Current Affairs December 2010 - 2

Award

Consultancy firm KPMG bags the financial advisor award from Asia Venture Capital Journal

Krishna Poonia, India's first woman to win gold medal at Commonwealth Games was conferred the Dayawati Modi Stree Shakti Award

Scientist Carusita Chakravarty was presented with the Stree Shakti Science Award

Sudha Rani Pandey, the first woman vice-chancellor of the Uttarakhand Sanskrit University was honoured with the Vidushi Vidyottama Stree Shakti Samman

Indian origin, Akash Krishnan and Matthew Fernandez of Portland, Oregon have developed a computer algorithm that can detect a speaker's emotions better than current technology which has won them a $100,000 grand prize


Business

Sterlite Industries buys zinc mine in Namibia

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has signed as agreement with London School of Economics (LSE) to help policy makers conduct research in formulating strategies to ensure long-term sustainable growth

Blackberry maker RIM is buying Sweden's The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) which specializes in developing software that lets smart phone users customize as per the need

Honda to exit Hero Honda, to sell 26% stake

Infosys to spend Rs.75 crore to setup base in Kolkata

Toyota Etios launched at Rs.4.96 lakh

SBI launches 3 new products
Saral Life, Child ULIP - Smart Scholar and HNI(High Networth Individual) - Smart Elite

Volvo, Swedish based bus maker has bagged its single largest order of 100 multiaxle buses from hubli-based VRL Logistics

Google to acquire anti-piracy firm Widevine

Wipro bags $50 million, 3-year order from Vodafone Essar

Spice acquires Thailand's NewTel for $22 Million

Walmart to set up its Information Systems Division in India

Master Card Worldwide, a global payments company has developed a payment solution for 'Aadhaar' the Unique Identification Number

World Bank chief to launch carbon market fund

Shreyas inks pact with Tata Motors to acquire GPS trailers

ZTE bags USD 85 million contract from Aircel to deploy 3G network

Wipro to set up a 2nd campus in West Bengal at a cost of Rs.1000 crore, to provide 20,000 job

Mercedes Benz to invest Rs.200 crore to set up paint shop

TRAI releases "National Broadband Plan 2010" costing Rs.60,000 crore. 100% central public sector units - National Optical Fiber Agency (NOFA) will be setup which will hold 51% equity and remaining 49% will be held by the state government. Optical fiber agencies will also be set up in every state

Micromax, a domestic mobile handset major, plans to set up a manufacturing unit in Hyderabad and also plans solar-cell manufacturing unit

Future Group plans fruits, vegetables store 'farm fresh'

Tata launches 7-seater Winger platinum

Russia's largest steel maker NMDC plans to setup 5 million tonne steel plant in Karnataka, to invest Rs.25,000 crore


Cartoon

'Black Ducks', by Bangalore-based artist Panduranga Rao was showcased at the 12th Porto International Cartoon Contest and World Festival held recently at Portugal


Education

IIM-Bangalore has been ranked 24th and IIM-Ahmedabad ranked 55th in a worldwide survey of 'Universal Business Schools with major international influence

HP in partnership with International Institute of Informational Technology, Bangalore (IIT-B) has launched the HP Network University which would allow IT Professionals to advance their IT knowledge


Event


Mentor Graphics hosted 6th Annual User2User 2010 India conference in Bangalore on 10th December 2010 at Taj Vivanta, M.G.Road, Trinity Circle

BICSI in association with Manufacturers Association of Information Technology hosted an International Technology Conference and Exhibition on 7th December 2010 in Bangalore


People

Hemant Contractor has been promoted as CFO of SBI, replaces SS Rajana who is set to retire in 2012

2 Indian Americans, Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon, a Sanskrit chant vocalist and Vijay Iyer, jazz pianist-cum-composer have been nominated for awards at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, to be held in February in Los Angeles

R.K.Singh has been appointed as BPCL chairman

Soon H Kwon replaces Moon B Shin as MD of LG Electronics India


Record

"Birds of America", the world's most expensive illustrated book, has been sold for a record price of 7.3 million pounds($11.5 million) at an auction in London


Science

Kundankulam N-reactor to be operational by early next year

Indian American Nikku Madhusudhan have discovered a giant planet with an atmosphere and core dominated by carbon, diamond-studded stars foreseen. The planet named WASP-12b, orbits a star about 1200 light-years from earth, and appears to have temperatures of nearly 2300 degree Celsius - hot enough to melt stainless steel


Sports

Serbia win maiden Davis Cup title

India wins the 5-match series, 5-0 against New Zealand


Technology

Google launches mapping tool to monitor climate

Adobe's Flash player 10.2 beta promises HD video playback

Huawei to plant cyber security evaluation centre in India

Google unveils new smart phone Nexus S

Airtel to launch IPTV in Bangalore

Advanced Micro Devices has released 3 new processors in its Phenom II and Athlon II line-ups

Google's Chrome OS to be free software