Current Affairs - January 18, 2014

Current Affairs

January 18, 2014

International Affairs

1. BIS and Ministry of Labour and Employment signed an MoU to enhance the collaboration within the framework of UKIERI in New Delhi.

2. Hery Rajaonarimampianina declared as the new President of Madagascar following the result of elections conducted with an aim to restore democracy.

3. Peshawar in Pakistan had the largest number of polio cases in the world in 2013.

4. The US President Barack Obama ordered curbs on the use of bulk data collected by National Security Agency (NSA) on 17 January 2014.

5. US President Barack Obama announced to establish an Af-Pak Strategic Partnership Office (APSPO) on 18 January 2014.

6. Peshawar in Pakistan had the largest number of polio cases in the world in 2013.

7. India, Pakistan agree to allow 24×7 trade through Wagah border
i. In a major decision that could smoothen trade between India and Pakistan, the two have decided to open theWagah-Attari border for trade 24X7 and allow containers to be moved right up to Amritsar and Lahore instead of being unloaded at the check-post and re-loaded on the other side.
ii. In a meeting between Commerce Ministers from both countries on Saturday, it was decided to re-start the trade liberalisation process stalled for 16 months and work towards non-discriminatory market access on a reciprocalbasis.
iii. At present, bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is a little over $3 billion annually, but both sides are hopeful that trade would go up several times as a result of the trade liberalisation process. iv. India has also agreed to look into the process of liberalising issue of visas to Pakistani businesspersons both bilaterally and under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement.
v. India and Pakistan had started negotiations to normalise trade ties in January 2011 and had made several concessions for each other before the talks came to an abrupt halt due to violence across the Line of Control.
vi. India, too, has to extend lower tariffs to Pakistan that it offers other South Asian countries on key products such as textiles.

8. India, S Korea ink 9 pacts; Posco plant work to start soon
i. In a bid to give new momentum to bilateral ties, India and South Korea have decided to intensify cooperation in a range of key sectors including trade, investment and defence even as PM Manmohan Singh announced that the work on the long-delayed Posco steel plant will start in coming weeks.
ii. Nine pacts in wide-ranging fields including cyber space cooperation were inked after the talks between Singh and South Korean President Park Geun-hye during which both leaders discussed ways to promote bilateral relations and exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues.
iii. After the talks, Singh said negotiations for revision of the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Convention have concluded.
iv. During the talks, both the sides recognised the possibility of defence trade and joint production of military equipment by further promoting collaboration between our defence research organisations.
v. On the MoU on Joint Applied Research, which was inked after the Summit-level talks, Singh said it will enable the scientists of the two countries to work together and develop technologies for our common benefit.

National Affairs

9. The Tamil Nadu government said Saturday that orders have been issued by a Sri Lankan court for the release of 60 jailed Indian fishermen and 15 fishing boats confiscated by the island nation.

10. Union Minister for Oil and Natural Gas Veerappa Moily has said that the proposal to increase subsidised LPG cylinder limit from nine to 12 per year, will be submitted in the cabinet soon.

11. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today drew attention toward alleged “misuse” of social media in forking old “provocative” photographs to foment communal riots and said his ministry was mulling to put a check on it.

12. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today drew attention toward alleged “misuse” of social media in forking old “provocative” photographs to foment communal riots and said his ministry was mulling to put a check on it.

13. Noted actor Mithun Chakraborty will be nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Trinamool Congress, party chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared on her Facebook account on Saturday.

14. Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways celebrated 25th Road Safety Week

Banking

15. RBI to buy G-Secs on Jan 22
i. The Reserve Bank has decided to conduct Open Market Operations (OMO) by purchasing four government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore on January 22.
ii. The OMO is being conducted as, according to the RBI, the current assessment suggests that the strain on market liquidity is likely to endure in view of the fiscal targets set for the year as well as projections for aggregate credit growth, warranting the need to provide liquidity of a more permanent nature.
iii. The RBI said it will be conducting OMO by purchasing four G-Secs — that is, government security (GS) maturing in 2017 (July) and carrying coupon rate of 8.07 per cent; 7.28 per cent GS 2019; 7.16 per cent GS 2023; and 8.28 per cent GS 2027 — aggregating Rs 10,000 crore.

