Current Affairs Magazine for 11th December 2012

1. The European Union has received this year's Nobel Peace Prize on Monday, 10th Dec 2012, in the Norwegian capital Oslo for promoting peace and human rights in Europe for six decades following the devastation of World War II. From just six countries which agreed to pool their coal and steel production in the 1950s to 27 member states today - and 28 once Croatia joins next year - the EU now stretches from Portugal to Romania, Finland to Malta and sets rules and regulations that have a bearing on more than 500 million people. For an institution with no single leader, the EU sent how many of its presidents to the Oslo ceremony for the 2012 prize?
[Category: World News Current Affairs]
[A]Two
[B]Three
[C]Four
[D]Five


2. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday, 10th Dec 2012, said on the sidelines of 47th Raising Day celebrations of Border Security Force that Pakistan's Interior Minister will pay a three-day visit to India from December 14. Both India and Pakistan will operationalise the liberalised visa agreement during his visit. The new visa regime will replace a 38-year-old restrictive accord and will pave the way for time-bound visa approval and greater people-to-people contact and trade. Who is the Interior Minister of Pakistan?
[Category: India News Current Affairs]
[A]Wasim Sajjad
[B]Farooq Leghari
[C]Rehman Malik
[D]Raja Pervez Ashraf


"3. The Rajya Sabha has erupted in protest on Monday 10 Dec 2012 after BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad drew attention to a lobbying disclosure report filed by Walmart that revealed it had spent a massive $25 million lobbying to get entrance into India and demanded that the government respond. According to lobbying disclosure reports filed by Wal-Mart with the US Senate, the company has spent close to $25 million (about Rs 125 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, including on the issues related to “enhanced market access for investment in India”. However the joint venture between Walmart and its Indian partner, denied allegations that it spent money in India to gain market access here. Who is the Indian partner of Walmart?
[Category: Business Current Affairs]
[A]Bharti Enterprises
[B]Reliance Retails
[C]Spencer
[D]Tata Star Bazar


" 4. On 10th Dec 2012, Press Council Chairman clarified that his remark '90 per cent of Indians are fools' was meant to awaken people to the realities of social evils like casteism, communalism in the country. The two students had reportedly sent a legal notice to the PCI chairman for making the remark. However he said that the figure 90 per cent is not a mathematical figure, it simply means that in his opinion a large proportion of Indians (and again I repeat, not all) are fools. Who is the PCI chairman?
[Category: India Current Affairs]
[A]J. R. Mudholkar
[B]Ganendra Narayan Ray
[C]Aditya Katju
[D]Markandey Katju


5. On 10th December 2012, Google Doodle honors the birth of a computer visionary who believed such machines could be more than just number crunchers. She was born on December 10, 1815 and is perhaps best known for her contributions toward Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, Designed but never actually built until 1991, the Analytical Engine is in many ways one of the ancestors of today's computer systems. A mathematician and writer, She took on the task of first translating and then expanding upon an article describing the Analytical Engine. Her notes contains what some people think of as early computer progams or algorithms, hence her unofficial title as the world's first programmer. A programming language was also named after her. Can you name her?
[Category: Internet and Media Current Affairs]
[A]Whitney Pascal
[B]Lance Fortran
[C]Ada Lovelace
[D]Ada Lindsay