902,782 additional shares, according to the prospectus.
5. Narula Brothers won 7 crore
rupees in Season 8 of Kaun Banega Crorepati
i. The Narula brothers of
Delhi on 20 September 2014 became the first ever contestants to win 7 crore
rupees in the television show, Kaun Banega Crorepati, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.
ii. The two brothers, Achin
and Sarthak Narula emerged victorious in Season 8 of the show after answering 14
questions correctly, with help of four lifelines.
iii. The tagline for the
season 8 of the show is Yahan Sirf Paise Nahi, Dil Bhi Jeete
Jate Hain.
6. UP government to set Nirbhaya Centers
in all districts
i. The Uttar Pradesh
government on 19 September 2014 decided to open Nirbhaya Centers in all
districts of the state. These Nirbhaya Centers will provide prompt help to the
victims of crime against women and also facilitate lodging of FIRs.
ii. As per the decision
made during the meet, the Nirbhaya centers will be set up in women hospitals or
women police stations with the view to provide immediate medical and other help
to the victims of crime or violence against women.
7. NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft enters Mars
orbit
i. NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft began orbiting Mars on a mission
to study how the Red Planet’s climate changed over time from warm and wet to
cold and dry.
ii. “Based on observed navigation data, congratulations.
MAVEN is now in orbit,” said Dave Folta of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
iii. The unmanned orbiter has travelled more than 10 months
and 711 million kilometres to reach Mars yesterday for a first-of-its kind
study of the planet’s upper atmosphere.
iv. The data from the Mars Atmosphere and
Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft aims to help scientists understand what
happened to the water on Mars and the carbon dioxide in its atmosphere several
billion years ago.
8. Hockey India inducted Hockey Village
India as an academy member
i. Hockey India (HI) on 19 September 2014 inducted Hockey
Village India (HVI) as an Academy Member to reach out to underprivileged
children who are keen to make a career in the sport.
ii. At present, Hockey India has 26 permanent Members, 23
associate Members, one Member through State Olympic Associations, eight Academy
Members and one Hoc-Key Member.
iii. Hockey India has always
strived to reach the underprivileged children those who in spite of having the
talent cannot reach the big platform. Now the HVI on board will strengthen work
towards reaching out and identifying the talent.
9. Saurav Ghosal 1st
Indian to make Asiad final, Pallikal gets bronze
i. Saurav Ghosal
became the first Indian to enter the Asian Games final, beating 2006 champion
Ong Beng Hee while Dipika Pallikal secured the country its maiden women's
singles medal, a bronze, after losing the semifinal to world number one Nicol
David in Incheon on Monday.
ii. Top seed and World
No.16 Ghosal lived up to his billing, outplaying 35th-ranked Beng Hee of
Malaysia 11-9 11-4 11-5 in 45 minutes on the glass court of Yeorumul Squash
Courts.
iii. The two players have beaten each other once on the PSA professional tour but Ghosal had lost to Beng Hee in the team semifinal of the Asian Championships in June.
iv. Ghosal today was too good for his 34-year-old Malaysian opponent, who had won gold in the 2002 Busan and 2006 Doha edition besides getting a bronze in Guangzhou four years ago.
iii. The two players have beaten each other once on the PSA professional tour but Ghosal had lost to Beng Hee in the team semifinal of the Asian Championships in June.
iv. Ghosal today was too good for his 34-year-old Malaysian opponent, who had won gold in the 2002 Busan and 2006 Doha edition besides getting a bronze in Guangzhou four years ago.
10. Federer replaces injured Nadal in
Indian team for IPTL
i. The IPTL, brainchild of
Mahesh Bhupathi, on Monday announced that Swiss great Roger Federer will
replace Rafael Nadal in the Indian team for the new tennis league as the
Spaniard has pulled out due to injury.
ii. Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam
winner, was not part of the original squads announced by organisers of the
Indian Premier Tennis League.
iii. Nadal, who has 14 Grand Slams to his name, had also
pulled out of this year’s US Open due to a wrist injury.
iv. Federer joins American great Pete Sampras, former world
number one Ana Ivanovic, Frenchman Gael Monfils along with India’s Sania Mirza
and Rohan Bopanna in the squad. Fabrice Santoro is reserve player of the squad.
v. Russian superstar Maria Sharapova will also be now part
of the league as she joins the Philippines team, which earlier had Victoria
Azarenka.
Note:i. The
league will kick off on November 28 in Manila and conclude in Dubai on December
13.
ii. The Delhi leg will be played from December
6-8 at Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium.
