Kanu Banega Crorepati: Current Affairs rewind

Picasso painting sets world record price at auction
1932 canvas entitled Nude, Green Leaves and Bust sold for $106m (£70m) at Christie's in New York, a record for a work of art sold at auction


India joins list of 135 countries in making education a right (Hindu)




Tulips in Kashmir

* The Tulip garden Siraj bagh, overlooking the Dal Lake in Sri nagar
* Over 12 lakh tulip bulbs, of around 60 varieties, are ready to attract the visitors
* Around 25,000 people visited Tulip garden in one week last year.


Reuters senior photographer Adrees Latif is seen in this 2005 file photo. Reuters won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography on Monday for a picture of a Japanese videographer killed during a demonstration in Myanmar. Latif won for "his dramatic photograph of the Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar," the Pulitzer Prize board said. The 92nd annual Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, letters, drama and music were announced at Columbia University in New York City.

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Reuters wins Pulitzer for breaking news photography

Kenji Nagai of APF tries to take photographs as he lies injured after police and military officials fired upon and then charged at protesters in Yangon's city center September 27, 2007. Nagai, 50, a Japanese video journalist, was shot by soldiers as they fired to disperse the crowd. Nagai later died.


Former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP leader L K Advani’s book My Country My Life has run into controversy with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on April 3 questioning Advani’s claim that he was not aware of the decision to send his cabinet colleague Jaswant Singh on the plane with dreaded terrorists to Kandahar during the IC-814 hijack incident in 1999.
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Current Affairs:-

To crack BCJ you need to have command over current affairs. Current affairs play a key role.

The perfect 10:-

1. Contemporary issues: - Issues of the Nation, State affairs. Affairs of our neighbours.
2. Defence system: - Airforce, Navay and military developments. Agreements with different countries. Research and development.
3. Committees and Commissions: - National and State level committees and its reports and their heads etc.
4. National and International meetings: - National, International bilateral, trilateral and multilateral meetings.
5. Space: - Satellite launching, ISRO, DRDO etc.
6. Reports: - Various agencies reports like, UNO, UNDP, WHO etc. India’s position, AP’s position. Indians place in various magazines like Time, Forbes
7. Places, Persons and appointments: - State, National and International level appointments. Persons and places in news.
8. Awards, achievements: - Nobel, Magsaysay, Pulitzer, Booker prizes. Oscar, Filmfare, Nandi awards etc.
9. Sports: - National and International level sports. Award winners from AP and India.
10. Miscellaneous: - Headline News which occupy front page of news papers. Books and authors. Major controversies.

Current affairs refresher:-
Russia elections
Pakistan elections – Benazir Bhutto assassination, place. Party position in elections
Bangladesh military rule, cyclone
Kenya political turmoil.
Fidel Castro
Democracy in Bhutan
Malaysia and Indians agitation.
US Presidential elections
Palestine
G-8, SAARC, Commonwealth, APEC, ASEAN, IBSA meetings.
Elections in various states. Disputes between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
Rama Sethu,
Administrative Reforms Committee,
Sixth Pay Commission
Delimitation
Centre- State relations commission
Indo US nuclear deal
SEZ
Sachar Committee
Taslima Nasreen
World military games
State government schemes
Books and authors

Read news papers, magazines watch Television and listen to Radio.

