DAILY GK UPDATE - 27 - 28th April

1.    Justice RM Lodha sworn in as 41st Chief Justice of India

i. Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha was sworn in as the 41st Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

ii. The 64-year-old Justice Lodha will succeed Justice P Sathasivam and will serve as the CJI for five months as he is due to retire on September 27.

iii. Justice Lodha practiced Law in the Rajasthan High Court and was appointed as the Permanent Judge of the Rajasthan High Court in 1994.

iv. He was also later appointed as the chairman of the State Judicial Academy and subsequently sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court in 2008. In 2008, he was promoted to the post of judge of Supreme Court.

v. Recent highlight cases, among the many of Lodha's career, involve heading panel which examined sexual harassment to examine AK Ganguly Sexual harassment allegations.

vi. He is also responsible for the dismissal General VK Singh�s plea to change his date of birth when the former dragged the government to court over his age.

2.    South Korean prime minister resigns over ferry sinking

i. South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won tendered his resignation on Sunday over the sinking of a passenger ferry that left more than 300 people dead or missing.

ii. "I offer my apology for having been unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards," he said.

3.    Goldman Prize for environmental activist Ramesh Agrawal

i. Six environmental advocates from India, Peru, Russia and three other countries have won this year�s Goldman Prize, which is awarded for grass-roots activism.

ii. The Goldman Environmental Foundation said India�s Ramesh Agrawal received the prize for helping villagers fight coal mining in Chhattisgarh.

iii. Peru�s Ruth Buendia was recognised for helping to prevent two dams in the Peruvian Amazon, while Russian zoologist Suren Gazaryan won for defending protected areas from Olympic development in Sochi.

iv. The foundation said American lawyer Helen Slottje was selected for helping to shut down fracking in New York State, South Africa�s Desmond D�Sa for closing a toxic dump site in Durban, and Indonesian biologist Rudi Putra for shutting illegal palm oil plantations in Sumatra.

v. The winners will each receive $175,000 prixe.

4.    European Union bans Indian Alphonso mangoes, veggies from May 1

i. The 28-member European Union has temporarily banned the import of Alphonso mangoes, the king of fruits, and four vegetables from India from May 1, sparking protests from the Indian community, lawmakers and traders.

ii. The recent decision by the grouping's Standing Committee on Plant Health came after 207 consignments of fruits and vegetables from India imported into the EU in 2013 were found to be contaminated by pests such as fruit flies and other quarantine pests.

iii. The temporary ban, proposed by the European Commission, includes mangoes, eggplant, the taro plant, bitter gourd and snake gourd, and prohibits the import to tackle the "significant shortcomings in the phytosanitary certification system o ..

iv. The UK imports nearly 16 million mangoes from India and the market for the fruit is worth nearly 6 million pounds a year.

v. A revision of the ban will take place before December 31, 2015. Businesses claimed they will lose hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the ban.

5.    Flipkart launches �Same-day Guarantee� delivery in 10 cities

i. Flipkart on Monday launched its �Same-day Guarantee� delivery in 10 cities.

ii. Customers can place their orders by 12 noon on a business day to have their orders delivered to them by 9 p.m. on the same day, Flipkart said.

iii. The service is available in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Manesar, Navi Mumbai and Thane and will be scaled up to other cities soon, it said in a release in Bangalore.

iv. Flipkart�s Same-day Guarantee delivery service is available for additional shipping fees of Rs. 200 with an introductory shipping fee of Rs. 140, it said.

6.    Golf: Lahiri wins Indonesian Masters

i. Anirban Lahiri holed a sensational 20-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole to grab his fourth Asian Tour title and the first outside India at the CIMB Indonesian Masters golf here on Sunday.

ii. Lahiri fought back from a double bogey on 13th as he leapfrogged from second place to go past clubhouse leader Baek Seuk-Hyun of Korea (65), who finished at 16-under.

iii. The Indian, ranked 102 in the world at the start of the week, should move inside the top-75 when the new rankings are released on Monday. He is currently the top Indian in the world rankings and will also move to the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

7.    Narayana Murthy presented �Global Indian Award� in Canada

i. Infosys Executive Chairman NR Narayana Murthy was presented with the 2014 �Canada India Foundation Chanchalani Global Indian Award� for his remarkable vision and leadership in the IT sector.

ii. The award, which carries a trophy and a cash prize worth $50,000, was presented to Murthy by Canadian Finance Mi

8.    Anand Mahindra appointed to US-India Business Council board

i. Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has been appointed on the Board of US�India Business Council (USIBC). As a member of the board, Mahindra will help promote the policy advocacy priorities of USIBC and advise members and senior USIBC staff on a wide range of topics.

ii. The appointment was announced following the USIBC�s annual spring meeting. Mahindra joins a prestigious list of Chief Executive Officers and executives such as Ellen Lord, President & CEO, Textron Systems and Banmali Agrawala, President & CEO, South Asia, General Electric.

iii. Formed in 1975 at the request of the U.S. and Indian governments, USIBC is a premier business advocacy organisation advancing commercial ties between the two countries.

9.    Luis Suarez named as Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year

i. The Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has been named as the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year at an awards ceremony in London. Chelsea's Eden Hazard was voted Young Player of the Year.
ii. Liverpool made it a clean sweep when Lucy Bronze was named the Women's Players' Player of the Year and team mate Martha Harris was voted the Young Player of the Year.

10.  India successfully test-fires new interceptor missile

i. India on Sunday successfully test-fired a new interceptor missile capable of neutralising any incoming long-range missile at higher altitude. 

ii. The Prithvi Air Defence interceptor missile has already demonstrated its killing capability at an altitude of 50 km and 80 km while the Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile has smashed the target missile at an altitude of 15 km to 30 km.
iii. Now the target is to achieve the interception at an altitude of above 100 km of a long range missile, defence sources said. 

11.  Adhiban won silver at Asian Continental Chess Championship

i. Grand Master Adhiban won silver medal at the Asian Continental Chess Championship held in Sharjah on 26 April 2014. With this silver he got an entry in the World Chess Cup 2015 that will be held at Baku, Azerbaijan.

ii. Adhiban ended up with 6.5 points whereas Yu Yangyi of China won the gold medal ending with 7 points. Ni Hua of China won bronze medal with 6.5 points.  Rustam Kasimdzhanov stood at the fourth place (6 points) and Weng Yan of China at the fifth place (6.5 points).

iii. The 13th Asian Continental Chess Championship and Women�s Chess Championships 2014 was held from 16 April to 26 April 2014 in Sharjah, UAE. The top five of Asian Continental Championship 2014 will qualify for the World Cup Championship 2015.

12.  John Travolta honoured the Most Popular All Time International Star in India at IIFA awards

i. Hollywood star John Travolta received a special honour, the Most Popular All Time International Star in India at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards. The 15th IIFA awards were held in Tampa Bay, Florida from 23 to 26 April 2014.

ii. John Travolta, 60, has seen astounding success as an actor, singer and dancer in the Hollywood.

iii. He starred in several blockbusters films such as Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction, Grease, Swordfish, Face Off, Broken Arrow and Ladder49.

About IIFA awards
IIFA awards were first held in London in 2000. The awards are presented annually by the International Indian Film Academy to both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in Bollywood. The awards have categories like popular awards, technical awards and special awards.  In 2013, the IIFA awards were held in Macau.