Daily Current Affairs : 11th December 2013

1. Homosexuality is a criminal offence: Supreme Court; In a blow to gay rights activists, the Supreme Court today upheld the constitutional validity of the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with upto life imprisonment. A bench of justices G.S Singhvi and S.J Mukhopadhaya set aside the Delhi High Court’s verdict which had in 2009 decriminalised gay sex among consenting adults in private. As soon as the verdict was pronounced, gay activists in the court looked visibly upset.

2. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, 68, won the Economic Times Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 for his role in creating India's third-largest software exporter and also for the impressive scale of his philanthropy. The 2013 ET Awards for Corporate Excellence were given in Mumbai on 9 December 2013. The ET Awards were decided by a jury headed by Anshu Jain, co-CEO of Deutsche Bank. The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence (also referred as ET Awards) are the awards conferred by The Economic Times in the field of business, corporate and government policies, economies in India.

3. Justice D.P Buch, a retired judge of the Gujarat High Court, was administered the oath of Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Assembly Speaker Vajubhai Vala.

4. General Motors named Mary Barra as its new chief executive on Tuesday, making her the first woman to lead a major car manufacturing company in the United States. The 51-year-old — who previously served as Senior Vice-President for global product development — will replace current CEO Dan Akerson, Detroit-based General Motors (GM) confirmed in a statement.

5. The last King of the erstwhile Mysore royal family, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar passed away in Bangalore on 10 December 2013 due to heart attack. Maharaja Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar Bahadur also known as Srikanta Wadeyar was the last prince of Mysore Kingdom under Wodeyar dynasty. Wodeyar Dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Mysore between 1399 and 1950. Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar was born in 1953. He was the only son of Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodiyar, the last ruling Maharaja of Mysore and his second wife Maharani Tripura Sundari Ammani Avaru.

6. Uruguay on 10 December 2013 became the first country in the world to legalise marijuana for recreational use with the state taking control of the trade. In this regard Uruguay senators gave the approval for government-sponsored bill. According to the new law-Registered Uruguayans over the age of 18 will be allowed to buy up to 40 grams of the drug a month. Tourists will be excluded. The government hopes it will help tackle drug cartels, but critics say it will expose more people to drugs.

7. The third one day cricket between India and South Africa begins at Super Sport Park in Centurion. The hosts won the toss and elected to bat in the inconsequential match as they have already won the three match series 2-0.8. 

8. Former world heavyweight champion and convicted rapist Mike Tyson has been banned from entering Britain and forced to cancel appearances to promote his new autobiography, his publishers said on Tuesday. There was a change in the UK immigration law in December 2012 of which we were unaware," said a spokesman for HarperCollins. “For this reason Mike had to change location to Paris to salvage his press obligations for the UK.” The 47-year-old, who was convicted of raping a teenage beauty queen in 1992, had been due to appear in London this week to promote his book, Undisputed Truth. British immigration rules ban anyone who has been sentenced to more than four years in prison from entering the country.

9. An Australian schoolboy has got his name written in record books after running 200m in 21.73secs - a record for his age group - it was also about 0.08sec quicker than what Usain Bolt ran as a 14-year old.  Originally from the NSW southcoast, James Gallaugher made the record at his weekend performance in Townsville, News.com.au reported. He is one of the people making their claim for selection for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

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