Daily Current Affairs Updates: 04 May 2014

1) Diva-Sawantwadi passenger train derailed in Raigad in Maharashtra: Eighteen passengers were killed and nearly 100 injured when the engine and four coaches of a Sawantwadi-bound passenger train derailed near Nidi station, about 135 km away from Mumbai. The train derailed outside the Bhise tunnel, near Medha village between Nagothane and Roha stations at 9.25am. Severity of the accident increased as two coaches along with engine were capsized in derailment, while rest two coaches were tilted.

2) India successfully test fired Astra: India successfully test-fired its first indigenously-developed air-to-air missile Astra from a Su-30 combat aircraft over a firing range in the western sector. “The indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile ‘ASTRA’ was successfully test fired by the Air Force from a naval range in the western sector meeting all the mission objectives,” a DRDO release said. Astra is India’s first BVR air-to-air missile indigenously designed and developed by DRDO and is an all-weather weapon system.

3) Kedarnath Temple Reopened Almost a Year After Uttarakhand Floods: Sacred portals of the Kedarnath temple were reopened to devotees amid elaborate rituals on Sunday morning, about a year after the Himalayan shrine was marred by flash floods that had left hundreds of people dead and many others stranded.

4)   Sania, Cara won WTA Portugal Open women's doubles title: The Indo-Zimbabwean tennis pair of Sania Mirza and Cara Black has won the WTA Portugal Open women's doubles title. In the final at Oeirason Sunday, the pair recorded a hard-fought 6-4, 6-3 win over the Czech-Russian team of Eva Hrdinova and Valeria Solovyeva.

5) Shooter Manavjit Sandhu rises to World No.3: Veteran trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu on Thursday jumped to third spot in the world rankings, courtesy his gold winning performance at the ISSF World Cup in Tucson, USA, last month. Manavjit was earlier ranked 16th in the men's trap category. The 37-year-old has 1228 rating points and is behind leader Russian Alexey Alipov (1437) and Italian Giovanni Pellielo (1298).

6) Kamal Chawla wins bronze in Asian Snooker Championship:  Indian cueist Kamal Chawla settled for a bronze medal after losing his semifinal match to Chuan Leong Thor of Malaysia in the Asian Snooker Championship being held in Al Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Chawla struggled against his Malaysian opponent and lost 2-6 in the semifinals, after a fine run in the tournament. The Indian somehow managed to win two frames in the best of 11 semifinal but that was not enough for him to advance further.

7) After UN award, Bihar woman gets Florence Nightingale award: After being honoured with the United Nations Foundation award, a Bihar health official has now been selected for the National Florence Nightingale Award 2014 for her extraordinary work to eradicate polio, officials here said on Sunday. "I am happy that the president will honour me for my work in polio immunization campaign," Martha Dodray, a tribal native of Palamu district of neighbouring Jharkhand, said. Dodray, in her mid-40s, is a midwife posted at Kusheshwarsthan primary health centre in the state's Darbhanga district.

8) Amar Chitra Katha makes digital debut: People can now read comics on personalities such as Akbar, Chanakya, Jawaharlal Nehru and JRD Tata on smartphones and tablets, as Amar Chitra Katha has made the digital debut. Amar Chitra Katha has launched ACK Comics, its official digital store app for across platforms — Windows 8, iOS and Android — giving users access to over 300 of its titles. The app has been developed by App9 Digital Studio, the digital division of Ninestars Information Technologies.