Latest Current Affairs- February 2013 (Third Week)

Current Affairs: February 2013 (3^rd  Week)

Useful for all competitive Examinations……..

RBI announced Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in Private Sector

The Reserve Bank of India on 22 February 2013 released the Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector. The guidelines issued by the Apex Bank have opened gates for private players as well as the finance firms to enter into the strictly regulated banking sector of India.

Background

The guidelines for the Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector were finalized after amending the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 in December 2012.

Ernst & Young honoured Ratan Tata with life-time achievement award

Ratan Tata, the former head of Tata Group was awarded the life time achievement award 2012 by Ernst & Young on 21 February 2013. He was given away the award for displaying great role for the Indian businessmen on global business level.

The entrepreneur of the year (2012) award was given away to Adi Godrej, Godrej Group Chairman. It is important to note that entrepreneur of the year award is an only business award which is based on self-nomination.

Twin Blasts in Hyderabad claimed 14 Lives and left 119 Injured

Two bomb blasts took place in Dilsukhnagar, the busy shopping area of Hyderabad, the Capital City of Andhra Pradesh on 21 February 2013. 14 people were reported dead and 119 were critically injured in the serial blasts that rocked the city around 6:50 pm.

Investigations were ordered by both the Central Government and the State Government to find out the group involved in the blast. The State Government of Andhra Pradesh appointed a probe team into the matter.

The blasts were triggered using the Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), which were placed on two different bicycles at a distance of 100 meters from each other near Konark and Venkatadri theatres. The area of blasts lie on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada National Highway within Cyberabad police limits.

Dilsukhnagar

Dilsukhnagar is a commercial and educational hub of Hyderabad. The market of Dilsukhnagar is packed with shops, restaurants, educational institutions, exam preparation centers and theaters.

Australia clinched its ICC Women’s World Cup Trophy after defeating West Indies in Final

Australia won the ICC Women’s World Cup Trophy after defeating West-Indies by 114-runs on 17 February 2013 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Australia clinched the title for the sixth time in the history of women’s cricket World Cup it last won the title in 2005.

Australia scored 259 runs (this is the highest score in Women’s World Cup Final) at the loss of 7 wickets in 50 overs and West Indies lost all its wickets at the score of 145.

Captains

•   Australian Captain: Jodie Fields

•   West Indies Captain: Merissa Aguilleira

Scorecard of Finals

•   Australia: 7/259

i.   J Cameron scored 75runs in the finals

ii.   R Haynes scored 52 runs in the finals

iii.  S Quintyne took 3 wickets for 27 runs

•   West Indies 10/145

i.   KA Knight scored 21* in the finals

ii.   MR Aguilleria scored 23 runs in the finals

iii.   E Perry took 3 wickets for 19 runs

Tournament Report

• Player of the tournament - New Zealand’s Suzie Bates for scoring 407 runs with three half-centuries and a ton at an average of 67.83 in the series.

The Australian, all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar announced her retirement from International cricket after the Australian women’s cricket team won the world cup title 2013. She made her debut in the international cricket in 2001 in an ODI match against England till her retirement she managed to play 125 one day internationals, 8 tests and 54 women T20 international matches.

TRAI Released Pre-Consultation Paper on Country-Wide Mobile Number Portability

Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) started the pre-consultation process for the country-wide mobile number portability services which will enable the users to have the same number even if they change their service area.

As of now, mobile number portability (MNP) services were available in one service area only. But with the help of country-wide MNP services, the users would be able to have same number even if they change their location state-wise.

TRAI announced that it would seek views from the stakeholders on certain issues through the pre-consultation paper. TRAI asked the stakeholders to offer their views by 7 March 2013 on methods or techniques that needed to be used for implementation of full MNP, number portability from one service area to another as well as amendments needed in the existing regulation.

At present, TRAI announced, that there were two MNP service providers which catered to 22 service areas. Implementing complete MNP service would have issues associated with processing of these porting requests, charging, routing, testing as well as much more. Also, there would be a need to ensure connectivity between the MNP service providers. As per the present MNP regulations, the time required for completing porting for North East, J&K as well as Assam is 15 working days. In other service areas, this time is 7 working days.

Virat Kohli appointed Captain for Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli on 20 February 2013 was appointed as he Captain of the IPL Franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League. Kohli will be the successor of Daniel Vettori as the new captain of the team.

Virat Kohli and IPL Records

• He is the 11th highest run-scorer in the history of IPL, with 1693 runs with a strike rate of 119.28

• He is the longest serving member of the team RCB

• He has appeared in a total of 77 matches and this is the highest by any player of RCB and third most appearances by any player in the IPL

FIFA confirmed use of Goal-Line Technology at the 2014 World Cup

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on 19 February 2013 confirmed the use of goal-line technology during the 2014 FIFA World Cup to be organised in Brazil. It also stated that the technology could be introduced in the next season’s Premier league.

FIFA had invited tenders from more service providers of the technology to conduct an official bidding ahead of the Confederations Cup to be held in June 2013. 

Introduction of the technology in football is being insisted to provide a high-tech aid to the World Cup referees to rule on the disputed incidents. IFAB, the rule making panel of FIFA in July 2012 decided to approve the goal-line technology for the competitive matches after it passed an extensive test conducted by the body.

