Current Affairs - January 17, 2014

Current Affairs

January 17, 2014

National Affairs

1. 4th death anniversary of former Chief Minister of West Bengal JyotiBasu observed today.

2. The seventh edition of the popular Jaipur Literature Festival, begins today at Diggi Palace on Friday. It will feature as many as 240 speakers, including two Nobel laureates — Amartya Sen and Harold Varmus — who will engage in conversations on a wide range of subjects.

3. Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today issued a showcause notice to its dissident MLA Vinod Kumar Binny, a day after his outburst against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the party leadership.

4. Intensified Pulse Polio campaign from January 19th in Odisha, around 45.2 lakh children to be benefitted.

5. In a press meet at Delhi on January 17, Gita Siddartha, president of the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) introduced 23 the brave-hearts, who will be honored with National Bravery Awards. Of the 23 — nine girls and 14 boys — two children will be awarded posthumously.

International Affairs

6. The Australian government said Friday it had apologised unreservedly to Jakarta after its navy "inadvertently" violated Indonesian waters, but vowed to pursue a hardline policy to halt asylum-seeker boats.

7. The White House has released a summary of the implementation deal of the six-month interim nuclear agreement with Iran, in an attempt to ease pressure from domestic opponents of the pact.

8. US President Barack Obama has called up British Prime Minister David Cameron discussing a host of issues that included the Syrian crisis, Af-Pak situation and also briefed him on a review of NSA intelligence activities.

9. The Syrian government allowed supplies to enter two contested front-line areas near the capital, a relief official said today.

10. Jamila Bayaz, first women to be appointed police chief of Kabul province

i. Jamila Bayaz was appointed as the police chief of District One of Kabul province on 15 January 2014. She is the first woman in Afghanistan to be appointed as police chief of an entire district.

ii. The appointment of Jamila Bayaz is significant in more than one sense. Firstly, the appointment will pave the way for more Afghani women to rise through the ranks.

iii. Secondly, her appointment as police chief to one of the core districts of Kabul testifies that women position in Afghan society is improving since the Taliban were driven out from power in 2001.

iv. Kabul province is divided into 22 districts. Each number specifies the name of thedistrict and is organized in ascending order in order of importance.

Banking

11. RBI included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list of countries along with Pakistan and China on 15 January 2014.

ii. Macau and Hong Kong are two Special Administrative Regions controlled by China.

iii. This means that establishments from Hong Kong and Macau will require prior approval of RBI for setting up business or related activities in India. The activities include establishment of liaison, branch, project offices or any other place of business.

iv. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and China are already included in the sensitive list.

12. BMB ties up with SBI Cards

i. Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) and SBI Cards have joined hands for roll-out of credit cards to customers of India’s first women-focused commercial bank.

ii. This will be the first instance of a public sector bank promoting a white-label credit card issued by SBI Cards.

iii. Under this arrangement, SBI Cards will issue and process the credit cards as white-label cards, allowing BMB to brand the cards as their own without having to invest in infrastructure.

iv. A white-label card does not carry the brand of the issuer (SBI Cards) on its face. It will only in this case carry the brand of BMB.

v. The agreement was signed by Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman and Managing Director, BMB, and Pallav Mohapatra, CEO, SBI Cards, here on Thursday.

Awards

13. Yushi, Taiwanese poet awarded Thiruvalluvar award

i. Taiwanese poet Yushi was awarded the Thiruvalluvar award on 15 January 2014 by the Tamil Nadu government in Chennai. Yushi is the first foreign scholar to receive Thiruvalluvar award.

ii. The award was given to Yushi on the occasion of Thiruvalluvar Day. The award was given to him in recognition of his contribution to the Tamil language. Yushi has translated Tirukkural (one of the collection of sangam literature), the poems of poet Subramanya Bharathi and poet Bharathidasan in Mandarin, Chinese language.

iii. Yushi is the founder president of the Tamil Sangam in Taiwan. In 2004 he received the highest honour award by Seoul World Academy of Arts and Culture.

