Current Affairs Update - 24-29 Oct, 2014

• ·         Masayoshi son was recently in news because he announced the biggest ever investment in the India. He announced to invest 10 billion US dollar in the coming years in the IT sector.
• ·         He started with the announcement to invest 627 million US dollar in the Snapdeal. With the investment, the snapdeal will become the largest shareholder in the online marketplace major.
• ·         Masayoshi Son is a Korean-Japanese businessman. He is the founder and current chief executive officer (CEO) of SoftBank, the chief executive officer of SoftBank Mobile, and current chairman of Sprint Corporation.
• ·         He is the richest man in Japan despite having the distinction of losing the most money in history. He lost approximately 70 billion US dollar during the dot com crash of 2000.
• ·         According to Forbes magazine, his net worth is 22.3 billion US dollar as of 2014. Forbes also describes him as a philanthropist.
• ·         Son was named the world's 45th most powerful person by Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People in 2013.

• ·         Harvard Business Review (HBR), in the issue of November 2014, named CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos as best-performing CEO in the world.
• ·         The Harvard Business Review compiled its list of top CEOs by comparing shareholder returns for S&P Global 1200 companies from each executive's first day in office until 30 April 2014. Bezos won by a wide margin.
• ·         The report lists only one CEO of Indian origin Ajay Banga of Mastercard, among the 100 names representing various industries.
• ·         Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos was born on 12 January 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a business magnate, investor and a technology entrepreneur who has played a key role in the growth of e-commerce as the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, an online merchant of books and later of a wide variety of products.
• ·         He founded Amazon.com in 1994 with headquarters at Seattle. Under his guidance, Amazon.com became the largest retailer on the World Wide Web and a top model for Internet sales.
• ·         As of October 2014, Bezos's personal wealth is estimated to be 27.6 billion US dollars, ranking him number 21 on the Forbes list of billionaires.

• ·         India along with 20 other countries on 23 October 2014 signed an agreement to become the founding member of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
• ·         The AIIB bank aims to aid the infrastructure development in the Asian region and reduce the dependence on Western-dominated World Bank and IMF.
• ·         The agreement was signed by the Usha Titus, Joint Secretary, Economic Affairs division of the Union Ministry of Finance on behalf of India at a special ceremony in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People.
• ·         On the Chinese counterpart, the agreement was signed by the China’s Vice Finance Minister Jin Liqun. He was also the former Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank and he has been appointed as the Secretary General of AIIB.
• ·         The AIIB is in addition to the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Development Bank formed in 2014. The bank will be based in Shanghai. It is set to commence its operations with an Indian as its President.
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• • The Bank will be headquartered in Beijing.
• • The bank is expected to be operational by 2015.
• • The authorised capital of AIIB is 100 billion US Dollar and the initial subscribed capital is expected to be around 50 billion US Dollar. The paid-in ratio will be 20 per cent.
• • Voting rights are to be decided after consultations among the members over fixing the bench marks which were expected to be combination of GDP and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
• • Based on this formula, India will be second largest share holder of the bank after China.
• • The bank will help to bridge the infrastructure deficit by playing a complimentary role along with other financial institutions like ADP and IMF and work for good governance.
• • Besides India and China, other AIIB members are Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Qatar, Oman, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia and Myanmar.

• ·         Japanese telecom giant Softbank on 27 October 2014 announced to invest 627 million US dollar in Snapdeal.
• ·         With the investment, the Snapdeal will become the largest shareholder in the online marketplace major. Through this strategic investment and partnership with Snapdeal, the SoftBank Group aims to further strengthen its presence in India and leverage synergies with its network of Internet companies around the world.
• ·         This is the largest investment made by a single investor in an e-commerce company in India. Other existing investors have also participated in this round of investment but the company declined to disclose the amount.
• ·         Snapdeal has risen close to 1 billion US Dollar during the year 2014. Founded in 2010, Snapdeal has more than 25 million registered users and more than 50000 business sellers.
• ·         The investment was a part of the SoftBank commitment to investment 10 billion US dollar (over 60000 crore rupees) in India’s IT and communications space. This was one of the biggest investment commitments from a Japanese firm.

• ·         Realty firm Emaar MGF Land Limited on 27 October 2014 tied up with payment gateway firm PayU India for providing an online payment facility to its customers.

