News : 29 Dec 2013 - 31 Dec 2013
Appointments :
- Arvind Kejriwal sworn in as the youngest CM of Delhi.
- Army chief General Bikram Singh was handed over the baton of Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)
Resignations/Retirements
- C. K. Birla has decided to step down as the Chairman of Hindustan Motors, and also relinquish his directorship.
Obituaries
Awards
Sports
International
- China has opened its Satellite System Beidou completely for Asian neighbours.China is intended to widen the use of its home grown BeiDou Navigation System, which already has 16 satellites.More
- Barack Obama signed a two year bipartisan federal budget bill to avert the risk of shutdown in Jan 2014.
- Egypt's ruling govt declared Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.Egypt’s leaders were in conflict with the movement since July 2013, when the military deposed Mohamed Morsi as a President. Mohammed Morsi was a former head of Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s first democratically elected President.Founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928, the group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizations in Egypt. It is a Sunni Islamist religious, political and social movement.
China formally abolished its controversial labour camps “re-education” system and loosened family planning restrictions.More
- Russia faced another suicide bomb attack at Volgograd railway station.More
- Dhaka was tense as the opposition (opposition leader Khaleda Zia) combine tried in vain to organise its showdown in the capital to force the government to cancel the January 5 parliamentary election.
- Violence Broke out in South Sudan. More
- U.S. Federal Reserve recently announced the commencement of the tapering of its massive asset purchase program, widely known as quantitative easing (QE).The programme has involved massive purchases of long maturity bonds by the Fed, with an aim to keep long-term interest rates subdued.
- NSA managed to gain access to the cable SEA-ME-WE 4 linking Southeast Asia and Europe via West Asia, where it linked up with the Orange mobile telephone and data transmission network
National
- Union Environment Ministry gives more power to states for clearance of less hazardous projects to avoid time consuming cumbersome clearance process. More.
- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore to rope in experts for restructuring operations, monitoring mechanisms and redefining performance appraisal system benchmarks.
- The Union Cabinet approved the proposal for setting up of National Cancer Institute at Jhajjar in Haryana.
Polity
Economics
Env & Ecology
Science & Tech
- Microsoft launched windows app Guardian which enables users to switch on a 'track me' feature in the app that lets friends and family track them in real time using Microsoft Windows Azure cloud services and Bing Map APIs.Guardian users can call for help through an 'SOS' alert button and also connect to security agencies, police and hospitals easily via this app in times of distress.
- Scientists have developed a new technique which can recover the faces of bystanders from reflections in the eyes of photographic subjects, an advance that could help identify criminals.
Health
- An international team of scientists have identified a parasite gene K-19 whose mutations are associated with artemisinin (Drug for malaria) resistance. Such mutations could be “a useful molecular marker for tracking the emergence and spread.More
- The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry launched indigenous equipment ,AV Magnivisualizer, that can detect early cervical cancer and be used even by healthcare workers with basic training.