Test your current affairs:-

1. Books: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri; Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh; The Echantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie.
2. The X factor: NDTV 24x7
3. Who are the two ministers out in the Cabinet reshuffle at the Centre: Dasari Narayana Rao and T Subbirami Reddy
4. Yousuf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Pakistan’s 25th Prime Minister
5. The US listed Nandigram violence as a human rights violation.
6. OIC: Organisation of Islamic Countries (57 member organization)
7. 2012 London Olympics slogan: Make Britain Proud
8. First space tourist: Denis Tito
9. A biography of Rahul Dravid, the nice guy who finished first book by Devendra Prabhu Desai
10. Raghupathi Venkaiah award for 2006 – D. Rama Naidu
11. NTR National award for 2006- Waheeda Rehman
12. Speaker of Orissa Assemply Mahewar Mohanty resigned from his post following sexual harassment charges against him.
13. NR Narayana Murthy would join global banking giant HSBC.
14. For the first time in eight decades, Indian men’s hockey team has failed to qualify for the Olympics; Great Britain beat India in the final match of the Beijing Olympic qualifier in Santiago.
15. Five past midnight book written by Dominique Lapier
16. Which Indian cricketer was charged of racially abusing Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds – Harbhajan Singh
17. Hindraf: Hindu Rights Action Force
18. Russia’s Maria Sharapova won her first Australian Open title by beating Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in the final. This is her third grand slam title.
19. The Wagah border will henceforth be known as the Attari border on the Indian side.
20. Ratan Tata unveiled the Rs 1 lakh car Tata Nano at the 9th auto expo in New Delhi.
21. Name the Pakistani lawyer for the deposed chief justice Iftikar Chaudhary who is leading the campaign for the reinstatement of the ousted Supreme Court judges – Aitzaz Ahsan.
22. Which software company was penalized by European Commission? Microsoft Corporation was penalized with a fine of $ 1.35 billion for failing to comply with a 2004 anti-trust order.
23. United States Ambassador to India David C Mulford.
24. Meghalaya governor:- S S Sidhu
25. Which country recently introduced new visa system for all potential Indian immigrants to pass through the “Points Based System (PBS), Tier 1 : UK
26. Salwa Judum (self-defence groups) by the Chhattisgarh government.
27. Civil Aviation minister – Praful Patel
28. ADC: Access Deficit Charge
29. SIMI: Students Islamic Movement of India
30. National Security Advisor: MK Narayana
31. UNPA: United National Progressive Alliance
32. The Hindu is published from 12 centres.
33. Two-time Haryana Chief Minister Bhajanlal, who rebelled against the Congress, was disqualified from the assembly under the anti-defection law.
34. Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama resides in Dharmasala.
35. Agni-1, a product of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
36. Advanced Systems Laboratory is in Hyderabad
37. LeT: Laskar –e- Taiba
38. Nirupama Subramanian is The Hindu’s Islamabad (Pakistan) reporter.
39. Biggest fall in sensex – 1408.35 points on January 21, 2008.
40. The Goa government decided to scrap all the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects in the State.
41. Communal violence hit Kandhamal headquarters Phulbani is in Orissa.
42. ICC replaces umpire Steve Bucknor for Perth Test (between India and Australia)
43. Which Tollywood star is involved in a divorce case – Pawan Kalyan
44. Terror attacks on the CRPF group centre in Rampur were involved by Lashkar-e-Taiba
45. Television rights of Indian Premier League (IPL):- The Sony Television network and the Singapore based World Sports group have purchased the event’s television rights for the next 10 years for $ 1 billion.
46. Which TV channel is involved in a fake sting operation of a government school teacher – Live India
47. 299 inmates escape from Dantewada jail, Chhattisgarh
48. Leading first wicket stands in Tests:- N. Nckenzie – G Smith 415, South Africa V Bangladesh, Chittagong, 2008. Vinod Mankad – P Roy, 413 India V New Zealand, Chennai 1956; V. Sehwag – R Dravid, 410, India V Pakistan, Lahore, 2006.
49. This year’s World Health Day (April 7) theme: “protecting health from climate change”.
50. Hogenakkal issue is between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
51. What is the controversy surrounding Hindi film Jodha Akhar? Historians dispute the existence of the fiery Rajput princess named Jodha in Akbar’s life.
52. With $ 104 billion, India is now the second largest source of foreign investment in the UK.
53. Veteran actor Shobhan Babu dead: The 71 year old actor, Uppu Shobhana Chalapathi Rao passed away in Chennai.