• •       Emaar MGF customers can now pay EMIs for their properties through PayUMoney.
• •       PayUMoney will help customers to pay anytime and any amount with no restrictions of NEFT or RTGS.
• •       The association will enable Emaar MGF to offer a unique and secured payment gateway on its customer service portal e-Services.
• •       The customers need not make multiple payments for different projects of Emaar MGF. Simply they have to make one payment and PayUMoney will split it among the various projects.

• ·         PayU India is one of the world's largest consumer payment processors. PayU India's parent company is Naspers Group, a media and internet firm listed in Johannesberg and London stock exchange.
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• ·         PayUMoney is a payment solution developed by PayU India. PayUMoney serves more than 40000 businesses with some of the prominent names like bookmyshow, goibibo, rechargeitnow, redbus etc.

• ·         The Union Government on 27 October 2014 disclosed names of black money account holders in an affidavit to Supreme Court (SC). The affidavit was filed after the union government was attacked by political rivals that it was cautious of revealing names.
• ·         These account holders were suspected for stashing black money in foreign banks. The names revealed by the government were:

• •       Pradip Burman, one of Dabur India promoters
• •       Bullion trader Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhya
• •       Goa-based mining company Timblo Pvt Ltd and its five directors Radha Satish Timblo, Chetan S Timblo, Rohan S Timblo, Anna C Timblo and Mallika R Timblo

• ·         They were charged under various sections of the Income Tax Act and Money Laundering Act. These names were received from French authorities and other countries.

• ·         Telecom giant SoftBank of Japan on 27 October 2014 pledged to make an investment of 10 billion US dollars (over 60000 crore rupees) in India's IT and communications sector in coming years.
• ·         With this investment, SoftBank looks forward for opportunities in telecom space and the fast-growing e-commerce sector in India.
• ·         The investment proposal was made by SoftBank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masayoshi Son during his meeting with Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. During his India visit, Masayoshi Son also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
• ·         Apart from this, SoftBank Group and Snapdeal on 28 October 2014 also announced definitive agreements under which SoftBank Group will become the largest investor in Snapdeal, through a total investment of 627 million US dollar.
• ·         The Group also announced a definitive agreement with ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (better known as Ola Cabs) to invest 210 million US dollar in Ola along with existing investors.

• ·         Targeting an annual bilateral commerce of $15 billion by 2020, India on Tuesday offered a $300 million credit line to Vietnam for trade diversification. India has already extended a $100 million Line of Credit (LoC) last month to the South East Asian nation for defence procurement to help it modernise its armed forces.
• ·         Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung noted that enhancing economic cooperation should be pursued as a strategic objective.
• ·         Expressing satisfaction on the steady progress made in enhancing trade and investment between the countries, both the leaders agreed to take measures to significantly expand and diversify bilateral commerce for mutually beneficial results and "agreed to enhance the trade targets to $15 billion by 2020," a joint statement issued after the meeting said.
• ·         In 2013-14, the two-way commerce between India and Vietnam stood at $8 billion.

• ·         India ranked 142 among the 189 countries surveyed for the latest World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report released on Wednesday, a drop by two places from the last year’s ranking, as Singapore topped the list.
• ·         The fall in ranking from last year’s 140 is mainly because other nations performed much better, Bank officials said. India’s ranking originally stood at 134 last year, but was adjusted to 140 to account for fresh data.
• ·         In the 2014 report, India had 52.78 points and this year it scored 53.97 points.
• ·         The latest ranking, however, does not take into account a slew of measures taken by the Modi government to make India a business friendly destination.

• ·         Supreme Court on 28 October 2014 rapped the Union Government and Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung over delay in Delhi Government formation.
• ·         The reprimand came when the Union Government informed Supreme Court that the President of India Pranab Mukherjee had given consent to invite the single-largest party BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) for forming the government in Delhi.
• ·         The Supreme Court also mentioned that in a democracy President Rule cannot go on forever. Currently, Delhi is in its eighth month of President Rule after the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government headed by Arvind Kejriwal resigned in February 2014.

• ·         President's rule refers to Article 356 of the Constitution of India that deals with the failure of the constitutional machinery of an Indian state.
• ·         Article 356 is invoked if there has been failure of the constitutional machinery in any state of India. During President's rule, the Governor has the authority to appoint retired civil servants or other administrators to assist him.

