Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 11 December, 2013

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

General Motors picked Mary Barra, its product development chief and a 33-year company veteran, as its next CEO. She will become the first woman to head any major car company.
Ms. Barra, who joined GM in 1980, is currently in charge of design, engineering and quality for all of GM’s vehicles across the globe and has shepherded most of the company’s recent new vehicle introductions.
Under her command, GM rolled out brawny new full-size pickup trucks, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, and the Chevrolet Impala full-size car, which earned the highest score for a sedan in testing by Consumer Reports magazine. Its quality scores also rose in surveys conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. She also led development of the new Chevrolet Corvette and several new Cadillac models.

The Netherlands' Heineken NV (HEIN.AS) has become the largest shareholder of India's United Breweries Ltd (UBBW.NS) after its stake inched past that of liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
Heineken, the world's third-largest brewer, now owns 38.7 percent after buying 1.3 percent from Citicorp Finance India, showed data on the National Stock Exchange. Mallya owns 37.4 percent.
United Breweries makes Kingfisher Strong, India's biggest-selling beer, as well as London Pilsner and Kalyani Black Label.

Indian athletes have been cleared to compete in the Winter Games in Sochi after the country complied with the IOC’s ethics rules and avoided becoming the first country expelled from the Olympics in more than 40 years.
Still to be determined is whether the few Indian athletes who have qualified for Sochi compete for their country or under the Olympic flag.
The International Olympic Committee gave a reprieve to India’s suspended national Olympic body after a long impasse that had threatened to lead to the expulsion of the world’s second most populous nation.
The move came two days after the Indian Olympic Association amended its constitution to bar any officials charged with a crime from running for election, as demanded by the IOC.
The Indian body was suspended by the IOC last December after electing secretary-general Lalit Bhanot, who spent 10 months in jail on corruption charges related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
India is likely to send a three-member team to Sochi, led by luger Shiva Keshavan, who will be participating in his fifth Winter Olympics. Keshavan, who set a continental record at the Asia Cup in Nagano, Japan, last December, is hoping to become the first Indian to win a medal at a Winter Games.
India can also send one male and one female Alpine skier to the games.

India crashed out of the Hero Junior Men's Hockey World Cup after being held 3-3 by Korea in a must-win Pool C match at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
The draw means both India and Korea finished their pool engagement with four points apiece but it was not enough for the home team to qualify for the quarterfinals as they needed a win.
The draw, however, was more than enough for the Koreans to progress to the knock-out stage as they had a better goal difference than the Indians.