Group 1 preliminary examination APPSC select questions:-
1. The venue for the 58th International Astronomical Congress in September 2007 was – Hyderabad (Group 1, 2008)
2. The Indo-Vietnam Friendship Festival, 2007 was held at: Kolkata (Gr 1, 2008)
3. Which film won the Best Film Award at the Eighth IIFA Awards 2007 – Rang De Basanthi (Gr 1, 2008)
4. Which city will host the 2012 Olympics – London (Gr 1, 2008)
5. Molpah rebellion of 1921 took place in Kerala ( Group 1 , 2008)
6. The venue for the ASEAN Mekong Basin Development Cooperation Meeting in August 2007
7. Central Plantation Crops Research Institute is located at Kasaragod
8. Red ribbon express train was started for HIV awareness.
9. Without feat: life and trial of Bhagat Singh book by: Kuldip Nayar
10. As per National Crime record bureau ‘Crime India 2006’ report Delhi is first in crime, Andhra Pradesh is placed third.
11. NDTV’s Entertainer of the year – Rajnikanth
12. Blitz editor R Karanjia died in Mumbai.
13. TRAI allowed News broadcasting through FM radio
14. Sekhar Kapoor got Oscar award for costume design for the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
15. Due to sub-prime crisis America’s biggest investment bank Bear Stearns was sold for through away price.
16. In India, where Google is opening IT campus for the first time – Hyderabad
17. MS Dhoni became the first wicket keeper to captain India in test match when he captained India in Kanpur Vs South Africa.
18. The Times of India has started its Chennai edition recently.
19. Deccan Chronicle has started a new finance newspaper – Financial Chronicle
20. The end of India book written by Kushwant Singh
21. Development is Freedom book written by Amartya Sen
22. Dmitry Medvedev elected as Russia’s president
23. First tribal university in India – Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh.
24. The former Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Dasmunshi has been selected winner of the “Best Parliamentarian of the Year” Award.
25. The former World No.1 Martina Hingis has been banned for two years after being found guilty of taking cocaine at Wimbledon
26. Ramnath Goenka Excellence Awards: Journalist of the year – Rajdeep Sardesai CNN-IBN (TV); Ritu Saren – Indian Express (Print media)
27. Which country started “Press TV” 24 hour satellite TV – Iran
28. SBI opened its 10,000th branch in Puduvayal dist: Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu.
29. Business Line is the business newspaper of The Hindu group.
30. Founder of Andhra Jyothi newspaper KLN Prasad.
31. Tabloid suspended: Owners of the Russian tabloid Moskovsky Korrespondent have suspended its publication after Russian President Vladimir Putin refuted a report in the paper that he was planning to wed a gymnast. Its editor-in-chief has resigned.
32. Reserve Bank of India increased CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) from 7.50% to 8.00%

News quiz ( Test your nose for news)

dt: 28.4.2008

. The U.S. accused which country of working with North Korea on a nuclear reactor?
Syria
At a stop at a diner in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Barack Obama brushed aside a question about former President Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas with the comment "Why can't I just eat my..."
Waffle

3. Apple Inc. posted a rise in quarterly profits. In the coming months, analysts expect the company to come out with a faster version of which product?
iPhone
4. Nervous shoppers at Sam's Club and Costco have been stocking up on these food items as food shortage concerns mount:
Rice, flour
5. Actress Megan Fox was named the world's sexiest woman by readers of FHM magazine. Who scraped by at number 100?
Britney Spears
6. The U.S. lost its status as the the world's largest Internet-using population to...
China
7. Theater producer Bill Kenwright revealed this week that Elvis Presley secretly visited which city 50 years ago?
London
8. A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people. How much are they suing for?
One dollar for every person in China
9. What tip did Microsoft's Steve Ballmer offer to help people recognize him among the many Steve Ballmers on Facebook?
He's hitting a golf ball
10. Hand-held laser pointers have been banned in a major Australian state because...
They have been used to temporarily blind airplane pilots