• ·         Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar on 28 October 2014 was elected Vice-President (VP) of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in Macau.  He was elected unopposed.
• ·         While, the representative from South Korean broadcaster KBS was chosen president.
• ·         Jawhar Sircar is the Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, India's national public service broadcaster, with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
• ·         He supervises the two broadcasting networks of India, namely, All India Radio (AIR) & Doordarshan (TV) that are among the first three biggest in the world.
• ·         He has served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India from late 2008 to February 2012, where he reported directly to the Prime Minister for most of his tenure.
• ·         He resigned to take over the current assignment for which he was chosen by an eminent panel led by the Vice President of India and Justice M Katju.

• ·         Surya Prakash on 28 October 2014 was appointed as the Chairman of Prasar Bharti Board for a term of three years.  He succeeded Mrinal Pande whose term ended on April 2014.
• ·         He was appointed on the recommendation of a three-member committee headed by Vice President M Hamid Ansari and comprising of Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju and Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka.
• ·         At present, he is a Distinguished Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi and Director of India Foundation in New Delhi.

• ·         India and Vietnam on 28 October 2014 signed seven Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) in New Delhi. The MoUs were signed during the visit of Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung in India.
• ·         The delegation level talks between India and Vietnam were focused on setting up projects in Vietnam on build, operate and transfer basis.

• •       The agreements were signed in the areas of education, culture, Information and Broadcasting and oil exploration.
• •       One agreement was signed for establishing Nalanda University.
• •       Another agreement was signed for developing a Centre of English language and Information and Communication Technology training at the Telecommunications University, Ministry of Defence, Vietnam.
• •       An agreement for audio-visual cooperation between Prasar Bharati and Voice of Vietnam was also signed.
• •       The two sides signed pacts for conservation and restoration of heritage sites of My Son, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.
• •       An agreement was signed between the heads of ONGC Videsh Limited and PetroVietnam.
• •       Another agreement was signed for the establishment of a cultural exchange programme for 2015-17 between the Ministry of Culture of both nations.

• ·         Despite these agreements, the State Bank of Vietnam and the Bank of India also handed over the license between each other for opening a full-fledged branch of the Bank of India in Vietnam.
• ·         Moreover, India will soon operationalise 100 million US Dollars Line of Credit to Vietnam. India-Vietnam aim to enhance the trade targets to 15 billion US Dollars by 2020.

• ·         Union Defence Ministry on 25 October 2014 cleared the deal worth 8000 crore rupees to buy anti tank missiles from Israel. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) which was headed by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
• ·         Under the deal, India will buy at least 8000 Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers in a deal worth 32 billion rupees.
• ·         Twelve Dornier aircraft will also be bought for the navy and 362 infantry combat vehicles. The council also agreed to go ahead with locally build six submarines in collaboration with a foreign partner in a project worth 50000 crore rupees.
• ·         It also includes acquiring 1768 critical rolling stock - open and closed wagons for transport of military equipment at a cost of 740 crore rupees.
• ·         Under the deal, the union Ministry picks the Spike anti tank missile over the Javelin missiles of the US.

• ·         First, the extent of Technology Transfer to the Indian counterpart Bharat Dynamic wasn't clear;
• ·         Second, the cost of the Israeli missiles was cheaper than the US missile and
• ·         Third, canceling the Israeli deal at the last moment would have sent wrong signals to the international community.

• ·         Delhi High Court (HC) on 26 October 2014 issued notice to the Attorney General of India (AGI) to suggest ways to reform the Indian Easement Act of 1882 and examine the constitutional validity of the Section 60 (b) of the Act. With this, the Delhi HC begun the exercise independently to zero in on outdated laws that need to be phased out.
• ·         The Indian Easement Act deals with rights conferred on an individual over land not owned by him, but negotiated through a license agreement.
• ·         A Delhi HC bench headed by Justice J R Midha issued notice to the AGI after settling a property suit between two brothers. While settling the property suit, the bench raised questions about the Constitutional validity of section 60 (b) of the Act. Section 60 (b) gives all encompassing powers to a licensee in a property even though he doesn't own it.
• ·         Justice Midha decided to examine the validity of the Act after it came to his attention during the hearings on the private suit that Section 60(b) of the Indian Easement Act, 1882 is heavily tilted against owner of the property.

