Chinese space capsule returned to Earth

A Chinese space capsule carrying three crew members has returned to Earth following a 13-day mission.The astronauts, including China's first woman in space, carried out a successful manual docking with the Tiangong-1 laboratory module.
The mission is a key step towards China's goal of building a space station by 2020.
Premier Wen Jiabao hailed the mission as a "complete success".

"This is another outstanding contribution by the Chinese people to humanity's efforts to explore and use space," Mr Wen said in Beijing.

 The re-entry capsule of Shenzhou-9 spacecraft lands safely in Siziwang Banner of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on 29 Jun  2012

Shenzhou-9

 China on June 16, 2012 sent its first woman(Liu Yang, 33-year-old mother ) into space, successfully carrying out the much-anticipated launch of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, which will perform the first manned docking mission and lay the ground work for plans to build a space station.

The three astronauts on board Shenzhou-9, 

The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft,carrying three astronauts, blasted off from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in north-western Gansu province at 6.37 p.m. Accompanying Ms. Liu Yang on the mission are two fellow People's Liberation Army (PLA) pilots, Liu Wang and Jing Haipeng, who on Saturday became China's first astronaut to travel into space twice.

State media reported Shenzhou-9 would complete an automated docking procedure in the next couple of days, following which the astronauts will “enter the space lab to carry out scientific experiments, technical tests and physical exercises”.

President Hu Jintao in a letter described the mission as a “major breakthrough” for the manned space programme. During the 13-day mission, the crew will conduct manual docking with the Tiangong-1 or “heavenly palace” space laboratory module, which has been orbiting the earth since last September.

“I am grateful to the motherland and the people. I feel honoured to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of Chinese females,” Ms. Liu said. 

1. Who was written the book "My unforgettable Memories" ?
Mamta Banerjee

2. Who is the winner of 2012 Templeton prize ?
Dalai Lama

3. Who has been chosen for Saraswati Sammaan 2011 ?
A A Manavalan

4. The 20th ASEAN summit was organized in which place in April 2012 ?
Phnom penh

5. N.K.P Salve was passed away on 1 April 2012 . who was he ?
Former BCCI President

Mohamed Morsy

    Mohamed Morsy is set to become Egypt’s first elected President following a historic election, brought about by an uprising that first expelled the former dictator, Hosni Mubarak, and then paved the way for the country’s transition to democracy.

Radha Vinod Raju, founding Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and key member of the special investigation team which probed Rajiv Gandhi assassination, died in Kochi on Thursday. He was 62.

The high point of Mr. Raju’s career was his central role in investigating the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Later, he co-authored a book, Triumph of Justice, with SIT chief and former CBI director D.R. Kaarthikeyan. It described how investigators, starting with almost no leads, established that a hit-team from the now-decimated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam had carried out the killing.


Mr. Raju worked as officer in the Bank of India before being selected to the Indian Police Service in 1975. He was assigned to the J&K cadre, and he began an illustrious career that won him the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1992, the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 1999, a Director-General’s Commendation Certificate in January 2000 and the Sher-e-Kashmir Medal for Meritorious Services in 2003.

Mehdi Hassan died on 13 JUN 2012

India-born Ghazal legend Mehdi Hassan died on 13 JUN 2012.

Hassan was born into a family of traditional musicians at Luna village in  Rajasthan state in 1927. His family migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition in 1947.

Mehdi Hassan performed throughout the world, especially in India and Pakistan. He cut down on his performances since 1980s due to his health problem. The last song he recorded with any Indian artist was for Sarhadein with Lata Mangeshkar, who he always wanted to sing with. That was the only song he recorded with her.

RIO+20

                     The UN's Rio Earth Summit (Rio +20) is officially called the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

The Conference took place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

Manmohan Singh represented India in RIO+20

The Rio+20 summit was formally thrown open by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, bringing together representatives of 191 UN members, though US President Barack Obama and leaders of Germany and Britain -- Angela Merkel and David Cameron are giving it a miss. 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is leading the US delegation.

GLT is a necessity - Sepp Blatter

After football’s latest high-profile goal-line controversy, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said using technology to determine whether the ball has crossed the line is a “necessity.”  

Ukraine was denied what appeared to be a legitimate equaliser in its must-win match against England at the European Championship because the official beside the goal couldn’t see if the ball crossed the line before it was cleared away. Ukraine lost the match 1-0 and was eliminated.

