1.
New insider trading norms within ten days: SEBI
i. To curb the growing menace of insider trading activities in the stock market, regulator SEBI will come up with a new set of norms within next ten days, Chairman U K Sinha said.
ii. The capital markets watchdog had set up an expert panel in March this year to suggest new measures to regulate insider trading. The panel has submitted its recommendations to Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India), based on which a final report is being prepared.
iii. The new insider trading regulations would replace nearly two-decade old set of norms.
iv. The expert committee set up in March was headed by N K Sodhi, retired Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court and former presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). The members comprised Sebi officials, executives from companies, legal experts and journalists.
2.
India's GDP to grow at 5.4% in Q2 of FY'14: Assocham
i. A day ahead of the announcement of GDP figure for the July-September quarter of the current fiscal, industry body Assocham has pegged the country's growth at 5.4 per cent for the period on improved agricultural output.
ii. "Growth would touch 5.4 per cent in the second quarter owing to a good monsoon and resultant better performance of farm sector, thereby propelling the industry and services performance in the current fiscal," Assocham said.
iii. According to a study by Assocham, the agriculture sector is likely to grow at 4.25 per cent, whereas the industry and services sectors are expected to register 3 per cent and 7 per cent growth, respectively, during the period under review.
Note: i. The Reserve Bank of India expects GDP to expand 5 per cent in the current financial year, while the government estimates growth at between 5 and 5.5 per cent.
ii. Both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have lowered their growth forecasts for India in 2013-14.
iii. The IMF projected an average growth rate of about 3.75 per cent at market prices. The World Bank slashed its growth forecast to 4.7 per cent from an earlier projection of 6.1 per cent.
3.
Dubai to host World Expo 2020
i. Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) on 27 November 2013 voted in favour of Dubai to be the host city for the World Trade Fair or EXPO 2020.
ii. This was decided after the third and the final round of voting in Paris on 27 November 2013. Four cities including Dubai in UAE, Yekaterinbergh in Russia, Sao Paulo in Brazil and Izmir in Turkey were competing to host the prestigious event.
iii. The theme of Dubai for the EXPO 2020 is Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.
Note: i. A World Expo in Dubai in 2020 would be the first to be held in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) region, which takes place every five years.
ii. The yearlong event is considered a major event since the award of the EXPO brings home more number of visitors and adds to the trade, economy, tourism and hospitality sectors in the host city.
About World Expo
World Expos is a meeting point for the global community to share innovations and make progress on issues of international importance such as the global economy, sustainable development and improved quality of life for the world’s population. The first world expo was held in London in 1851.
About Bureau International des Expositions
The Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) is the international body responsible for overseeing the calendar, bidding, selection and organisation of World Expos. It has a total of 167 member countries.
4.
IMF chief to pay first visit to Myanmar
i. IMF chief Christine Lagarde will next month pay her first visit to Myanmar as the once authoritarian government pursues reforms that have fueled growth, the global lender said.
ii. Lagarde will visit Myanmar's showcase capital Naypyidaw and its largest city Yangon during the December 6-7 visit, which will come after stops in South Korea and Cambodia.
iii. I will visit three countries in different stages of transition -- Korea, the world's 13th largest economy; Cambodia, a frontier economy on the rise; and Myanmar, undergoing a great awakening to countless possibilities," Lagarde said
iv. In May, the IMF estimated that Myanmar's economy would expand 6.75 percent in 2013-14, a notch up from the previous year, driven by gas production and investment in the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation.
5.
Michelle Yeoh to be chief guest at IFFI closing ceremony
i. Hollywood actress Michelle Yeoh will attend the closing ceremony of the 44th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to be held on November 30.
ii. The 50-year-old Malaysian actress's documentary film 'Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey' on which she served as an executive producer, will also be screened at the on-going festival.
iii. "Michelle Yeoh will be the chief guest at the closing ceremony. She would be here with her film called 'Pad Yatra'. She will be here with his holiness, who has conducted the whole pad yatra. The film would be screened on 29," IFFI director Shankar Mohan told.
iv. Yeoh, known for her roles in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', Bond film 'Tomorrow Never Dies', 'Memoirs of a Geisha' has previously attended the festival in 2011, when her film 'The Lady', based on the life of Burmese Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was the concluding movie.
6.
Neeraj Sahai appointed as President of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
i. Standard & Poor's, the world's largest credit rater, named Citigroup's Neeraj Sahai as president, succeeding Douglas Peterson.
ii. Sahai, who is currently head of Citigroup's Securities and Fund Services business, will assume charge on January 6, according to a statement from S&P parent McGraw Hill Financial Inc.
iii. He's the second Citigroup executive to be called on to lead the credit grader after Peterson, a former Citibank NA chief operating officer, was hired in 2011 to replace Deven Sharma.
About Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world's leading provider of independent credit risk research. It publishes more than a million credit ratings on debt issued by sovereign, municipal, corporate and financial sector entities.
