Daily Current Affairs: 17 November 2013

Daily Current Affairs: 17 November 2013

1) Yameen sworn in as new Maldivian President: Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was sworn in as the 6th President of the Maldives, ending nearly two years of political turmoil that threatened to isolate the country internationally. 54-year-old Yameen, an economist and a candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), clinched an unexpected victory in the presidential run-off yesterday by receiving 51.39 per cent of the votes over opposition leader and former president Mohammed Nasheed who garnered 48.61 per cent of the votes. Mohammad Jameel was sworn in as vice-President.

2) Malta to host Commonwealth summit in 2015: Malta was unanimously chosen as the host of the next Commonwealth summit in 2015 after Mauritius pulled out in protest against the decision to hold this year’s gathering in Sri Lanka despite an international outcry over alleged rights violations and war crimes.

3) Saudis emerge as top Tweeters, India at 21st position: In an unexpected finding, Saudis have emerged as the world’s largest active Twitter users, while Indians ranked among the lowest tweeters on the microblogging site, according to new research. However, countries such as India, Nigeria and Germany seem to have very little to tweet with only one per cent active Twitter users in each nation.

4) Brazilian parents put up baby for sale on website: In a bizarre incident, a couple in Brazil put their baby up for sale for $430 on a website, claiming the tot “cries a lot” and does not let them sleep. The ad featured a snapshot of a little boy, dressed in blue, with a caption reading: “Cries a lot and did not let me sleep and I have to work to survive.”

5) Voting began in Chile’s presidential election: Chileans went to the polls to choose a new President from nine candidates, with Socialist Michelle Bachelet and her reform platform favoured to win. The popular Bachelet holds a commanding lead, with opinion polls showing the ex-President close to the 50 per cent needed to win in the first round of balloting.

6) Birla Science centre chief gets award: Burra Gautham Sidharth, Director, B.M. Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad has been chosen for the 2013 award given by the Institute for Theoretical Physics and Advanced Mathematics Einstein-Galilei (IFM), Italy. The award recognises Sidharth’s contributions and discovery that the universe is expanding, which he theoretically predicted one year ahead of the scientific confirmation.

7) World’s most expensive penthouse showcased at Qatar luxury expo: The world’s most expensive penthouse, valued at over $300 million, and the costliest soap have been showcased at a luxury expo in Qatar.

8) Twitter IPO: 1,600 new millionaires to pay $2.2 bn in taxes: US tax department is in for a major windfall from Twitter’ blockbuster IPO, which has made 1,600 of its employees millionaires and they will together pay an estimated $2.2 billion (about Rs 13,800 crore) in taxes, a research report says.

9) C.N.R. Rao calls for more support for science: The future of India is tied with how it invests in education and science, Bharat Ratna awardee and eminent scientist C.N.R. Rao said, and voiced concern that the support for the sectors was not as it should be.

10) NASA’s newest Mars flyer to explore atmosphere: NASA hopes its newest Mars spacecraft lives up to its know-it-all name, Maven. The robotic explorer is due to blast off on a 10-month journey to the red planet. It will orbit Mars and study the atmosphere to try to understand how the planet morphed from warm and wet to cold and dry.

11) India made an average 15 user data requests a day to Google: In signs of growing Internet snooping by the enforcement authorities, India made an average about 15 requests per day to Google to access personal web details of users during January-June this year.

12) Encyclopaedia Britannica launches English Channel: Encyclopaedia Britannica has launched a new offering, The English Channel, for English learners and teachers at the school level. It includes a text book, a literary reader, a practice book and an interactive compact disc for learners of Classes I to VIII besides an audio compact disc and a manual to equip teachers to deliver better in class. The Merriam Webster dictionary comes as part of the Interactive compact disc.