Daily Current Affairs: 14 January 2014

1) Cristiano Ranaldo awarded FIFA Ballon d’Or award 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo ended the four-year dominance of Lionel Messi when he was awarded the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or in Zurich on 13 January 2014 (Monday). The 28-year-old Real Madrid and Portugal star, who won the award in 2008 overtook Barcelona's Messi and France winger Franck Ribery to get the award. Ronaldo won with 27.99% of the votes ahead of Messi (24.72%) while Ribery was third (23.36%) according to France Football, co-organisers of the award with FIFA.

2) Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Bihu & Eid-milad-un-nabi celebrated across the nation: Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Bihu were celebrated with enthusiasm across the country; Eid-milad-un-nabi, marking the birth anniversary of prophet Mohammed was also celebrated with religious fervour. Two major harvest festivals, Makar Sankranti and Pongal are celebrated across the country with much pomp and fanfare.

3) Vijay Zol to lead India in ICC Under-19 World Cup: India will defend its Under-19 World Cup title in the captainship of Vijay Zol, who recently led India to junior Asia Cup victory, as the talented batsman has been named skipper of the 15-man squad. The ICC Under-19 World Cup is scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February.

4) 10 lakh new volunteers in 4 days, claims AAP: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday claimed that nearly 10 lakh people have joined it in four days of its ongoing membership drive.

5) Anju Bobby George is now a gold medallist: Anju Bobby George has been upgraded to gold status in the 2005 World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo following the disqualification of Tatyana Kotova of Russia by the International Association of Athletics Federations, following the recent re-testing of the latter’s sample collected at the 2005 World Championship in Helsinki.

6) Germany goalkeeper Nadine Angerer has been voted the best women's football player in the world for 2013: Angerer, the current European player of the year, defeated United States forward Abby Wambach, last year's winner, and five-time champion Marta of Brazil. Angerer helped Germany win the European Championship last year.

7) Delhi became first state to withdraw FDI in Multibrand Retail: Delhi government on 13 January 2014 withdrew the Foreign Domestic Investment (FDI) in Multibrand Retail. With this, Delhi became first state to take this step. This action is a reversal of previous Government’s stand in FDI that was made in July 2012 and allowed multi-brand retail trade.

8) South Korean Prez to arrive on Wednesday: South Korean President Park Geun -hye will arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday on a four-day visit and will hold extensive talks with Indian leadership with India making it clear that the trade deficit and market access would be among the issues which will be flagged.

9) Gopalakrishnan is MD & CEO of Aegon Religare: Aegon Religare Life Insurance has announced the appointment of KS Gopalakrishnan as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the company. Prior to this elevation, he was the Executive Director of the company and earlier to this, he was the Appointed Actuary and the Chief Financial Officer at ARLI.