Daily Current Affairs : 16th December 2013

1. Left-wing candidate Michelle Bachelet has been elected Chilean President for a 2nd time. Ms. Bachelet won 62 percent of the votes, easily defeating her conservative rival, Evelyn Matthei, who got only 37 percent in the worst performance by the right in two decades. Chile is the world’s top copper exporter, and its fast-growing economy, low unemployment and stable democracy are the envy of Latin America. But millions of Chileans who have protested in the streets in recent years say more of the copper wealth should be used to reduce income inequality and fix public schools.

2. India's forex reserves rose for the fifth consecutive week, adding 4.41 billion US dollar to 295.71 billion US dollar in the week ended December 6 on account of a rise in foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank today said. Last week, the reserves recorded the single biggest weekly gain since October 2011 surging by a whopping 5.04 billion dollar to 291.3 billion dollar.

3. Indian Idol winner Sandeep Acharya passes away. Sandeep Achaya, who won the second season of Indian Idol in 2006, passed away at a Gurgaon hospital on Sunday. The 29-year-old singer, who hailed from Rajasthan, had been suffering from jaundice for a fortnight.

4. A statue of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, has been unveiled in the capital, Pretoria, a day after he was buried. The nine-metre (30ft) bronze statue has been erected at the Union Buildings, the government headquarters. The statue, with Mr Mandela's hands reaching outward, was intended to show that he had embraced the whole nation, President Jacob Zuma said

5. CVR Rajendran was on 13 December 2013 appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank. He was appointed by Union Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Rajendran is appointed for a period of five years or until superannuation, whichever is earlier. He is due to superannuate in April 2015.

6. Ethiopian runner Atsedu Tsegay on 15 December 2013 won the Men's Delhi Half Marathon (21.097 km) by creating a new race record. Tsegay clocked 59 minutes 10 seconds beating the previous record of 59 minutes 15 seconds held by Deriba Merga since 2008.

7. The West Bengal government has decided to launch insurance coverage for the Ganga Sagar pilgrims this year. Giving this information in Kolkata, state disaster management Minister Javed Khan said that under the insurance coverage, five lakh rupees compensation will be given in the event of death of any pilgrim and 50,000 rupees each for the injured.

8. Andy Murray, the first British tennis player to win the Wimbledon in 77 years, was crowned the 'BBC Sports Personality of the Year'. 

9. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended West Indies offspinner Shane Shillingford from bowling in international matches because of illegal action. Shillingford will be unable to bowl in international matches "until such time that he has submitted to a fresh analysis, which concludes that he has remedied his bowling action." The ICC has banned Shillingford's teammate and fellow-offspinner, Marlon Samuels, from bowling his quicker deliveries on similar grounds. He is allowed to bowl his normal off-break deliveries in international matches.

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