Current Affairs : 15 July 2014

1) BRICS Summit Opens In Brazil: The leaders of the so-called BRICS nations have met at the start of a three-day summit in Brazil. The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa met on July 15 in the northeastern city of Fortaleza before heading the next day to Brasilia, the Brazilian capital. The leaders on July 15 launched a development bank and a reserve fund worth $100 billion. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff said the New Development Bank will be based in Shanghai and its first president will be from India. It will have astartup capital of $50 billion.

2) BRICS to create development bank, 'mini-IMF': Leaders of the BRICS group of emerging powers meet Tuesday to launch a new development bank and a reserve fund seen as counterweights to Western-led financial institutions. The five emerging nations unveiled in 2013 their plans to create the bank, which aims to rival the Washington-based World Bank while the reserve is seen as a "mini-IMF." The creation of the bank will give a backbone to the BRICS, which is not a formal international organization, said Marcos Troyjo, Brazilian director of BRICLab research center at New York's Columbia University. The bank will have initial capital of $50 billion with each country contributing an equal share, while the reserve will have $100 billion at its disposal. It is learnt that the new bank will be based in Shanghai and its first president will be from India.

3) President presents Gandhi Peace Prize to Chandi Prasad Bhatt: President Pranab Mukherjee on 15 July 2014 honoured noted environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt with 2013 Gandhi Peace Prize at a glittering function in Darbar Hall at Rashtrapati Bhawan. The pioneer of the Chipko movement has also been awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 1982 followed by the Padma Bhushan - the third highest civilian award of India in 2005. The Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This annual award is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. Previous recipients of the award include former president of Tanzania Julius K Nyerere, social worker Baba Amte, South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela, among others. The award carries a plaque, citation and an amount of Rs one crore.

4) Confident Germany printed World Cup victory stamps before final: Germany will this week issue a World Cup victory postage stamp, five million of which were printed before the final was even held, officials said. “This year I dared to hope very early on that our team would take the title,” said Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. The 60-cent stamp, marked “Germany Football World Champion 2014”, will go on sale on Thursday after the first commemorative copies are presented to the coach, players and team staff.

5) 127th edition of Durand Cup football tournament to be held in Goa in October 2014: The 127th edition of the Durand Cup Football Tournament will be held in Goa from 28th October 2014 to 9th November 2014. This was revealed by a Defence press release from Mumbai on 15 July 2014. A host of top clubs and military football teams will participate in the tournament. The tournament will be conducted in two phases.

6) RBI eases reserve norms for banks issuing infra bonds: The ReserveBank of India, in order to encourage infrastructure development and affordable housing, on Tuesday, exempted long-term bonds from the mandatory regulatory norms such as the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) and Priority Sector Lending (PSL) if the money raised is used for funding of such projects.

7) Church of England Votes to Accept Women as Bishops:  After years of deadlock and division, the Church of England voted on Monday to allow women to become bishops, overturning centuries of tradition and overcoming a long-running dispute that had undermined the unity of Anglicans.

8) Rajya Sabha passed TRAI Amendment Bill, paves way for Misra's appointment as PM aide: The TRAI Amendment Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (15 July 2014) which would remove legal hurdles in the appointment of former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chief Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.  The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

9) Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned after World Cup failure: Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned after the team failed to win the World Cup, the Brazilian Football Confederation said Monday. Scolari promised to win the tournament at home, but Brazil was eliminated in the semifinals by a disastrous 7-1 loss to eventual champion Germany that matched the national team's worst defeat in its 100-year history. Brazil also lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place match.