16. BoM launches savings bank deposit scheme
i. Bank of Maharashtra has launched a savings bank deposit scheme — Mahabank Royal Savings Account exclusively for high net worth Individuals having a minimum monthly average balance (MAB) of Rs 1 lakh in their account.
ii. The slew of benefits offered to the accountholder under the product includes assistance of a relationship manager, free accident death insurance cover (Rs 50 lakh personal air accident death insurance and Rs 10 lakh personal accidental death insurance), higher transaction limit on ATM-cum-debit card on merchant point of sale terminals, and free national electronic funds transfer/real time gross system transactions through Internet banking, the bank said in a statement.
iii. Other benefits to the account holders include 50 per cent concession in the processing fees of all retail loans, 100 free personalised cheque leaves per annum, 50 per cent concession on annual maintenance charge of BoM SBI co-branded Gold Credit Card, and free demat account facility for the first year.

Business and Economy

17. IIFCL signed an agreement with the K-EXIM for infrastructure finance and covers cooperation and investment financing related to infrastructure.

18. IICA and FICCI signed MoU to Raise Awareness on Corporate Regulation and Governance and for promoting the Corporate Affairs Agenda.

19. Kerala-headquartered Federal Bank plans to recruit about 3,000 employees and add 300 branches in the next three years.

20. The NTPC board on Friday approved an investment of Rs 12,532 crore for setting up a 1,600-mw thermal power project at Darlipali n Odisha, subject to environmental clearance.

21. Wipro’s third-quarter earnings show was in line with expectations and the company’s guidance for the fourth quarter has been better than expectations.

Sports

22. Lusofonia Games 2014 is going to be held in Goa from 18 January to 29 January 2014.

23. The four-member women fencing team from India was barred from competing in the Qatar Fencing World Cup in Doha on 17 January 2014.

24. Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar will be conferred with the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna on February 4th. Sachin will be the youngest to win this award and will be handed over in a small ceremony by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

25. India to skip Azlan Shah Cup for World Cup preparation
i. The Indian hockey team will not participate in the 23rd Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia, March 13-23 as they will be preparing for the World Cup in Europe.
ii. The World Cup will be held at the Hague, Netherlands, from May 31 to June 15 in relatively cooler conditions than tropical Malaysia.
iii. India are five-time champions of the Azlan Shah Cup, winning it in 1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and 2010.
iv. So far four teams —— Australia, South Korea, Canada and France —— have confirmed their entry along with hosts Malaysia.

26.India loses 1-2 to Belgium, finishes 6th in World League Final
i. Hosts India blew away a goal lead and conceded two late goals to go down 1-2 against Belgium to finish sixth in the Hero Hockey World League Final on a chilly evening at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium New Delhi on Saturday.
ii. It was a hard-fought match between the two sides as both India and Belgium matched each other stick by stick and were in no mood to give an inch to the other in the fifth-sixth place classification game.
iii. The sixth place finish here is certain to give a major boost to India’s world rankings.
iv. India are presently lying 10th in the world rankings but the performance here is certain to help India jump three places to the seventh position in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings.
v. However, Belgium, who are currently ranked fifth in the world, are likely to slip to the sixth place when FIH rankings will be released after the conclusion of this tournament.

27. Germans clinch World Cup doubles luge title
i. Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt clinched the overall luge World Cup doubles championship Saturday,posting their sixth win in eight races on the circuit this season.
ii. It’s the third time in the last four seasons that Wendl and Arlt won the overall title, ensuring they’ll head to theSochi Olympics as favorites for gold.
iii. Wendl and Arlt finished two runs at Altenberg in 1 minute, 23.789 seconds, finishing 0.219 seconds betterthan Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken of Germany.
iv. The Austrian team of Peter Penz and Georg Fischler was third, 0.332 seconds back of the winners.

Science and Technology

28. Google X Lab unveiled a smart contact lens that can help diabetics to measure their glucose level in tears on 17 January 2014.

29. US Scientists genetically engineered Tulasi or basil to enhance its pharmaceutical value.

30. Changing solar energy not into electricity but hydrogen fuel and storing it for later can allow devices to run after the sun goes down, U.S.

31. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch three satellites belonging to the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) constellation this year.

Death

32. The spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin passed away here today. He died this morning at his residence in South Mumbai, a spokesperson for the community said.

33. Suchitra Sen, the symbol of the golden age of Bengali cinema who captured public’s imagination for three decades through her ethereal beauty and intense celluloid performance, died at the age of 82 after suffering a heart attack.

34. Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of the Union Minister Sashi Tharoor on 17 January 2014 was found dead in a luxury Leela Palace hotel room in Delhi. Her body was found by Tharoor after his return from the AICC meet.

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