Daily Current Affairs Updates 26th September 2013

 Daily Current Affairs Updates - 26th September 2013

International Affairs

• According to the recent announcement of the White House, the United States stands ready to assist Pakistan in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit the Balochistan region of the country killing more than 300 people.
• Britain on Wednesday gave an extra $160 million to help Syrian refugees as the European Union urged the UN Security Council to do more to ensure humanitarian access.
• The National Security Agency eavesdropped on civil rights icon Martin Luther King and heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali as well as other leading critics of the Vietnam War in a secret program later deemed "disreputable," declassified documents have revealed.
• Iraq's foreign minister says outside nations should not supply weapons to any of Syria's rebels for fear they could fall into the hands of extremist or terror groups.
• Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was looking forward to his meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh as he hoped to build on progress made in bilateral ties during his last stint as premier.
• Sri Lanka has rejected UN rights chief Navi Pillay's call for an international probe if it fails to show clear progress by next March in probing alleged war crimes during the three-decade long conflict with LTTE.
• A pocket-sized 3.8-inch tall Chihuahua, weighing just half a kg, has entered the Guinness World Records as the planet's smallest dog.

National Affairs

•  The 18th International Children's Film Festival (ICFFI), popularly known as 'The Golden Elephant', will be held in Hyderabad  from November 14-20. 
• A six-member expert committee constituted by the Centre on fixing a new criterion for determining the backwardness of Indian states on Thursday gave its reports, claiming
• Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are the least developed states in the country.
• The report also said that Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the most developed states in the country. 
• As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh entered in Washington on a four-day visit, a Sikh rights group has secured summons against him from a US court in connection with the alleged human rights violations in the counter-insurgency operations in Punjab in the 1990's.
• Action against the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), which is battling a Rs 5,600 crore payments crisis, is being taken by the Forward Market Commission (FMC), ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) based on the Mayaram committee report, finance minister P. Chidambaram said on Thursday.
• According to a recent survey mumbai is world's 2nd most honest city (Nine out of 12 mumbai people returned the wallets they found lying on the road).
• Haryana's Rapid Metro Project involving an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,088 crore and connecting NH-8 in Gurgaon with the Delhi Metro Railways' Sikanderpur station will be inaugurated soon.
• India's nuclear operator NPCIL & US firm Westinghouse to sign an agreement in Washington today, in the sideline of PM visit to US.
• Yatra to Kedarnath to resume on Oct 1, limited number of devotees will be allowed.

Science and Technology

• India's nuclear operator NPCIL and US firm Westinghouse are set sign an agreement paving the way for setting up an atomic plant in India.
• Twitter is launching an alerts feature that lets U.S. users receive emergency notices as text messages. Alerts are available from the American Red Cross, the Centers for Disease Control, the Federal Emergency
• Management Agency and other federal and local groups.

Sports

• India defeated Pakistan 4-0 in the invitational under-21 Sultan of Johor Cup hockey tournament today.
• India lost to Korea by 2-1 in Women's AsiaCupHockey semi-final :(
• India beat Korea by 6-1 in Sultan of Johor Cup  Hockey.

13:38 - By Unknown 0