Current Affairs Update – 12-13 Dec, 2014

• ·        
  ICCI Bank on 12 December 2014 launched India’s first credit card with a
  unique transparent design and a distinctive look. The credit card named ICICI
  Bank Coral American Express Credit Card. The card is a part of Gemstone
  Collection of ICCI Bank in association with American Express.
• ·        
  The new credit card will have the entire feature of plastic credit cards
  but without the opacity. The plastic cards are generally opaque in nature
  having details like card holder’s name, photograph, signature and bar code,
  among others.
• ·        
  The card provides features with an extended period for repaying of
  retail purchases for the first two bill cycles by paying the minimum amount
  due. 
• ·        
  Other offers of the card include complimentary movie tickets, access to
  certain lounges at Mumbai and Delhi airports, minimum 15 per cent discount on
  bills at leading restaurants across the country and no surcharge on fuel
  transactions at HPCL outlets, among others.

• ·        
  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister (CM) Nara Chandrababu Naidu on 11 December
  2014 launched the Farmers Debt Redemption Scheme to give debt relief to every
  eligible farmer.
• ·        
  As per the Scheme, farmers who took loans between 1 April 2007 and 31
  December 2013 are eligible for the waiver. About 22.79 lakh farmers will be
  benefitted by the scheme.

• ·        
  Under the Debt Redemption Scheme, all the debt of up to 50000 rupees of
  each farmer will be repaid to the banks after the verification process.
• ·        
  The verification process will bring out the names of the farmers who
  have a debt burden of over 50000 rupees to 1.5 lakh rupees which is the upper
  limit as set by the government.
• ·        
  Farmers whose loan amounts are up to 1.5 lakh rupees will get waiver in
  installments with an initial 20 percent payment.
• ·        
  Under the scheme, District Collectors and Joint Collectors will be held
  accountable if any farmer was compelled to sell his produce for less than the
  minimum support price.

• ·        
  Delhi High Court on 10 December 2014 banned Xiaomi to sell phones in
  India over patent issue with Ericsson.
• ·        
  In its judgment, the HC granted an ex parte injunction order against the
  Xiaomi for infringement of Ericsson’s patents and ordered Xiaomi to not bring
  any new phones into India nor sell or advertise them here unless it resolves
  the legal issues surrounding its operations.
• ·        
  The court banned Xiaomi after Ericsson put a plea in Delhi HC that that
  the Chinese company’s phones infringed on its patents. Ericsson deals in
  networking technologies.
• ·        
  Ericsson sued Xiaomi over the patent issue under the FRAND category.
  FRAND stands for Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory, which means they are
  essential and Ericsson can license them to other companies for a reasonable
  fee.
• ·        
  On this ground, Ericsson wrote to Xiaomi in July 2014 to pay for the
  said patents. But Xiaomi allegedly did not reply.
• ·        
  The fight over patents, especially FRAND patents, is more common in
  countries like the US; however, Ericsson is going after copycat phone companies
  in India.
• ·        
  Recently, it asked Micromax for royalties, claiming that the Indian
  phone company was using Ericsson technology in its phones without approval.

• ·        
  Essar Group of India and Rosneft, crude oil producer of Russia on 11
  December 2014 signed a 10 billion US dollars contract to import crude oil over
  ten years from Russia. The agreement was signed during the visit of President
  Vladimir Putin to India.
• ·        
  Rosneft will import to India about 10 million tons a year and the
  agreement comes into force from 2015 onwards. The deal can be extended beyond
  ten years.
• ·        
  The biggest deal of India is Reliance Industries 15-year deal to
  purchase 300000 bpd to 40000 bpd crude oil from Venezuela. This is the second
  biggest contract of Essar 200000 bpd (10 million tons a year).
• ·        
  Chairman of Rosneft: Igor Ivanovich Sechin
• ·        
  Chairman of Essar: Shashi Ruia

• ·        
  Tata Power on 10 December 2014 acquired 540-megawatt (MW) thermal power
  plant in Maharashtra for 3000 crore rupees.
• ·        
  The thermal plant was acquired from the promoters of IRB Infrastructure.
  With this deal, Tata Power aimed to increase its total capacity to 8885 MW.
• ·        
  Until now, Tata Power used to be the nation’s biggest private sector
  electricity producer but after the new announcements by Adani Power, Tata Power
  is under deficit of Production.   Adani
  Power has total capacity of 11040 MW.
• ·        
  The power sector has been short-circuited by regulatory uncertainties,
  fuel supply disruptions and high debts. The uncertainties have seen M&A
  deals worth more than 22000 crore rupees in the recent past as big players
  consolidate their business.

