Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 10 February, 2014

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

Cheque clearances, cash withdrawals, and deposits in public sector bank branches across the country were hit as employees started a two-day strike on 10th of Feb to press for a revision in wages.
However, private sector banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were functioning normally.
Employees were compelled to take this route as the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) did not come up with an improved wage offer, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) convener M.V. Murali said. The IBA represents bank managements.
Banks, including the State Bank of India, the country’s largest, had informed customers in advance about the likely inconvenience they would face during the strike.
UFBU is an umbrella organisation of nine bank employee and officer unions.
There are 27 public sector banks in the country with a combined employee strength of about 8 lakh. There are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country.

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were the most generous American philanthropists in 2013, with a donation of 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at more than $970 million, to a Silicon Valley nonprofit in December.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that Zuckerberg's donation was the largest charitable gift on the public record in 2013 and put the young couple at the top of the magazine's annual list of 50 most generous Americans in 2013.
The top 50 contributors made donations last year totaling $7.7 billion, plus pledges of $2.9 billion.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, gave their foundation slightly more than $181.3 million last year, but they were paying off a pledge of about $3.3 billion they made in 2004. CNN-founder Ted Turner and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett also made large gifts toward previous pledges.
Ten of the 50 made the list because of bequests after their deaths, including the second biggest giver in 2013, George Mitchell, a Galveston, Texas, man who made his fortune in energy and real estate.
At No. 3 were Nike chairman Philip Knight and his wife, Penelope, of Portland, Oregon, who made a $500 million challenge grant to Oregon Health & Science University Foundation for cancer research. The Knight pledge requires the university match

The suspended Indian Olympic Association (IOA) amended its constitution and successfully held its elections, taking the first steps to returning to the international fold.
World Squash Federation president N. Ramachandran was unanimously named as the new president of the IOA in the elections held in the presence of three observers from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — Pere Miró, IOC Director of NOC Relations, Jérôme Poivey, Head of Institutional Relations in the NOC Relations Department, and Robin Mitchell, head of the IOC delegation.
Indian athletes at the ongoing Winter Olympics in Sochi are participating under the Olympic flag. However, it is unlikely that the Indians will be able to march under the tricolour during the closing of the Games.
Most of the office-bearers, including secretary general Rajeev Mehta, were elected unopposed, barring the vice-presidents.
The IOA was suspended in December 2012 after it went ahead with elections despite IOC’s reservations, electing Abhay Singh Chautala and Lalit Bhanot as president and secretary respectively. Both have been charged by a court of law.
Under the new constitution, any member against whom charges have been framed by a court of law for an offence that carries imprisonment of more than two years will not be allowed to contest elections and the case will be referred to the IOA Ethics Commission.

Faltering miserably in their ongoing tour of New Zealand, India are in danger of losing their second spot in the ICC Test rankings if Australia win their away series against South Africa.
Currently occupying second position in ICC Test rankings, India is trailing the two-match series against New Zealand 0-1 after losing the opening match .
South Africa are leading the table with 133 points, while Australia sits third with 111 points. South Africa will retain the number-one position on the table irrespective of the outcome of the series.
In case India does not win the second Test, Australia need to draw the series to move into second place. However, if Australia was to lose the series, then there will be no change of positions on the table.

Sources: Various News Papers & PIB