Current Affairs Update – 19 Dec, 2014

Finance/Business/Economy News
1. Government decides
to pay 8.75% interest on PF for 2014-15
  • Over five crore subscribers of the EPFO will get 8.75 per
    cent interest this fiscal on their provident fund deposits – the same rate as
    the previous year.
  • “Finance Ministry has ratified the decision of the
    EPFO’s Central Board of Trustees (CBT) to retain 8.75 per cent rate of interest
    for the current fiscal,” said a source.
  • The rate was same in the previous year, 2013-14, when it
    was raised from 8.5 per cent in the 2012-13 fiscal.

2. SoftBank Corp
announced its third investment of 570 crore rupees in Housing.com

  • Japanese telecom & internet giant SoftBank Corp on 16
    December 2014 announced its third investment of 570 crore rupees in
    Housing.com.
  • SoftBank will acquire around 30% stake in the property
    portal for 470 crore rupees. With this, the value of Housing.com increased to
    1550 crore rupees.
  • Online real-estate ventures have seen a steady flow of
    investor money in recent months with the likes of PropTiger getting a 30
    million US dollar investment from Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp.
  • The existing companies in the housing sector are 99acres,
    Magicbricks, part of the Times Group, and new-age startups like Bengaluru-based
    Commonfloor.
  • Housing sector is witnessing a promising future because
    of its technology backbone and heavy focus on data and analytics.

3. HTC Global Services
acquired CareTech Solutions Inc
  • IT services company HTC Global Services on 19 December
    2014 acquired a US based firm CareTech Solutions Inc. Both companies are
    headquartered in Troy, Michigan.


Highlights of the
acquisition

  • Madhava Reddy, president and CEO of HTC Global Services,
    will also take on the role of chairman of CareTech Solutions.
  • However, Jim Giordano will continue to lead CareTech as
    president and CEO.
  • CareTech will retain its brand name and will operate as a
    wholly owned subsidiary of HTC under its current leadership team.


About HTC Global
Services

  • Established in 1990, HTC Global Services is an INC. 500
    Hall of Fame company and one of the fastest growing privately held companies in
    Michigan.
  • HTC Global Services has offices in several countries and
    global delivery centres in North America, India and Malaysia to serve customers
    across the globe.
  • Recently, HTC Global Services won the annual Aetna
    Supplier Award for 2014.

4. Zomato acquires
Italian restaurant search service Cibando

  • Zomato has acquired Italy’s leading restaurant search
    service Cibando. Zomato has now acquired five companies globally in a short
    span of five months
  • Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO of Zomato, said,
    “Cibando is one of the largest restaurant search services in Italy. Their
    existing traffic and user base will give us a great start as we launch Zomato
    in the country.”
  • The entire Cibando team is joining Zomato and will lead
    the effort of building the business in Italy.
  • This is Zomato’s fifth acquisition in recent months.
    Zomato acquired MenuMania in New Zealand, Lunchtime in Czech Republic, Obedovat
    in Slovakia, and Gastronauci in Poland recently.

News Related to India and Indian Polity
5. India’s first
warship “Barracuda” export to Mauritius

  • On Saturday, defence shipbuilder, Garden Reach Shipyard
    & Engineers (GRSE) will hand over to Mauritius a 1,300-tonne offshore
    patrol vessel (OPV) named “Barracuda”. This $58-million (Rs 365
    crore) vessel is the first warship ordered by a foreign country from an Indian
    shipyard.
  • Meanwhile, GRSE is bidding to build two frigates for the
    Philippines Navy, for an estimated Rs 1,000 crore each. If GRSE wins that order
    – for which major global shipyards are bidding, including Navantia of Spain,
    STX of France and Korean majors, Hyundai and Daewoo – it would be the first
    time a warship designed and built in India is selected in an international
    tender.
  • India has gifted several warships to smaller Indian Ocean
    countries such as Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius. It has sold used vessels,
    such as a Sukanya-class OPV that now serves as the Sri Lankan navy’s flagship.
  • GRSE is also finalising the design of a series of
    140-tonne Fast Patrol Boats for the Vietnam Navy. New Delhi has offered a line
    of credit to Vietnam for that order.

