Current Affairs 19th June 2014

Current Affairs 19th June 2014

Updated : 19-Jun-2014

Current Affairs 19th June 2014 - Important Points
Current Affairs 19th June 2014 - Details
Rajeev Topno appointed as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
On 18th June 2014, Rajeev Topno was appointed as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will be the youngest IAS officer to serve at this crucial post.

He is a 1996 batch Indian Administrative Service officer (IAS) from the Gujarat cadre. He was a part of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) under former PM Manmohan Singh. His five years of central deputation was to end this month but his term has been extended. He joined PMO as only Gujarat-cadre officer in 2009 during the UPA regime.
African Union Peace and Security Council unanimously restores Egypt's membership
On 18th June 2014, The AUPSC (African Union’s Peace and Security Council) unanimously restored the membership of Egypt into the apex body of African nations. The decision was taken at the meeting of the 15-member states of AUPSC in Addis Ababa, Egypt.
With this restoration, Egypt became eligible to participate in the PSC and African Summit to be held later in June 2014 in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.
Do you Know ?
Egypt was suspended from the 54-nation bloc in July 2013 after the ouster of the President Mohamed Morsi by the then Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who is the country's current president.
India-Born Scientist Sanjaya Rajaram Wins the 2014 World Food Prize
Eminent India-born Mexican plant scientist, Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, has been named winner of the 2014 World Food Prize in recognition of his outstanding work in the improvement of wheat crop.

Rajaram, who is now settled in Mexico, is credited with increasing world wheat production by more than 200 million tons in the years following the Green Revolution, which has had a far-reaching impact in alleviating world hunger.
World Food Prize Foundation President Kenneth M. Quinn announced the $250,000 World Food Prize winner at an event at the US State Department Wednesday.
The prize was established in 1986 by Dr. Norman Borlaug to focus the world’s attention on hunger and on those whose work has significantly helped efforts to end the hunger. Dr. Charity Kawira Mutegi of Kenya in 2013 and Dr. Aditi Mukherji of India in 2012 received the award.
West Africa Ebola death toll hits 337: WHO
As per WHO (World Health Organization), number of people killed by the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa has risen to 337. In the second week of June 2014 14 deaths and 47 new cases were reported across the region.
It said that Guinea being the worst-affected country had seen 264 Ebola-related deaths. It also highlighted that Sierra Leone and Liberia had witnessed 49 and 24 deaths respectively. These three countries have been battling to contain the outbreak since February 2014.
What is Ebola virus ?
Ebola virus is the one of the world's deadliest viruses and has no cure or vaccine. Its symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding and it spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
British Guiana 1-cent postage Stamp Sells for Record $9.5 Million
On 18th June 2014, An 1856 British Guiana 1-cent postage stamp was sold for record 9.5 million US dollar, thus it became the world's most valuable stamp. The auction was held by the Sotheby in New York. It was the only major stamp absent from the British Royal Family's private Royal Philatelic Collection. It was for the fourth time that the 1856 Magenta stamp broke the auction record for a single stamp in its long history.

Supersonic Akash Missile Flight Tested Successfully in very low Altitude Near Range Mission
Akash, missile was successfully test fired in very low altitude near boundary mission from the Integrated Test Range, Balasore, Odisha. This flight trial was last among the validation trials being carried out by Army on the first off production models of Akash supersonic missile. The supersonic missile intercepted the very small unmanned fast moving Banshee aerial vehicle at 30 m altitude above sea level proving the system capability against subsonic cruise missile. The sophisticated multi-function radar with built in features tracked the low flying target continuously throughout its course. Special algorithms / techniques developed by DRDO for overcoming the multiple target reflections coming from the sea worked perfectly in the mission.
The trials were supervised by Shri G Chandramouli, Project Director Akash and were witnessed by Director General Army Air Defence and other senior officials of Army and Ministry of Defence.
Former Captain of Bangladesh Mohammad Ashraful banned for eight years
On 18th June 2014, Former Captain of Bangladesh Mohammad Ashraful was banned for eight years by the disciplinary panel set up by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. He was banned as he was found guilty on four charges of fixing matches in Bangladesh Premier League of 2013. Ashraful has also been ordered to pay a fine of one million taka (12280 US dollar).
The 29-year-old was under suspension since June 2013 after he admitted to the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit that he had indulged in fixing BPL matches.
He became the country's youngest Test centurion in 2001 at the age of 17. He later captained Bangladesh between 2007 and 2009. He has played 23 Twenty20 internationals, 61 Tests, and 177 one-day internationals.