Current Affairs September 07

1. Tony Abbott will be sworn in as the 28th prime minister of Australia after tonight clinching an historic victory and ending six years of Labor rule. He will succeed Kevin Rudd as the prime minister.

2. In a notification issued from Mumbai on Friday, RBI has said that swap facility will be available to scheduled commercial banks for fresh foreign currency non-resident bank - FCNR(B) deposits mobilized for a minimum tenor of three years. Although the swap window will be operated on a daily basis on all working days in Mumbai, a particular bank can avail of the swap facility only once in a week.

3. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon set up a committee to examine feasibility of encrypted SMS-based fund transfers. There is substantial potential for mobile based payments. We will set up a technical committee to examine the feasibility of using encrypted SMS-based funds transfer using an application that can run on any type of handset.

4. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared gold-loan company Muthoot Finance’s proposal to set up white-label ATMs in the country. Muthoot, which had received the RBI nod for the plan in June, is expected to set up its first batch of ATMs next month in one of the southern States.

5. SEBI has barred 34 entities from the capital market for fraudulent dealings in the shares of 12 companies. It has also restrained the main conspirator of the alleged manipulative trades, Sunil Mehta from accessing the securities market for a period of seven years.

6. Soulful strains of some of the most popular and best known western classical music compositions reverberated in the majestic backdrop of Zabarwan Hills when Zubin Mehta, world famous conductor, performed before a mesmerized audience in the Shalimar Gardens on the banks of Dal Lake this evening.

7. Thirty-two artistes under the age of 35 from all over the country in various categories of performing arts were today presented with the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2011 by Sangeet Natak Akademi.

8. Delhi became the first State on Friday to lay down comprehensive guidelines for prevention of child abuse. The guidelines are slated to serve as a model for other States.

9. World champion Sebastian Vettel captured pole position on Saturday in a Red Bull one-two for the Italian Grand Prix.

10. British Indian billionaire brothers Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja have been presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for their contributions to UK's Asian community.