6. Lok Sabha passed
the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014
  • The Lok Sabha on 18 December 2014 passed the Motor
    Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014 to legalize e-rickshaws by bringing them under
    the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
  • The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was introduced
    in Lok Sabha on 15 December 2014. The Bill seeks to amend the Motor Vehicles
    Act, 1988.


Provisions of the Bill

  • Under the Act, a motor vehicle or vehicle is defined as
    any mechanically propelled vehicle adapted for use upon the roads. 
  • The bill does not include (i) a vehicle running upon
    fixed rails or (ii) a vehicle of a special type adapted for use only in a factory
    or in any other enclosed premises or (iii) a vehicle having less than four
    wheels fitted with engine capacity of not exceeding 25 cc.
  • The Bill brings e-carts and e-rickshaws under the ambit
    of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.  E-carts
    and e-rickshaws are defined as special purpose battery powered vehicles, having
    three wheels, and with power up to 4000 watts. 

7. TVS Chairman Venu
Srinivasan conferred honorary citizenship of Busan

  • TVS chairman Venu Srinivasan was made Honorary Citizen of
    Busan, Korea on 18 December 2014. He was conferred with the citizenship for his
    efforts to enhance friendship and cooperation between India and Republic of
    Korea.
  • He was conferred the title by Mayor of Busan Metropolitan
    City, Suh Byung-soo during the honorary citizenship ceremony held at Busan, the
    second largest city in Korea, after Seoul.
  • Srinivasan, who is also Honorary Consul General of the
    Republic of Korea in Chennai, is the first Indian industrialist to be granted
    honorary citizenship.

About Venu Srinivasan

  • He is an Indian industrialist who is the Chairman and
    Managing Director of Sundaram Clayton Ltd and Chairman of TVS Motor Company,
    the third largest two wheeler manufacturer in India.
  • For the year 2009-10, he served as the President of
    Confederation of Indian Industry.
  • In 2010 he was conferred with Padma Shri by the President
    of India for his contributions in the field of trade and industry.

8. GSLV Mark-III-X
successfully test fired along with human Crew module, CARE

  • GSLV Mark-III-X was in news recently because Indian Space
    Research Organisation (ISRO) on 18 December 2014 launched it successfully from
    Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
  • GSLV Mark-III-X is the heaviest rocket (630 tonnes) of
    India, which was launched on an experimental mission along with human Crew
    module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment (CARE). It was launched with an aim to
    check its atmospheric stability with luggage of around four tonne and to study
    re-entry characteristics of the crew module.
  • In the experimental mission, the crew module separated
    itself from the rocket at an altitude of 126 km for re-entry into the earth’s
    atmosphere. Crew module, in the process of re-entry into earth’s atmosphere,
    was controlled by 3 parachutes which helped it to splash safely into the Bay of
    Bengal off Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
  • Further, the crew module was successfully recovered by
    the Indian Coast Guard near Indira Point, the southernmost point of India.

9. Surat ties up with
Microsoft to achieve Smart City dream
  • In what will become a feather in the cap for the diamond
    city – Surat, the local civic body has tied up with technology giant, Microsoft
    for bringing innovative and online solutions in civic services and make them
    more responsive, efficient and people-centric.
  • Microsoft’s CityNext service will empower citizens in
    Surat with open data and digital way of accessing civic services, thereby
    making Surat a Smart City.
  • Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) and Microsoft India
    will jointly transform Surat into a smart city by adopting process automation
    and technology-driven citizen services, a statement said.
  • The engagement between Microsoft and SMC would involve
    citizen services across RTI, property tax payments, birth & death
    registration, grievance redressal system, vaccination alert system, application
    tracking systems, disease statistics/reports for hospitals and solid waste
    management system. Also, it would include utility services including water
    supply and sewage systems.
  • Microsoft CityNext is a people-first initiative to enable
    residents and city leaders to use technology to build a foundation for sustainable
    growth and prosperity.
  • The CityNext initiative has been successfully implemented
    in cities across the world including Paris, Washington DC and Auckland.

