Daily GK Update 1st - January - 2014

Radhakrishnan retires as ISRO chief, Shailesh Nayak in charge

(i) Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan retired on Wednesday. 

(ii) Shailesh Nayak, who is Secretary, Union Earth Sciences Ministry, will hold additional and interim charge as Chairman for a month or until a regular chief is named, said an order by the Secretary, Appointments’ Committee of the Union Cabinet.

(iii) Dr. Radhakrishnan led ISRO in many achievements over the past five years after he took over the reins in November 2009. 

(iv) The historic Mars Orbiter Mission was launched and guided to an orbit around the red planet under his leadership. 

Mittal appointed Railway Board Chairman

(i) Ending the suspense over filling senior posts, the Railways on Wednesday made a record 11 appointments, including Chairman of Railway Board and eight General Managers.

(ii) A.K. Mittal was appointed as the new Chairman of Railway Board succeeding Arunendra Kumar, who superannuated on December 31.

(iii) Mr. Mittal, the senior-most official, was earlier Member Staff in the Railway Board.

(iv) Pradeep Kumar, who was General Manager of the North Central Railway holding additional charge of Northern Railway, has become new Member Staff succeeding Mr. Mittal.

Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo dead at 82

(i) Mario Cuomo, the three-time Democratic governor of New York who turned down several invitations to seek the U.S. presidency, has died at the age of 82.

(ii) The precise circumstances of his death, which came on the day that his son, Andrew Cuomo, delivered inaugural speeches in Manhattan and Buffalo for his own second term as governor, were not clear.

(iii) There was no immediate official statement announcing his death, but numerous news organizations reported he had died, citing family sources as having confirmed his passing, and several New York politicians issued statements of condolences.

Five Indians added to pro coaches pool

(i) Dutch international Wim Kovermans, a renowned UEFA Pro Licence Instructor and ex-India coach, cleared five Indians at the professional coaches pool of the Asian Football Confederation Pro Diploma coaching course.

(ii) Former internationals Santosh Kashyap, Khalid Jamil and Churchill Brothers head coach Mariano Dias are the three new faces in the list of Professional Coaching Diploma holders, along with Hilal Parray and Thangboi Singto.

(iii) Stanley Rozario got a Pro-Pass (he has to appear for one more practical exam). The course was conducted for the first time ever from July 2013-November 2014 by Kovermans (member of Netherlands 1988 Euro champion team) for 12 participants.

Five new countries join UNSC as non permanent members

(i) Five new countries on Thursday joined the U.N. Security Council as non-permanent members, while Chile assumed the rotating presidency for January.

(ii) With the start of a new year, five new countries — Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Spain — have begun their two-year term, replacing Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda, Xinhua reported.

(iii) Octavio Errazuriz, permanent representative of Chile to the U.N., took over the rotating council presidency from Cherif Mahamat Zene, the Chadian U.N. ambassador who held the council presidency for December 2014.

Kim Jong Un open to summit with South

(i) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a nationally televised New Year’s Day speech, said he is open to a summit with his South Korean counterpart.

(ii) Mr. Kim said he sees no reason why there should not be a summit with South Korean President Park Geun-hye or high-level talks if Seoul sincerely wants better ties. 

(iii) He also said his country will strengthen its military and economy.