Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 09 March, 2014

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

India’s Virat Kohli has reclaimed the No. 1 position in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, which were released recently after the conclusion of the Asia Cup.
Kohli had entered the Asia Cup, trailing No. 1 ranked South African batsman AB de Villiers by two ratings points.
Kohli’s tournament aggregate of 189 runs in three innings with 136 against Bangladesh as his series best earned him 12 ratings points, which has put him ahead of South Africa’s ODI captain by nine ratings points.
Kohli was last ranked No. 1 just before the ODI series against New Zealand in January.

The World T20 2014 is all set to be held in Bangladesh between March 16 and April 6.
According to Mahbub Anam, Director, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and member of the local organising committee of the T20 World Cup, the tournament is the biggest in the nation’s history.
The BCB has also planned a concert featuring A.R. Rahman, Akon, and other local artistes on March 13 at the Bangabandhu Stadium.

North Korean state media reported that nearly all registered voters had cast their ballots to elect members of the Supreme People’s Assembly for the first time since Kim Jong Un took leadership of the authoritarian regime after his father’s death two years ago.
The Assembly is nominally the highest legislative power, but in practice only meets once or twice a year to rubber-stamp policies drawn up by the Workers’ Party.
At the previous election in 2009, 99.98 per cent of voters turned out, to vote 100-per-cent unanimously for their respective designated candidates.
One candidate was present in each constituency, leaving voters only the choice between voting “yes” or “no,” but observers of the isolated, communist regime were watching the designation of candidates for signs of change.
A shake-up of the top officials is thought to be under way in the reclusive country in the wake of the execution of Kim’s uncle and former mentor Jang Song Thaek in December.

Inflation is the biggest immediate challenge that the new government will face, according to Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group.
India had many challenges, but among the key ones, which had been bothering the nation over the past 2-3 years, was zero growth in manufacturing or close to zero industrial growth.
Control of food inflation would require even more attention because about 60 per cent of budget of most Indians went for food.
Besides the question of inflation in India , there are a few more puzzles around the world that sends mixed signals .
The European Union has been battling with debt crisis. Greece and many other countries have been struggling with sovereign debts, and their governments are indebted with no clear clue on repayments.
Standard & Poor downgraded the U.S. economy from AAA to AA on August 2, 2011 and in place of crashing , there was a huge bond rally in the U.S.
With debt crisis, Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 100 per cent or slightly above. Other countries such as Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal are also having debt-to-GDP ratios over 100 per cent. It is about 40 per cent for the U.S. and China. In India, it is 80 per cent. While there are concerns over sovereign debt crisis in the EU and other countries, there is, surprisingly, no mention about one country that has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the world. It is Japan … and that has the ratio of about 350 per cent.