13th January 2014 Current Affairs Updates

International Affairs

• Anti-government protesters begun blocking key intersections across the congested Thai capital in their bid to "shutdown" the city and force embattled Premier Yingluck Shinawatra to step down.
• Iran will get USD 4.2 billion of its blocked funds in phases under a six-month landmark nuclear deal, as President Barack Obama cautioned that any congressional legislation that slaps fresh sanctions on Tehran will only risk derailing the peace efforts.

Natioanal Affairs

• Celebrations for Bhogali Bihu or Magh Bihu, the harvest festival, have began at Assam with community feasts and prayers.
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• Festival of Lohri celebrated in North India to mark winter solstice and commemorate traditional onset of harvest season in Punjab.
• Prime Minister inaugurates 9th Annual Conference of State Minorities Commissions.
• PM laid foundation stone for 2800 MW nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district (Haryana).
• The World Health Organisation is set to officialy declare India a polio free nation soon as no polio cases have been detected in the country for the past three years.
• Hit by successive complaints by two of its ex-students about sexual harassment during internship, the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WB NUJS) on Monday said they were giving final touches to a policy to handle such cases.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday laid the foundation stone for a 2,800 megawatt nuclear power plant near Gorakhpur village in the Fatehabad district of Haryana.
• First radio-based consumer helpline 'Radio Mewat' to be launched in Haryana on Jan 15 to raise awareness among consumers at community level.

Deaths

• Sam Berns, a teenager whose battle with a rare genetic condition that accelerates the aging process became the subject of an HBO documentary has died. He was 17.
• Telugu actress Anjali Devi died at a private hospital in Chennai on Monday. She is 86.
• Appointments
• Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot and party MP Arun Yadav were appointed Congress chiefs of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on Monday, marking a generational shift in the politics of the two States where the party was routed in the recent Assembly elections.

Business and Economy

• The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Monday proposed to raise the interest rate on the lifetime savings of nearly 50 million formal sector workers to 8.75% from 8.5%.
• Upstream regulator DGH has put in a strong note of dissent against the Vijay Kelkar Committee suggestion to continue the present regime of allowing oil and gas producers to recover costs before paying the government its share.
• Retail inflation moderates to 9.87% in December from 11.16% in November.
• Google has announced that it is buying smart thermostat start-up Nest in a deal valued at USD 3.2 billion.
• Sports
• Vijay Zol to lead 15-member squad in ICC U-19 World Cup to be held in UAE in February