Daily Current Affairs: 23 November 2013

Daily Current Affairs: 23 November 2013

1) Dhanush missile successfully test-fired: India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile from a naval ship off the Odisha coast on Saturday. The surface-to-surface Dhanush, a naval variant of India’s indigenously developed ‘Prithvi’ missile, was test-fired at around 11.10 a.m. from a location in the Bay of Bengal by the SFC of the defence force. The Dhanush missile is capable of carrying a conventional as well as a nuclear payload of 500 to 1,000 kg and can hit both land and sea-based targets.The single-stage, liquid-propelled Dhanush has been inducted into the armed services and is one of the five missiles developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), defence sources said.

2) Twitter toughens encryption to thwart online snooping: Twitter announced it has toughened the encryption of traffic at the globally popular one-to-many messaging service to thwart online snooping. Twitter followed in the footsteps of Google and Facebook, adding a layer of security called Perfect Forward Secrecy to protect data that users would like kept from prying eyes.

3) Grace Koshie appointed woman director in Federal Bank: Grace Elizabeth Koshie today joined the Board of Federal Bank as the first lady Director in the Kerala headquartered lender. The bank becomes one of the few listed companies which had complied with the latest regulatory directions in the Companies Act, 2013, which requires a lady Director to be on the Board of Directors. Grace Koshie has also held charge of the Foreign Exchange Department in RBI Central Office from 2001—2004 and had also served as RBI nominee Director on the Boards of Dena Bank and Corporation Bank.

4)  Six lose life following widespread rain in AP:  In its latest status update on cyclone Helen, the Andhra Pradesh Revenue Department accounted for six deaths due to the rains. While two persons are reported to have died in Krishna district, two others have died in East Godavari and one each in Srikakulam and West Godavari districts.

5) Bring FB, Twitter under ambit of Indian law: IB chief- Intelligence Bureau chief Syed Asif Ibrahim on Saturday conceded that Indian security agencies were handicapped by technical and procedural constraints in regulating malicious content on the internet, and favoured foreign content providers to be brought within the ambit of Indian laws.

6) INS Vikrant to be commissioned by 2017: Naval chief- India's first indigenous Aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, being built at public sector Cochin Shipyard Limited and formally launched in August this year, would be commissioned by 2017, chief of Naval Staff Admiral D K Joshi, said.

7) Ashes First Test (Aus vs Eng): David Warner and Michael Clarke scored dominant centuries to put Australia firmly in control of the first Ashes Test on Saturday and leave England needing an unlikely 537 for victory at the end of Day three at the Gabba.

8) China Set up Air Defence Zone over East China Sea: China on 23 November 2013 announced that it was set up an Air Defence Identification Zone over an area in the East China Sea. The Zone includes Senkaku islands that are controlled by Japan but claimed by China.

9) Justice Ajit Prakash Shah appointed as Chairman of Law Commission of India: Union Government on 22 November 2013 appointed Justice Ajit Prakash Shah as the new Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India. Justice Ajit Prakash Shah succeeded Justice D. K. Jain who resigned in October 2013 to take over as the President of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.