• ·         India became the world’s fourth largest steel producer by delivering 62.41 Million Tonnes (MT) output from January 2014 to September 2014. The findings were published on 21 October 2014 in the World Steel Association (WSA) data.
• ·         India has been the world’s fourth largest steel maker since 2010. As per the World Steel Association (WSA) data, the steel production of India grew by 1.8 percent during the January-September period of 2014. India produced 61.27 MT of steel in the same period in 2013.
• ·         India was preceded by China, Japan and the United States. China logged 2.3 percent growth by producing 618 MT steel during the January-September period of 2014. Japan remained at the second position with 83.1 MT production  and United States stood at the third spot with 66.33 MT production.

• ·         68th Infantry Day was observed across India on 27 October 2014 to pay homage to war heroes.
• ·         The day was observed by performing the wreath-laying ceremony at the Parachute Regiment Training Centre War Memorial, JC Nagar in Bangalore, Karnataka.
• ·         Indian Army’s first Infantry contingent including troops of the 1 Sikh Infantry Battalion on 27 October 1947 landed at Srinagar Airfield and fought a courageous battle to liberate the Kashmir valley from the intruders. Till then, the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir was under attack by the tribal raiders supported by the troops of the newly formed Pakistani Army.
• ·         To commemorate this gallant action by the Infantry, 27 October is celebrated as the Infantry Day.

• ·         Sir Schindler Nicholas Winton on 28 October 2014 was awarded the Order of the White Lion of Czech Republic by the President Milos Zeman. The Order of the White Lion is the highest civilian honour of the Czech Republic.
• ·         He was awarded at the age of 105 in a ceremony held at Prague Castle, Czech Republic for saving 669 children from Nazis.
• ·         Nicholas also known as the British Schindler organised the transportation and settlement of 669 children, mostly Jews from German occupied Czechoslovakia before the Second World War broke out in 1939. He was 29 years old when he arranged trains to take the children out of occupied Czechoslovakia and for foster families to meet them in London.
• ·         In 2003, Winton received the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement and he was named a British Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government in 2010.

• ·         Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan was recently in news as he was summoned by a US Federal Court in Los Angeles on 28 October 2014 for allegedly instigating violence against the Sikh community during the November 1984 riots.
• ·         Amitabh Bachchan  was accused of raising the slogan Khooon Ka Badla Khoon (blood for blood) on 31 October  1984 after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her two Sikh bodyguards.
• ·         The US Federal Court has given 21 days to Bachchan to respond to the charges of human rights violations as per the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. However, if he failed to respond, judgment by default will be entered against him for relief demanded in the complaint.
• ·         The complaint against Amitabh Bachchan was filed by New York-based Sikh for Justice (SFJ) and two alleged victims Babu Singh Dukhiya and Mohender Singh of the anti-Sikh riots.
• ·         Over the past several years, SFJ has unsuccessfully tried to drag several Indian leaders to US courts in the alleged human rights violations cases.

• ·         Former Indian ambassador, Arathil Candeth Narayan Nambiar was described as a Soviet Spy by the declassified documents of the National Archives of Britain. The documents were released on 24 October 2014 under the 30-year-rule.
• ·         The declassified documents said that Nambiar, who was a deputy of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and was also old friend of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, went to Berlin in 1924 as a journalist and worked with the Indian communist group, visiting Moscow as a Soviet guest in 1929, the year when he came under the radar of the British intelligence services.

• •       Nambiar was expelled from, Germany on the outbreak of the Second World War but was allowed to return as Subhash Chandra Bose's deputy in Berlin
• •       He became a German-financed leader of the Free India Movement in Europe after Bose moved to the Far East to join the Japanese
• •       He lived in Europe during 1930s and 1940s
• •       In June 1945, he was arrested in Austria and was interrogated in September 1945 as a Nazi collaborator
• •       After World War-II, he worked as counsellor at the Indian Legation in Berne, as Indian ambassador to Scandinavia and then to West Germany
• •       He worked as European correspondent of the Hindustan Times
• •       The British documents also include the names and details of Netaji-led Azad Hind activities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
• •       The declassified files also include copies of letters from Nambiar to Bose which recovered from the German submarine U-boat 234 after it surrendered during the Second World War

