*CURRENT AFFAIRS (21:12:2014)

1. Rajinder Khanna is appointed
as the new chief of Research and
Analysis Wing (RAW).
He will succeed Alok Joshi who is
going to retire at the end of this
month.
In another appointment, Prakash
Mishra gets the nod for being the
next chief of Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF).
2. Pakistan gets the Associate
Member Status of the CERN
(European Organization for
Nuclear Research) - world's
largest particle physics laboratory.
India is yet to get this status.
The membership will allow
Pakistan to participate in the
governance of Cern, through
attending the meetings of the
Cern council.
Pakistani scientists, now as
members of the Cern staff, can
participate in CERN's training and
career-development programmes.
The status of associate member is
a pre-stage to be a full member.
Presently, Cern has 21 member
states excluding Romania which
is a candidate to become a full
member state.
3. Indian men and women
Kabaddi teams clinch Kabaddi
World Cups.
This is the fifth consecutive win
for the men`s team and fourth
consecutive win for the women's
team.
Men beat Pakistan 45-42 in a
thrilling final encounter while
women easily got better of New
Zealand with a 36-27 scoreline.
The championships were held in
Punjab.
4. The first home-grown naval jet
Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Naval
Protytype-1 (NP-1), is successfully
flight-tested.
Its called the Naval version of the
Tejas - the indigenously
developed Light Combat Aircraft.
Navy is yet to name the aircraft.
5. LED based energy efficient
smart-street lights launched in
Delhi.
LED lights are brighter, more
energy-efficient and durable as
compared to the conventional
sources.
There are an estimated 5 lakh
street lights in Delhi which
consume more than 400 million
kWh of energy every year.
These street lights also incur
substantial annual maintenance
cost which is some 25% of the
energy bill annually.
LED Street light consume almost
50% less energy with pretty low
maintenance cost.
These will also have the feature of
dimming during off-peak hours -
enhancing the savings of energy
by another 10 to 15%.
6. Atletico de Kolkata lifts the
inaugural Indian Super League.
They overpowered Kerala Blasters
by 1-0 in the final to be the first
champion of this IPL version of
football in India.
7. Indian golfer Arjun Atwal
clinches Inaugural Dubai Open
Golf tournament.