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  • Current Affairs 15th March 2014

    Updated : 18-Mar-2014

    Current Affairs 15th March 2014 - Important Points

    Current Affairs 15th March 2014 - Details

    Astronomers discovered largest ever yellow hypergiant star - HR 5171 A

    A hypergaint star which is 1300 times wider than wider than the sun has discovered. This is the biggest yellow star ever spotted. It is named as HR 5171. This star is 12,000 light years away. 

    The star was studied by a team lead by Oliver Chesneau of the Cote d'Azur Observatory in Nice, France with the Very Large Telescope in Atacama, Chile. This star can be about one million times brighter than the Sun.

    About a dozen of such yellow stars are known in our galaxy of which the most famous known is Rho Cassiopeiae. 

    Former President and leader of Sierra Leone Ahmad Tejan Kabbah died

    Former President and leader of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah died on 13 March 2014 in Freetown at the age of 82. He had played a great role in gaining peace to the country after 11 year long civil war. He was elected as President in 1996 after long military rule. In less than a year, due to a military coup by Revolutionary United Front (RUF), he fled to Guinea and formed government-in-exile. He returned in 1998 and was successful in establishing peace in the Sierra Leone with the help of United Nations. He was again elected in 2002 and ruled the country till 2007.

    ONGC, OIL buy 10% government stake in IOC

    State run upstream ONGC and OIL on 14th March 2014 together bought 10% government stake in IOC. By this government shareholding in IOC has been reduced to 68.92 percent from 78.92 percent. The aim of this deal was to encourage the disinvestment programme by the government of India. 

    An empowered group of ministers headed by finance minister P Chidambaram had last month agreed to sell stake in IOC to oil majors after petroleum and oil ministry opposed a stock market offer at depressed prices.

    Important to note : 

    • Full form of ONGC : Oil and Natural Gas Corp
    • Full form of OIL : Oil India Limited
    • Full form of IOC : Indian Oil Corp
    • ONGC already had 8.77 percent share in IOC which has been increased to 13.77 percent now.

    GK Pillai resigned as MCX-SX chairman

    On 14th March 2014, GK Pillai resigned as Chairman of MCX-SX. Current Vice Chairman and former LIC Chairman, Thomas Mathew T was elected as new Chairman and Ashima Goyal was elected as Vice Chairperson by the Board members.

    "It was a wonderful experience to work with the team and I am stepping down due to personal reasons," said an exchange press release, quoting Pillai.

    Cricketer of the Generation - SACHIN TENDULKAR

    So a current affair for all the cricket fans and specially for the fans of Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar was voted as Cricketer of the Generation by a 50 member jury on 14th March 2014. Jury was comprised of current and former cricketers and journalists. Shane Warne and Jacques Kallis were also in the race for this but eventually Sachin emerged as winner. 

    The award ceremony was organised in Mumbai to honour the most outstanding cricketer between the years 1993 and 2013. Award was given on the occasion of seventh annual ESPNcricinfo Awards.

    Czech Catholic priest Tomas Halik wins $1.83 million Templeton Prize

    Czech priest Tomas Halik won the Templeton Prize for 2014. He was given this award on 13th March 2014 and under the award he will receive $1.83 million. Tomas Halik won this prize for his work affirming the spiritual dimension of life.

    Important to note : 

    • Templeton Prize honours a person who has contributed to "affirming life's spiritual dimension" through insights, discoveries or practical work.
    • The first winner of Templeton was Mother Teresa in 1973.
    • Dalai Lama also got this prize in 2012.