1. AajTak TV conducted sting operations on K Jothikumaran of Indian Hockey Federation, who resigned later.
2. IPI: Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline deal $ 7.4 billion
3. Director of the film Chak De India whose subject is Indian Hockey - Shimit Amin
4. Super Star India: From incredible to unstoppable book written by Shobhaa De
5. Prem Bhatia Award for Nirupama Subramanian:- Nirupama Subramanian, The Hindu correspondent in Pakistan, has been awarded the Prem Bhatia award for the best political reporting for 2008.
6. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched Cartosat-2, the Indian Mini Satellite (IMS) and other eight nano satellites, using the PSLV –C9 from the Satish Dhawan Space center
7. The Indian Olympic Association on 28th April 2008 suspended the Indian Hockey Federation, bringing to an end the 15 years reign of its chief, Mr Kunwar Pal Singh Gill.
8. Harbhajan Singh was handed an 11 match ban after pleading guilty to slapping his India teammate Shantakumaran Sreesanth at the end of the Mumbai Indians versus Kings XI Punjab Indian Premier League match in Mohali on April 26, 2008

News quiz (3.5.2008)
1. Which highly anticipated video game debuted to rave reviews?
Grand Theft Auto 4
2. Which word did Barack Obama not use to describe comments by his former pastor Rev. Wright?
Feisty
3. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point to 2 percent. How many times has the Fed cut interest rates in a row?
7
4. What annual salary does billionaire investor Warren Buffett draw to run Berkshire Hathaway, which holds its annual shareholder meeting on Saturday?
$100,000
5. Mars is buying chewing gum-maker Wrigley. According to the book "Crisis in Candyland," what was Mars' response to a child who wrote asking how the Milky Way candy bar got its name?
The information is classified and confidential
6. Five years of cancer care for America's elderly cost Medicare $21.1 billion, a study showed. Which cancer cost Medicare the most?
Lung cancer
7. "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul stirred controversy this week when she:
Judged a contestant on two songs when he only sang one
8. Television star Miley Cyrus threatened to damage her wholesome image by:
Appearing half naked in a Vanity Fair photo shoo

9. Which U.S. city is the worst for short-term particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association?
Pittsburgh
10. Some cricket cheerleaders are in trouble in India because:
Their costumes expose too much flesh

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* World Press Freedom Day

3 May

Throughout the world, 3 May serves as an occasion to inform the public of violations of the right to freedom of expression and as a reminder that many journalists brave death or jail to bring people their daily news.


*Congressional Gold Medal recipeint:Aung San Suu Kyi


*S Ramachandran is appointed as Chairman of Committee on Sethusamudram

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Sakshi, which means witness, is being brought out in 23 multi-coloured editions by Jagati Publication, of which Jagan Mohan Reddy is the chairman.

US-based Mario Garcia designed Sakshi - the first Telugu daily with all the pages in colour.


Yahoo News. #1 Online News Site.(tpgblog)


Benazir Bhutto posthumously awarded Tipperary International Peace Award


News quiz dt 17.5.2008

A devastating earthquake may have killed 50,000 people in China this week. When was the deadliest earthquake on record?
1556 in Shansi, China

General Electric is selling its 100-year-old appliance unit. Which appliance company is the biggest in the United States?

Whirlpool

According to a study published in the Lancet, which health issue contributes to global warming?
Obesity

Mexico's Manuel Uribe, once the world's most obese man, is now vying for which record?

The human who has lost the most weight
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* Which country is mediating indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria?
Turkey
President Bush eased restrictions to Cuba, allowing Americans to send which device to family members in the Communist country?

Cell phones
Who is the youngest women's singles champion ever at the French Open, which starts on May 25?
Monica Seles
Which tactic helps prevent jet lag, according to U.S. researchers?
Fasting
Which Oscar winning actor plays Ernesto "Che" Guevara in the film "Che," being screened at Cannes?
Benicio del Toro

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A study this week showed that vitamin D was not effective in cutting the risk of this type of cancer:
Prostate

The latest James Bond novel, "Devil May Care", was released this week. When was the last Bond novel, "Octopussy and the Living Daylights", published?
1966