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

Daily Current Affairs Updates of September 15th

 Daily Current Affairs Updates of September 15th

International Affairs

• The United Nations has accepted Syria's application to join the chemical weapons convention, with its chief Ban Ki-moon pledging support to implement a deal reached by Russia and the US in this regard.
• China is likely to achieve its growth target of 7.5 per cent this year despite planned structural reforms to rebalance the world's second largest economy, the World Bank president said today.

National Affairs

• External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid tonight returned home after a two-nation visit during which he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Meeting in Kyrgyzstan where he also met his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz.
• Days after Muzaffarnagar riots, the government has convened a meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) at Delhi on September 23 to discuss how to combat communalism.
• HimachaPradesh to launch Food Security programme from 20th September.
• Faced with a high current account deficit and declining forex reserves, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his forthcoming US visit will meet FIIs in San Fransisco to woo investments.
• Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh today called on Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav and interim government chief Khil Raj Regmi and discussed latest political developments and bilateral ties, including security cooperation.
• Finance Ministry may set-up a new anti-evasion and intelligence unit to check  leakage of any indirect tax.
• Kerala CM Oommen Chandy today greeted Malayalees all over the world wishing them a prosperous and peaceful Onam festival.
• Taking note of some of its staffers wearing clothes “that did not bring any repute”, the Karnataka Government has prescribed a “decent” dress code for them — pant and shirt or ‘pyjama/kurta’ for men and saree or ’churidar’ for women.
•  Mizoram government has made all necessary arrangements to receive 121 Bru families who have agreed to return to the state from North Tripura refugee camps on their own from September 30, a senior official said today.
• First Urdu law dictionary, 'Kanoon Lugat' was released in Mumbai on Sunday in the presence of legal luminaries.

Science and Technology

• India today successfully conducted a second test flight of indigenously developed nuclear-capable 'Agni-V' long-range ballistic missile with a strike range of more than 5000 km, from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.
• Japan to be nuclear free as it switched off its last reactor.
•  Drugmakers from India, the biggest overseas source of medicines sold in the US, have got more than 100 generic drug approvals from the American health regulator FDA this year so far.

Business and Economy

• Mutual funds lost more than 13 lakh investors, measured in terms of individual accounts or folios, in the first four months of the current fiscal, mainly due to profit booking and various merger schemes.
• Terming retrospective taxation a “significant disincentive” for entities wishing to do business in India, a government-appointed panel has suggested a string of legal, administrative and regulatory reforms to make the country a better and easier place for doing business.
• Government is expected to raise import duty on refined edible oil to 10 percent, from 7.5 percent at present.

Sports

• ShikharDhawan to lead SunrisersHyderabad in upcoming ChampionsLeague Twenty20

22:44 - By Unknown 0