Important Current Affairs from 15 November 2013

Important Current Affairs from 15 November 2013

1) Sachin enthralls with innings to remember in farewell Test: Magician called Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ensured that it was a farewell that each and every Indian will remember for posterity as the country’s greatest sporting icon walked into the sunset with a knock which exhibited just why he is the greatest of this era. In his 200th and last Test match, Tendulkar showed how a genius can keep overwhelming emotions under control as he scored a majestic 74 in what will probably be his last international innings.

2) Sachin Tendulkar is Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Moment’: Accolades continued to pour in for the retiring Sachin Tendulkar with the ‘Time’ magazine naming the legendary Indian batsman its “Person of the Moment” while as he plays his last Test in Mumbai. “The world’s greatest cricketer plays his last match...much to the disappointment of throngs of adoring fans,” The magazine said of the 40-year-old, who will bid adieu to cricket after playing his 200th test currently being played against the West Indies in Mumbai.

3) INS Vikramaditya to be included into Indian Navy tomorrow (15 Nov 13): The long-delayed and much awaited $2.3 billion aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will be inducted into the Indian Navy on 15 Nov 2013, enhancing India’s maritime capabilities. Defence Minister A.K Antony, who is arriving Russia, will be inducting the aircraft carrier into the force in the presence of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Senior Government and naval officials of the two countries. The aircraft carrier will be inducted in the Indian Navy at the Sevmash Shipyard, Russia’s nuclear submarine building centre. INS Vikramaditya is a Kiev class aircraft carrier which was commissioned by Russian Navy in 1987 under the name Baku. It was later renamed as Admiral Gorshkov and last sailed in 1995 in Russia, before being offered to India.

4) Mangala Express derails near Nashik; 3 dead, 37 injured- Three passengers were killed and 37 others injured when ten coaches of Nizamuddin-Ernakulam Lakshadweep Mangala Express train was passing through the Ghoti-Igatpuri section, derailed at Ghoti near Igatpuri in Nashik district.

5) Moody’s lowers rating for four major US banks:  US ratings service Moody’s lowered by one level its rating for four of the biggest US banks after a review that began in August, news reports said on Thursday. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of New York Mellon had their senior holding company ratings lowered. Moody’s took the step after deciding the US government would be less likely to help them repay creditors in a crisis.

6) India’s 1st ever mountain biking race on Nov 17: Cycling enthusiasts of the country will get to witness their own version of ‘Tour the Himalayas’ with India’s first-ever mountain biking race all set to be held here on November 17. Being organized jointly by the Mountain Track Biking Association (MTBA) of Uttarakhand, Cycling Federation of India (CFI) and Artsmith Concepts and Visions with support from the state government and the Indian Army, the event will have races in three categories for the elite riders (20kms), the amateurs (15kms) and the teens (10kms), MTBA, Uttarakhand president Rahul Jain told reporters.

7) HCL Infosystems to exit PC manufacturing business: HCL Infosystems has decided to exit the PC manufacturing business and focus more on IT services and hardware distribution. The company has hived off its businesses into three subsidiaries in a bid to unlock value in profitable businesses and isolate loss-making ones. The move is part of the company’s turnaround strategy.

8) Steps soon to deepen G-Secs market: Rajan- RBI will unveil steps to improve the liquidity and the depth of the Government securities segment. “In the coming weeks, we will roll out more recommendations of the Gandhi Committee report to improve the liquidity and depth of the G-Sec market. We will then turn to the money and corporate debt markets. We will introduce new variants of interest rate futures and products like inflation indexed certificates, and work to improve liquidity in derivative markets,” RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said at Bancon 2013 here. G-Secs are dated securities issued by the Centre and States as well as Treasury bills issued by the former. Also called gilt edged securities, G-Secs are free from default risk and offer reasonable returns.

9) SBI to raise Rs 5,000 cr via tier II bonds: Country’s largest bank State Bank of India plans to raise tier-II capital in the range of about Rs 5,000 crore before March. “We will be raising funds through the tier-II bonds before March hopefully. It should be in the range of about Rs 5,000 crore. There is no time frame but definitely before March,” said SBI chief, Arundhati Bhattacharya. She was speaking at the annual Bancon summit here.

10) 3 Indian airports upgraded for better managing carbon emissions: Three Indian airports, including Delhi’s, have been recognised for significant progress in managing carbon emissions by a global airports body. Apart from the Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi, Bengaluru International Airport and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad have been upgraded to Level 3 of ‘Optimisation’ by the Airports Council International, Asia-Pacific.

11) Carlsen beats Anand in Game 5 of World Chess Championship:  Worst fears for the chess fans backing defending champion Viswanathan Anand came true as the Indian blundered in a drawn endgame to go down against challenger Magnus Carlsen in the fifth game of the World Chess Championship on Friday.

12) Maldivian president Mohamed Waheed steps down ahead of run-off polls: In the face of pressure from the world community, Mohamed Waheed has stepped down as President of the Maldives on the eve of the second round of the country's controversy-ridden presidential polls. 

13) Obama nominated 36-year-old Indian-American physician to be US surgeon general: US President Obama on Thursday nominated Indian-American physician Vivek Murthy, who is only 36, to be surgeon general of the United States.

14) Siddhartha Birla to be next FICCI President: Siddhartha Birla, founder and Chairman of Xpro India Ltd, and Chairman Digjam Ltd, will be the next President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Birla will head the chamber in 2014. Presently Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai is the President of FICCI.

15) India is No. 2 in seeking user info from Google: India ranks second in the list of countries that approached Google with requests, seeking information on users.While the US topped the list with 10,918 requests, India followed with 2,691 during the January-June period this year.

16) Reliance Life to give extra cover to Sachin’s fan Sudhir Kumar: Reliance Life Insurance Company has signed up to support Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, one of the greatest fans of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. As part of its corporate social responsibility, Reliance Life will offer financial aid to Sudhir to help him continue his passion of loving the sport.