10. Veteran freedom
fighter Chunibhai Vaidya passed away
  • Veteran Gandhian and freedom fighter Chunibhai Vaidya
    passed away on 19 December 2014 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat following brief illness.
    He was 97.


Chunibhai Vaidya

  • Chunibhai Vaidya was born on 2 September 1918 in a small
    village in Patan district of North Gujarat.
  • He began his life in activism with freedom struggle. He
    also actively participated in Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan Movement.
  • Being an editor of Bhoomiputra magazine, he raised battle
    against political emergency in 1975 and faced imprisonment.
  • Vaidya formed Gujarat Lok Samiti, a voluntary
    organization in 1980.
  • He was felicitated with Vishva Gujarati Pratibha award by
    Vishva Gujarati Samaj.
  • He wrote a book titled Assassination of Gandhi : Facts
    and Falsehood which was translated and published in eleven languages.

International News
11. Taliban video
identifies Umar Mansoor as mastermind of Peshawar attack
  • The most hated man in Pakistan is a 36-year-old father of
    three and volleyball enthusiast nicknamed “Slim”.
  • His real name is Umar Mansoor and the Pakistani Taliban
    say he masterminded this week’s massacre of 132 children and nine staff at a
    school in Peshawar – the deadliest militant attack in Pakistan’s history.
  • A video posted on Thursday on a website used by the
    Taliban shows a man with a luxuriant chest-length beard, holding an admonishing
    finger aloft as he seeks to justify the December 16 attack. The caption identified
    him as Umar Mansoor.
  • The Taliban say the attack, in which gunmen wearing
    suicide-bomb vests executed children, was retaliation for a military offensive
    carried out by the Pakistani army. They accuse the military of carrying out
    extrajudicial killings.
  • The accusation is not new. Many courts have heard cases
    where men disappeared from the custody of security services. Some bodies have
    been found later, hands bound behind the back and shot in the head, or
    dismembered and stuffed into sacks.

12. Lakhvi booked
again; to remain in jail

  • Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi will remain in jail for at least
    three more months with Pakistani authorities on Friday slapping stringent
    provisions under public security against the key accused in the 2008 Mumbai
    attack, a day after a court gave him bail sparking outrage in India.
  • Lakhvi (54) was detained for three months under Maintenance
    of Public Order (MPO).
  • Lakhvi was granted bail by Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court
    on Thursday due to lack of evidence against him.
  • The order of detention was handed over to Adiala Jail
    superintendent before Lakhvi’s counsel could show his bail order to jail
    authorities.
  • The prosecution chief further said that the government
    had decided in principle to challenge the trial court’s decision in the high
    court.

13. NASA’s Kepler mission
discovers ‘super-Earth’

  • NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, which is
    carrying out a new mission has made its first exoplanet discovery — a
    ‘super-Earth’ located 180 light-years from Earth.
  • Lead researcher Andrew Vanderburg, a graduate student at
    the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
    studied publicly available data collected by the spacecraft during a test of
    the new K2 mission in February 2014.
  • This led to the discovery of a planet, HIP 116454b, which
    is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and follows a close, nine-day orbit around a
    star that is smaller and cooler than our Sun, making the planet too hot for
    life as we know it.
  • HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth,
    toward the constellation Pisces.
  • The discovery was confirmed with measurements taken by
    the HARPS-North spectrograph of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary
    Islands, which captured the wobble of the star caused by the planet’s gravitational
    tug as it orbits.
  • HARPS-N showed that the planet weighs almost 12 times as
    much as Earth. This makes HIP 116454b a super-Earth, a class of planets that
    does not exist in our solar system.