• ·        
  E-commerce major Snapdeal on 11 December 2014 acquired Gift
  Recommendation Platform Wishpicker. The amount of deal was not disclosed.
• ·        
  This is the company’s first acquisition after Japanese telecom and
  internet giant SoftBank invested 627 million US dollar in the homegrown online
  marketplace in October 2014.
• ·        
  Overall, this is Snapdeal’s fifth acquisition since inception. Snapdeal
  had earlier acquired Bangalore-based group buying site Grabbon.com (June 2010),
  esportsbuy.com (April 2012), Shopo.in (May 2013) and Doozton (April 2014).
• ·        
  Wishpicker is an online gift retailer founded by IIT-Delhi graduates
  Apurv Bansal and Prateek Rathore in 2013. It deals in providing gift ideas from
  across the internet through an intelligent gift recommendation engine. It uses
  parameters like relationship with the recipient, age and personality for
  suggesting gifts.
• ·        
  Wishpicker was already working with multiple e-commerce players such as
  Flipkart, Myntra, Healthkart, Fernsnpetals, Caratlane etc.

• ·        
  Reliance Industries (RIL) on 11 December 2014 named former UK Judge Sir
  Bernard Rix as its arbitrator in the KG-D6 cost recovery dispute case with the
  Government of India (GOI).
• ·        
  He will sit on a three-member arbitration panel headed by Supreme
  Court-appointed neutral arbitrator Michael Kirby, a former Judge of an
  Australian High Court. The arbitrator from the government side is former Chief
  Justice of India V N Khare.
• ·        
  RIL suggested his name after former Chief Justice of India S P Bharucha
  quit the case in the first week of December 2014.
• ·        
  Bharucha quit from the case after the government challenged his
  nomination on the grounds that he had not disclosed all previous associations
  with RIL and that his arbitration could create doubts about his independence
  and impartiality.
• ·        
  Rix recently retired as Lord Justice of Appeal with 20 years experience
  in the Commercial Court and the Court of Appeal.

• ·        
  The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015 (WESP) report was
  released on 10 December 2014.
• ·        
  According to report, global economic growth is forecasted to continue
  increasing over the next two years, despite legacies from the financial crisis
  continuing to weigh on growth, and the emergence of new challenges, including
  geopolitical conflicts such as in Ukraine, and the Ebola outbreak in West
  Africa.

• ·        
  The global economy is expected to grow at 3.1 percent in 2015 and 3.3
  percent in 2016. These figures are higher than the 2.6 percent growth recorded
  in 2014, where the pace of expansion has been moderate and uneven.
• ·        
  Among the developed countries, the United States fared well and has
  maintained economic growth above 2 percent in 2014, and expected to continue
  growth of 2.8 percent in 2015 and 3.1 percent in 2016.
• ·        
  Economic growth in South Asia is also set to gradually pick up from an
  estimated 4.9 percent in 2014 to 5.4 percent in 2015 and 5.7 percent in 2016.

• ·        
  The recovery in South Asia will be led by India, which accounts for
  about 70 percent of regional output and other economies such as Bangladesh and
  Iran are also projected to see stronger growth in the forecast period.
• ·        
  Economic growth of India, which is estimated to record a 5.4 percent
  economic growth in 2014, will improve to 5.9 percent in 2015 and 6.3 percent in
  2016.
• ·        
  India is likely to make progress in implementing economic policy reforms
  and help provide support to business and consumer confidence.
• ·        
  The forecasted growth of India about six percent growth in 2016 will be
  the highest since the 2008-2011 period when it had grown at about 7.3 percent.
  It has slowed to 4.7 percent in 2012.

