1. Indian Ministry of Culture signs MoU with National Library of France

(i)The Union Ministry of Culture and National Library of France have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as per which the two nations would cooperate in preservation and development of manuscripts besides handling the publicity of written heritage at the National Library. 

(ii) “The collaboration will enable both countries to benefit not only in terms of capacity building on man power but also in terms of technology transfer and exchange of expertise,” said Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture Sreya Guha.

2. Saudi blogger Raif Badawi wins the 2015 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 

(i) Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was awarded the 2015 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought recently. He voiced his views against the overly suppressive rules of his nation and promoted freedom of thought and expression through his website.

(ii) In 2012, Badawi, author of the website Free Saudi Liberals, was convicted of insulting Islam and sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1000 lashes. He was also fined £175,000. He received the first 50 lashings in January this year, but the subsequent whippings were postponed as the brutal punishment caused widespread outcry.

(iii) President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz urged the King of Saudi Arabia to call off the sentence and release Badawi.

3. China surpasses US in e-commerce sales 

(i) As per a recent report issued by China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC), China  has overtaken the US to become the world’s largest online retail market.

(ii) Its e-commerce sales revenue stood at $439 billion in 2014, which is 7 per cent of its GDP, a percentage point higher than the US. US’ online sales accounted for around $290 billion.

4. China puts an end to its one-child policy 

(i) Recently, China’s Communist Party announced that it will do away with the decade-old one-child policy. 

(ii) The nation’s leaders declared that all married couples would be permitted to have two children. The objective is to reverse the rapid aging of the country’s labour force. This is considered to be one of the key policy decisions made by the leaders in its Five-Year Development Plan.

5.  Asian Development Bank, IndusInd Bank and IFMR Capital to lend to MFIs in India

(i) The Asian Development Bank (ADB), IndusInd Bank (IBL) and IFMR Capital signed a partial guarantee programme to extend loans to micro finance institutions (MFIs) in India. 

(ii) As per the joint statement, the guarantee from ADB and IFMR shall cover default risk of selected MFIs at agreed proportions. 

(iii) IndusInd Bank is the local currency lender, with initial allocation of up to $20 million of guarantee limits from ADB.

6. RBI grants permission to Indian corporates to issue rupee denomination bonds outside India 

(i) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently granted permission to Indian corporates to issue rupee-denominated bonds outside India. 

(ii) The government has considered the matter of taxation of income from such bonds under the Income-tax Act. The government has also decided the capital gains arising in case of appreciation of rupees between the date of issue and the date of redemption against the foreign currency in which the investment is made, would be exempted from capital gains tax.

(iii) The decision on these bonds comes in the aftermath of companies like NTPC, IRFC and IIFCL planning to issue rupee-denominated bonds in markets abroad

7. Gunit Chadha is now the CEO of Deutsche Bank’s Asia Pacific region 

(i) Deutsche Bank AG, the largest lender in Germany, promoted Gunit Chadha to post of CEO of the Asia Pacific region. Chadha previously headed the bank’s operations in India. 

(ii) Further, it was announced that the bank will close operations in 10 countries and cut 15,000 full and part time jobs across the globe. The decision is part of co-CEO John Cryan’s ‘Strategy 2020’ that aims to reduce costs, lower risks and improve the bank’s capital position.

(iii) In Q3 that ended in September, the bank announced a $6.6 billion loss along with the litigation costs. 

8. Amit Saroha bags silver at men’s club throw F51 event in the IPC Athletics World Championships

(i) Amit K Saroha recently bagged a silver medal in the men’s club throw F51 event in the IPC Athletics World Championships and has qualified for the Paralympic Games to be held next year in Rio de Janeiro. 

(ii) He achieved a 25.44m throw in the final, finishing 0.85m short of Serbia’s gold medal winner, Zeljko Dimitrijevic, who produced a record 26.29m throw. 

(iii) This is India’s second medal in the championship.

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