Current Affairs - December 10, 2013

Current Affairs

December 10, 2013

International Affairs

1. Human Rights Day was observed today (10^th December) across the world to bring to light the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 2013 Theme of the day is “20 Years Working for Your Rights”.  The UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. The United Nations General Assembly in December 1993 created the mandate of High Commissioner for the promotion and protection of all human rights. This year, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights marks 20 years since its establishment.

2. The World Innovation Summit for Health, WISH-2013 began in Qatar’s capital Doha today with a call for practical, innovative and sustainable health solutions. More than 500 global health leaders, policy makers and analysts from 67 countries have gathered in Doha to discuss ways and means to improve the outreach of health care services to the people across the world. Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary Kesav Desiraju is representing India at the Conference.

3. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the winner this year's NOBEL peace prize for its efforts around the world has announced that it will use the prize money to set up it's own award. 

4. Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians signed a historic water-sharing initiative at the World Bank in Washington Monday that could protect water resources in the region amid rising demand.

5. World leaders from US President Barack Obama to Cuba's Raul Castro joined thousands of South Africans to honour Nelson Mandela on Tuesday in a memorial that will celebrate his gift for uniting enemies across political and racial divides.

6. The US called for peaceful resolution of political differences in Thailand.

7. Pakistan’s newly appointed Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif on Tuesday visited the Line of Control that had seen escalating tensions in the recent past.

8. The US is keeping a close tab on Sri Lanka to see that it develops a credible justice mechanism to address allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, a top American official has said.

9. In a bid to attract more tourists, Malaysia has reintroduced visa on arrival facility for Indian nationals, but only if they enter from a third country.

National Affairs

10. Week-long campaign 'Jurrat: Aazaad Chalo, Bebaak Chalo!' began in Delhi to mark a year of December 16 gang-rape incident.

11. BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is the most talked about person on Facebook in India beating likes of cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar and Apple iconic device iPhone 5s, the US-based social networking site said today.

12. Today is the death anniversary of legendary Bollywood actor Ashok Kumar.

13. 6th edition of Guwahati Film Festival to begin in Guwahati. Dedicated to national award-winning music director Sher Choudhury, who passed away recently

Social activist Anna Hazare to start indefinite hunger strike for strong Lokpal Bill at Yadavbaba temple in Ralegan Sidhi, Maharashtra

14. A day after the assembly poll results in four states, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left for Delhi on Monday amidst speculation that the purpose of the visit was to test the political waters in the run up to next year's general elections.

15. Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of State for Environment & Forests inaugurated the Asia Regional Workshop on Bamboo and Rattan at Delhi today

16. Today is the birth anniversary of India’s last Governor General C Rajagopalachari

17. Trinamool Congress has asked West Bengal Human Rights Commission Chairman and former Supreme Court judge Ashok Ganguly, indicted by a Supreme Court panel in a sexual harassment matter, to step down on World Human Rights Day on Tuesday, saying "violators cannot be guardians."

18. US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh today, who is visiting the city to hold high-level consultations with the top American officials.

19. India and the United Arab Emirates are expected to sign a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection agreement (BIPA) during the official visit of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, which begins on December 12.

20. Former Supreme Court judge Ashok Kumar Ganguly, who was indicted over allegations of sexually harassing a law intern, today ruled out his resignation as chief of WBHRC, as a fresh demand was made coinciding with Human Rights day.

21. Welcoming the Supreme Court order restricting use of red beacon, Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said only the President and the Prime Minister should have the privilege and favoured a similar criteria for providing security escort.

Deaths

22. The author of more than 120 books, Mrs. Pollock died Dec. 3 at a nursing home near her house in Lanreath, in southwest England. She was 105.

Awards and Honors

23. Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, to be awarded 2013 United Nations Human Rights Prize.

24. 8 Indian documentaries, including Sandip Ray's "The Sound of Old Rooms" scheduled to be screened at a Film Festival in Tehran

Appointments

25. Ranjan Mathai, who served as the deputy high commissioner in London from 2005 to 2007, has taken over as the next high commissioner of India, succeeding Jaimini Bhagwati, who retired earlier in 2013. 

26. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has appointed Sumit Bose, a 1976 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, as Finance Secretary.

Business and Economy

27. The companies Google Inc, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Facebook Inc, Twitter, LinkedIn Corp, Yahoo Inc and AOL Inc issued an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress to bring in reforms and restrictions on surveillance activities.

28. Facebook unveiled plans Monday on a partnership with New York University for a new center for artificial intelligence, aimed at harnessing the huge social network's massive trove of data.

29. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm and Sunil Mittal-headed Bharti Airtel today announced a comprehensive arrangement for sharing telecom infrastructure, a partnership that will help them reduce costs they incur on their respective networks.

30. Competition Commission slaps Rs 1,773 crore penalty on Coal India for abuse of dominant position

31. Citing security concerns the Home Ministry has opposed hike in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) caps in sectors like aviation and telecom, Lok Sabha was informed today.