Current Affairs Updates of 17th December 2013

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International Affairs

• PopeFrancis celebrated his 77th birthday, with 3 homeless men joining him for Mass, breakfast, presented him with bouquet of sunflowers.
• Japan announced on Tuesday it will buy stealth fighters, drones and submarines as part of a splurge on military hardware that will beef up defense of far-flung islands amid a simmering territorial row with China.
• US secretary of state John Kerry warned China on Tuesday against imposing an air defense zone over the South China Sea, similar to one it declared over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
• Israeli authorities broke up a demonstration outside the parliament building on Tuesday, taking away some 150 African migrants who had joined the protest against Israel's policy of detaining those illegally in the country.
• The US Senate backed a bipartisan budget deal on Tuesday, virtually assuring passage of a bill that sets spending caps and reduces prospects of a government shutdown in 2014.
• The party of Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and its allies have won the west African nation's parliamentary elections, according to provisional results announced by the government on Tuesday.
• Serbia on Tuesday won the European Union's long-sought blessing to kick off talks on joining the bloc in January, in recognition of its efforts in normalising ties with Kosovo.

National Affairs

• After much delay, the landmark Lokpal Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, marking a step closer to enactment of a new law under which an anti-corruption ombudsman would be set up.
• The Uttar Pradesh Government on Tuesday declared December 23 a public holiday to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Chowdhury Charan Singh.
• Eighteen years after Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh was assassinated in a terrorist attack in 1995, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday released a postage stamp in his memory saying that it is the duty of every citizen to fight against the divisive forces that are posing a threat to the country.
• The chief of Arab League Nabil el-Araby arrived in India to meet top leaders and to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation to deepen economic and cultural relationship between the two.
• The Centre's approval is not needed to prosecute senior bureaucrats in court-monitored corruption cases, the Supreme Court on Tuesday held.
• Kerala HC confirms death sentence on Govindachamy for pushing a woman, who died later, from a moving train in 2008 and brutally raping her.
• Chairman of Rajasthan Housing Board Parasram Mordia has resigned from his post in the wake of Congress' debacle in the assembly polls.
• First ever Japan-India Maritime Exercise(JIMEX) would be conducted in waters off the Indian coast in the Bay of Bengal from December 19th to 22nd.
• In a relief to Andhra Pradesh, a central tribunal on Tuesday gave its conditional nod to construct side channel weir along with the ancillary works on the sides of Vamsadhara river.
• A total of 1000 new buses under the JNNURM scheme would be on the roads in Kolkata by March next year, Transport Minister Madan Mitra said.
• KanpurUniversity will hold its 28th convocation ceremony on Dec 23 & event will be presided over by Uttar Pradesh Governor BL Joshi.
• Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna announced an incentive of Rs 2 a litre for milk producers affiliated to cooperative committees.
• The Odisha government constituted a state level cell to deal with allegations of sexual harassment in educational institutions including government colleges, non-government aided colleges and self-financing colleges
• TiE Entrepreneurial Summit (TES 2013) - Asia's largest conference on Entrepreneurship started in Hyderabad.

Business and Economy

• Amid rising instances of investors getting duped by fraudulent investment schemes, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has said that the RBI has started verifying the credentials of about 34,000 companies whose particulars were shared by it with the central bank.

Science and Technology

• Facebook on Tuesday began serving up video ads that pop up and play when users check their news feeds.
• Nasa has ordered a series of urgent spacewalks to fix a broken cooling line at the International Space Station.

Sports

• Teen sensation Mahesh Mangaonkar became the first Indian squash player to win the IMET Open, the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 event, in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
• 38th Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open senior squash championship began at Mumbai.Australia beat England by 150 runs to win third Test in Perth and reclaim Ashes.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here 

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