Japan’s Nikkei buys Financial Times in $1.3-bn deal

The two leading financial news operations from Europe and Asia are now together, as Nikkei Japanese media group is going to buy the Financial Times from Britain’s Pearson in a $1.3 billion. Financial Times acquisition is a triumph for Nikkei as this is the biggest acquisition ever by any Japanese media organisation.

Toyota falls behind Volkswagen in world’s biggest automaker race

Toyota has fallen behind Volkswagen in the race for the world’s biggest automaker title, figures showed, as the German giant outsold its Japanese rival in the first half of the year.

  • Toyota said it sold 5.02 million vehicles worldwide between January and June, falling below earlier figures from Volkswagen of 5.04 million units shifted in the same period.
  • US-based General Motors was sitting in third spot with 4.86 million in sales.

RBI to issue 10 rupee coin to mark International Yoga Day

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon issue 10 rupee denomination coins to commemorate International Yoga Day which is being observed every year on 21 June.

Beijing Defeats Almaty in Bid to Host 2022 Winter Olympics

Beijing has been chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, beating the bid of Kazakhstan’s Almaty. Having hosted the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese capital will be the first city to host both a summer and winter Games.

Note: South Korea’s Pyeongchang will host the 2018 Winter Games and Japan’s Tokyo the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Paytm Bags BCCI’s Title Sponsorship Rights 

Indian e-commerce shopping website Paytm, owned by One97 Communication won the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI )’s title sponsorship rights for all series played at home till 2019. Paytm will pay Rs 203 crore, or Rs 2.42 crore per match.

Ravichandran Ashwin honoured with Arjuna Award 

Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday gave away the Arjuna Award to R. Ashwin. The off-spinner was unable to make it to the National Sports Awards function on August 29 last year as he was in England playing the One-Day International series.

  • Ashwin, 28, was the 48th cricketer to receive the prestigious award. He emerged as a dependable bowler in all formats of the game, capturing 124 wickets (apart from scoring 1009 runs, including two hundreds) in 25 Tests, 139 scalps in 99 ODIs and 25 in 26 T20 Internationals.
  • Ashwin, who took 18 matches to complete 100 Test wickets, became the fastest Indian to reach the milestone in November 2013, edging past spin legend Erapalli Prasanna (20 Tests).
  • He is the fifth fastest bowler in Test history to bag 100 wickets.