14. US President
Barack Obama signed Ukraine Freedom Support Bill, 2014 for more sanctions on
Russia
  • The US President Barack Obama on 18 December 2014 signed
    Ukraine Freedom Support Bill, 2014 passed by the US Congress. With this, the
    Bill has now become Ukraine Freedom Support Act, 2014.
  • The Act authorizes more sanctions on Russia for its role
    in the Ukraine crisis.  However, it does
    not intend to impose sanctions on Russia. 
    Rather, the Act gives the administration additional authorities that
    could be utilized if any circumstance arises.
  • The Act also authorizes 350 million US dollars in lethal
    and non-lethal military aid to the Ukrainian government, including anti-Tank
    weapons, munitions and surveillance drones.
  • The Act also gives the administration the authority to
    impose further sanctions on Russia against Ukraine crisis, that is, Russia’s
    annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and support for separatists in
    eastern Ukraine.
  • The Act extends applicability of certain US sanctions
    involving Russia and Ukraine to non-US persons.
  • However, the Act would terminate when the US President
    certifies to Congress that Russia has, among other actions, ceased undermining
    the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of
    Ukraine.

15. US Senate passed
resolution recognising Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai as symbols of
peace

  • The US Senate on 16 December 2014 unanimously passed a
    resolution recognising Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai as symbol of
    peace. Satyarthi and Malala are the joint winners of Nobel Peace Prize for the
    year 2014.
  • The resolution recognised them as symbol of peace and
    advocates for ending the financial exploitation of children and for the right
    of all children to an education. They were recognised for their efforts to end
    the scourge of child slavery and advance education for all children. 
  • The resolution also lauded all individuals working around
    the world to end the scourge of child slavery and to advance education for all
    children. It recognised the challenges that remain in ending the financial
    exploitation of children and providing access to an education for all children.
  • The resolution was introduced by outgoing Senator Tom
    Harkin on 11 December 2014 and was the last item passed by the US Senate in the
    113th Congress.

16. United Nations
sent team of international experts to clean up Sundarbans oil spill

  • The United Nations (UN) on 18 December 2014 sent a team
    of international experts to help Bangladesh in cleaning up the Sundarbans oil
    spill. The team belonging to the United Nations Disaster Assessment and
    Coordination (UNDAC) was sent on a request from Bangladesh government.
  • The UN team will help Bangladesh government in the ground
    work and will also conduct an assessment and advise on recovery and risk reduction
    measures. The team comprises of experts from Britain, European Union, France
    and the United States.
  • Besides, the UN asked Dhaka to impose a complete ban on
    the movement of commercial vessels through the Sundarbans.
  • Sundarbans, the world largest mangrove forest, was hit by
    huge oil spill after an oil-tanker carrying 350000 litres of furnace oil
    collided with another vessel in Mongla near River Shela in Bangladesh on 9
    December 2014.
  • The oil spill has now spread 350 sq km inside the
    delicate protected mangrove forest area that are home to rare Irrawaddy and
    Ganges dolphins and endangered Royal Bengal Tigers.
  • The accident occurred inside one of three sanctuaries set
    up for the dolphins in 2011 after studies found they are home to some 6000
    dolphins.

17. US released three
Cuban spies of Wasp Network
  • Wasp Network was in news recently because the United
    States in third week of December 2014 released three Cuban spies of this
    network. These spies were released as part of announcement restoring diplomatic
    relations between the US and Cuba after more than 50 years of enmity.
  • The Wasp Network is a spy ring of Cuba that included five
    members of a 14 member espionage team called La Red Avipsa.
  • The Wasp Network was engaged in a wide range of
    activities, including locating vulnerable points of entry into the state of
    Florida for the importation of arms and explosives, infiltration of the US
    Southern Command, and the attempted subversion of anti-Communist organizations
    in the US.
  • In 2001, five members of spies of Cuba were convicted of
    being unregistered foreign agents, and three also were found guilty of
    espionage conspiracy for failed efforts to obtain military secrets from the US
    Southern Command headquarters.

18. Veteran poetess
Imtiaz Dharker awarded with the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2014
  • Noted Pakistan-born poetess Imtiaz Dharker was on 17
    December 2014 awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2014 for her latest
    poetry collection Over the Moon.
  • The award recognizes Imtiaz Dharker life’s contribution
    to poetry. It will be presented to Dharker in 2015.
  • Earlier on 4 December 2014, Dharker was unanimously
    chosen for the award by the Poetry Medal Committee at Windsor. Her nomination
    was approved by the Queen of the United Kingdom.