• ·         Google CEO Larry Page on 26 October 2014 appointed Sundar Pichai as new Product Chief of Google.
• ·         The India-born executive will oversight over products such as search, maps, Google+, commerce, advertising and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Google’s YouTube will remain under the command of Susan Wojcicki, CEO of the well known video hosting website.
• ·         The new role make him second-in-command at Google. Pichai has been working at Google for more than 9 years.
• ·         Six executives who previously reported to Page, including the heads of research, social media and search, will now report to Pichai. Pichai will now report to Larry Page.
• ·         In addition to handling his new responsibility, Pichai will continue to work as Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome and Apps.
• ·         He joined Google in 2004, where he led the product management and innovation efforts for a suite of Google's client software products, including Google Chrome and Chrome OS, as well as being largely responsible for Google Drive.
• ·         On 20 May 2010, he announced the open-sourcing of the new video codec VP8 by Google, and introduced the new video format WebM.
• ·         On 13 March 2013, Pichai added Android to the Google products he oversees. Android was formerly managed by Andy Rubin.
• ·         In 2014, Sundar Pichai launched Android one project in India. Android one project was aimed at reaching the next 5 billion people.

• ·         Brazilian incumbent President Dilma Rousseff was re-elected for her second four-year term on 26 October 2014. She belongs to the center-left Workers’ Party and her second term will finish in December 2018.
• ·         She was re-elected after she secured 51.45 percent votes in the second round of voting that was held after no party crossed 50 percent barrier in the first round of voting held on 5 October 2014.
• ·         On the other hand, her rival Aecio Neves of the conservative Brazilian Social Democracy Party bagged 48.55 percent of the votes.
• ·         Besides, the second round of voting also saw her Workers' Party forming the government in Brazil for the fourth year in a row. Workers' Party first formed the government in 2002 with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as the President.
• ·         Rousseff who is 66 years old first became President in 2010, thus becoming the first woman President of Brazil. She is popular among the poor in Brazil because of her government's welfare policies.

• ·         Ashwika Kapur on 24 October 2014 became the first Indian woman to win prestigious Wildscreen Panda Award. She won the coveted wildlife photography award in best newcomer category for her film, Sirocco - how a dud became a stud.
• ·         Panda award also known as Green Oscar of the natural history and wildlife film industry was announced at the annual Wildscreen Film Festival held at Bristol, UK.
• ·         Ashwika’s film is a tale of a Kakapo parrot named Sirocco, which is perhaps the only bird in the world to have bagged a government job. Sirocco, a male bird was appointed as the official Spokesbird for Conservation in New Zealand who helped in conservation advocacy on social media.

• ·         Parliament of Australia on 19 October 2014 lifted ban on facial coverings including burqas and niqabs in Public areas.
• ·         However, the face coverings would have to be removed temporarily at the front door so that staff could identify any person who may have been banned from entering Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk.
• ·         The ban was lifted after Prime Minister Tony Abbott intervened following wide-scale condemnation of the decision of the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS). The decision of the DPS was criticised as a segregation of Muslim women and a potential breach of anti-discrimination laws.
• ·         Earlier in the first week of October 2014, DPS had announced that persons with facial coverings would no longer be allowed in the open public galleries. Instead, they were to be directed to galleries usually reserved for noisy schoolchildren where they could sit behind soundproof glass.

• ·         Manjul Bhargava was recently in news because he won the Fields Medal awards for the year 2014. The Fields Medal is also known as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics and is awarded to mathematicians who are aged below 40.
• ·         Manjul Bhargava was awarded the Fields Medal for his pioneering work on several long standing and important problems in number theory, and for the methods he has introduced to achieve this phenomenal progress, methods that will influence research for years to come.
• ·         Professor Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University was recognised for his path-breaking contributions to some of the most famous and difficult problems in Number Theory.

