Daily Current Affairs Updates: 9 December 2014

1) Modi won TIME readers’ poll for ‘Person of the Year’: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who did not make it to the final eight selected by TIME for the annual ‘Person of the Year’ title, has been hailed as one by its readers in an online poll conducted by the publication. Mr. Modi has been named winner of this year’s readers’ poll for TIME ‘Person of the Year’, securing more than 16 per cent of the almost five million votes cast. Protesters in Ferguson, who were demonstrating against a grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August ranked second with 9 per cent of the votes. TIME said “a strong showing of readers from India” helped drive Mr. Modi’s first-place finish.

2) American Express, Jet Airways launched co-branded corporate card: American Express and Jet Airways have joined hands to launch India’s first of its kind airline co-branded corporate card –Jet Airways American Express Corporate Card-- for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their employees. This co-branded corporate card will help SMEs and their executives to drive substantial savings on business travel and associated expenses, Saru Kaushal, Country Business Head, Global Corporate Payments, American Express Banking Corp told.

3) MDMK quits NDA: The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) on 8 December 2014 quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) blaming the Centre for “being insensitive” and “betraying the interests” of the people of Tamil Nadu and of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

4) Bhutan, not India, was first to recognize Bangladesh: Bhutan and not India was the first to to recognize Bangladesh as an independent nation, foreign office has said, putting an end to the decades-old speculation on the issue. "Bhutan was the first country, there is no controversy about that," foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque told reporters amid fresh speculation in media over the first foreign country to recognize Bangladesh after the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan. aque said both Bhutan and India had recognized Bangladesh as an independent country on December 6, 1971 but Thimphu's announcement came hours ahead of India's official recognition.

5) Cadila launched first cheaper copy of world’s top-selling drug: Cadila Healthcare said on 9 December 2014 it launched the first biosimilar version of anti-inflammatory medicine adalimumab, the world’s top-selling drug, at a fifth of its U.S. price. The drug’s branded version is sold under the name Humira by U.S. firm AbbVie Inc, and costs $1,000 for a vial in the United States. Humira had sales of $3.26 billion in the quarter ended September, accounting for 65 per cent of AbbVie’s total revenue.

6) SBI launched first homegrown economic indicator: The country now has another monthly economic index, with the State Bank of India (SBI) on 9 Dec 2014 launching a tool that will primarily track manufacturing activity to offer a forward-looking economic trends. The SBI Composite Index rivals the existing data point from British lender HSBC. The SBI index has been developed on the basis of the bank’s internal loan portfolio, which mirrors the credit demand in the country, and other data sets available in public domain. 

7) First test begins, Hughes '13th man': In the minds of cricket lovers, Phillip Hughes will remain '63 Not Out Forever' but on 9 Dec 2014 the departed cricketer was named as his national team's "13th Man", with the first cricket Test between India and Australia starting in Adelaide on an emotional note. As Australia named their playing XI for the match, pacer Josh Hazlewood was listed as the 12th man and the players wanted to include Hughes' name as the 13th man in the list. Ten days back, cricket world was struck by the tragedy when Hughes passed away after failing to recover being hit by a Sean Abbott bouncer in a Sheffield Shield game. An entire nation went into mourning.

8) Lok Sabha passed Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2014: A bill aimed at bringing India's banking payment system in sync with international practices was passed by the Lok Sabha on 9 Dec 2014 with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying the world would lack confidence if "obsolete laws" in the financial system exist in this country. Replying to a debate on Payments and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, Jaitley said there was a "gap" in the law which needed to be addressed so that there is protection for payments in case of insolvency. The bill seeks to improve the payment and settlement systems by increasing transparency and stability of Indian financial market.

9) International Anti-Corruption Day observed: International Anti-Corruption Day was observed by the United Nations on 9 December 2014. The day was observed to raise public awareness about corruption and what people can do to fight it. The theme of 2014 International Anti-Corruption Day was Break the Corruption Chain.

10) Advanced Pinaka Mark-II rocket successfully test-fired: An advanced version of the indigenously developed Pinaka Mark-II rocket was successfully test-fired on 9 December 2014 from a defence base in Odisha using a multi-barrel launcher. The tests were conducted from the Proof & Experimental Establishment (PXE) at Chandipur firing range No. 2, about 15-km from Balasore, defence sources said.