22nd February 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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National Affairs

• Nine months after he stepped down, the JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar was today sworn-in as the Bihar Chief Minister, ending days of political drama following a bitter power struggle with Jitan Ram Manjhi.
• Besides Kumar, 22 ministers, including three women, were also administered the oath of office.
• The ministers are : Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Ramai Ram, Damodar Raut, Narendra Narayan Yadav, P.K. Shahi, Shyam Rajak, Awadesh Kushwaha, Lesie Singh, Dulal Chand Goswami, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Shrawan Kumar, Ramlashan Ram Raman, Ramdhani Singh, Jai Kumar Singh, Manoj Kumar Singh, Javed Iqbal Ansari, Bima Bharti, Ranju Geeta, Baidyanath Sahni, Vinod Singh Yadav and Naushad Alam.

International Affairs

• Today (22nd February) is Twins day.
• Today is World Thinking Day.
• This day is celebrated annually on 22 February by all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
• It is also celebrated by Scout and Guide organizations and some boy-oriented associations around the world.
• It is a day when they think about  their "sisters" (and "brothers") in all the countries of the world, the meaning of Guiding, and its global impact.
• The Sri Lankan parliament has given approval to enact laws to protect the victims of crimes and witnesses by passing the long awaited piece of legislation.
• Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe presented the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Bill in Parliament and the bill was passed by the House with amendments.
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa is in his Official visit to India.

People in News

• An Indian Christian priest, Father Alexis Prem Kumar, abducted in Afghanistan eight months back, has been released.
• Prem Kumar was abducted in Herat province in western Afghanistan by unidentified gunmen on June 2 last year.
• Mohamed Nasheed, the former Maldivian president and opposition leader, was arrested today.
• He was the country’s first democratically elected leader
• He was arrested on terrorism charges over the controversial detention of Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012.

Awards & Honors

• Purnendu Dasgupta, an Indian-American, who developed an environment friendly field analyser for checking toxic arsenic levels in water, has been awarded with 2015 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award.
• The national award recognises a scientist, who has enhanced the professional development of analytical chemistry students, developed and published innovative experiments, designed and improved equipment or teaching labs and published influential textbooks or significant articles on teaching analytical chemistry.

Business & Economy

• FDI in India almost doubled to 2.16 billion dollars in December 2014, compared to 1.10 billion dollars in the same month of 2013.
• Amongst the top 10 sectors, telecom received the maximum FDI of 2.67 billion dollars in the nine-month period, followed by services 2.29 billion and automobile 1.58 billion. 
• During this period, India received maximum FDI from Mauritius of 5.89 billion dollars, followed by Singapore 4.31billion & the Netherlands 2.57 billion.

Sports
Word Cup 2015

• India beat South Africa by 130 runs.
• Man of the Match Shikhar Dhawan slams 137 (his 1st century in World Cup).

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