• ·        
  Nation remembered and paid homage to martyrs of Parliament attack on
  13th anniversary of Parliament attack on 13 December 2014.
• ·        
  Nation paid homage to martyrs of Parliament attack that took place on 13
  December 2001. On this day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker
  Sumitra Mahajan paid tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives during the
  terror attack.
• ·        
  Other leaders include UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime
  Minister Manmohan Singh, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister
  Rajnath Singh and other members attended a formal ceremony held in Parliament.
• ·        
  The parliament attack was terror attacks at the Parliament of India in
  New Delhi on 13 December 2001.The five persons responsible for attack of Indian
  parliament were Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists.
• ·        
  During the attack, all the five militants: Hamza, Haider alias
  Tufail,Rana, Raja and Mohammed were killed by the security of India. In the
  investigation found that the other three militants namely Maulana Masood Azhar,
  Ghazi Baba and Tariq Ahmed were also involved in planning the attack.

• ·        
  Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as the next chief of Intelligence
  Bureau(IB). A 1979-batch IPS officer of Kerala cadre known for keeping a low
  profile, Sharma is heading the crucial counter-surveillance of IB and is
  credited with success in several clandestine operations of the the agency in
  that area.
• ·        
  Sharma, who hails from Bihar, will succeed Syed Asif Ibrahim whose
  tenure ends on December 31.
• ·        
  Sharma has served at various desks in Intelligence Bureau since he was
  posted in the organisation in 1991 which includes Kashmir, Northeast besides
  stints in Lucknow.

• ·        
  The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested West Bengal
  Transport Minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra for
  “cheating and misappropriation of funds” in connection with the multicrore
  Saradha scam. He is the first Minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet to be
  arrested in the scam.
• ·        
  The official said the arrest came in connection with a case registered
  against Saradha Realty, a company with investments in the housing sector. In
  the same case, the CBI arrested Naresh Bhalotia, legal adviser to Saradha group
  chief Sudipta Sen, on similar charges.
• ·        
  On Friday, Mr. Mitra appeared at the CBI office in Salt Lake around 11
  a.m. He was arrested at around 4 p.m by CBI officers as he allegedly could not
  answer many questions regarding his association with the Saradha Group.
• ·        
  Other than the allegations of pressuring Saradha chief Sudipta Sen, Mr.
  Mitra had publicly endorsed the Ponzi scheme company couple of years ago. Mr.
  Mitra had admitted taking money from the Saradha chief for constructing a
  temple in his constituency.

• ·        
  Union Home Ministry on 10 December 2014 removed Section 309 of Indian
  Penal Code (IPC) decriminalizing attempt to suicide. The Ministry decided to
  remove Section 309 of IPC after 20th Law Commission recommended to
  decriminalize attempt to suicide.
• ·        
  As a result, attempt to suicide now will not be taken as a criminal
  offence as against the earlier position that a person charged with Section 309
  of the IPC faced up to one year in prison and a fine.
• ·        
  20th Law Commission headed by Justice (retd) A P Shah in its 210th
  Report on Humanization and Decriminalization of Attempt to Suicide had
  recommended that Section 309 of IPC needed to be effaced from the statute book
  because the provision is inhuman, irrespective of whether it is constitutional
  or unconstitutional.
• ·        
  18 States and four Union Territories have backed the government’s
  decision. However, states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi did advise due
  caution before scrapping of the provision.
• ·        
  Bihar government asked the Union Home Ministry that the section should
  not be omitted as there are suicide bombers who fail in their attempt to blow
  themselves up and other terrorists who consume cyanide pills with the intention
  to wipe out evidence.

• ·        
  The Indian Air Force (IAF) on 11 December 2014 launched the second phase
  of its 3D mobile air combat game, Guardians of the Skies (GOTS). The game will
  be available on all three popular mobile platforms – Android, iOS and Windows.
• ·        
  In the game, IAF focused on getting a realistic picture of its flying
  operations, which is also a first of its kind effort by any Air Force in the
  world on a mobile based platform. 

• ·        
  The game puts players into a stimulated world where players become IAF
  pilots and battle it out with a fictitious country called Zaruzia.
• ·        
  In the game, the player undergoes flying training and subsequently gets
  engaged in combat missions in various aircraft types of the IAF fighters,
  transport and helicopter fleet.
• ·        
  Apart from a single player campaign, the game will also have multiplayer
  mode in which players will be able to carry out simulated combat against each
  other over a WiFi network.
• ·        
  The game is optimized to run on devices with as less as 512 MB RAM.
• ·        
  Earlier in July 2014, the first phase of the game with teaser missions
  was released to attract generation-next youth to pursue a career in the force
  especially in Air force.
• ·        
  The game received an enthusiastic response from gamers in the age group
  of 15-25 years and has been complimented for its realistic graphics and game
  play. The game has won the prestigious Best Indian Game award from Microsoft on
  its windows application store.
• ·        
  The game has been developed by Threye Interactive in accordance with the
  strict concept and guidelines laid down by the IAF.

