1) Modi, Sania among Time probable’s for most influential people.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tennis star Sania Mirza and actor Priyanka Chopra are among the probable contenders named by Time magazine for its annual list of the most influential people in the world.
- Time will announce its TIME 100, the annual list of the worlds 100 most influential people next month.
- Its editors will determine the ultimate honorees; the publication has asked readers to vote from among 127 "world leaders, great minds in science and technology, outstanding figures in the arts and other icons of the moment" on who they think deserve recognition.
- "Modi remains a powerful voice on the world stage``, and while he saw his domestic agenda "sidetracked by political squabbles" in 2015, his country still leads the world in economic growth.
- Modi was named among Times 100 most influential people in the world last year and President Barack Obama had written a profile for him for the magazine.
- Mirza, India’s best female tennis player secured the number one ranking in the world for womens doubles ``while helping to redefine the role of female athletes in her home country``.
- Chopra, one of the highest paid actors in Bollywood, has "caught Hollywood’s attention" for her role in the drama series Quantico and "will continue to do so in the Baywatch remake".
- Indian-born CEOs of the world’s top technology companies Google and Microsoft are also among the list of 127 probables for the annual honour.
2) Shane Watson to quit international cricket after ICC World Twenty20.
- Australian all-rounder Shane Watson will bow out of international cricket after the World Twenty20 in India, cutting the team’s last link to their golden era in the early 2000s
- The 34-year-old blond quit Tests last year after losing his battle against a spate of injuries that plagued his career, and has not featured in a one-day international since September.
- Watson made his one-day debut against South Africa in 2002, three years before he broke into the test team led by Ricky Ponting.
- Watson played alongside the likes of Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist and also helped to rebuild the side after his seniors quit the game.
- Watson, who is known more for his feats in limited-over cricket, was part of the 2007 and 2015 World Cup-winning squads. He was chosen Australia’s finest cricketer in 2010 and 2011 and adjudged the 2012 World T20 Player-of-the-tournament.
- Watson captained his country on the forgettable 2013 tour of India but fought back to be in the Australian side which routed England in 2013-14 Ashes series.
Watson stats :
- Tests: 59; Batting: Runs: 3,731, Average: 35.19, Highest score: 176, 100s: 4; Bowling: Wickets: 75, Average: 33.68, Best bowling: 6-33, 5-wkt hauls: 3.
- ODIs: 190; Batting: Runs: 5,757, Average: 40.54, Highest score: 185*, 100s: 9; Bowling: Wickets: 168, Average: 31.79, Best bowling: 4-36.
3) Radovan Karadzic sentenced to 40-year imprisonment for Srebrenica genocide, war crimes.
- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was found guilty of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide and nine other war crimes charges sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
- Karadzic (70), the most senior political figure to be convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), was found guilty of 10 out of 11 charges. He was acquitted of a second count of genocide in Bosnian towns.
- The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal found Karadzic guilty of orchestrating Serb atrocities throughout Bosnia’s 1992-95 war that left 1,00,000 people dead. The 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, Europe`s worst since World War Two, claimed the lives of 8,000 Muslims.
4) Tata Steel Europe CEO Karl-Ulrich Kohler calls it quits.
- Karl-Ulrich Kohler is stepping down as CEO of Tata Steel Europe after more than six years at the helm of the metal giant.
- Parent Tata Steel announced that Hans Fischer, chief technical officer of the European unit, will assume leadership of its international subsidiary, from March.
- Germany-born Kohler, who will also step down from the Tata Steel board, will remain available to the company as an advisor for a short period of time, the metal behemoth.
- The change in the top ranks of Britain`s largest steelmaker comes at a time when the steel industry has been reeling from falling prices and cheap imports.
- The European Commission is scheduled to propose later this year whether to grant China market economy status, a move that critics say would give the country a license to dump unfairly cheap products in Europe and cost jobs.
- Tata Steel announced last month that it would axe 1,050 jobs in the United Kingdom soon after European Union steel prices touched their lowest since 2004. That was the second round of job cuts for the company in six months.
5) Former Indian pacer Sreesanth to contest on BJP ticket from Thiruvananthapuram.
- Former cricketer S. Sreesanth will be contesting the upcoming Assembly elections in Kerala on a BJP ticket from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
- The sportsman, who has had a chequered career in cricket and had been in jail over allegations of match-fixing, joined the BJP.
- The central election committee (CEC) of the BJP met in the evening to finalise a list of 51 candidates for Kerala, and the announcement was made in the presence of Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, a member of the committee, and State BJP president Kummanam Rajashekhar.
About sreesanth:
- He was a right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler and a right-handed tail-ender batsman. In first class cricket, he played for Kerala and in the Indian Premier League, he played for Rajasthan Royals.
