Daily Current Affairs updates from 23 September 2013

Daily Current Affairs updates from 23 September 2013

National

1) Indian Navy has received the first of 17 Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers, becoming the third naval operator of the Hawk along with the US Navy and the Royal Navy.

2) Durga Sakthi Nagpal reinstated: A day after she met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, the Uttar Pradesh government today revoked the suspension of woman IAS officer Durga Sakhti Nagpal. Nagpal was suspended on July 27 ostensibly for taking on the powerful sand mining mafia when she was the SDM of Gautambudh Nagar.

3) Karnataka to enact anti-superstition law: Karnataka Government intends to enact a legislation to crack down on superstition and black magic on the lines of the one in Maharashtra.

4) Jaganmohan Reddy gets bail: After 16 months in jail, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, MP and President of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), today got bail in the disproportionate assets case.

5) Government is considering a proposal of the Election Commission to ban the publication of opinion polls during elections. On June 13, Attorney General G E Vahanvati had supported the Commission’s proposal to ban publication and broadcast of opinion polls between the announcement of election schedule and the final phase of polling.

6) IIT-Kanpur opened office in New York: With an aim to hunt for qualified and capable faculty abroad, IIT-Kanpur has set up an office in New York with alumnus Sanjeev Khosla designated as the overseas brand ambassador of the institute.

7) Nation remembers Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' on his 105th birth anniversary. He was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist and academic. He is considered as one of the most important modern Hindi poets. Dinkar was awarded the Jnanpith Award in 1972 for Urvashi. He also became a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, in 1952.

International

1) Typhoon Usagi killed at least 25 people after crashing ashore in southern China, throwing the region’s transport systems into chaos and leaving tens of thousands of airline passengers stranded in Hong Kong.

 2) Germany election- Merkel set for third term: Chancellor Angela Merkel emerged the clear winner of Sunday’s election after her conservative political bloc surged to its best result in 20 years, giving her a strong hand in likely talks on forming a new grand coalition of the nation’s biggest parties. Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU) associate party scored 41.5 per cent.

3) Chinese Air Force starts final phase of ‘Mission Action 2013’: Chinese Air Force has started the third and final phase of one of its biggest exercises, meant to test the logistic ability of the world’s biggest military to move its troops.

Technology

1) Super-camera capable of catching even the most minor traffic offences is set to be introduced across the UK. Robocamera can catch up to 50 times as many drivers as conventional speed cameras. Called ZenGrab LaneWatch, the digital cameras can be attached to lampposts and do not require advance warning signs, Daily Express reported.

Sports

1) Somdev Devvarman back in top-100 in singles rankings: India’s top singles player Somdev Devvarman returned to top-100 after a gap of one hour and nine months as he jumped three places to 98 in the latest ATP singles rankings.

2) Novak Djokovic tops the men’s tennis rankings for a 100th week in his career, the ninth man to reach the milestone on the latest list issued.

3) Sebastian Vettel wins Singapore Grand Prix to extend F1 lead.

4) Third Lusofonia Games of ‘Lusophone’ (Portuguese-speaking countries), slated to be held here in November, have been postponed to January due to the slow progress of infrastucture construction.

5) Sandeep Tulsi Yadav has created history by winning India's first-ever medal in the 66kg Greco-Roman category at the Senior World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

6) Deepika Kumari wins Silver at Archery World Cup in Paris. In the finals, the 19-year-old Deepika lost to the Korean Olympic champion Ok-Hee Yun.

Economy/Business

1) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has cautioned banks and financial institutions against use of unregistered telemarketers for promoting their business. These banks are Axis Bank, Citi Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra, PNB and SBI.

2) BSNL and MTNL are likely to sign a pact tomorrow that would allow the state-run companies to utilise each others network for providing pan-India mobile services.

3) Media firm NDTV today said former Attorney-General of India Soli Sorabjee will be its ombudsman who will provide an independent perspective on its coverage and investigate viewers complaints.4) TRAI seeks comments on USSD-based mobile banking services. USSD is a technology used by telecom players to send alerts to their users. It can be used for prepaid callback service, location-based content services and menu-based information services.

5) Moody’s lowers SBI’s debt rating: Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the senior unsecured debt and local currency deposit ratings of State Bank of India (SBI).

Appointments

1) Indian cricketer Virat Kohli was appointed as the brand ambassador of the Border Security Force (BSF).

2) Beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo on Monday named company veteran Sanjeev Chadha as its CEO, Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region.