• ·        
  India and Russia on 11 December 2014 signed 20 agreements during the
  15th India-Russia Annual Summit held in New Delhi. The agreements were signed
  in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia President Vladimir
  Putin, who is on the official visit to India.
• ·        
  The agreements signed included eight agreements between government
  entities and 12 between private enterprises and covered the fields of nuclear
  energy, oil and gas, health, investment, mining, media and wind power. These
  agreement include Russia’s help in building at least 12 nuclear reactors and a
  plan to manufacture advanced Russian military helicopters and defence spare
  parts in India
• ·        
  During the summit, both the countries also vowed to strengthen the
  special strategic partnership and unveiled Druzhba-Dosti vision statement for
  the next decade.

• ·        
  Protocol for consultations between the External Affairs Ministry of both
  the countries for the period 2015-2016: The agreement envisages close
  consultation on as many as 17 issues, ranging from Asia-Pacific to West Asia to
  West Europe to Latin America as also at various multilateral for a like UN,
  G20, BRICS, SCO, RIC.

• ·        
  Strategic vision for strengthening cooperation in peaceful uses of
  atomic energy envisaging a roadmap of bilateral cooperation in the civil
  nuclear energy sector for the next two decades. It contains plans to build over
  20 nuclear power units in India
• ·        
  Provisions for the technical data and information non-disclosure in the
  framework of cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy to
  provide an impetus to scientific and technological cooperation in the peaceful
  use of nuclear energy
• ·        
  Supplement to the General Framework Agreement (GFA) for Units 3 and 4 of
  Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project between Nuclear Power Corporation of India
  Limited (NPCIL) and ATOMSTROYEXPORT (ASE) to operationlise the General
  Framework Agreement (GFA) and Technical Commercial Offer (TCO) signed in April
  2014
• ·        
  Contract between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and
  ATOMSTROYEXPORT (ASE) for unit 3 and 4 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant for
  supply of some major equipment by ASE

• ·        
  Programme of Cooperation (POC) under Framework of Inter-governmental
  Agreement for Enhancement of Cooperation in Oil & Gas in 2015-16: The
  agreement sets out a concrete programme for cooperation, envisaging projects
  including joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons, long term LNG
  supplies and joint study of a hydrocarbon pipeline system connecting Russia
  with India.
• ·        
  MoU between TATA Power and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to
  explore investment opportunities in the energy sector across the Russian
  Federation
• ·        
  MoU between Oil India Limite’ and Zarubezhneft to facilitate
  technological association on hydrocarbon projects in India
• ·        
  MoU between ESSAR and ROSNEFT for long-term supply of crude oil
  envisaging ten year supply and purchase by India of crude oil and feed stocks/products

• ·        
  MoU on technical cooperation on accreditation: Aims at development of
  accreditation systems, sharing of information, recognition of test reports, and
  creation of conditions for the elimination of technical barriers in trade and
  economic cooperation.
• ·        
  MoU between ACRON of Russia and NMDC of India to implement 2 billion US
  dollars potash mine project of ACRON in Russia
• ·        
  MoU between Vneshtorgbank (VTB) of Russia and ESSAR Group envisaging
  finance arrangement of 1 billion US dollar to ESSAR by VTB
• ·        
  MoU between Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation Ltd (IDFC)
  and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on a co-investment opportunity up to
  1 billion US dollars
• ·        
  MoU between FICCI and Delovaya Rossiya to broaden and strengthen economic
  ties and identifying new areas of economic cooperation
• ·        
  MoU between Electronics and Software Export promotion Council of India
  (ESEPCI) and Skolkovo Foundation of Russia to enable companies in these sectors
  to enter new markets by means of joint ventures, strategic alliances and in
  joint research and development
• ·        
  MoU between Gamesa Wind Turbine Pvt Ltd. of India and ROTEK of Russia to
  facilitate cooperation between the two companies in wind power equipment
• ·        
  MoU between news agencies PTI and TASS on exchange of news and the right
  to use news items

• ·        
  MoU on cooperation in Health Research: Envisages programme of
  cooperation in specific areas of health research such as oncology,
  bioinformatics & bio imaging, neurosciences, new generation vaccine research
  and research in HIV/AIDS.