About McGraw Hill Financial
McGraw Hill Financial is a financial intelligence company providing the global capital and commodity markets with independent benchmarks, credit ratings, portfolio and enterprise risk solutions, and analytics. The Company's iconic brands include: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Platts, CRISIL, J.D. Power, and McGraw Hill Construction.
7.
SBT, SBI General Insurance ties up for affordable health plan
i. State Bank of Travancore (SBT) and SBI General Insurance today jointly launched an affordable health insurance plan for SBT customers.
ii. “SBI General Insurance and SBT today jointly announced the launch of SBI General’s Group Health Insurance Policy exclusively for SBT account holders and their families,” SBI General said
iii.In terms of affordability, for a 35-year-old adult the policy will cost Rs 1,300 per year to have an Rs 100,000 cover which means Rs 3.56 per day.
iv. The policy has benefits such as multiple coverage options, no pre—policy medical test up to age of 65 years for people with no medical history, 142 day care procedures covered, guaranteed renewal upon option.
v. Besides, it also offers coverage of pre and post—hospitalisation expenses transparent claim process and cashless treatment across over 3,000 hospitals in the network.
8.
President to address special session of Arunachal Pradesh Assembly
i. President Pranab Mukherjee will address the Arunachal Pradesh assembly on Friday during his maiden two-day visit to the state.
ii. President Pranab Mukherjee will address a special session of the Arunachal Pradesh assembly on Friday during his maiden two-day visit to the state, official sources said.
iii.On Saturday, Mr. Mukherjee will deliver the Convocation Address at the 12th Convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi University at Rono Hills, Doimukh, the sources said.
iv. The convocation would confer bachelors, masters, diploma, M. Phil and PhD degree to qualified candidates for the 2011-2012 and 2012-13 academic sessions respectively.
v. “The President addressing the state assembly would be a historic event. Make it a memorable occasion for the state,” Chief Minister Nabam Tuki told Deputy Speaker Jomde Kena and other officials of the Assembly Secretariat.
Note: i. President Pranab Mukherjee will embark on a three-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland from Friday.
ii. It will be his first visit to Arunachal Pradesh after becoming the President.
9.
Mars mission’s D-day in three days
i. On the night of November 30-December 1, the spacecraft will be finally thrust away from the Earth, and all the way towards the Red Planet, after gathering a total escape speed of around 11.4 kms a second.
ii. Indian Space Research Organisation’s Scientific Secretary V. Koteswara Rao told a pre-event briefing at the control centre at the Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) on Wednesday, “We are planning for the Mars spacecraft to depart the Earth in the early hours of December 1.”
iii. The spacecraft carrying five instruments to study Mars was launched on November 5 from Sriharikota.
10.
Assam Pavilion receives Gold award at IITF-2013
i.The Assam Pavilion was adjudged “First for Excellence in display amongst State Governments and Union Territory Pavilions” and was given the award of Gold Medal in the India International Trade Fair 2013 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
ii.This is the first time in the 33 years of history of the IITF that a State Government has consecutively received the prestigious Gold Award in succession after the Gold Awards in 2012.
iii.The theme of this year was “Inclusive Growth” and the theme Pavilion set up reflected the growth of various sectors in the State.
iv. This year 57 organisations participated in Assam Pavilion, of which 40 are Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the remaining 17 are Govt. departments, public sector undertaking (PSU).
11.
Latvian Prime Minister resigned over supermarket collapse
i. The Latvian Prime Minister, Valdis Dombrovskis announced his resignation and thereby the fall of the Government on 27 November 2013.
ii. He resigned due to the deadly collapse of Maxima supermarket of Riga on 21 November 2013.
iii. His announcement came during the meeting with Andris Berzins, the President of Latvia. Dombrovskis is the longest serving prime minister in Latvia's history.
About Valdis Dombrovskis
He came to power in 2009. He was reappointed twice as prime minister since then and is widely credited to prevent the small Baltic nation from going bankrupt.
Books:
• V.Dombrovskis, A.Aslund "How Latvia Came Through the Financial Crisis", Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington DC, May 2011
• He has been the Author of many publications on economics and politics in various periodicals, journals and electronic media
Awards:
• July 2012 - The Vašek and Anna Maria Polák visiting lecturer’s award for contribution to region’s democracy and economic reforms
• December 2011 – international award from Friedrich August von Hayek Foundation (Friedrich August von Hayek Stiftung) for essential contribution to restoring financial and economic stability in Latvia.
12.
Shoma Chaudhury resigns from Tehelka
i. Managing Editor of Tehelka Shoma Chaudhury resigned on Thursday a week after its Editor Tarun Tejpal was exposed as having allegedly sexually assaulting a woman journalist colleague.
ii. She announced her decision to sign out from the weekly magazine through an email to her colleagues sent at 5:52 a.m.
iii. Though no statement has been put out by Tehelka on its website regarding the resignation, her email was widely in circulation on various social networking sites within hours.
13.
