24 December 2013 Current Affairs
Vernon Philander Tops Test Bowler Ranking
South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander declared on the No. 1 position in the latest ICC Test rankings in bowling and batting released on 24 December.Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, had moved in the right direction on rankings for Test batsmen. Philander recorded figures of four for 61 and three for 68, Steyn managed just one wicket. The contrasting performances resulted in Philander gaining 13 ratings points and Steyn conceding 13 ratings points. Steyn was on this position from july 2009.Philander is now the seventh South Africa bowler to claim the number-one rank after Aubrey Faulkner (1914-1921), Hugh Tayfield (1955-1958), Peter Pollock (1969), Allan Donald (1998-1999), Shaun Pollock (1999-2003) and Dale Steyn (2008-2013).
M. Veerappa Moily Appointed as the new Environment and Forests Minister
Marpadi Veerappa Moily , the petroleum and natural gas Minister on 24 December took an additional charge of the Environment and Forests Ministry after the exit of Jayanthi Natarajan.Moily was the former Chief Minister (and the first ethnic Tuluva CM) of the Indian state of Karnataka (19 Nov 1992 – 11 Dec 1994). He was elected to Karnataka state legislative assembly from Karkala constituency of Udupi district.