Daily Current Affairs from 21 June 2014

1) Nirmala Sitharaman filed nomination for Rajya Sabha from Andhra: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday filed her nomination for Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader submitted her papers to Andhra Pradesh legislature secretary, who is the returning officer. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and BJP presidents of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana units K. Haribabu and G. Kishan Reddy respectively accompanied her.

2) De Villiers replaced Kohli as number one ODI batsman: South Africa's AB de Villiers has replaced Virat Kohli at the top of the latest International Cricket Council One Day International rankings issued on Friday. The swap came as a result of Kohli's decision to skip the recently concluded three-match series against Bangladesh. De Villiers was trailing Kohli by nine ratings points in the batting chart, but since a player loses one per cent of his rating for missing every match the Indian batsman has dropped a total of 13 points to now trail the South African stroke-maker by four ratings points. De Villiers is also at the top of the batting table in the Test batsmen list, while Kohli is at the 10th position.

3) Veteran TDP legislator Kodela elected Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly: Kodela Siva Prasada Rao on 20 June 2014 was elected as the first Assembly speaker of Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation. Kodela of Telugu Desam Party was the only person to be nominated for the Speaker of Assembly. He is a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Sattenapalli constituency.

4) World Refugee Day observed: World Refugee Day was observed across the world on 20 June 2014. The day is observed annually to draw attention to the plight of refugees, celebrate their courage and resilience and renew commitment to solve refugee problems. It also recognises contributions of the refugees made to the countries that host them.

5) Tang Prize for Albie Sachs: Albie Sachs, the South African judge who rose to fame for his role in the anti-apartheid struggle, was on Saturday awarded the Tang Prize, touted as Asia’s version of the Nobels, for his contributions to human rights and justice. Mr. Sachs, who lost an arm and the sight of one eye in a car-bombing by apartheid forces in Mozambique in 1988 and was later appointed to South Africa’s Constitutional Court by Nelson Mandela, was recognised “for his many contributions to human rights and justice globally,” said the Tang Prize Foundation.