General Awareness

PERSONS IN NEWS - July 2019

Jul 2019

Jul 18, 2019

Andrea Camilleri Dies at 93

Italian author Andrea Camilleri, who penned the acclaimed Inspector Montalbano detective novels, died at the age of 93.
Camilleri spent much of his life working as a theatre director, screenwriter and teacher, only becoming a successful and highly prolific writer from his late 60s.
He wrote more than 100 books. His Montalbano novels have regularly topped Italian best-seller lists, been translated into 32 languages and are the basis for a popular TV series aired by Rai and sold worldwide.
He published his first book when he was 53, but it made little impact and he subsequently gave up writing for many years, only producing the first Montalbano novel, "The Shape of Water", in 1994, when he was almost 70.
The 26th novel in the series, "The Cook of Alcyon", hit Italian bookstores at the end of May. Camilleri said in 2006 he had prepared a final instalment chronicling the death of his detective hero which was locked in his publisher's safe.

Hafiz Saeed Arrested on Terror Finance Allegations

Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) founder and alleged Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed was arrested by Pakistani security officials on charges of collecting funds for banned terror groups and remanded to judicial custody.
This is the first time the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) has been arrested on specific charges filed by authorities.
In the past, he was detained without charge in connection with incidents such as the Mumbai attacks.
The arrest came against the backdrop of pressure on Pakistan from the US and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to crack down on terror and its financing, and days before Prime Minister Imran Khan embarks on a three-day visit to the US during which he will hold talks with President Donald Trump on July 22, 2019. Khan will be accompanied by Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa.

AM Naik to Guide Mindtree

Mid-tier IT services firm Mindtree has appointed L&T chief AM Naik as non-executive chairman, even as it offered no clarity on key replacements, including the position of chief executive, once founders leave the company.
Separately, the software services provider posted muted revenue growth in the first quarter of the current financial year amid the ongoing takeover by the engineering conglomerate. The company also calibrated its revenue guidance for the full year.

Go Air hires former Airbus exec as COO

The Wadia group run low-cost airline GoAir, which has been headless since February 2019, has hired industry veteran Miranda Mills, a former executive of Airbus and Rolls Royce, as its chief operating officer (COO).
Mills will be heading the operations of the Mumbai-headquartered airline that is reportedly planning an initial share sale in 2019, and will report to MD & CEO Jeh Wadia. She will take charge from August, 2019.
The airline has been headless since February 2019 when the then CEO Cornellis Vriewijk resigned citing "family" reasons after being at the helm for just about nine months.
That apart, the airline has seen as many as 15 senior management personnel, including COO and chief commercial officer, leaving the airline since July, 2019 due to various reasons.

Arnault No. 2 on Rich List

Bill Gates has never ranked lower than No. 2 in the seven-year history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
That run ended when the Microsoft Corp. co-founder dropped to No. 3 behind France's Bernard Arnault.
LVMH, Arnault's luxury-goods maker, advanced to a record in Paris and pushed his net worth to $107.6 billion and ahead of Gates by more than $200 million. Arnault has added $39 billion to his fortune in 2019 alone, the biggest individual gain by far among the 500 people in Bloomberg's ranking.
Arnault, 70, joined Gates and Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, in the most exclusive wealth club in June 2019, when his fortune surpassed $100 billion for the first time.
The trio's collective wealth exceeds the individual market values of almost every company in the S&P 500 Index, including Walmart Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Walt Disney Co. 2019 has been particularly good to French tycoons, with Arnault, Kering SA's Francois Pinault and cosmetics heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers tacking on a combined $57 billion.
Arnault and his family are among luxury titans who pledged more than $650 million in April 2019 for the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral after fire ravaged the landmark church.
He controls about half of Paris-based LVMH through a family holding company and also owns a 97% stake in Christian Dior, the fashion house founded three years before his birth in 1949.

Jul 17, 2019

First Female European Commission President

Ursula von der Leyen was confirmed as the European commission's first female president and the first German in the job for more than 50 years.
In a secret ballot, MEPs voted narrowly to support the German defence Minister as a replacement for Jean-Claude Juncker when he steps down on 31 October 2019.
She won the support of 383 MEPs, nine votes more than required to secure an absolute majority but below the 400 threshold that would have given her a stable majority to get her policies through parliament over the next five years.

Sandeep Sinha Resigns

Cummins India Ltd announced that Sandeep Sinha, MD, Cummins India and Vice-President, Cummins India ABO, resigned to pursue business interests outside of the company.
Sinha joined Cummins in 2004 as a Corporate Indirect Purchasing Manager.
Over his career at Cummins, he held several leadership roles in Corporate Strategy in the US, New and Recon Parts and the Industrial Engine Business in India.

Jul 16, 2019

Neeraj Shekhar Quits Rajya Sabha

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Neeraj Shekhar resigned from the Rajya Sabha, revealing the unrest within Akhilesh Yadav's party which won only five seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in a pact with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which later walked out of the alliance.
As per reports, a first-time Rajya Sabha MP, Shekhar is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shekhar's term was to end in November 2020, and the ruling BJP has numbers in the Uttar Pradesh assembly to win a by-election to this seat when it happens.
Shekhar met Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu and handed over his resignation, which was accepted.
Son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, a prominent Thakur face from eastern Uttar Pradesh, Shekhar was upset with Akhilesh Yadav for ignoring his claim on his late father's Ballia Lok Sabha seat in this summer elections.

Himachal Pradesh Gets New Governor

Senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra was appointed as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, replacing Acharya Devvrat, who was transferred and appointed as the Governor of Gujarat.
As per reports, the appointments of Mr. Mishra and Mr. Devvrat would come into effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices.
Mr. Mishra had resigned from the Narendra Modi-led government as Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in 2017 after he crossed the age of 75.
The Uttar Pradesh leader did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Mr. Devvrat was appointed as Governor of Himachal Pradesh in 2015. He would replace Governor of Gujarat O.P. Kohli.

Jul 15, 2019

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Passes Away

Bangladesh's former military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad died due to complications from old age at a hospital in Dhaka.
He was 91 and is survived by his wife Raushan Ershad, a teenage son from his now severed second marriage and two other adopted children.
Hussain Muhammad Ershad was a Bangladeshi Army Chief and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, a time many consider to have been a military dictatorship.

Jul 14, 2019

Ram Lal back in RSS

After 13 years as the BJP's general secretary (organisation), Ram Lal was declared co-incharge of the RSS's publicity and communications wing, signalling his return to the mother organisation from the political wing of the Sangh Parivar.
The name of V. Satish, currently the joint general secretary (organisation) in the BJP, is doing the rounds as replacement for Mr. Lal.
General secretary (organisation) is one of the most powerful positions in the BJP hierarchy and is usually occupied by a full-time pracharak from the RSS on loan to the party.

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