Current Affairs
November 27 2013
1. First Islamic Bank in Eurozone to come up in Luxembourg. A host of private investors from GCC countries, including a royal family from the UAE have planned to set up the first full-fledged Islamic bank in the euro zone.The Eurisbank will come up in Luxembourg during the last quarter of 2014. An announcement to this effect was made on the sidelines of Global Islamic Economy Summit in Dubai. The Excellencia Investment Management group said that with an initial capital of $80m, the bank would offer retail, corporate and private banking services, and would open branches in Paris, Brussels, the Netherlands and Frankfurt.
2. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has confirmed its decision to grant self-regulatory status to associations of non-banking financial firms that deal in microfinance. Announcing the decision, the RBI said that the move would ensure effective monitoring of non-banking financial companies and microfinance institutions (NBFC-MFIs), and their compliance with set of laws and code of conduct. The central bank added that the membership of NBFC-MFIs in the self-regulatory organisations (SRO) would be seen as a mark of confidence.
3. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 26 November 2013 directed the banks to charge customers for the transaction SMS alerts on the basis of usage, instead of imposing a fixed fee. The RBI in its notification issued to all banks has asked the banks to charge customers based on actual usage of SMS alerts, considering the technology available with banks to considering the technology available with banks and the telecom service providers. Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India had set the guidelines for banks to send online alerts to the customers for all types of transactions, irrespective of the amount in March 2011.
4. Banks might adopt Aadhaar as additional authentication or move to EMV (Euro pay MasterCard Visa) chip and pin technology to ensure security in card-based payment transactions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggested. The central bank also said that all new card present infrastructures must be enabled with EMV chip and Pin technology as well as Aadhaar acceptance. Banks are now thus free to decide on whether they should adopt Aadhaar for making additional confirmation or make use of EMV Chip and PIN technology to ensure security of card payment infrastructure. EMV chip and PIN authentication involves card-information stored in a chip that is accessible through a PIN (personal identification number) that replaces the signature of a cardholder. The notification is based on Gowri Mukherjee-headed working group’s recommendation. Mukherjee is the global head of digital marketing at Standard Chartered Bank.
5. Tata Sons Ltd has withdrawn its application for a new bank licence, according to the Reserve Bank of India. The licences are likely to be announced by January by the central bank. A panel chaired by former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan has been entrusted with scrutinising applications for new bank licences. In the past 20 years, the RBI has licensed 12 banks in the private sector in two phases. Ten banks were licensed on the basis of guidelines issued in January 1993.
6. The Bombay Stock Exchange will launch its platform for trading in currency derivatives from Friday, making it the fourth bourse in the country to offer such trades. Other stock exchanges present in the currency futures segment are — National Stock Exchange, MCX-SX and United Stock Exchange. Currency derivative contracts allow investors to take position on change in foreign exchange rates between pairs of two currencies, such as rupee and dollar. At present, NSE has the largest share in currency futures market, followed by MCX-SX.
7. Global technology major Apple is the world’s most valuable brand followed by Microsoft, Coca-Cola, IBM and Google, as per the latest list
November 28 2013
1. Today is 146th birth Anniversary of social worker, author, teacher, Sister Nivedita. Her original name was Margaret Elizabeth Noble. She was a Scots-Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda. she took active interest in promoting Indian history, culture and science. She actively encouraged Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose, the epoch-making Indian scientist and seminal philosopher of science who is credited to have discovered the wireless radio, to pursue original scientific research and helped him financially as well in getting due recognition when he was faced by an indifferent attitude of the British Government.
2. Today is International Animation Day, proclaimed in 2002 by ASIFA as the main global event to celebrate art of animation.
3. 5th South Asian Conference on Sanitation begins in Nepal to promote hygienic practices and enhance the quality of life in South Asian countries. Conference has been inaugurated by Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav.
4. A radio documentary about domestic violence and other related issues in the Australian Indian community has won a prestigious United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) media award. The documentary was awarded this year in the category of “increasing understanding and awareness of women’s’ rights and issues”.
5. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conferred an Honorary Doctorate by the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Founded in 1944, it is the oldest and the most renowned school in Russia for preparing specialists in international relations and diplomacy.
6. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan received the third Hridaynath Mangeshkar award for his contribution to the film industry. The prestigious Hridaynath Mangeshkar award was supposed to be presented by melody queen Lata Mangeshkar to Bachchan, but due to health issues she could not make it and filmmaker Subhash Ghai did the honours.
