Daily Current Affairs : 4th & 5th December 2013

1. The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development was observed across the world on 5 December 2013. The day, which is also known as International Volunteer Day (IVD), gives volunteers a chance to work together on projects and campaigns promoting their contributions to economic and social development at local, national and international levels. Theme for the year 2013 is: YOUNG.GLOBAL.ACTIVE. The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 40/212 on 17 December 1985. Since then, the day is celebrated each year on 5 December across the world.

2. India ranked 94th out of 177 countries on Global Corruption Perception Index 2013, which was released by Transparency International on 3 December 2013. In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, Denmark and New Zealand tied for first place with scores of 91. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia this year make up the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each. Transparency International has released its 19th annual Corruption Perceptions Index on 3 December 2013 at Berlin, Germany. The Index, which ranks the public sector of 177 countries across the world according to perception of corruption.

3. Sushma Singh, the seniormost Information Commissioner, will be the next Chief Information Commissioner of India and will succeed Deepak Sandhu, who completes her term. The decision on appointing Singh, a former IAS officer, as the next CIC was taken unanimously by a panel comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and law minister Kapil Sibal. Singh will the second woman to become CIC after Sandhu, whose term comes to an end later this month.

4. Metro Cash & Carry India has bagged the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Award for Food Safety 2013. The award was conferred on Metro Cash & Carry at the CII’s 8th Food Safety and Quality Summit in New Delhi. Srinivas Ranganathaiah, Head - Quality Assurance, along with Jyoti Gurung, Senior General Manager - Operations, Arun Methan - General Manager, Quality Assurance and Sudha M R - Quality Manager, accepted the award on behalf of Metro Cash & Carry from Chandramouli, Chairman of The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

5. The Reserve Bank of India has granted a registration certificate to Cheraman Financial Services Ltd to carry out the business of a non-banking finance company without accepting public deposits. The financial services of the company are limited to leasing and equity finance. The financial resources needed would be raised through share capital. The activities of the company are in compliance with the provisions of the RBI Act 1934, a statement issued here said.

6. Breaking all records, Delhi registered the highest-ever voter turnout of 65.13 per cent in the Assembly polls with men and women coming out in almost equal numbers to exercise their franchise, Delhi's Election Commission said today. In 2008 Assembly polls, the overall voting percentage was 57.58 while in 1993, it was 61.75 per cent. Out of 1.19 crore eligible voters, over 77.7 lakh people exercised their franchise yesterday. The number of first-time eligible voters is 4.05 lakh.

7. President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday released a postal stamp and First Day cover on INS Vikramaditya, the aircraft carrier that was commissioned in the Navy last month. INS Vikramaditya, the Indian Navy's latest, largest and most powerful aircraft carrier, was commissioned on Nov 16 in Russia. The warship is on its way to India from Russia. 

8. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, on a three-day visit to India, held talks with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday on a wide range of bilateral as well as regional issues. The focus of the two-hour deliberations was to sustain the momentum in India-Egypt bilateral relations and to expand the interactions to wider areas of regional and international issues of interest, said a statement from the external affairs ministry. Khurshid informed his Egyptian counterpart of India's approval to establishing a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology at the Al Azhar University in Cairo. Currently, bilateral trade between India and Egypt stands at $5.4 billion annually. India is the third largest destination of Egyptian exports ($2.6 billion) and Egypt is the 11th largest destination of Indian exports ($2.9 billion). 

9. India is working to set up an energy efficient power transmission line (HVDC) with Nepal and Bhutan as part of its energy security plans, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said. India also hopes to have power transmission connectivity with ASEAN and SAARC countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday while addressing the World Energy Policy Summit 2013 in New Delhi. 

10. The Supreme Court on Thursday blamed the administrators for the poor state of the national game, hockey, in the country. The court stated that the sports bodies should be headed by sports persons and not by businessmen. It also mentioned that politics has taken hockey into abysmal low. 

11. Former all-rounder Chris Cairns acknowledged on Thursday an International Cricket Council (ICC) investigation into match-fixing involving three New Zealanders. "We need to let the investigation by the ICC run its course," the New Zealander said in a brief statement to Fairfax Media, adding it was the only comment he was prepared to make.

12. Luxembourg swore in “Xavier Bettel” as its first openly gay prime minister on Wsednesday, paving the way for the introduction of social reforms such as same-sex marriage. Bettel replaces Jean-Claude Juncker, who was until Wednesday the European Union's longest-serving head of government, with 19 years in power. That distinction is now held by Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who took office in April 2005.

13. Indian men registered their second win of the 2013 Kabaddi World Cup as they breezed past Spain in their group match while women's team defeated Kenya in an easy encounter in Hoshiarpur on Tuesday. India beat Spain 55-27 in their Pool A match at the Lajwanti Stadium. The fourth edition of Kabaddi World Cup was inaugurated by Punjab Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka at outdoor stadium Hoshiarpur and was introduced to the players of all the participating teams.

14. Brazuka, the official 2014 FIFA World Cup match ball was unveiled on 3 December 2013 by manufacturers Adidas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ball is called the 'Brazuca' after a public vote by more than one million football fans in the host nation Brazil. Brazuca is an informal local term which means "Brazilian", or relating to a Brazilian way of life. The ball was named Brazuca in September 2012 following a public vote in Brazil involving one million football fans.

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