Daily Current Affairs: 16 February 2014

1) 67th BAFTA Awards presented: The 67th British Academy Film Awards more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held at the Royal Opera House in London on 16 February 2014 honouring the best national and foreign films of 2013. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), accolades are handed out for the best in feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality, that were screened at British cinemas during 2013. “12 Years A Slave” won the best movie award while “Gravity” won Best British film award. Chiwetel Ejiofor won the best actor award for 12 Years a Slave while Cate Blanchett won the best actress award. Gravity won highest number of awards including awards for best cinematography, best sound, best original music and best special visual effects.

2) Union Cabinet approved President's rule in Delhi:  Union Cabinet on Saturday decided to impose President's rule in Delhi following the resignation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his council of ministers on Friday. The assembly will now be kept in suspended animation. Delhi's lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung had earlier sent a report to the Union home ministry recommending imposition of President's rule in the state while keeping the assembly under suspended animation.

3) Brendon McCullum, BJ Watling post highest sixth-wicket partnership in Test history: Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling posted the highest-ever partnership for the sixth wicket in Test cricket history in the Second Test Match against India. The duo got past the record set by Mahela Jayawardene and Prasanna Jayawardene. The Sri Lankan pair added 351 runs against India at Ahmedabad in 2009.

4) Purshottam Express gets first Braille-embedded coach: Purshottam Express is slated to become the first train in the country to have a Braille-embedded AC coach for the visually-challenged passengers. In a first of its kind, the Railways have manufactured an AC three-tier coach with Braille signages to be operational by the end of this month in the Delhi-Puri superfast Purshottam Express as part of its social commitment to make trains and stations more friendly towards specially-abled passengers. At present, the coaches are provided with signages, instructions, seat numbers, which are mostly in the form of vinyl stickers or metallic plates and have no Braille characters and cannot be read by visually-impaired passengers.

5) Bharti Airtel set to acquire Loop Mobile in a Rs 700-crore deal:  Bharti Airtel is set to acquire Loop Mobile in a Rs 700-crore deal that may be announced as early as this week in what will be the first consolidation move in the country's telecom industry since 2008, taking India's biggest operator to the top spot in Mumbai. As part of the deal, Bharti Airtel will get Loop’s 3 million subscribers, about 400 telecom towers, optic fibre network and electronic equipment on which the Loop’s network currently runs.

6) Indian flag raised at Winter Olympics Games Village in Sochi: India completed its return to the Olympic family on Sunday when its flag was hoisted at the Sochi Games, five days after the International Olympic Committee lifted its suspension on the South Asian nation. India had been banned since December 2012 after elections at its Olympic association (IOA) saw a corruption-tainted official voted in as secretary general. The IOC lifted the ban on February 11 following fresh elections last week, allowing it to be represented at the Olympics and bringing the total number of nations competing at Russia's first Winter Games to 88.

7) Google acquires SlickLogin Israeli security start-up: Global internet giant Google is acquiring SlickLogin, an Israeli developer of sound-based password alternative, in an "acqui-hiring deal", which means SlickLogin's staff and knowledge will be integrated into Google, SlickLogin confirmed the deal on its website Sunday. SlickLogin offers an alternative process for login confirmation by using sound based passwords. Post this acquisition, Google might use this type of authentication method to replace its 2-step verification method in Gmail which is being currently used.

8) China to build world’s longest underwater tunnel: China plans to build the world’s longest underwater tunnel beneath the Bohai Sea by 2026, connecting the port cities of Dalian in Liaoning province and Yantai in Shandong province. The blueprint of the ambitious project is expected to be submitted to the State Council of the People’s Republic of China in April, the China Daily reported on Friday.

9) International Gandhi Award for the year 2013 presented: President of India, Pranab Mukherjee presented the International Gandhi Award for the year 2013 to Dr. Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongre and Prof. Guocheng Zhang for making outstanding contribution in the field of leprosy eradication.