Daily Current Affairs : 19th December 2013

1. Goa is celebrating the 52nd anniversary of liberation day from the Portuguese yoke today. Goa was liberated on nineteenth December 1961 from the Portuguese occupation after a protracted and long freedom struggle and the operation Vijay conducted by the Indian Army. People from all walks of life enthusiastically participated in various programmes organised all over Goa on this occasion. The Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court Justice Shri Mohit S Shah layed the foundation stone of the proposed new building of High Court of Bombay at Goa in a function coinciding the liberation day celebrations.

2. India’s deputy consul in New York, Devyani Khobragade was transferred to India’s Permanent Mission in United Nations in New York on 18 December 2013. This was done by India to boost her diplomatic immunity. Earlier, Devyani Khobragade was charged with criminal offences by US. Devyani, the IFS officer was transferred to the post of the deputy consul-general in New York. The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations is located in New York.

3. United Nations has lowered India’s economic growth forecast for 2013 to 4.8 per cent while warning that emerging markets should be prepared to deal with the impact of US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programme. India’s economy is forecast to grow at 4.8 per cent in 2013, down 1.3 per cent from its earlier projection, the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 report said. Similarly, it has lowered the growth projection for 2014 to 5.3 per cent, down 1.2 per cent from earlier forecast. The UN sees India to grow by 5.7 per cent in 2015.

4. Alstom bagged 125 million euro contract from BHEL for Neyveli New Thermal Power Project. The contract is to supply components and services for the 1000 MW Neyveli New Thermal Power Project (NNTPP) of Neyveli Lignite Corporation located in Tamil Nadu. The Alstom as per the scope of the contract will co-operate with BHEL in conceptualising, designing, engineering and supplying two tower boilers, the complete lignite milling and firing equipment, and critical components.

5. Swedish manufacturer Saab has won a 4.5 billion dollar contract to supply 36 fighter jets to Brazil. The deal is one of the most valuable ones in emerging markets and Saab had faced competition from rivals Boeing and Dassault Aviation.

6. Kuwait will host the Second edition of the Syria Donor’s conference in the capital Kuwait city next month. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will chair the event. This was disclosed by the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Nigel Fisher in Kuwait city yesterday.

7. Iran will resume technical talks related to its nuclear program with the experts from the six world powers- US, UK, France, Russia, China plus Germany in Geneva over the next two days. The talks are aimed at reaching out to a comprehensive deal over the next six months as envisaged under the interim nuclear deal between Iran and P5+1 group of nations in Geneva last month. Under the deal Iran agreed to scale down its nuclear program in exchange for a limited easing of sanctions.

8. Pakistan on Thursday appointed career diplomat Abdul Basit as its new High Commissioner to India. Mr. Basit, 55, was earlier tipped to take over as Foreign Secretary but the government recently made several changes in proposed appointments. The government initially zeroed in on Syed Ibne Abbas as the new envoy to New Delhi but changed its mind as officials felt he was too junior for the crucial posting.

9. Former India captain Kapil Dev will be the recipient of the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for 2013, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in a press release, here on Wednesday. The award committee, comprising BCCI president N. Srinivasan, Patel, and senior journalist Ayaz Memon, in a meeting here earlier in the day, unanimously nominated Kapil for the honour. The award includes a trophy, a citation, and a cheque for Rs. 25 lakh, and will be presented at the BCCI awards ceremony for the year 2012-13.

10. Europe is about to launch the Gaia satellite, one of the most ambitious space missions in history. The 740 million-euro observatory is going to map the precise positions and distances to more than a billion stars. This should give us the first realistic picture of how our Milky Way galaxy is constructed. The European Space Agency satellite is being sent up on a Soyuz rocket.

11. Kolkata was ranked top in public transport among Indian cities, according to a study of the International Association of Public Transport (UTIP) released on 16 December 2013. Kolkata was ranked 31st which was the highest among the six cities studied in India. The study was made by the IAPT in association with Arthur D Little, a management consultant based in Boston, for 84 cities across the world. The study was titled Future of Urban Mobility 2.0.

12. Macau 'most searched for travel destination' by Google India users in 2013. In its year-end list charting which all travel destinations topped the search rank; Google Zeitgeist has revealed that Macau is the most looked up for place in India. The list shows the rankings of topics with the largest total search volumes by country.

The top ten most searched for travel destinations in India :

1. Macau

2. Maldives

3. Mauritius

4. Bali

5.  Boston

13. Saina Nehwal’s poor form this season has also started showing in her rankings as the Olympic bronze medallist dropped two places to No. 8 in the women’s singles rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Thursday.  In men’s singles, Parupalli Kashyap retained the 14th position while Ajay Jayaram moved up a place to 24th. No Indian figures in the top 25 of the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles rankings

14. World and European champions Spain top the final FIFA world rankings of the year for the sixth time in a row. Football world governing body’s rankings released Thursday show an unchanged top 10, with Spain leading going into World Cup year ahead of Germany and Argentina.

15. India won the boy’s and girl’s team titles in the Asia-Pacific junior golf championship at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC). It was India’s first ever victory in the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championship.

Results

Team Boys

1. India ‘A’ (Manu Gandas, Viraj Madappa)

2. Thailand ‘B’ (Ekthumrong Luanganuruk, Suradit Yongcharoenchai)

3. Chinese Taipei ‘A’ (Sung I Yu, Chun An Yu)

Team Girls

1. India ‘B’ (Ridhima Dilawari, Aditi Ashok)

2. Chinese Taipei A’ (Yu-Hsin Chang, Min-Jou Chen)

3. Chinese Taipei ‘B’ (Hsin-En Tsai, Cih-Hui Chen)

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