Current affairs - November 18 2013

Current affairs

November 18, 2013

International Affairs

1. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he expects a long-delayed peace conference on Syria’s bloody conflict will be held in “mid-December” with a specific date to be set next week.

2. With India continuing to engage in oil exploration in South China Sea, Vietnam today appreciated its "constructive role" in the resources-rich area notwithstanding China's objections to Indian involvement.

3. The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, has announced that Australia will support India's full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

4. Reaffirming its commitment for a stable Afghanistan, India on Monday said it will continue to strongly support the war-torn country in its rebuilding and transformation and sought "concrete" measures for increasing participation by Indian businessmen in diverse trade areas there.

5. A Commonwealth disciplinary panel today dropped the Maldives from its formal agenda after the successful presidential election and inauguration of Abdulla Yameen as the country's new president.

6. A rare sabre considered a "historic testimony" to the creation of modern-day Saudi Arabia was sold for more than USD 1.2 million at an auction in France.

7. India today said it will push the industrialised nations to take a leadership role to tackle global warming, even as there was no breakthrough in sight on key issues after week-long negotiations at the UN Climate Conference.

8. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned that "excessive demands" by world powers at nuclear talks due to resume in Geneva this week could hamper the negotiations.

9. Abdulla Yameen has been sworn in as the 6th President of the Maldives on 17 November 2013. The Chief Justice of Maldives, Ahmad Faiz at a special session of the Parliament in Male administered the oath of office to Abdulla Yameen. Mohammad Jameel was sworn in as vice-President. Yameen (54) a candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) secured 51.39 percent of votes, whereas the opposition leader and the former President Mohamed Nasheed received 48.61.

10. The world’s largest cancer database — containing 1.7 billion experimental results — has been launched, with an aim to discover future treatments for the deadly disease. The system, called CanSAR, is the biggest disease database of its kind anywhere in the world and condenses more data than would be generated by one million years of use of the Hubble space telescope.

11. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is set to hit India this week. GEW INDIA 2013 allows CIIE to

create a platform to celebrate entrepreneurship across the country and help lower the societal barriers towards entrepreneurship, said Ashwin Joshi, VP Ecosystem Development, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship.

12. German carmaker Volkswagen is the world’s top private-sector investor in research and development (R&D), followed by South Korean electronics giant Samsung, according to EU data released on Monday. Volkswagen topped the list with 9.5 billion euros ($ 12.8 billion) of R&D investments in 2012, while Samsung stood at 8.3 billion euros.

13. Malta, a Southern European country was on 17 November 2013 unanimously chosen as the host of the next Commonwealth summit in 2015. The decision was made at the retreat session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka after Mauritius withdrew as host of the 2015 Commonwealth summit as a result of its prime minister’s boycott of the Colombo summit over Sri Lanka’s human rights concerns. This is second time for Malta to host the Commonwealth summit. Before this, Malta hosted a Commonwealth Summit in 2005.

About Malta: Malta is a southern European country in the Mediterranean Sea. The country covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi), making it one of the world’s smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta which is also the smallest capital in the EU. Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English.

CHOGM 2013: The 22nd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 15-17 November 2013 on the theme Growth with Equity: Inclusive Development. The event concluded with the adoption of the independent declarations – on Youth, International Trade and Inclusive Development and the release of Summit Communiqué.

14. British Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing was died on 17 November 2013 at London. She was 94 years old. Her best-known works are The Golden Notebook, Memoirs of a Survivor and The Summer Before the Dark.

15. The Jamaican sprinters, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were crowned the male and female World Athletes of the Year, 2013 on 16 November 2013. They were selected as the world athletes of the year by the sport’s governing IAAF at a ceremony in Monaco.

 National Affairs

16. Amidst controversy, Assam government has decided in principle to adopt the song 'O Mur Apunar Dex' (written by eminent litterateur Lakshminath Bezbaruah) as Asom Rajyik Jatiyo Sangeet (anthem).

17. Former President Pratibha Patil's decision to commute death sentence of five condemned prisoners in child rape cases came under judicial scrutiny on Monday with the Supreme Court issuing notice to the Centre on a plea seeking to set aside the commutation.

18. Ten digital satellite phone terminals were installed in Maoist-hit districts of poll-bound Chhattisgarh to provide better communication facilities to the security forces.

19. Gates of the famous Badrinath shrine will be closed for devotees from Monday, ending this year's 'Char Dham' yatra which was marred by the June rain fury and remained suspended for nearly three months.

20. The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Telecom Department seeking a response on how to block child pornography.

21. The Supreme Court refused to entertain a PIL challenging Union Cabinet’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh to carve out a separate Telangana state.

22. At a congregation of the community held at Sanjan in Valsad district of Gujarat on Sunday, it was decided that every Parsi couple giving birth to second child would get Rs 3,000 per month till the child attains the age of 18 years, while the couple giving birth to a third child will get Rs 5,000 per month, Punchayat's chairman Dinshaw Mehta said.

23. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand today said that Jammu and Kashmir will soon have its own Right to Education Act.