• ·        
  MoU between EIRENE SYSTEMS and GLONASS Union to contribute to joint
  development and implementation of projects like Navigation Platform and
  Geographical Information System in India

• ·        
  Agreement for training of Indian defence personnel in the defence
  establishments of the Russia: This will facilitate better understanding between
  the two defence forces.

• ·        
  Senior IAS officer Anurag Jain was on 10 December 2014 appointed as the
  Joint Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of India.
• ·        
  Jain will serve the PMO till 28 June 2016, the balance period of his
  central deputation. He is presently working as Joint Secretary in Department of
  Financial Services under the Union Finance Ministry.
• ·        
  Anurag Jain is a 1989 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.He was
  appointed as a Director at National Housing Bank in October 2011.
• ·        
  He became the Interim Chief Executive Officer and Interim Managing
  Director of IFCI Limited from May 2013 to July 2013.
• ·        
  He has also served as an Acting Chairman and Acting Managing Director of
  Export-Import Bank of India from December 2013 to February 2014.

• 15th
  Indio-Russian Bilateral Annual Summit was held in Delhi 11 December 2014.
  President Vladimir Putin of Russia visited India to hold the summit on the
  invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Prime Minister
  Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin released a joint statement in which
  both the countries agreed on a vision for strengthening the India-Russia
  partnership over the next decade.

• ·        
  During the summit, both the countries signed 20 agreements in the fields
  such as nuclear energy, oil and gas, health, investment, mining, media and wind
  power.
• ·        
  Both the countries agreed on the construction of at least 12 new nuclear
  power units within the next 20 years, including two new units at the Kudankulam
  Nuclear Power Plant. Both also countries agreed to find a new site to construct
  a new nuclear plant.
• ·        
  Both the countries agreed to promote bilateral economic, trade and
  investment cooperation, including the idea of exploring the use of national
  currencies in settlements.
• ·        
  Both the countries agreed to consult and coordinate in multilateral
  forums such as G20, East Asia Summit (EAS), BRICS and RIC.  The bilateral program on enhanced cooperation
  in oil and gas sphere underlines the serious commitments of the two counties to
  develop cooperation in energy area of great promise.
• ·        
  Both the countries envisage broader collaboration between hydrocarbon
  companies of the two countries in oil and gas exploration and production as
  well as in LNG projects and supplies.
• ·        
  India reassured Russia that Russia will remain primary defence partner
  of India, though both the countries did not reach a concrete agreement on the
  fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) and a multirole transport aircraft
  (MTA) projects.
• ·        
  Russia expressed that it would look at participating in the Delhi Mumbai
  Industrial Corridor project and will speed up the negotiations for a free trade
  agreement between India and the Eurasian Union.
• ·        
  Russia looks forward to India to become a full member of the Shanghai
  Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
• ·        
  India and Russia supports the evolution of open, balanced and inclusive
  security architecture in the Asia Pacific region based on collective efforts,
  considering legitimate interests of all states of the region and guided by
  respect for norms and principles of international law.

• ·        
  President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Vajpayee launched the annual
  Summit process in 2000. The first summit Prime Minister Vajpayee visited Moscow
  and held the summit.
• ·        
  This is President Vladimir Putin’s eleventh Annual Summit and first
  summit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• ·        
  Playback singer Asha Bhosle on 10 December 2014 was awarded the Lifetime
  Achievement Award at the 11th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) held in
  Dubai. She received the award for her decades of dedication to Indian Film
  Industry.
• ·        
  Along with her, another Egyptian actor Nour El-Sherif was also received
  the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on over 100 films, in a career
  spanning nearly five decades.
• ·        
  The DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award is dedicated to honour the world’s
  greatest film actors, writers, directors and producers. Previous winners of the
  awards includes Martin Sheen, Omar Sharif, Faten Hamamah, Adel Imam, Jameel
  Rateb, Sabah, Morgan Freeman, Sean Penn, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan,
  Daoud Abdel Sayed, Youssef Chahine, Rachid Bouchareb, Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai
  among others.

