Daily Current Affairs: 30 November 2013

Daily Current Affairs: 30 November 2013

1) 'Beatriz's War' wins Golden Peacock at IFFI: East Timor’s Beatriz’s War won the top Golden Peacock Award at the 44th International Film Festival of India, which ended on Saturday evening. The prize carries a cash component of Rs. 40 lakhs. India’s Kaushik Ganguly walked away with the Best Director honour for Apu’s Song, a Silver Peacock and Rs. 15 lakhs. Israel’s Alon Moni Aboutboul won the Best Actor Award (Silver Peacock and Rs. 10 lakhs) for his performance in A Place in Heaven, while the Best Actress Prize was awarded to Poland's Magdalena Boczarska (Silver Peacock, Rs. 10 lakhs) in In Hiding. Governor of Goa Shri Bharat Veer Wanchoo, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari, Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Manohar Parrikar, many International and Bollywood personalities including Asha Parekh, Rohit Shetty, Jimmy Shergil and Deepshikha were also present at the closing ceremony. Famous Malaysian actress and filmmaker Michelle Yeoh was the Chief Guest for the closing ceremony.

2) Sindhu cruises into Macau Open final:  Indian top seed PV Sindhu cruised into the women's singles final of the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold at the Macau Forum on Saturday. The World No.11 easily overcame a much lower ranked Qin Jinjing of China 21-13, 18-21, 21-19 in their first-ever encounter.

3) Mars orbiter to leave Earth's orbit soon after midnight: India's first Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) will bid adieu to the Earth's orbit soon after the intervening midnight of Saturday-Sunday on a 300-day voyage to the red planet.

4) China to launch its first moon rover mission next week: China will launch its first ever mission to land an unmanned spacecraft on the lunar surface next week, as it moves forward in its ambitious plan to become the world’s pre-eminent space power. The Chang’e-3 moon rover will be launched at 1:30 a.m. on Monday from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, the mission’s launching headquarters said.

5) Hollywood film director wants to make film on Aarushi: A London-based Hollywood film director  Clip F. Runyard on Saturday approached the Dasna Jail authorities seeking a meeting with Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, as he wanted their consent to make a film on Aarushi-Hemraj murder case.

6) PVC electoral identity cards make debut in Tripura: Tripura on Saturday introduced for the first time in the country the PVC Electoral Photo Identity Card (PVC EPIC) as mandated by the Election Commission of India.

7) Satya Nadella among candidates in the fray for Microsoft CEO post: India-born senior Microsoft executive Satya Nadella is among the top two likely candidates whose name is being considered for becoming the next CEO of the world’s biggest software company, replacing long-time chief executive Steve Ballmer.

8) Tejpal arrested after court rejected anticipatory bail plea: Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal was on Saturday tonight arrested by the Goa police, ten days after it became public that he had allegedly sexually assaulted a woman journalist colleague during an event held in Goa early November.

9) SBI will raise Rs 9,576 crore to meet loan book surge and Basel-III norms: Expecting a surge in its loan book and to meet Basel-III norms, State Bank of India proposes to raise Rs 9,576 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) or a Follow-on Public Offering (FPO).

10) Punching PIN must for debit card transactions from Dec 1: Debit card holders will be required to punch in their PIN numbers every time they use the card, a move aimed at minimising frauds from December 1, 2013. In June, the Reserve Bank had extended the deadline for implementation of mandatory PIN punching at Point-of-Sales (PoS) and merchant outlets till November 30 following representation of banks.

11) Diesel costlier by 50 paise/litre: The diesel price has been revised upwards by 50 paise a litre, excluding State levies, effective Saturday/Sunday midnight. Last, it was revised by similar amount on October 31. After the current increase, the gap between selling price and market price of diesel (commonly known as under recovery) would be Rs. 9.99/litre. In January, the Government allowed public sector oil marketing companies (IOC, BPCL and HPCL) to increase diesel price in small doses to sync it with market price.

12) Indian-origin doctor gets professional excellence award in UK: Indian-origin doctor Jaswinder S. Bamrah, consultant psychiatrist in Manchester, has bagged Asian Lite Professional Excellence Award for his contribution to the medical field in the UK.

13) Indian lifters finish with 117 medals at Commonwealth C'ships: Indian weightlifters ended their Commonwealth Youth, Junior & Senior Championships in style, bagging six medals today to take their overall tally to a staggering 117, including 57 gold, on the final day of the event in Penang, Malaysia.

14) Generation from Kudankulam plant touches 400 MW: Power generation from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) has touched 400 MW, a top official said. The 1000 MW capacity first unit of the Indo-Russian joint venture began power generation on October 22 producing 160 MW, which was subsequently raised to 280 MW.

15) Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on 29 November 2013 inaugurated india’s first "Synthetic Rubber Plant" of the country at Panipat in Haryana.