Current Affairs - December 23, 2013

Current Affairs

December 23 2013

International Affairs

1. Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed will be the new Prime Minister of Somalia after it was approved by the by Somalian Parliament. He replaced outgoing Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon. Abdi was ousted by the Parliament following a rift with the Somali President over policy differences last month. In the recent voting, 239 votes out of total 243 votes were put in favour of Abdiweli

2. Top Republican leader and current Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal is planning to run for president in 2016.

3. Thousands of people thronged Japan's Imperial Palace to celebrate Emperor Akihito's 80th birthday today.

4. India today evacuated all its oil employees from strife-torn South Sudan and shut down oilfields amid escalating violence in the world's youngest nation.

National Affairs

5. Kisan Diwas Kisan Diwas is observed today (23th December) across the country to celebrate the birthday of Chaudhary Charan Singh. Farmer seminars were organised at the divisional, district and block levels on this day.  Indian Government had decided to observe 23 December every year as Kisan Diwas (Farmers Day) which is birth anniversary of India’s fifth Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.

6. The 111th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister of India Ch. Charan Singh was observed as ‘Kisan Diwas’ today.

7. Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad launched Cervical Cancer Diagnostic Kit- AV Magnivisualizer in New Delhi today.

8. Ending almost two-week-long deadlock, the Aam Admi Party today announced that it is ready to form government in delhi and ArvindKejriwal to be Delhi's new Chief Minister.

9. 15th Annual International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards to be held in Florida from 24th to 26th April next year.

10. HDFC Mutual Fund acquired its smaller rival Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund running a total of eight schemes with assets worth Rs 3,290 crore today, in a major consolidation exercise in the highly-dispersed sector. The deal comes at a time when market regulator SEBI has been favoring a consolidation in the mutual fund sector which has been struggling for a long time due to low investors’ interest in mutual funds’ investments and issues with distribution.

Deaths

11. Famous Kannada poet, Rashtrakavi Dr. G. S. Shivarudrappa passed away today in Bangalore. He was 87. He is known as the new age poet of Kannada in literary circles and his poems were acclaimed for its balancing of images and emotions. He was a recipient of many National & State literary awards.

12. Diomedes Diaz (56), the best-known performer of Colombia's accordion-heavy vallenato music died.

13. Renowned kannada poet, writer and researcher G S Shivarudrappa died at bangalore today.

14. Mikhail Kalashnikov - the designer of AK-47, died today.

Appointments

15. Former Union Home Secretary V K Duggal appointed as the Governor of   Manipur

16. UN chief Ban Ki-moon anounced that the UN has appointed two special envoys on climate change. Those are Former president of Ghana John Kufuor and former prime minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg.

Science and Technology

17. India test-fires nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast today.

Sports

18. Zaheer Khan became the fourth Indian bowler to claim 300 wickets in Test cricket when he dismissed Jacques Kallis on the fifth and final day of the opening cricket Test against South Africa in Johannesburg yesterday. He made his Test debut against Bangladesh in Dhaka in November 2000. He is the fourth Indian bowler to achieve this milestone after Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

19. Shuttlers Kuhoo Garg and Chirag Sen became the youngest players to win a medal in 78th Senior National Badminton Championship when they defeated Pranaav Chopra and Maneesha K. in the mixed doubles semi-finals at the Siri Fort Stadium in New Delhi.

20. Top-ranked women recurve archer Deepika Kumari of Jharkhand today created two national records in the FITA round on the opening day of the 34th Senior National Archery Championship.

21. England spinner Graeme Swann announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket with immediate effect in Melbourne today shocking everyone midway through the Ashes tour. His shock decision comes a week after England lost the Ashes to Australia. The 34-year Off-spinner is widely regarded as world cricket’s premier spinner, with 255 wickets in 60 Tests.