Current Affairs 18/11/12 to 24/11/12

[admin]

1. Govt Allows LIC’s investment cap in firms to 30%
The Finance Ministry has relaxed the investment norm for Life Insurance Corporation of India. LIC can now invest up to 30% of a company’s paid-up capital. Earlier it could invest up to 10%.

2.GAAR amendments finalized: Chidambaram
Finance Minister P.Chidambaram held that the amendments to General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR), have been finalized.
GAAR, was proposed in the 2012-13 Budget in order to preventing tax evasion. But it aroused sharp reactions from foreign as well as domestic investors who feared that unchecked powers to taxmen would result in harassment of the investors. Thus, the government subsequently appointed a committee headed by tax expert ‘Parthasarthi Shome’ to look into their matter.

3.US lifts ban on most Myanmar imports.
In order to boost reform in Myanmar US President Barack Obama has trashed a nearly decade-old ban on most imports from Myanmar. Thus, US economy will now open up to products from the Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).
The exception to the imports would be gems, which is considered as a sector which is a major driver of corruption and violence.
US President Obama is the first sitting US president to visit Myanmar.

4.SEBI eases Mutual Fund exposure limit for HFCs.
SEBI eased the the investment limit for HFCs (Housing Finance Companies) in debt mutual funds. An additional exposure not exceeding 10% of net assets of the scheme shall be allowed only to HFCs as part of financial services sector for prudential limits in debt oriented schemes.

5.Justice Katju condemns girl’s arrest for Facebook post.
Markandey Katju, former Supreme Court judge and Press Council chairman wrote 2 emails of protest to the Maharashtra CM Mr. Prithviraj Chavan strongly decrying the arrest of two girls Shaheen Dhada and Renu who criticized on Facebook the state "bandh" after Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s death. Mr. Markandey Katju called for an action against those involved their arrest.

6.Airtel Completes Largest Network Transformation in African Telecoms History.
Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest telecommunications operator has finished an end-to-end network transformation program across the 16 African countries in which it operates.

7.RBI inks MoU with State Bank of Vietnam.
The RBI and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to encourage greater co-operation and sharing of supervisory information b/w the two supervisors.

8.Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Chosen for Indira Gandhi Peace Prize.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf chosen for this year’s Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for being an "inspiration" to women and ensuring return of peace and democracy in Liberia. An international jury, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, selected Sirleaf for the award.
Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development was set up by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
Ms Sirleaf is the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Ms Sirleaf was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen.

9.Yuvi- Book on Cricketer Yuvraj Singh.
Yuvi: The book on Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh written by Makarand Waingankar.
The book illustrates the cricketing career of Yuvraj Singh and how tough he is, how he challenged fought with Cancer in his life.

10.Anil Dev Singh new Chairperson of IOA.
Anil Dev Singh, the former Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court appointed as the new Chairperson of the Election Commission of The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) after S.Y. Quraishi resigned from his post on November 17, 2012. The other members of the panel are Justice V.K. Bali (retd.) and Justice J.D. Kapur (retd.).

11.President releases commemorative postage stamp on late Shri Ramgopal Ji Maheshwari.
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee released a remembrance postage stamp on late Shri Ramgopal Ji Maheshwari, on the eve of the start of his birth centenary year.

12.Czech Republic beat Spain in Davis Cup 2012 finals.
The Czech Republic defeated Spain 3-2 in the 2012 Davis Cup Finals. This is the country’s second Davis Cup title and first since 1980, when it was Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic victory in this 100th edition of the Davis Cup was the first as an independent nation.

13.Scientists Discover “Super-Jupiter” Planet- 13 times bigger than Jupiter.
Super Jupiter: Astrophysicists at the University of Toronto declared that they have discovered a new planet which is 13 times bigger than the the largest planet in our solar system "Jupiter". Located 168 light years from Earth orbiting the star Kappa Andromedae, this planet is about 12.8 times more massive than Jupiter and an orbit somewhat larger than Neptune’s.
Kappa Andromedae: The host star around which the planet orbits has a mass 2.5 times that of the Sun, making it the highest mass star to ever host a directly observed planet.

14.A day after India votes against UN resolution banning death sentence, India hangs Ajmal Kasab.
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Pakistani National and the lone surviving terrorist of 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks, was hanged to death at the Pune’s Yerawada central prison on 21 November 2012 at 7:30 am in a top-secret operation. The hanging of Kasab came just a day after India voted against UN resolution for banning death sentence.
It was the first time a capital sentence had been carried out in India since 2004.

