Daily Current Affairs Updates - 20th November 2013

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International Affairs

• Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday to become the first British premier to call an Iranian leader in over a decade, discussed the recent improvements in bilateral ties between London and Tehran, the conflict in Syria and the latest round of negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.
• Pakistan set up a special court to try former president Pervez Musharraf for high treason, the first time a civilian administration has sought to prosecute a military ruler.
• Mexican authorities have caught 220 undocumented migrants in operations across the country, many from Central America and some from as far away as India, Armenia and Romania.
• UnitedNations' Universal Children's Day celebrated to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide.
• India has sought Congressional help in addressing its concerns over certain alleged discriminatory provisions of the comprehensive immigration bill, which if passed into law would adversely impact Indian IT companies.
• US Secy JohnKerry calls Afghan President HamidKarzai to hammer out differences on bilateral security agreement ahead of meeting in Kabul.
• Indonesia today downgraded its relations with Australia over spying allegations, further escalating the diplomatic tension between the two nations.
• India and SaudiArabia are likely to sign agreement soon to put an end to the role of middlemen in recruitment of Indian workers.

National Affairs

• Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) being used on a large-scale for the first time in the country in the Mizoram Assembly polls.
• Crisis-ridden bourse NSEL (National Spot Exchange Ltd) defaulted for the 14th straight time today as it could pay only Rs 6.10 crore to investors against a scheduled payment amount of Rs 174.72 crore.
• The 44th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was inaugurated in panaji (Goa) today.
• Meeting for the first time after the sinking of the INS Sindhurakashak, top officials of the Navy are expected to discuss ways to deal with the falling force levels of its under water fleet.
• Urdu poet FaizAhmadFaiz remembered on his 29th death anniversary.
• In a bid to give jail inmates some amount of freedom, West Bengal government has decided to set up an "Open Correctional Home" at Durgapur in Burdwan district, the second such home in the state for convicts.
• The ten-day `Sangai Festival`, the largest tourism festival of Manipur showcasing its cultural heritage, eco-adventure activities, indigenous food and handicraft will begin at Imphal (Manipur) from tomorrow.
• Finance Ministry today announced that it is finalising the official amendments to Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill so that it could be taken up in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning December 5.
• A three-day conference of the country's top police brass will be held in Delhi from tomorrow to discuss key security issues including threat to hinterland from terror groups like Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and Indian Mujahideen (IM) and use of social media in fanning communal riots. HM and PM will participate.
• Uttarakhand govt relaxes admission norms for calamity-hit children in Rajiv Gandhi Navoday Vidyalayas without entrance test.
• 27 Maharashtra districts to be covered under 2nd phase of Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Arogya Yojna, to be launched by SoniaGandhi tomorrow.
• President Pranab Mukherjee is on two-day visit to West Bengal from tomorrow, during which he will attend functions at three educational institutions.
• India today said it will provide a USD 100 million line of credit to Vietnam for defence purchases to help it modernise its armed forces.

Awards and Honors

• Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt last year, today received the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize at a ceremony in Strasbourg.

Deaths

• Frederick Sanger, the British biochemist who twice won the Nobel Prize, has died at the age of 95.
• The author of the screenplay manual that inspired James Cameron and Judd Apatow to make movies has died.

Science and Technology

• Internet major Google is adding new features to its popular services like search page, maps and youtube to provide more personalised information especially related to day to day lives of its users.
• Ancient viruses from Neanderthals dating back 500,000 years have been found in modern human DNA, Oxford scientists announced.

Business and Economy

• Jet Airways on Wednesday concluded the sale of 24% equity stake in the airline to Etihad Airways for Rs 2,057 crore.
• RBI asks non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to take part in Lok Adalat on Nov 23 for settlement of any pending cases or dues.

Sports

• Out-of-form India pacer Ishant Sharma was named in the Delhi squad for their Ranji Trophy match against Haryana to be played at Roshanara Ground here from November 21-24.

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