- Current Affairs August 2020
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Current Affairs August 2020 - Resignations
1 - Domestic all-rounder Rajat Bhatia announced retirement
Famous Indian domestic all-rounder and former Kolkata Knight Riders star Rajat Bhatia announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. He played 112 First-class matches representing Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Uttarakhand. He scored 6482 runs at an average of 49.10 and took 137 wickets. He also played 119 List A games and 146 T20s.
Rajat won Ranji Trophy for Delhi in 2007-08 and the IPL in 2012 with KKR team. He represented various other teams of IPL such as Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rising Pune Super-giants.
2 - World Cup winner Benedikt Höwedes announced retirement
Benedikt Howedes of Germany announced to retire from football. He was a defender in the German national football team that won the World Cup title in 2014. He played 44 games for his national team from 2011-17 and played for his team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Höwedes was also one of three German players, who played every minute of all seven World Cup games, alongside goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and captain Philipp Lahm. He played for Schalke club from 2007-18. He moved to Russia with Lokomotiv in 2018. He captained Schalke for six seasons.
3 - Former Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas announced retirement
Former Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas announced retirement at the age of 39 years. He was Spain’s World Cup-winning captain in 2010. He also helped Spain win two successive European Championships in 2008 and 2012.
Casillas made 725 appearances for Real Madrid and won three Champions League titles and five La Liga crowns. Casillas was last playing for Spanish club Porto, which he joined in 2015. However, he has not played since suffering a heart attack, during the training in April 2019.
4 - Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu resigned
Girish Chandra Murmu has resigned as Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He has now been appointed as the CAG of India. Murmu officially took charge as the first L-G of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, 2019, under the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organisation Act, 2019.
Mr Murmu is a 1985 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Gujarat cadre. Prior to his appointment as LG of J&K, he was the expenditure secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
5 - Lebanon's PM Hassan Diab resigned
Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab has resigned from his post in the wake of major blast in Beirut that has triggered public outrage. The Prime Minister's resignation follows a weekend of anti-government protests after the August 4 explosion in Beirut's port. President Michel Aoun has accepted the resignation of the Diab government.
Diab's government was formed in January 2020 after his predecessor, Saad Hariri, stepped down in October 2019 in response to the demonstrations.
6 - Isher Judge Ahluwalia resigned as ICRIER Chairperson
Isher Judge Ahluwalia has stepped down as Chairperson of think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). She had been at the helm for 15 years. Isher will continue as Chairperson Emeritus as a honour for her exceptional contributions to the Council.
Isher Judge Ahluwalia was awarded Padma Bhushan by the President of India in the year 2009, for her services in the field of education and literature. Dr. Ahluwalia was Chairperson of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban.
7 - MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina announced retirement from International Cricket
Former Indian Cricket Team Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from International Cricket. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World T-20, the 2010 and 2016 Asia Cups, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.
Suresh Raina has also announced his retirement from International Cricket. A member of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning squad, Raina featured in 18 Tests and 226 ODIs, apart from playing in 78 T20IS.
8 - Ashok Lavasa resigned as Election Commissioner
Ashok Lavasa has resigned as the Election Commissioner of India. He will join the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as its new Vice-President in September. The ADB has appointed Ashok Lavasa as vice-president for Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships. Mr. Lavasa will succeed Diwakar Gupta in ADB.
Lavasa was appointed as Election Commissioner on January 23, 2018. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre and retired as Finance Secretary.
9 - Mali's President resigned following a military coup
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned after the military seized him from his home as part of a coup. The President along with PM Boubou Cissé were detained by the military.
Mr Keïta won a second term in elections in 2018. However, the country was going through anger over corruption, the mismanagement of the economy and a dispute over legislative elections. The mutinous soldiers identified themselves as the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (NCSP).
10 - England woman cricketer Laura Marsh announced retirement
England off-spinner, Laura Marsh, announced her retirement from international cricket. During her 13-year international career, she represented England in 103 ODIs, 67 T20Is and 9 Tests. She is the most successful England Women spinner ever, with 217 international wickets.
Laura was also famously a part of three World Cup-winning teams, lifting the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2009 and 2017, and the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 trophy at Lord’s, also in 2009.
11 - Australia all-rounder Cameron White announced retirement
Australian all-rounder Cameron White announced retirement from all forms of professional cricket. He played 91 ODIs and 47 T20Is, leading the limited-overs team in seven international games. He scored 146 runs in Tests, 2072 in ODIs, 984 T20I runs and had over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket.
White is known for being best middle order batsman and right-arm leg-spin bowler. In domestic cricket, Cameron scored 10,537 first-class runs from 177 games at an average of 39.91.
12 - Indian Energy Exchange MD & CEO Rajiv Srivastava resigned
Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Rajiv Srivastava resigned from his post. Satyanarayan Goel, the current non-executive chairman of the board of IEX was given additional charge as the interim MD and CEO of the company.
Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) is India's power trading platform regulated by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. It enables efficient price discovery and increases the accessibility and transparency of the power market in India, while also, enhancing the speed and efficiency of trade execution.
13 - Indian Table Tennis star Poulomi Ghatak announced retirement
Poulomi Ghatak, one of the most successful Indian table tennis players, who represented India at various international levels, announced retirement. She had won three junior national championships (1996, 1998 and 1999), seven senior national championships between 1998 and 2016, won gold medal at SAF Games 2006, National Championships 2006 and at National Championship, 2007.
Poulomi is ranked 22nd amongst women players in India as per the 2018 rankings of the Table Tennis Federation of India. She was honored with Arjuna award in 2009.
14 - Kevin Mayer resigned as CEO of TikTok
Kevin Mayer, the chief executive of TikTok resigned from the post. The resignation follows President Donald Trump’s order to ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells its US operations to an American company within 90 days. Kevin Mayer had joined TikTok in May 2020 after resigning as Disney executive.
TikTok, known in China as Douyin, is a video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based Internet technology company. It is for creating short-form mobile videos.
15 - Bryan brothers announced retirement from the sport
Veteran men’s doubles pair in tennis history, Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan have announced their retirement from the sport. They had created historical Open Era record of 119 trophies in 26 seasons, including all four Grand Slams, all nine ATP Masters 1000s and the Olympic gold medal.
Bryan brothers are the only doubles pairing in history to have completed the "Double Career Grand Slam", having won all four Grand Slam titles at least twice as a team. They were named ATP Team of the Decade for 2000–2009[5] and for 2010–2019.
16 - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has resigned on account of health reasons. He is the longest serving prime minister of Japan. He was first appointed to office in 2012. He had also served as PM for a short period between July 2006 to September 2007, making him the youngest PM when he was elected at the age of 52.
Abe has been a firm conservative politician and is known for his nationalist policies. Abe’s tenure will particularly be known for his aggressive economic policies known as ‘Abenomics’. Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to attend India’s Republic Day parade.