15.World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
In its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, WMO held that that the atmospheric volume of the greenhouse gases, which are often blamed for the change in atmosphere, reached a record high in 2011.
As per the survey, the volume of carbon dioxide, the prime greenhouse gas grew at almost identical rate in previous 10 years (i.e. at an average by 2 ppm) and it touched 390.9 parts per million (ppm) or 40% above the pre-industrial level.
The level of methane has also risen rapidly in the past 3 years.
The Volume of Nitrous Oxide another greenhouse gas also increased in 2011. Nitrous Oxide has a long-term climatic impact which is 298 times larger than carbon dioxide.

16.Moody’s Investors Service stripped Europe’s No. 2 economy France of it of its AAA credit rating. Moody’s moved France from AAA to AA1 rating.
The reasons given by Moody’s for this actions:
France’s persistent structural economic challenges
Sustained loss of competitiveness in France due to rigidities in labour and services markets, and low levels of innovation.

17.Intel CEO Paul Otellini
Otellini who has worked with Intel for nearly 40 years and became CEO in 2005. Otellini will retire in May at the age of 62 years.

18.Malala Yousufzai chosen for bravery award.
Pakistani girl Malala Yousufzai awarded by the World Peace and Prosperity Foundation Chairman Prince Ali Khan, at the Cholmondeley Room of the House of Lords. Malala is currently being treated at a British hospital. S The Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK Zulfiqar Gardezi received the award on her behalf.

19.Sunita Williams back to Earth.
Indian- American Sunita Williams spending four-months in orbit, returned back to Earth
The Soyuz TMA-05M capsule, carrying Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Sunita Williams, landed at the Kazakhstan space station at 7.50 am IST.
Williams now has spent a total of 322 days in space during her two missions.

20.Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: India’s Warren Buffet.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
Indian investor and trader
A qualified Chartered accountant
Owner of Rare Enterprises
Chairman of Aptech Limited and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
Net worth: USD 1.25 billion (as of 2011)
Started his career in 1985 when the BSE Sensex was at 150.
He is regarded as one of the best Investors in the world and is famous as “India’s Warren Buffet”.

21.Flipora
A Social Surfing service
A Personalized Search (webpage recommendation) and Discovery engine
Made by Infoaxe Inc.

22.e-tailing = electronic retailing
selling of retail goods on the Internet.
e-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall"
Online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce
Consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet without an intermediary service.
The largest online retailing corporations are E-Bay and Amazon.com, both of which are US-based.
e-tailware
e-tailing has resulted in the development of software tools for creating online catalogs and managing the business connected with doing e-tailing. These are known as e-tailware.
e-commerce (electronic commerce or EC)

23.Dr. Ami Bera
Indian-American physician from California
Won the Congressional election from California
3rd person of Indian-origin to be elected to the US House of Representatives

24.Arvind Kejriwal named his Political Party as Aam Admi Party

25.Ernest Bai Koroma re-elected as the President of Sierra Leone

26.A coastal chain of static sensors positioned along the coast of Andhra Pradesh was inaugurated by Ministry of Defence in a ceremony held at Coast Guard District Headquarters in Visakhapatnam on 23 November 2012. The event signified the operationalisation of the network on the East coast.
A complete surveillance mechanism along the coast was needed post 26/11 incident. A chain of static sensors were planned to monitor the high sensitive traffic density areas along the coast of India. The coastal surveillance network will provide an integrated picture of all the vessels traversing along the coast.

27.Joaquim Barbosa was sworn-in as Brazil's Supreme Court's first non-White President on 23 November 2012 at a packed ceremony in the capital Brazilia. Barbosa became famous in Brazil after overseeing one of the country's biggest corruption trials involving key members of the former President Lula Da Silva's government.

28.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the disinvestment of 9.5 percent Government Stake in the Maharatna PSU-National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) on 22 November 2012 from its holding of 84.50 percent. The disinvestment would be done through the stock exchanges following the SEBI Rules, via an offer for sales of the shares.

29.The Union Cabinet of India on 22 November 2012 passed the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPA). As per the new pricing policy declared by the Union Government, 348 essential drugs would come under price control policy of the nation, which would lead to price reduction of the same.

30.The Japanese Lower House of Parliament-the House of Representatives was dissolved on 16 November 2012, and paved the way ahead to general elections scheduled on 16 December 2012. Takahiro Yokomichi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives read out the imperial decree signed by Emperor Akihito to parliament, which proclaimed the dissolution of the government.

31.Usain Bolt won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year Award 2012 for the fourth time and United States sprinter Allyson Felix won women's World Athlete of the Year Award 2012 on 24 November 2012 during the IAAF's 100th Anniversary Celebration. The Jamaican sprinter Bolt had won for defending his gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter races of the summers’ Olympic Games, he also won the same award previously in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Bolt managed to be ahead of United States hurdler Aries Merritt and Kenyan runner David Rudisha to win the award.