• ·        
  Oil India Ltd, the second largest state explorer, has signed contract
  for two offshore oil and gas blocks it had bagged in Myanmar.
• ·        
  OIL along with its consortium partners signed Production Sharing
  Contract (PSC) with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) for two offshore
  blocks M4 and YEB at Nay Pyi Taw, the company said in a statement on Saturday.
• ·        
  OIL-led consortium won these blocks under Myanmar offshore bidding round
  2013 which was launched on April 11, last year.
• ·        
  A total of 30 blocks (11 shallow water and 19 deepsea) were put on offer
  in this bidding round. OIL and partners bid for three offshore blocks M-4, M-8
  and YEB and won two of them.
• ·        
  OIL is the operator with 60 per cent interest in both the blocks. Other
  consortium partners are Mercator Petroleum Ltd (25 per cent), Oilmax Energy Pvt
  Ltd (10 per cent), and Oil Star Management Services Co Ltd (a local company of
  Myanmar with 5 per cent stake).
• ·        
  Block M-4 with an area of 4008 square miles in water depth of less than
  600 feet is located in Moattama Basin, while other block YEB with an area of
  8223 sq miles in water depth of less than 600 feet is located in Thanintharyi
  Basin.
• ·        
  OIL General Manager (Business Development) P.K. Sharma signed the PSC
  while MOGE Managing Director U Myo Myint OO signed the contract at a ceremony
  in Nay Pyi Taw on December 4, the statement added.

• ·        
  Former Cuban Leader Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was on 9 December 2014
  awarded the Confucius Peace Prize 2014 for his important contributions in
  eliminating nuclear war after his retirement.
• ·        
  He was selected from more than 20 nominees including UN Secretary-General
  Ban Ki-moon and two organizations.
• ·        
  Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who
  served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976.
• ·        
  He became President of Cuba in 1976. However, he formally relinquished
  the presidency in February 2008 because of health problems.
• ·        
  After his retirement, he has been actively meeting with leaders and
  groups from all over the world and has made important contributions to
  emphasizing the need to eliminate nuclear war.

• ·        
  The Confucius Peace prize was established in 2009 as an eastern
  alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize following the proposal of Chinese
  businessman Lui Zhiqin.
• ·        
  The award is in the form of a gold statuette and includes a cash prize
  of 15000 US dollars.
• ·        
  It was created following the Norwegian Nobel committee’s decision to
  honor imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
• ·        
  Confucius Peace Prize of China is equivalent to Nobel Peace Prize and
  was first awarded in 2010.
• ·        
  Previous recipients of award are former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
  and then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
• ·        
  In 2013, Yi Cheng, who is the honorary head of the Buddhist Association
  of China, was awarded the Confucius Peace prize.

• ·        
  Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania was on 11 December 2014 appointed
  as the new head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). His
  appointment was confirmed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
• ·        
  Ahmed will succeed American Anthony Banbury in January 2015.
• ·        
  Ahmed is currently deputy special representative of the UN chief and
  deputy head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
• ·        
  He served as United Nations resident coordinator, humanitarian
  coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident
  representative in Syria (2008-2012) and Yemen (2012- 2014).
• ·        
  Ahmed has also held several positions with the United Nations Children’s
  Fund (UNICEF).

• ·        
  UNMEER was established in September 2015 to coordinate efforts to combat
  the world’s worst outbreak of the Ebola virus.
• ·        
  Ebola outbreak has till now killed 6533 people in the three West African
  countries- Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. It has infected around 18118
  people.

• ·        
  Google on 11 December 2014 announced to shut down its news linking
  services in Spain over new intellectual property law. As per the law,
  publishers will soon be force to pay for re-publishing headlines or snippets of
  news to Internet sites.
• ·        
  The norm in the Spanish intellectual property law has been dubbed as the
  Google Tax. New Law will come into effect on 1 January 2015.
• ·        
  In a response, Google said that the new law makes the Google News
  service unsustainable and that it will remove Spanish publishers from Google
  News sites worldwide and shut down this service in Spain on 16 December 2014.
• ·        
  The move also means readers in Latin America and around the globe will
  no longer find links to articles from any Spanish news publishers on Google
  News.
• ·        
  Google’s action caps a decade of acrimony with news publishers who blame
  the search giant for revenue and readership declines. The company maintains
  that it sends millions of clicks that allow news sites to make money via online
  advertising.
• ·        
  The stand-off also comes amid a growing campaign by politicians,
  regulators and courts across Europe to rein in Google’s power over the Internet
  search market and the impact it has on deeply ingrained social norms around
  personal privacy.

