27th November 2014 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• 18th SAARC summit concludes in Nepal today.
• Next summit will be held at Pakistan
• SAARC countries today managed to salvage their summit by agreeing to a last-minute deal to trade electricity among them after Pakistan torpedoed proposals for greater regional connectivity which India and other countries of the bloc were pushing for.
• Foreign Ministers of all the eight countries signed the framework agreement on cooperation in power sector which will ensure electricity trading through grid connectivity but the two pacts on motor vehicle and railways could not be inked following resistance by Pakistan.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) suspends operations in Pakistan's Balochistan province after the murder of four polio workers.
• Saudi Arabia today beheaded a Pakistani for heroin smuggling, bringing the number of Pakistanis executed in the country since mid-October to nine.
• The oil-rich Gulf state saw the third highest number of executions in the world last year after Iran and Iraq, according to Amnesty International whose figures did not include China.

National Affairs

• India today vowed to achieve the goal of registering all births and deaths by 2020, four years ahead of a UN target for Asia-Pacific region.
• Home Minister Rajnath Singh launches Tourist Visa on Arrival facility enabled by electronic travel authorization for 43 countries.
• Foreign nationals from 43 countries may now apply for and get their tourist visa-on-arrival (TVoA) online, entitling them to enter India anytime within 30 days of the approval.
• Maharashtra Government has decided to seek, 4,000-crore rupee drought relief package from the Centre and approved several relief measures for villages reeling under a severe drought.
• The decision was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet in Mumbai today chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
• The government today denied that it has promised at any point of time to bring black money stashed abroad within 100 days after assuming power.
• A new report by the Royal Society of UK projects that India is experiencing maximum exposure to climate change.
• The report was released in Bengaluru today as part of ongoing Commonwealth Science Congress.
• A map in the report shows Indian peninsula having increased vulnerability to climate and demographic changes.
• The report cites the example of recent cyclonic storms and floods experienced in Orissa, Kashmir and Uttarakhand to show increasing impact of climate change.
• Dismayed at increasing air pollution in Delhi, the National Green Tribunal held that all vehicles which were more than 15 years old would not be permitted to ply on the city roads.
• The Centre today submitted before the Supreme Court that Sanskrit will be the third language in classes 6 to 8 in Kendriya Vidyalayas.

Business & Economy

• RBI today allowed banks to extend loans up to Rs 10 lakh to individuals against long-term infrastructure bonds issued by them, thus easing loan norms for low-cost housing.
• Enforcement Directorate, ED today attached over 2,600 bank accounts of the Rose Valley group containing Rs 295 crore under the stringent provisions of the anti-money laundering law.
• Alibaba founder and China's wealthiest man Jack Ma is Keen to invest more funds in India
• Ma, who is on his maiden visit to India, said he will work with Indian technology entrepreneurs as he believes Internet can transform the country's future.
• Sectoral regulator Trai has recommended a reserve price of Rs 3,104 crore per megahertz for CDMA spectrum, which is 15 per cent more than the rate it had proposed in February.
• FMCG major Procter and Gamble (P&G) has been ranked as the best company in terms of ‘Employee Health and Wellness’ followed by Citigroup and SAP Labs India, according to Chestnut Global Partners (CGP) India – a provider of Employee Assistance Programmes.
• The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly for the break-up of Google today in a largely symbolic vote that nevertheless cast another blow in the four-year standoff between Brussels and the US Internet giant.

Sports

• Supreme Court observes that IPL team Chennai Super Kings owned by BCCI President in exile N Srinivasan should be terminated without further enquiry
• Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Sarbananda Sonowal conferred Arjuna Award 2014 to Manoj Kumar, Boxer in recognition of his achievements in international sports events.
• Manoj, a 2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, was earlier denied the Arjuna Award by the Kapil Dev-led selection committee even as another boxer Jai Bhagwan was recommended for the coveted honour.
• Manoj took the legal route and filed a case in the Delhi high court. He won the case and that led to the ministry accepting his nomination for the award.

Deaths

• Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, who had suffered a severe head injury due to a bouncer during a match has died.
• Hughes was in coma for 3 days following the injury sustained while playing in a Sheffield Shield game in Sydney.
• Crime novelist PD James, who penned more than 20 books, has died aged 94.
• Her best known novels include The Children of Men, The Murder Room and Pride and Prejudice spin-off Death Comes to Pemberley.

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