7. Former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen has been awarded the Mother Teresa International Award by NGO “The Harmony Foundation” for her efforts towards achieving social justice.
8. Mexican drama ‘La Jaula De Oro’ (The Golden Cage) won the best film award by a debutante director on the closing day of 15th Mumbai Film Festival that also recognised Singapore’s ‘Ilo Ilo’ and Indian films ‘Fandry’, ‘Katiyabaaz’ and ‘Qissa’. Directed by Diego Quemada-Diaz, ‘The Golden Cage’ was honoured with the Golden Gateway of India award and a cash prize by the jury headed by director Bruce Beresford. The best actor prize was given to French actor Vincent Macaigne for his role in French film.
9. GAIL India and Paradip Port Trust on 26 October 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding for setting up an offshore Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Paradip Port, Odisha. The MoU envisages setting up of the project with a capacity of 4 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum (MMPTA) in Phase-I with a storage capacity of 170000 cubic metres. This will entail a total investment of 3108 crore rupees.
10. SC directs Sahara Group to hand over title deeds of its properties worth Rs 20,000 crores to SEBI within three weeks.
11. A team of astronomers discovered the most distant galaxy in the universe which is estimated to be 30 billion light years away from the Earth. The results of the latest findings were published in the most prestigious international journal the Nature.
12. Vijay Soni, a noted painter and theatre personality died on 27 October 2013 in New Delhi. The 76 year old Vijay Soni was battling with Parkinson disease for past 12 years. He is survived by his wife Aanita Soni, two daughters and three grandsons.
13. Anjali Gopalan on 25 October 2013 was awarded with French highest civilian award Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. She was awarded for her work on transgenders and HIV positive patients.
14. Sebastian Vettel wins 3rd Indian Grand Prix, becomes youngest to win four straight world drivers’ championships. With this victory, Vettel became the quadruple champion and joined the group of legends like Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio and Alain Prost. He is only the third to do it in a row after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher.
15. Serena Williams beats Li Na for WTA title. Serena Williams ended her best season in suitable style, coming from behind to beat Li Na 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 on Sunday for her second straight WTA Championships title. Williams’ titles this year included the French and U.S. Opens for a total of 17 Grand Slam crowns.
16. Indian Oil Corporation on 27 October 2013 defeated Air India 5-3 to win the 48th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament at the MHA stadium, Mumbai. Sunil was given the man of the tournament award and received a cheque for 5000 rupees from newly appointed chief national coach Terry Walsh at the end of the tournament.
QUIZ:
1. Cadbury India, a part of Nasdaq-listed Mondelez International Group, on Wednesday, 27 Nov 2013. inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with which Indian state government for setting up its largest Asia-Pacific manufacturing facility in the state?
[A] Himachal Pradesh
[B] Uttarakhand
[C] Tamilnadu
[D] Andhra Pradesh
2. Who was named the greatest Spanish sports star in history on Tuesday, 26 Nov 2013, by readers of a Spanish sports daily Diario Marca?
[A] Miguel Indurain
[B] Pau Gasol
[C] Amaya Valdemoro
[D] Rafael Nadal
3. As announced on 27 Nov 2013, an inexpensive multi-purpose 'nano-camera' that can operate at the speed of light has been developed by a team researchers, including Indian-origin scientists. The camera is based on "Time of Flight" technology in which the location of objects is calculated by how long it takes a light signal to reflect off a surface and return to the sensor. Where did this camera was developed?
[A] California Institute of Technology
[B] Princeton University
[C] Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab
[D] Oxford College
4. Four judges M Chinapandi, D Krishnaraja, T Ramasamy and C S Murugan heard the trial of the sensational Sankararaman murder case that had lasted for eight years and on Wednesday, 27 Nov 2013 acquitted all the accused, including Kanchi seers Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi. In which court the judgement came on Wednesday?
[A] Madras(Chennai)
[B] Puducherry
[C] Chengalpet
[D] Mehboobnagar
5. Who is appointed as Pakistan's new army head on 27 November 2013?
[A] Lt Gen Raheel Sharif
[B] Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani
[C] Lt Gen Rashid Mahmood
[D] Abdul Waheed Kakar
Answers:
1. [D]
2. [D]
3. [C]
4. [B]
5. [A]
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