Daily Current Affairs 21 October 2013

Current Affairs Updates: 21 October 2013

National

1) Congress MP Rashid Masood disqualified from Rajya Sabha: Convicted Congress leader Rashid Masood today became the first MP to lose his seat after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts. 66-year-old Masood was held guilty in a case of corruption and other offences in September.

2) Mars spacecraft integrated with rocket: ISRO- India’s Mars spacecraft, whose launch has been delayed by almost a week, has been integrated with launch vehicle, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

3) Global human rights organization Breakthrough on Monday launched its latest campaign ‘Nation Against Early Marriage’, which seeks to inform, influence and initiate changes in how early marriages are perceived and accepted as a traditional norm.

4) Airtel Digital TV subscribers can now watch their tweets live on their television screen. This has been made possible by the company through a partnership with Twitter.

International

1) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday amid signs that the two giants had failed to reach a breakthrough on a long-delayed nuclear power deal.

2)  Social networking giant Facebook has suffered a global outage, leaving its 1.2 billion users without the option of updating their statuses, posting comments and liking posts as well as pages. Users are able to log into their accounts and move between the pages they manage, but get an error message when they post statuses or comments or like the same. The service disruption affected not just the website but also its mobile app.

3) One of Mahatma Gandhi's most prized possessions, the 'charkha' he used in Yerwada Jail, will go under the hammer at a prestigious British auction house on November 5 with the minimum bid set at 60,000 pounds.

Sports

1) North Zone and South Zone were declared joint winners of the Duleep Trophy this year after the fifth day's play of the final match was also called off without a ball being bowled in Kochi on Monday.

2) Spain’s Rafael Nadal remained top in the men’s tennis rankings issued on Monday by the ATP, while Frenchman Richard Gasquet boosted his chances of making the season-ender in London.

3) Sania breaks back into top 10 in women's doubles rankings: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has broken back into the top 10 of the world women's doubles by gaining two spots to ninth place in the latest WTA Team Rankings issued on Monday.

4) Jorge Lorenzo won the Australian Grand Prix on 20 October 2013 at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Phillip Island.

Awards/Achievements

1) New York Mayor Bloomberg wins 'Jewish Nobel': Israel on Monday recognized New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the first ever recipient of the $1 million Genesis Prize, an award popularly dubbed the “Jewish Nobel Prize.”

Banking

1) Tarun Chugh appointed MD of PNB Metlife: Private life insurer PNB MetLife today said that it has appointed Tarun Chugh as Managing Director of the company.

2)  Canara Bank, Pune Circle has launched a CASA Carnival in all its branches in Pune and in 14 districts of Maharashtra, to mobilise Savings and Current Accounts through door-to-door and shop-to-shop campaign.

3) India will launch its ambitious pension scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana for over five million overseas workers in Dubai next week. The scheme will be formally launched by Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi at the Indian Consulate in Dubai on Monday.