TRAI finalizes tariff for mobile banking services
i. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on Wednesday, released the tariff structure and guidelines for mobile banking services, a step that would help rural customers who do not have access to banks and financial services.
ii. The TRAI has prescribed a ceiling tariff for an outgoing unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)-based mobile banking service at Rs.1.50 per USSD session.
iii. We have come out with a framework to help bank agents to interface with service providers for the use of SMS, USSD and IVR (interactive voice response) channels to provide mobile banking services.
iv. The authority wants to utilise the benefits of mobile banking for financial inclusion. A large section of the population, especially in rural areas, do not have an easy access to banks.
v. This facility will help to tide over that shortcoming,” TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar told journalists here on Wednesday.
vi. The Mobile Banking (Quality of Service) (Amendment) Regulations, 20s13 have come into immediate effect, and the Telecommunication Tariff (56th Amendment) Order, 2013 shall come into force on January 1, 2014, TRAI said in a note.
vii. USSD technology is used by telecom operators to send alerts to their users.
viii. It can be used for pre-paid call-back service, location-based content services, and menu-based information services.
Note: i. The TRAI note said telecom service providers should collect charges from their subscribers for providing the USSD to deliver mobile banking services.
ii. All service providers should facilitate not only the banks, but also the agents of banks to use SMS, USSD and IVR to provide banking services to bank customers.
14.
Nepal & UAE qualify for ICC T-20 World Cup 2014
i. Nepal and the UAE have qualified for the ICC T20 World cup which will be held in Bangladesh next year.
ii. Nepal defeated Hong Kong by five wickets in a cliffhanger in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Nepal survived a last-over scare to score the required 13 runs, with 10 runs coming from the first two deliveries and a last-ball misfield producing the winning runs.
iii. The UAE has also qualified for the tournament as they defeated the Netherlands by 10 runs.
Note: i. This will be the first time since the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996 that the UAE and Nepal will make an appearance on the global stage.
ii. Four teams have now qualified for the ICC T20 in Bangladesh next year. These include Afghanistan, Ireland, Nepal and UAE.
15.
Nadal voted greatest ever Spanish sports personality
i. Rafael Nadalwas named the greatest Spanish sports star in history by readers of Spanish sports daily.
ii. The winner of 13 Grand Slam’s and the current number 1 in the ATP world ranking, received the award at the Gala for the 75th anniversary of the Spanish sports paper Diario Marca, reported Xinhua.
iii. The Spanish player was voted for by readers of the paper ahead of five times Tour de France winner, Miguel Indurain and basketball star, Pau Gasol, who is without doubt the greatest Spanish basketball player of all time.
iv. The tennis ace has enjoyed a fantastic 2013, coming back from a career threatening knee injury to win events such as the French Open, as well as claiming his 25th and 26th ATP Masters 1000 titles in Montreal and Cincinnati, before then winning the US Open, beating Novak Djokovic in the final.
16.
Indian lifters bag 87 medals at C'wealth Championships
i. Youth Asian Games champion Ragala Venkat Rahul(77kg) stole the show with half a dozen gold medals as India signed off with a whopping 87 medals at the Commonwealth Youth and Junior Championships which concluded in Penang, Malaysia on Thursday.
ii. In the senior men's division, Sivalingam Sathish Kumar (77kg) won three gold medals.
iii. India signed off with a overall tally of 47 gold, 28 silver and 12 bronze medals at the event.
iv. The youth boys were the stars of the show with a combined tally for 13 gold medals. In fact, they were the biggest contributors to the tally with 21 medals in all.
v. The youth girls contributed 18 medals.
vi. On Wednesday, K Shireesha and Joti Mal swept all the three gold on offer in the junior women 58kg and youth girl 58kg categories respectively.
vii. The youth, junior and senior category competitions are being held simultaneously. India are being represented by 15 lifters in the senior section, 15 in junior section and 11 in youth section.
17.
Ronaldo goals lift Portugal to No. 5 in FIFA rankings
i. Cristiano Ronaldo's match-winning goals for Portugal in World Cup playoff matches against Sweden lifted his country to No. 5 in the monthly FIFA rankings.
ii. Portugal's 1-0 and 3-2 wins fueled a nine-place jump in the standings published Thursday as rivals played only friendly matches which score fewer points in the calculations.
iii. Uruguay are sixth, and No. 7 Italy swap with No. 8 Switzerland which were seventh for one month to clinch seeded status. Netherlands are ninth and host Brazil rise one to No. 10.
iv. Seeded Belgium fall six places to No. 11, and are now the lowest-ranked of the eight seeds.
v. The United States drop one to No. 14, and CONCACAF rival Mexico used its home-and-away playoff wins against New Zealand to rise four places to No. 20.
18.
Indian Team Announced For Junior Men Hockey World Cup 2013
i. Hockey India on 27 November 2013 announced its Junior Men National Team for the Hero Hockey Junior Men World Cup 2013.
ii. The 18 member team will be captained by midfielder Manpreet Singh while defender Amit Rohidas will be the Vice-Captain.
iii. The Junior Hockey world Cup is scheduled from 6-15 December in New Delhi, India. A total of 16 teams are participating in this tournament.
iv. India will open its campaign against The Netherlands on 6 December 2013 followed by Canada on 7 December 2013 and Korea on 10 December 2013.