• ·        
  Ruhi Singh of India was in news because she won Miss Universal Peace
  & Humanity 2014 at Beirut, Lebanon on 10 December 2014.She is the first
  person to win this pageant from India and she won the pageant among the 145
  other countries. She was Femina Miss India East first runner-up in 2011.
• ·        
  Rebecca Boggiano from Australia finished as first runner-up and Sofia
  Alkhadra from Palestine was the second runner-up.
• ·        
  Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014 Pageant promotes, inspires, and
  empowers all women to develop and utilize their strengths and inner qualities
  to positively impact all people throughout the world.

• ·        
  The Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014 was conceptualized by the
  World Peace Mission Organization under the patronage of the International Human
  Rights Commission.
• ·        
  The purpose of international grand beauty pageant with the theme Beauty
  Speaks for Peace is to call out for peace, to embrace peace, to preserve peace.

• ·        
  The United Nations on Thursday declared that June 21 will be
  International Day of Yoga, adopting a measure proposed by Prime Minister
  Narendra Modi who said yoga lets people “discover the sense of oneness
  with yourself, the world and the nature.”
• ·        
  The 193-member U.N. General Assembly approved by consensus a resolution
  establishing a day to commemorate the ancient practice, which Modi called for
  in September during his inaugural address to the world body.
• ·        
  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the International Day of Yoga
  would bring attention to yoga’s holistic benefits.
• ·        
  The resolution on ‘International Day of Yoga’ was introduced by India’s
  ambassador to UN Asoke Mukerji and had 175 nations joining as co-sponsors, the
  highest number ever for any general assembly resolution.
• ·        
  It is also for the first time that such an initiative has been proposed
  and implemented by any country in the UN body in less than 90 days.
• ·        
  Through the resolution, adopted under the agenda of ‘Global Health and
  Foreign Policy,’ the 193-member general assembly decided to proclaim June 21
  every year as the ‘International Day of Yoga’.

• ·        
  The Maharashtra Government on 12 December 2014 declared Dahi Handi as
  adventurous sport to make it a safe sport. Dahi Handi involves making a human
  pyramid and breaking an earthen pot filled with buttermilk tied at a height on
  the occasion of Krishan Janmashtami. It is a traditional sport in Maharashtra.
• ·        
  The state government took decision to make Dahi Handi as a safe activity
  and will formulate new rules and safety guidelines prescribed by the state
  commission. It will also ensure proper training for the participants and the
  use of all safety instruments.
• ·        
  In August 2014, Bombay High Court had banned the participation of
  children below 18 years of age in Dahi Handi citing fatal accidents at the
  events. However, Supreme Court had reduced the age limit to 12 years and had
  asked the organizers to use proper safety measure at events.

• ·        
  The Saturday blockbuster involving India and Pakistan had disappointment
  in store for the passionate home fans as the host lost 4-3 an evenly-contested,
  high voltage semifinal clash of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the
  Kalinga Stadium here.
• ·        
  Incidentally, India had also lost to the same opponent in the last four
  of the 2012 edition in Melbourne.
• ·        
  The defeat also meant that the third place finish in 1982 remains
  India’s best ever performance in the Champions Trophy.
• ·        
  World No. 11 Pakistan, which reached the final after 16 years on the
  strength of Muhammad Arslan Qadir’s brace, will take on Olympic champion and
  nine-time winner Germany on Sunday.
• ·        
  The world No. 3 edged past five-time defending champion Australia 3-2.
• ·        
  It was also a big achievement for Germany, which had struggled
  throughout the year and came into this event with a team which had several
  players from the 2013 Junior World Cup-winning squad, as it made the final
  after 2009.
• ·        
  As expected, Pakistan used its sharpened wings to cut through the Indian
  defence frequently and kept hitting into the circle from the right.