Employment News 6 August 2013

Employment News 6 August 2013 General Knowledge 6 August

Microsoft cuts price of high end Surface tablets

Microsoft on Monday knocked $100 off the price of high end versions of its Surface tablet, which is competing against Apple's iPad and devices that use Google's Android system.

Microsoft  online store is offering US consumers the Surface Pro for $799 or $899, depending on memory capacity, down from $899 and $999.

Last month it slashed the price of its most basic Surface model by 30 per cent, cutting it from $499 to $349.

Surface was introduced as a platform for Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system, which was launched at the same time in a bid to make up for ground lost to Apple and Google in the mobile domain.

Arundhati Bhattacharya appointed Managing Director of SBI

Arundhati Bhattacharya on 2 August 2013 was appointed the managing director and chief financial officer of the State Bank of India(SBI).

She is the first female managing director at SBI which is India's largest bank. Arundhati succeeded Diwakar Gupta who retired a couple of days ago.

The SBI has four managing directors, five deputy managing directors and 18 chief general managers apart from its chairman.

 Its other managing directors are A. Krishna Kumar, Hemant G. Contractor and S Visvanathan.

SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri will be retiring in September 2013.

RBI has pulled up private sector lender Dhanlaxmi Bank

for the rise in bad loans MD and CEO of the bank, PG Jayakumar, also expressed his worries. 

The NPAs were mostly from the advances sanctioned during the previous 2-3 years. Some of the corporate advances sanctioned during the period turned into NPAs which resulted in the spike in the ratio to 4.82% (gross) and 3.36% (net)," he said.

RBI has pulled up private sector lender Dhanlaxmi Bank for the rise in bad loans, and has appointed Manoranjan Dash, who was the general manager of RBI Hyderabad, as an additional director on the bank's board, grappling with bad loans, has stepped up its recovery initiatives to get back on track.

What have added to the bank's discomfiture are installments due for more than 90 days and fresh bad loans in the form of vehicle and construction equipment loans worth around Rs 34 crore. 

The employees have been instructed not to allow any account to drag payments till the quarter end.

The lender's net non-performing assets had increased to 261 crore at the end March 2013 as against Rs 42 crore at the end of March 2010.

उत्तर प्रदेश के लखनऊ में जिला शिक्षा एवं प्रशिक्षण संस्थान (डायट) अब बीटीसी फीस का गोलमाल नहीं कर सकेंगे।

उन्हें पहले बीटीसी की फीस राज्य शैक्षिक अनुसंधान एवं प्रशिक्षण परिषद (एससीईआरटी) के खाते में देना होगा। इसके बाद उन्हें खर्च का पूरा प्रस्ताव बनाते हुए भेजना होगा, इसके बाद उन्हें एससीईआरटी से बजट आवंटित किया जाएगा।

इसके अलावा उन्हें अन्य मदों में खर्च का हिसाब भी देना होगा। इस संबंध में प्रमुख सचिव बेसिक शिक्षा सुनील कुमार ने निर्देश भेज दिया है।

Samantha Power sworn in as New US Ambassador to United Nations

Samantha Power on 2 August 2013 took oath to the office of US ambassador to United Nations.

Vice-President, Joe Biden administered her, the oath to the office in a ceremony at the White House.

Samantha Power succeeded Susan Rice, now the President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser.

Earlier, Samantha Power served as the Foreign Policy Adviser to Obama during his 2008 election campaign, and subsequently worked as an adviser in the White House.

Samantha Power started her career as a journalist and won a Pulitzer Prize for her book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide in 2003.

4-year-old Robert 'Bobby' Tufts re-elected mayor of US town

Mayor Robert "Bobby" Tufts was re-elected as the mayor of Dorset, a small town in Minnesota on Sunday. Bobby was first elected as a three-year-old Dorset does not have a city government, so its population of between 22 to 28 people, which changes whether the minister and his family are in town, are allowed to vote for their mayor as many times as they like, at the low cost of just $1 a vote.

Emma Tufts, Bobby's mother, admitted that the ruler of Dorset was a little tired after the day's excursions, especially considering he had been conducting interviews since 3 o' clock.

Bobby's first year as mayor of Dorset was a rousing success as he raised USD 750 from a summer walk and he also plans to donate money from yesterday's T-shirt sale to charity too.

Iran’s new President Rouhani takes oath

Hassan Rouhani, a moderate cleric who was a surprise winner in the recent elections, took oath on Sunday as Iran's seventh President at a ceremony attended by a galaxy of world leaders, including Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India.

The 64-year-old former nuclear negotiator, who has committed himself to greater international engagement for Iran which is battling sanctions over its nuclear programme, was administered the oath in Milli Majlis, the Iranian Parliament.

Rouhani was officially endorsed by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Khamenei on Saturday for a four-year term.

iv. Reflecting warm bilateral ties, Hamid Ansari flew into the Iranaian capital by a special plane to represent India at the ceremony

Ansari was earlier India's ambassador to Iran.

In his first appointment after assuming office Rouhani named Mohammad Nahavandian, a 58-year-old businessman with a doctorate in economics from George Washington University in Washington, as his chief of staff, state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Haryana driver's daughter earns US $50000 scholarship

A daughter of a driver employed with the Haryana government has bagged a scholarship of USD 50,000 for pursuing a PhD in Chemistry from University of South Carolina, USA.

Poonam Dhull (24), daughter of Sureshpal, working as a driver in the Public Relations Department, hails from Bhana village in Kaithal district.

The young woman completed her senior secondary from OSDAV Senior Secondary School, Kaithal and pursued her B.Sc. (Medical) and M.Sc. in Chemistry from Panjab University, Chandigarh, before taking up research work on "Structure-activity relationships in a-fluorohydrins and their derivatives: A structural investigation."

Congratulating Poonam, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, expressed hope that she will excel in academics and bring laurels to the state.

Poonam gave the entire credit of academic success to her father and mother Sheela Devi.

Despite coming from a humble background, my parents supported me and my younger brother and sister and always encouraged us to put in our best efforts," she told reporters in Chandigarh.

World's first test-tube burger in London

Scientists unveiled the The tasters pronounced the 140-gram (five-ounce) patty, developed at a
cost of more than 250,000 euros ($330,000) with backing from Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as "close to meat" in flavour and texture but not as juicy.

world's first lab-grown beef burger in London on Monday, frying it in a little oil and butter and serving it to volunteers in what they hope is the start of a food revolution.

Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, who led the research, claimed it could eventually replace ordinary beef in the diets of millions of people and in so doing reduce the huge environmental pressure caused by raising livestock.

Michael Dell clinches new $24.8 billion deal

new agreement includes a special dividend of 13 cents per share along with an offer increased by 10 cents per share to $13.75 per share, Dell's special board committee, set up to ensure shareholders are getting the best deal.

The special dividend of 13 cents per share will be funded with excess equity resulting from Michael Dell's rolling over his shares in the deal at a lower price, subsidizing Silver Lake's returns, according to a person familiar with the matter.

He had previously agreed to roll over his shares at $13.36 per share, lower than the $13.65 per share original buyout offer.

Total NEWS JULY 2013