• ·         Biography of Allama Muhammad Iqbal was released in October 2014. The biography is titled Iqbal: The Life of a Poet, Philosopher and Politician. The biography is written by Zafar Anjum, the editor of Kitaab. The book has been published by Random House.
• ·         The book highlights the story of Iqbal’s evolution as a poet, philosopher and politician and talks about his personal life. It also highlights some of the least known facets of the poet’s life. These facets include how did a nationalist poet transform into a poet of Islamic revivalism and global revolution? How did three years in Europe change Iqbal’s political and philosophical outlook? Why did he start writing in Persian during his stay in Europe? Why did his first marriage fail and how did his romantic relationships affect him? What exactly was the poet’s role in bringing about Partition?
• ·         Allama Mohammad Iqbal remains a controversial figure in the history of the Indian subcontinent. Sarojini Naidu called him the Poet laureate of Asia.
• ·         On the one hand, he is considered the Spiritual Father of Pakistan.
• ·         On the other, his message of Eastern revivalism places him in the ranks of the twentieth century's major intellectuals.
• ·         Iqbal's tragedy was that after his death, he was made the national poet of Pakistan and largely ignored in India. In his time, he was lauded as much as Tagore but today India celebrates Tagore while Iqbal has been banished from her consciousness.

• ·         International Internet Day was observed globally on 29 October 2014 to mark the anniversary of the first usage of the Internet to send a message electronically in 1969.
• ·         International Internet Day is celebrated worldwide on 29 October every year. Since 2005, the International Internet Day has been celebrated to commemorate a momentous day in the history of telecommunications and technology.
• ·         At the time when history was being made, Internet was known as ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). This was the year of 1969 when a student programmer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Charley Kline transmitted the first ever electronic message on 29 October 1969.
• ·         Charley Kline working under the supervision of Professor Leonard Kleinrock transmitted a message from the computer based at the UCLA to a computer positioned at the Stanford Research Institute's computer.

• ·         Serena Williams of the US on 26 October 2014 won the Singles title of BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore 2014. In the finals held at Singapore Indoor Stadium, she defeated Simona Halep of Romania 6-3, 6-0.
• ·         With this win, she won the WTA Finals for the fifth time. Earlier, she had won the WTA Finals title in 2001, 2009, 2012 and 2013.

• ·         Martina Navratilova - eight titles (1978, 1979, 1981, 1983-86*)
• ·         Steffi Graf - five titles (1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996)
• ·         Serena Williams - five titles (2001, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014)
• ·         Chris Evert - four titles (1972, 1973, 1975, 1977)
• ·         Monica Seles - three titles (1990, 1991, 1992)
• ·         Kim Clijsters - three titles (2002, 2003, 2010)

• ·         Sania Mirza (India) and Cara Black (Zimbabwe) won the WTA doubles title against Peng Shuai (China) and Hsieh Su-Wei (Chinese Taipei), 6-1, 6-0.

• ·         Para-swimmer Sharath Gayakwad on 26 October 2014 broke the 28-year old record of P T Usha of winning the most medals at a multi-discipline event by an Indian. He achieved this feat at Asian Para Games in Incheon, South Korea.
• ·         At the games, Sharath Gayakwad won 6 medals, thus breaking the record held by PT Usha. She had won 5 medals at the 1986 Asian Games held in Seoul, South Korea.

• ·         South Africa's football captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa died on 26 October 2014 after being shot. The incident occurred at Meyiwa's girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s house in Vosloorus, south of Johannesburg.
• ·         The 27-year-old Meyiwa was killed after two armed men broke into the house where he was staying, while a third man remained outside. All three fled after the shots were fired.
• ·         South African Police has announced a reward of 14000 US dollars reward for information leading to the suspects' arrest.

• ·         Alan Eustace, a senior Google vice-president on 24 October 2014 broke the world altitude record for highest free-fall parachute jump. Eustace broke the world altitude record of parachute jump set by Austrian Felix Baumgartner.
• ·         57-year-old Eustace jumped in a specially designed space suit from an altitude of 135908-feet. Baumgartner created a world record of jumping from 128000 feet on 12 October 2012.
• ·         He was carried by a large balloon filed with 35000 cubic feet of helium from New Mexico to over 40 kilometers (25 miles) above the earth. After Jumping, he crossed the speed of more than 1300 kilometer per hour, which exceeded the speed of sound, setting off a small sonic boom, and broke three skydiving records in the process. After starting his fall, he reached earth within 15 minutes.

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