Dear readers, here is daily current affairs updates for 11th December, 2014.
- Anurag Jain appointed Joint Secretary in PMO
- Senior IAS officer Anurag Jain appointed as Joint Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office.
- Essar signs 10-year multi-billion dollar oil deal with Rosneft
- Essar Oil Ltd signed a deal with Russia’s OAO Rosneft, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, to import 10 million tonnes (mt) of crude oil a year for 10 years.
- At the current price of oil, the deal would be valued at approximately $40 billion over the 10-year period.
- Supplies may begin in 2015. Consequently, Rosneft expands its distribution area and builds up deliveries to the region, where the world’s economy growth zones are concentrated.
- Fidel Castro Awarded China’s Confucius Peace Prize
- Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been awarded the Confucius Peace Prize, China’s version of the Nobel Prize.
- Past winners of the Confucius Prize, which was established in 2010 after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, include former Taiwanese Prime Minister Lien Chan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- CCEA approves Tea Development and Promotion Scheme of the Tea Board for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry for implementation of the “Tea Development and Promotion Scheme” through the Tea Board during the Twelfth Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17).
- The Scheme is aimed at supporting development of improved varieties and technologies for increasing production, productivity and quality of tea, promoting Indian tea in the overseas and domestic markets and encouraging value addition for the purpose of higher unit value realization of tea produced and marketed.
- Xiaomi banned from selling, importing phones in India
- Hearing a case filed by Ericsson India against Xiaomi, the court passed an ex parte order forbidding the popular Chinese manufacturer from importing and selling its smartphones in India.
- The judge also directed the customs officials to stop the imports under the IPR Rules, 2007.
- 22 states, UTs support bill to prevent ‘honour killings’
- 22 states and Union Territories have supported a Law Commission recommendation to bring a bill to prevent ‘honour killings’.
- The law panel’s report on ‘prevention of interference with freedom of matrimonial alliances (in the name of honour and tradition)’.
- The draft legislation was named ‘The prohibition of interference with the freedom of matrimonial alliances bill’.