Daily GK Capsule Top 10 Current Affairs of 09 January 2014 | Daily GK Capsule

Daily GK Capsule Top 10 Current Affairs of 09 January 2014 | Daily GK Capsule

1. For the first time in India, World Bridge Team Championships will be held between September 26 and 10 October. According to Indian Bridge Federation President N.R. Kirubakramurthy this championship will be held in Asia for the first time and it is a matter of prestige that World Bridge Federation (WBF) has selected India as its host.


2. Senior Indian diplomat Atul Khare has been named by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the head of the UN department that provides dedicated support to peacekeeping missions around the world, making him one of the highest ranking Indian officials in the world body. Khare, 55 will succeed Bangladesh’s Ameerah Haq as the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Department of Field Support (DFS).

Daily GK Capsule Top 10 Current Affairs of 09 January 2014 | Daily GK Capsule

3. Punjab became the first state in the country to ban the sale of loose cigarettes which account for 70 per cent of all tobacco sales on a pan-India basis.

4. Top seed Grandmaster Ivan Popov of Russia with superior tie-break clinched the title in the 7th Chennai International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament at Nehru Stadium, Chennai. For the first time in the history of Chennai Open, there was an eight way tie, all at 7.5 points. Sharing the top spot with Popov were Dzhumaev Marat (Uzbekistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Ramnath Bhuvanesh R, Swapnil S Dhopade, Ravichandran Siddharth (all India), Gasanov Eldar (Ukraine), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam).

5. Tencent, one of the top Internet companies in China, launched the country’s first private online bank. Called WeBank the financial institution is the first one in China to be based on the Internet.

6. ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, launched the country’s first ‘contactless’ debit and credit cards, enabling its customers to make electronic payments by just waving the cards near the merchant terminal in lieu of dipping or swiping them. These cards are based on the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The Bank's 'Coral Contactless Credit Card’ and ‘Expressions Wave Debit Card’ are powered by 'MasterCard contactless' and ‘Visa payWave' technologies, respectively. The Bank has introduced these cards in Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Mumbai to begin with.

7. Dinesh Oraon of Bharatiya Janata Party was unanimously elected Speaker of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. He will be the 10th Speaker of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.

8. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was sworn in as Meghalaya Governor at the Raj Bhavan in Shillong. Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice Uma Nath Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Tripathi. Mr. Tripathi became the 19th Governor of this hill State, 
succeeding Krishan Kant Paul, who has been made Uttarakhand Governor.

9. President of Guyana Donald Rabindranauth Ramotar arrived on a six-day visit to India to attend the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Ramotar is the Chief Guest at the three day long Pravasi Bharatiya Divas which has been organised in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

10. Freedom fighter Perin Romesh Chandra died after prolonged illness. She was 96 years old. She served in the peace movement of international communism and was part of its Indian leadership.