24. India has successfully test-fired the advanced version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Pokhran test firing range in Rajasthan today. The block III variant of BrahMos with deep penetration capability was test launched from a Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL).

25. Rapid Metro-India’s First Private Metro service started operation from Gurgaon, Haryana on 14 November 2013. Rapid Metro is India’s first fully privately financed Metro system connecting NH-8 to Delhi Metro via Cyber City, Gurgaon. The Rapid Metro is using a common ticketing system with Delhi Metro.

Rapid Metro Rail System:
Rapid Metro is a metro rail system in the Indian city of Gurgaon, Haryana, linked with the Delhi Metro system’s Yellow Line. Built and operated by Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon Limited (RMGL), the system is India’s first fully privately financed metro.

26. West Bengal, the host of the 23rd All India G V Mavalankar Shooting Championship topped the medals tally on 16 November 2013. The championship concluded at the Chandmari Range in West Bengal. This is the first time that West Bengal topped the medal table of national level of shooting championship.

Business and Economy

27. Reliance Industries will have to provide a bank guarantee of USD 135 million every quarter to get a higher price for natural gas from April 1 next year.

28. SEBI tightens key information disclosure norms for listed firms; asks stock exchanges to enhance surveillance and penalise defaulters

29. The 2013 Dubai Airshow began with a bang, with the show’s order tally surpassing $192.3 billion on day one, beating its previous record of $155 billion set in 2007 – with deals coming from Etihad Airways, Emirates, flydubai and Qatar Airways.

30. Market regulator Sebi today clamped down on a fraudulent investment scheme being run by MCX Biz Solutions, which was soliciting money from investors for huge returns while using fake and forged registration documents and a name similar to that of an exchange group.

Sports

31. SebastianVettel wins US Grand Prix for record 8th successive victory.

32. IPL Governing Council members held discussions about alternate country that could host the seventh edition of the popular Twenty20 league next year.

33. The Maharashtra government is considering adding Sachin Tendulkar in school syllabus so that children are inspired by him.

34. Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull’s team on 17 November 2013 won United States Grand Prix. France’s Romain Grosjean in Lotus was second with Red Bull’s Mark Webber took the third place. This was his eighth successive race of Vettel in a season. This was also vettel’s 12th win of the season and if he wins the year-ender in Brazil than he will tie with Michael Schumacher Formulae one record of 13 victories in a single season.

35. Czech Republic on 17 November 2013 defended the Davis Cup title 2013 after Redek Stepanek defeated the Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in the fifth rubber of the final by BNP Paribas Final in Belgrade.

Entertainment

36. Waheeda Rehman, the veteran actress of Bollywood will be conferred with the inaugural Centenary Award for the Indian Film Personality of the Year 2013 at the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on 20 November 2013. The award will be given to her in recognition of her contributions to the film industry. She has been selected unanimously by the team of five member jury. The award has been instituted by the Government of India to mark the 100 years of Indian Cinema. It includes a prize amount of 10 lakh rupees and a citation.

37. Burra Gautham Sidharth, Director, B.M. Birla Science Centre, here has been chosen for the 2013 award given by the Institute for Theoretical Physics and Advanced Mathematics Einstein-Galilei (IFM), Italy. The award recognises Sidharth’s contributions and discovery that the universe is expanding, which he theoretically predicted one year ahead of the scientific confirmation. The award consists of an IFM Diploma and a gold medal.

QUIZ:

1. According to a new research results published on Sunday 17th Nov 2013, which country has the world's largest active Twitter (microblogging site) users?

[A] Saudi Arabia

[B] USA

[C] India

[D] Germany

2. Narendra Modi addresses 3.5 lakh people in Bangalore who have reportedly registered for the rally by paying an entry fee. This is a historical phenomenon where people are paying money to attend the rally of a Leader instead of getting money to attend it. BJP will donate the amount collected from the rally for the construction of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue in Gujarat. How much was the entry fee for the rally on Sunday, 17th Nov 2013?

[A] Rs 5

[B] Rs 10

[C] Rs 15

[D] Rs 20

3. He is the man behind India's maiden Mars mission. He is an eminent scientist and a well recognized international authority on solid state and materials chemistry. He has published over 1,400 research papers and 45 books. He has been awarded Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, on Saturday, 16 Nov 2013. Can you name him?

[A] Prof CNR Rao

[B] Prof Srinivasan

[C] Satish Dhawan

[D] Prof G D Batra

4. As announced on 18th November 2013, Delhi-based auto component maker has formed a joint venture with Italian busmaker BredaMenarinibus to manufacture luxury buses in India. The Indo-Italian venture will set up a plant at Kosi, near Faridabad in Haryana, and produce 2,000 buses every year initially, as part of a 500-crore investment plan. Can you name the Indian auto component maker?

[A] Minda Group

[B] JBM Auto

[C] Telcon

[D] Automart

5. Who has been named male World Athlete of the Year for a fifth time on 16th November 2013?

[A] Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

[B] Bohdan Bondarenko

[C] Mo Farah

[D] Usain Bolt

Answers:

1. [A] Saudi Arabia

2. [B] Rs 10

3. [A] Prof CNR Rao

4. [B] JBM Auto

5. [D] Usain Bolt