Sports

14. Virat Kohli starts as the 2nd ranked batsman in world : India’s young batsman Virat Kohli will start the series in New Zealand as the highest-ranked batsman on either side.Kohli is currently in second position in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen with 859 ratings points, just 13 behind number-one ranked AB de Villiers.Mahendra Singh Dhoni in sixth place and Shikhar Dhawan in 10th spot.Suresh Raina (22nd), Brendon McCullum (23rd), Martin Guptill (24th) and Kane Williamson (31st).Among the top 20 bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin (16th) and Kyle Mills (17th) are the others likely to feature in the series.

15. India lead ICC ODI team rankings table with 120 ratings points followed by Australia (114) in second position and England (111) in third.

16. Captain Mithali Raj was the highest-placed Indian batter at seventh, while Jhulan Goswami was the best-placed bowler at 12th in the latest ICC women's cricket Twenty20 rankings issued Monday.  

17. The BCCI on Friday announced a 30-member probables list for the ICC Women`s World Twenty20 to be played in Bangladesh which will be held from March 23 to April 6, 2014.

18. Ex-world cycling champ Ballan banned 2 years

i. Former world champion cyclist Alessandro Ballan was banned for two years on Friday for blood doping.

ii. The Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping court announced the decision after Ballan was indicted on doping charges by a general court in Mantova for alleged team-wide drug use by the Lampre team.

iii. Ballan won the road race at the 2008 worlds in Varese.

iv. Ballan is banned to Jan. 16, 2016, and the suspension thus could end the 34-year-old rider’s career.

Deaths

19. Legendary actress of yesteryears Suchitra Sen (82) died in a Kolkata hospital.

i. Legendary Bengali actor Suchitra Sen who was undergoing treatment at a private health facility in the city died in Kolkata on Friday morning.

ii. She was 82 and is survived by daughter Moon Moon Sen and grand daughters Raima and Riya Sen.

iii. She suffered a massive heart attack on Friday morning and died at 8.25 a.m., doctors attending her said.

iv. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was in regular touch with doctors visited the hospital after hearing about her death.

v. Sen acted in over 50 movies between 1952 and 1978 of which six were in Hindi. She went into recluse after her last film was released. Over the past three decades she withdrew herself from public life and did not meet people except her family members.

vi. Prominent cinema personalities expressed grief over her death. Renowned actor and director Aparna Sen described her as a “legendary actress” and said, with her death an era has come to end in Bengali cinema.

20. Jose Sulaiman (82), the longtime head of the World Boxing Council who introduced rules to protect boxers, died today.

21. Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, was found dead at a five star hotel room in New Delhi today.

22. The spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin passed away in Mumbai today.

i. The leader was the eldest son of Syedna Taher Saifuddin, 51st Dai ul Mutlaq. He succeeded his father upon his death in 1965.

ii. Last year, thousands of Dawoodi Bohras from across the world flocked to the city to celebrate Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s 102nd birthday.

iii. Last year, thousands of Dawoodi Bohras from across the world flocked to the city to celebrate Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s 102nd birthday.

Misc

23. Titanic II all set to sail

i. Australian millionaire Clive Palmer, who is building a replica of Titanic II, is trying hard to convince up to 1000 cruise ship passengers to board the ship.

ii. According to reports, not only the design but the facility of Titanic-II is exactly similar to that of old Titanic.

iii. Third class passenger section has also been made but Palmer is unsure that whether he would get any passenger for third class cabins for the ship’s maiden commercial voyage from Southampton to New York in 2017.

iv. But the businessman is going ahead and using his marketing strategies to get over hundreds of passengers for third class cabin.

v. Clive Palmer had announced in 2012 that he is would build Titanic 2 in 2012.

vi. It is well known that Titanic cruise sunk in 100 years ago in Atlantic which claimed 1,517 lives. Lack of life boats in the ship was reason behind such a large number of deaths.

vii. As per reports, Titanic II will be equipped with air conditioning, helipad, hospitals, swimming pools, Turkish baths, smoking rooms, Millionaire suite, Chart room, Gym, Casino, cinema, shopping area and Titanic Master Captain’s quarters but there will be no television and internet connectivity. The ship is being built by CSC Jingling Shipyard.

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