Grant Flower named as Pakistan batting coach

1.    Grant Flower named as Pakistan batting coach

i. Grant Flower, the former Zimbabwe batsman on 15 May 2014 was named as the batting coach of Pakistan cricket team for two years. He will join the Pakistan side on 1 August 2014 just before the Sri Lanka series of the team.

ii. Grant Flower name was finalised on the recommendation of the coaching committee comprised of 
• Moin Khan - Chief Selector
• Intikhab Alam - director domestic cricket operations
• Haroon Rashid - director game development
iii. This appointment of Grant Flower came a week after Waqar Younis returned as the head coach of Pakistan.

iv. Earlier, Grant Flower (43) has served as the batting coach of Zimbabwe for over three years from October 2010. In cricketing he had a lengthy career which included 221 ODIs and 67 Tests. 

2.    AIBA approved Boxing India as the new provisional member to represent India

i. The International Boxing Association (AIBA) Executive Committee on 15 May 2014 approved the application of Boxing India (The Bout outside the Ring) as the new provisional member of AIBA to represent India. 
ii. The approval came after the AIBA Executive Committee was convinced that the new vision and the initiatives proposed by Boxing India would help revive the sport of boxing in the India in a professional and ethical manner.
iii. Boxing India would be a provisional member of AIBA until the ratification by AIBA congress. The ratification will be done on the basis of recommendations given by the AIBA Evaluation Committee.

3.    Union Government extended Ban on LTTE for five years

i. The Union Home Ministry on 14 May 2014 extended the ban imposed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in India for five more years.

ii. The five year ban extension came into effect from the day of notification. Earlier the ban was imposed on LTTE in May 2012.

iii. India banned the terror outfit, LTTE after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India in 1991. It declared LTTE an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

iv. The terror outfit LTTE was banned because India fears that  the objective of LTTE for a separate homeland (Tamil Eelam) for all Tamils threatened the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India as it has supporters and sympathizers in India also.