13 November 2013: Daily Current Affairs Updates

13 November 2013: Daily Current Affairs Updates

1) PFRDA chief Yogesh Agarwal resigned: Yogesh Agarwal, chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA), resigned on Wednesday three years into his five-year term that was to end in 2015.  In a statement, PFRDA merely said Agarwal has stepped down without specifying any reason. Anup Wadha a joint secretary in the finance ministry, will act as interim chairman of the pension regulator, which recently became a statutory body after Parliament passed the PFRDA bill in the monsoon session.

2) India Post to release special stamp on Sachin Tendulkar on 14 Nov 2013: Sachin Tendulkar has undoubtedly left his ‘stamp’ on the game of cricket. Now, India Post wants to capture his imprint for ‘post’erity. The Department of Posts is set to come out with a special stamp of Rs 20 to honour the legend’s last and record 200th Test match appearance on 14 Nov (Thursday). Designed in-house, India Post has 30.1 lakh sets of two stamps, 24.1 lakh sets of miniature sheets, and 16.1 lakh sheetlets of the stamp — all for Tendulkar’s fans. India Post officials said the stamp will be released by Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday — just after the toss. The stamp will be available at all major post offices.

3) Khurshid arrived in Sri Lanka for CHOGM summit: Notwithstanding the demand of political parties in Tamil Nadu for complete boycott, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid arrived in SriLAnka today on a five-day visit to represent India at the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) Summit.

4) Govt to set up 120 community colleges soon: Government is moving towards setting up a framework of community colleges based on the North American model, Minister of State, HRD, Shashi Tharoor, said on Wednesday.

5) New World Trade Centre deemed tallest US skyscraper: New York’s new One World Trade Centre will be the tallest US skyscraper when it is completed, topping the former Sears Tower in Chicago, a panel of architects decided yesterday. Architects at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat agreed that the trade centre’s 124.4 meter (408 foot) antenna was a permanent architectural feature of the building and should be counted in determining its height.

6) Philippines typhoon death toll tops 1,800: Official death toll in the Philippines from one of the world’s strongest typhoons rose to 1,833, the national disaster relief agency said on Wednesday.

7) World Cup 2015: Tickets to go on sale next year; priced under $50:  Tickets for the 2015 cricket World Cup, to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will go on sale from February 14 next year and more than two third of them have been priced at $50 or less. The organisers are expecting more than a million people to attend matches and more than a billion to watch on television.

8) Twitter appointed Parminder Singh as Asia/India head: Micro-blogging Website Twitter has appointed Parminder Singh as the Managing Director of Asia, North Africa and India. Singh has worked at Google as Managing Director – display solution sales for Asia Pacific region for five years.

9) SBI not to merge any associate bank this fiscal: State Bank of India has gone back on its plan to bring one of its associate bank’s under its fold in the current fiscal. “For the time being, the associate bank merger is on the backburner. Nothing is going to happen till March 31, 2014,” said S. Vishvanathan, Managing Director, Associates and Subsidiaries. In August, the then chairman of the bank, Pratip Chaudhuri, had said that SBI will merge one of its associate bank with itself by end of September.

SBI has five associate banks — State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur and State Bank of Patiala.

10) Usha Ananthasubramanian appointed as CMD of Bharatiya Mahila Bank on 12 November 2013. Before joining BMB, she was an Executive Director with Punjab National Bank (PNB).

11) Justice R. Banumathi, Judge of the Madras High Court was on 12 November 2013 appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. She was appointed by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

12) Elaborate arrangements have been made for the 18th International Children’s Film Festival of India (ICFFI) to be held in Hyderabad from tomorrow. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwari will be formally opening the week-long children’s festival at a colorful event tomorrow evening. Bollywood Actor Ranbir Kapoor, legendary film personality Gulzar and Tare Zameen Par fame Darseel will be among a host of celebrities to take part in the opening ceremony.