Daily Current Affairs Facts

Dharmesh Sangwan, an Indian UN Peacekeeper killed in South Sudan ethnic violence, was an former Indian rower. He had won an Asian Games silver medal and Asian Championship gold medal.

India and San Marino signs Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) to bring more transparency and strengthen tax cooperation. TIEA : exchange of information put up by respective governments which is relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic tax laws. Specific Provisions: requested government will gather information even if it may not need them for their own tax purposes. Provisions : exchange of banking and ownership information ; representatives of the competent authority can enter the territory of the requested Party to interview individuals and examine records.

Joint Study Group on BCIM Corridor (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) holds first official-level talks in Kunming China. BCIM Corridor - an ambitious regional infrastructure project aiming physical connectivity of these four countries in the region. will connect Kunming to Kolkata. Kunming (Yunnan Province's capital in South western China bordering Myanmar) - Mandalay (Myanmar) - Dhaka and Chittagong (Bangladesh) -Kolkata (India).

English spinner Graeme Swann stuns the cricketing world by announcing his retirementfrom international and first-class cricket just 5 years after making his debut in test against India in December 2008. He, with 255 wickets in 60 tests, is the sixth-most successful test cricket bowler for England so far.

Taishan becomes the 4th Chinese research station to come up in Southern pole after Kunlun, Zhongshan and Great Wall. It will contribute in research on bio-ecology and remote satellite sensing.

Anupam Shrivastava shorlisted by the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL.

Puneet Kumar assumes charge as the New secretary general of AEPC (Apparel Export Promotion Council).

P.H. Parekh elected as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for the sixth time.

India and Nepal agrees on a 14-point agenda to enhance trade, promote co-operation and address concerns of imbalanced bilateral trade. I.          The pact also includes reduction of tariff barriers and checking illegal trade along the border. II.          Commerce Secretaries of the two nations SR Rao of India and Madhav Prasad Regmi of Nepal headed the respective delegations in Kathmandu.

Michiaki Takahashi, developer of a vaccine for the chicken pox virus, dies of cardiac arrest aged 85 in Japan.   His 3-year-old son suffering from the chickenpox led him to this revolutionary invention in 1972 The vaccine prompted immune systems to produce antibodies which helped in curing the desease.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of world's most popular firearm AK-47, dies at 94. AK is a Russian acronym for "Kalashnikov's machine gun" and 47 stands for the year of its debut. The deadly gun appears on the national flag of Mozambique in a tribute to the big role it played in this nation's successful rebel movement of 1960s.

Acclaimed poet and writer 'Rashtrakavi' G.S. Shivarudrappa passes away aged 87. He was only the 3rd Kannada poet to be awarded the title of “Rashtrakavi,” after Manjeshwara Govinda Pai and Kuvempu (K.V. Puttappa).

India observed 13th Kisan Diwas on December 23. The day is celebrated honouring the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh - the fifth Prime Minister of India. He is the only Indian PM ever not to face the Parliament even for a single day in that capacity.

PepsiCo is to establish its largest beverage plant in India at Sri City (Andhra Pradesh) situated near Andhra and Tamil Nadu border.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar succeeds Nirupama Rao as the next ambassador to the US.

The nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-III was successfully test-fired by India on December23 2013 at Wheeler Island of Odisha Coast.