1) Madonna to perform at 2015 Brit awards.
- Pop diva Madonna is all set to perform at 2015’s Brits awards, two decades since she last took to the stage at the ceremony.
- The 56-year-old singer will stoke anticipation for her upcoming 13th studio album, Rebel Heart.
2) VVS Laxman Awarded Honorary Doctorate.
- Former cricketer V.V.S. Laxman was awarded an honorary doctorate at the seventh convocation ceremony of TERI University.
- Three others also received the honour -- former president of East Timor José Manuel Ramos-Horta, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, and Hitachi chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi. (Lamxan Nominated Swachh Bharat Ambassador).
3) Obama appoints Indian-American CEO Ajay Banga to a key administration position.
- Banga, chairman of the US India Business Council, has been appointed as member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
- Banga, an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, is president and CEO of MasterCard, a position he has held since 2009.
- He served as director for marketing and business development at PepsiCo Restaurants International India from 1994 to 1996.
- Banga began his career at Nestle India, where he served in various sales and management roles from 1981 to 1994.
- The Mayor of Raipur Ms. Kiranmayee Nayak to Represent Women in The International Visitor Leadership Program, to be held at The United States of America.
- Kiranmayee Nayak, the dynamic Mayor of Raipur, has been invited by the US Department of State for the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) titled, "Women as Political and Economic Leaders" from the 4th till the 22nd of March.
- IVLP is one of the most prestigious professional exchange programs for international opinion leaders and Mrs. Kiranmayee Nayak is the only woman leader to represent India in this session.
About:
- Born in 1966, Ms Kiranmayee Nayak is a lawyer by profession with a doctorate in law and is one of the leading lawyers in Central India.
- She is a member of the Indian National Congress and is the democratically elected mayor of the Raipur Municipal Corporation.
- Her contributions in enactment and amendments in laws for dowry are well chronicled. She is a social and legal activist with a firm foot on the ground on social issues.
About IVLP:
- Launched in 1940, the IVLP helps strengthen U.S. engagement with countries around the world and cultivate lasting relationships by connecting current and emerging foreign leaders with their American counterparts through short-term visits to the United States.
- The majority of IVLP exchanges include visits to four U.S. communities over three weeks, although projects vary based on themes, Embassy requests and other factors. Participants meet with professional counterparts, visit U.S. public and private sector organizations related to the project theme and participate in cultural and social activities.
4) A painting of two the Tahitian girls by French artist Gauguin has been sold for $300 million.
- A painting of two the Tahitian girls by French artist Gauguin has been sold for $300 million, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold.
- “Nafea Faa Ipoipo”, or “When Will You Marry?” was painted in 1892.
- The small oil-rich state paid the previous highest price for a painting, a work by Paul Cezanne which sold for $259 millon.