Imtiaz Dharker

  • Dharker was born in Pakistan in 1954 but grew up a Muslim
    Calvinist in a Lahori household at Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Some of her poems are included in syllabus of schools in
    the United Kingdom.
  • She has so far published five books including Postcards
    from God and Purdah in 1997, I Speak for the Devil in 2001, The Terrorist at my
    Table in 2006, Leaving Fingerprints in 2009 and Over the Moon in 2014.

19. UN Security
Council renewed Humanitarian aid to Syria for 12 Months
  • United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 17 December
    2014 renewed its authorization for humanitarian aid to Syria for 12 months
    without Syria’s government consent. The resolution, pursuant to resolution 2165
    passed in July 2014, extends the humanitarian assistance for Syrian civilians
    until 10 January 2016.


Main highlights of the
Resolution

  • The humanitarian aid renewed is for conflict lines and
    four border crossings in Syria from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.
  • The four border crossings namely are Al Yarubiyah on the
    Iraq border, Al-Ramtha from Jordan, Bab al-Salam and Bab al-Hawa from Turkey.
  • It called on UN humanitarian aid agencies and their
    partners to scale up humanitarian deliveries into hard-to-reach and besieged
    areas, including by using, as effectively as possible, (the authorized) border
    crossings.
  • It expressed grave concern over the ineffective
    implementation of its previous resolutions 2139 and 2165 and demanded increased
    aid access to civilians in hard-to-reach areas.

20. UNGA adopted
resolution referring North Korea to ICC for human right abuses
  • The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 18 December
    2014 adopted a resolution referring North Korea to the International Criminal
    Court (ICC) for human right abuses and for charges of crimes against humanity.
  • The UNGA adopted the resolution with 116 accepted votes
    to 20 rejected votes. More than 50 countries abstained from voting. China and
    Russia voted against the resolution along with Belarus Cuba, Iran, Syria and
    Venezuela.
  • The resolution also called UNGA to consider targeted
    sanctions against the Pyongyang leadership for the repression of civilians in
    North Korea.
  • A UN report released in February 2014 revealed that
    civilians of North Korea faced unspeakable atrocities. It also detailed
    wide-ranging abuses in North Korea which includes deliberate starvation, forced
    labour, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights
    enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide.
  • The report also revealed that North Korea didn’t
    co-operate with the report findings.
  • In November 2014 UN human Rights Committee voted in
    favour of referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and
    also condemned human rights abuses of North Korea.

Sports News

21. Michael Garcia
resigned as Chief ethics investigator of FIFA Ethics Committee

  • Michael Garcia on 18 December 2014 resigned as
    Independent Chief Ethic investigator of Federation Internationale de Football
    Association (FIFA) Ethics Committee.
  • He resigned from the post in protest over the handling of
    his 430-page report on awarding the bid for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to
    Russia and Qatar respectively. FIFA had earlier awarded bid to Russia and Qatar
    despite allegations of corruption.
  • Garcia resigned a day after FIFA’s appeal panel rejected
    his challenge that FIFA Judge Hans-Joachim Eckert had submitted a wrong summary
    of his report and cleared Russia and Qatar as World Cup hosts.


Timeline of
controversy

  • 2 December 2010: Russia
    and Qatar chosen to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups
  • 4 October 2013: FIFA sets
    up taskforce to look into alternative dates for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
  • 1 June 2014: Surfacing
    of news that former FIFA Vice-President Mohamed bin Hammam paid 3 million
    pounds to FIFA officials for support to Qatar’s bid
  • 5 September 2014: Michael
    Garcia submits report into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process to FIFA
  • 13 November 2014: 42-page
    summary of Garcia report released by FIFA clearing Russia and Qatar of
    corruption
  • 13 November 2014: Garcia
    disowns the summary released and claimed it contains erroneous representations
  • 16 December 2014: FIFA
    rejected Garcia appeal against FIFA Judge Eckert’s
  • 17 December 2014: Garcia
    resigned as Independent Chairman of the FIFA Ethics Committee’s Investigatory
    Chamber

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