- He is also the first Kerala Ranji player to have played Twenty20 cricket for India.
- In September 2013, he was banned for life from playing Cricket by theBCCI, for his involvement in spot-fixing in the 2013 IPL season.
6) Taiwan`s Nationalists elect their first female leader.
- The Nationalist party of Taiwan has chosen Hung-Hsiu-chu as its first female leader after ousting her as its presidential candidate.
- The Kuomintang had ditched Hung Hsiu-chu as her abrasive style and strongly pro-China positions were seen as alienating voters. Now Hung is the first woman to chair the party and likely faces a difficult time rebuilding it after its electoral defeat.
- Hung takes over from Eric Chu, who was the party’s eventual presidential candidateand who resigned as party chairman after the defeat.
- Hung was the former legislator and teacher and she was chosen from the three other competitors.
- Tsai Ing-wen, who belonged to the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidential election of Taiwan.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Hung from Beijing.
- Hung was jettisoned as the Kuomintang`s presidential candidate in favor of then-chairman Eric Chu. He lost to Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, and her party also gained a decisive parliamentary majority.
7) Agra`s Pallavi In Limca Book As First Solo Woman To Cross Mana Pass.
- Pallavi Fauzdar, 35, from Agra has gotten her name in the Limca Book of Records for the first woman solo motorcyclist to ride across Mana pass in Uttarakhand, arguably the world`s highest motorable mountain pass.
- Fauzdar scaled eight Himalayan mountain passes, all above 5,000 metre, last year.
- Mana is located at a staggering altitude of 5,638 m (18,497 ft) above sea level, on the border between India and Tibet, and is considered as one of the most difficult biking trails.
- Pallavi received the acknowledgement and a certificate from Limca.
- She is married to Parikshit Mishra, an Army officer, with two kids.
- Pallavi packed a pepper spray and a GPS device and set off for her Himalayan journey of seven days.
- Pallavi, besides being an experienced motorcyclist, is an accomplished fashion designer, a social worker and a Rekki practitioner.
8) P. Susheela Enters Guinness Records.
- Versatile singer, Padma Bhushan awardee P. Susheela has added yet another feather to her cap by entering the Guinness Book of World Records.
- The mellifluous singer broke the previous record of 11,000 solo songs by singer Asha Bhosle to enter the Guinness Book.
- The citation presented by the agency to the five-time national award winning singer read, ``Pulapaka Susheela Mohan, India (1935) has reportedly recorded up to 17,695 solo, duet and chorus-backed songs in over six Indian languages since the 1960s``.
- The Telugu singer, who has won awards from different states several times, has an enviable track record in the world of music.
- She hailed as Gaana Kokila, the singer has sung exceptional 1,336 duets with S P Balasubrahmanyam, which is a record for the maximum number of duets by the same duo.
- Susheela has also created a record of singing over 10,000 songs in Tamil and over 30,000 songs in other languages.
- Vivek Raj of Asia Book of Records gave away the certificate and a badge of honour to the singer for the most number of single studio recordings.
9) Stephen Hawking, all rights reserved.
- British physicist Stephen Hawking is getting his name trademarked, joining the ranks of celebrities like J.K. Rowling and David Beckham, who have turned their names into brands.
- Professor Hawking, 73, has applied to the Intellectual Property Office to have his name formally registered, while another English physicist, Brian Cox, has already made the move.
- For Professor Hawking, subject of the Oscar-winning film The Theory of Everything, the primary aim is to prevent others from exploiting his name with inappropriate products.
- He has also applied to get his name trademarked for, giving him the option of setting up a foundation, such as one to promote physics or for research into motor neurone disease, which has left him paralysed.
- His trademark would cover computer games, powered wheelchairs, greetings cards and health care.
- Chris McLeod, president of the Institute of Trademark Attorneys, the move could be worth millions of pounds.
10) Forbes list: Michael Jordan still sport`s highest-paid retired star.
- The 53-year-old basketball legend remains on top of the Forbes highest paid retired athletes list, comfortably easing out former English soccer player David Beckham and golf star Arnold Palmer in the process.
- Jordan earned $110 million in 2015 thanks to sales of Nike`s Jordan brand increasing by 14%, according to Forbes.
- He also maintains lucrative relationships with brands such as Hanes, Gatorade, Five Star Fragrances and Upper Deck and is worth an estimated $1.1 billion despite retiring 13 years ago.
- Beckham was the second-highest earning star of the past year, up a place from 2013.
- The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and LA Galaxy player pulled in a cool $65 million thanks in part to partnerships with fashion brand Kent & Curwen and Chinese real estate firm Luneng.
- Ex-England captain Beckham is also seeking to start an MLS soccer franchise in Miami as part of the U.S. league`s planned expansion.