The decision by FIFA was expected once its rule-making panel, known as IFAB, decided last July to approve goal-line technology at competitive matches after two systems passed extensive tests.

Goal-Line Technology (GLT)

Goal-line Technology is a technology that is used to determine the fact that has the ball passed the goal-line or not with the support of an electronic-device to help the referee decided to take a call that either it was a goal or not.

Samsung Electronics Launched Wifi-Only Galaxy Camera with Android 4.1 OS

Samsung Electronics launched WiFi-only Galaxy Camera in February 2013. Just like the original Galaxy Camera, the new WiFi-only Galaxy Camera is powered by Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system. It also includes dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity option.

The Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) is equipped with all those features which are also present in original Galaxy Camera, with the only difference being absence of 3G/4G connection.

The Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) allows the users to make use of the dual-band Wi-Fi technology which already comes embedded into this device. This allows users to share the pictures with others through social networks and emails from their device.

Features and Specifications of Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi)

• It comes with 21x super long zoom lens.

• The Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) has 16 megapixel BSI CMOS.

• The camera features 4.8-inch (121.2mm) HD Super Clear Touch Display.

• Photo and video editing tools are also pre-loaded in the camera. These tools are called Photo Wizard and Video Editor respectively.

• Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) is powered by 1.4GHz Quad-Core processor.

Viswanathan Anand won Grenke Chess Classic Trophy

Viswanathan Anand, the World Champion in Chess from India won the Grenke Chess Classic trophy of 2013 after defeating Arkadij Naiditsch from Germany on 17 February 2013. To secure his win in the Grenke Chess Classic, Anand also defeated Fabiano Caruana from Italy. This was his first title of the year.

The 43 years old Anand, managed to take a 49 move win against Arkadij with his black pieces to claim the title for his all-play-all tournament title in five years. Anand last won a title in March 2008 at Linares, when he topped the field with 8.5 points in the eight player field. In January 2013, Anand finished at third position in the Tata Steel at Wijk aan Zee in although he lost the first round to Wang Hao from China.

Standings of Players Point wise:

1. Viswanathan Anand from India (6.5/10)

2. Fabiano Caruana from Italy (6/10)

3. Michael Adams from England (5/10)

4. Georg Meier from Germany (5/10)

5. Arkadij Naiditsch from Germany (4/10)

6. Daniel Fridman from Germany (3.5/10)

Ela Bhatt Conferred 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development Award

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 18 February 2013 conferred 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development Award to Ela Ramesh Bhatt, a renowned Women social worker. The award was given away at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Ela Bhatt was given away the award for life time achievements in women empowerment, promotion of grassroot level entrepreneurship as well as contribution towards promotion of equitable development and peace. Ela Bhatt has her organisation SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association). President Pranab Mukherjee while giving away the award announced that SEWA was a vehicle of self employment and self reliance for the Indian women, while at the same time being synonymous with the rural inclusiveness.

Ela Bhatt

• Ela Bhatt is the founder of more than 1 million SEWAs in India.

• Since years, Ela Bhatt has been working for women empowerment and bringing women out of poverty through promotion of Self Help Groups.

• SEWA has empowered women with freedom as well as financial self- reliance.

Romanian Film Child’s Pose bagged the Golden Bear Prize

The Romanian film Child's Pose on 16 February 2013 bagged the coveted Golden Bear prize for best film at the 63rd Berlin film festival. The Romanian drama is about a dominating mother using her social position to try to save her son from jail.

The awards ceremony brought to a close the 11-day cinema showcase, where hundreds of movies were screened across Berlin.

Other important current affairs in a nutshell…..

* Justice Usha Mehra Commission constituted to identify the lapses on Delhi gang rape incident submitted its report to the Government on 22 Feb 2013.

* T. S. Vijayan, the former LIC chief took over as the Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on 21 February 2013.

* Prime Minister of Tunisia Hamadi Jebali resigned on 19 February 2013 after he failed to reach on an agreement for creating a new government.

* The Kerala Govt. on 20 February 2013 approved Kerala Abkari Act Amendment Ordinance 2013, thus raising age limit for buying or selling liquor from 18 to 21.

* The ground controllers of NASA re-established contact with International Space Station in less than 3 hours after computer failure blocked their communication.

* 140 nations adopted the world’s first mercury treaty on 19 February 2013 at Geneva to limit the use of health hazardous mercury.

* Rafael Nadal defeated David Nalbandian in straight sets to win the Brazil Open on 17 February 2013 at Sao Paolo.

* Researchers in the third week of February 2013 detected water traces within one of the oldest lunar rocks which were obtained through Apollo missions on Moon.

* Abhishek Kapoor's Kai Po Che based on the novel of Chetan Bhagat- 3 Mistakes of My Life was premiered on 18 February 2013.

* Astronomers discovered that the cosmic rays originates as the aftermath of the Star Explosion, about a hundred years after Victor Hess discovered these rays.

* External Affairs Minister of India, Salman Khurshid visited Bangaldesh to be the part of 2nd meeting of India Bangladesh JCC

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