Blatter said on Twitter that “After last night’s match GLT is no longer an alternative but a necessity.”

Dhoni India's richest sports person

       Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has beaten the likes of sprinter Usain Bolt, tennis ace Novak Djokovic and teammate Sachin Tendulkar in the latest list of world’s 100 richest sportspersons, released by the Forbes magazine.

According to the list, Dhoni is ranked 31st, which is way ahead of Djokovic (62nd), Bolt (63rd) and Tendulkar (78th).

Star footballers Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres are also behind Dhoni in the latest list.

Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather topped the list with total earnings of USD 85 million while Fillipino pugilist Manny Pacquiao, with earnings of USD 62 million, and golf legend Tiger Woods, with USD 59.4 million, are second and third.

P.A. Sangma resigned from NCP

             Former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma  resigned from the primary membership of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after it refused to back his candidature for President. Stating that he had received promise of support from senior party leaders of non-Congress parties including the opposition National Democratic Alliance, he said he could not ignore “the feeling of the tribals that Raisina Hill should not continue to be a distant dream for them”. 

Supreme Court disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister

The court disqualified Gilani as Prime Minister with retrospective effect from April 26 when it held him in contempt of court for refusing to write to Swiss authorities asking for reopening of graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari.

Microsoft's 'Surface' Tablet computer

Microsoft has unveiled Surface, a tablet computer to compete with Apple’s iPad. 

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand to announce the new tablet, calling it part of a “whole new family of devices” the company is developing. 

Surface is less than 14 millimetres thick and under 910 grams, will work on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 Pro operating system and cost as much as an Ultrabook, the company said. The pro version comes with a stylus that allows users to make handwritten notes on documents such as PDF files. 

Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft’s Windows division, called the device a “tablet that’s a great PC PC that’s a great tablet.” 

Winners of IIFA Awards 2012

13th International Indian Film Academy Awards held in Singapore

• Best Actor – Ranbir Kapoor (Rockstar)
• Best Actress – Vidya Balan (The Dirty Picture)
• Best Movie – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
• Best Director – Zoya Akhtar (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
• Best Music – A R Rahman ( Rockstar)
• Best Singer Male – Mohit Chauhan (Nadaan Parinde – Rockstar)
• Best Singer Female – Shreya Ghosal (Teri Meri – Bodyguard)
• Best Lyrics – Irshad Kamil (Nadaan Parindey – Rockstar)
• IIFA Awards 2012 for Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema – Ramesh Sippy
• IIFA 2012 Green Award: Dia Mirza

G-20

India  announced a $10 billion contribution to the IMF’s additional $430 billion financial firewall to help the debt-wracked 17-nation eurozone so that the faltering world economy is protected against the spread of any financial contagion. 

The announcement was made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address at the Plenary Session of the seventh summit of the Group of developed and developing countries (G-20) in the Mexican resort town of Los Cabos against the backdrop of growing calls to nations to increase contributions to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the bailout fund.

Mr. Sampath appointed as new CEC

Senior-most Election Commissioner Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath  appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner by President Pratibha Patil. He replaces S.Y. Quraishi 

OPEX LONDON 2012

OPEX LONDON 2012 is a program launched by India, that envisages undertaking Operation Excellence (OPEX) in the run up to the London Olympic Games, 2012. It entails training, coaching and all other facilities for teams and individual competitors in different disciplines.

Badminton

Saina Nehwal,World No 5 shuttler,  wins her third Indonesian Open title. She defeated Chinese Li Xuerui in the final match. Indonesian open held in Jakarta 

French open results -2012

The French Open is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments.
The other three are the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam held on clay and ends the spring clay court season.

Men's singles - Rafael Nadal from spain win against Novak Djokovic.

Surpassing Bjorn Borg to win seven Roland Garros titles and now tied with Chris Evert for the most French open titles, Rafael Nadal became the most successful male tennis player of all time on clay, clinching his seventh French Open title at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris









Women's Singles   -  Maria Sharapova from Russia thrashes Italy's Sara Errani in final to win French open.

Maria Sharapova became the 10th woman in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam titles.

Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza (India) won the French Open 2012 mixed doubles title.








Women's Doubles -
Italy's Sara Errani  and Italy's Roberta Vinci  beat Russia's Maria Kirilenko and Russia's Nadia Petrova 

Men's Doubles -
Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada won a second consecutive French Open doubles title by beating American twins Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan