Daily Current Affairs Updates: 17 and 18 August 2014

1) Janmashtami celebrated across nation: Janmashtami, the celebration of the birthday of Lord Krishna was celebrated countrywide with much religious fervor and enthusiasm. The President, Vice President and Prime Minister have greeted the people on the occasion.. In his message, President Pranab Mukherjee said that Lord Krishna's message of righteous conduct and action inspires everyone to strengthen moral foundations of the society and strive selflessly to take the country to new heights.

2) India lost test series against England: England inflicted yet another humiliating defeat upon India as they won the fifth and final Test at The Oval by an innings and 244 runs on Sunday to complete a 3-1 series win. The only disappointment for the hosts was that spearhead seamer James Anderson was left three short of equalling Ian Botham's England record of 383 Test wickets. James Anderson was named man-of-the-series for England after snaring 25 wickets despite being in the middle of a storm, involving Ravindra Jadeja.

3) Combined India-Nepal military exercise began: A combined military exercise between Indian and Nepalese armies commenced at Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand on Monday with a top army commander saying both the armies have to learn much from each other, especially in handling modern-day challenges of insurgency and terrorism. Over 300 personnel, comprising one infantry battalion from each country, are taking part in the 7th edition of the exercise named Surya Kiran VII which begen as part of military cooperation between the two neighbours in 2011.

4) India cancelled planned talks With Pakistan: In a strong message to Islamabad, the Narendra Modi government on Monday called off the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan, an hour after Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit met Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah. Two other separatist leaders — Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik — are scheduled to meet Pakistan High Commission officials on Tuesday. This is a serious setback to the efforts to restart the dialogue process, which have been stalled since January 2013. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh was scheduled to travel to Islamabad for talks with her Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary on August 25. The last meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries took place in Islamabad in September 2012.

5) Roger Federer Clinches 6th Title in Cincinnati Masters: Roger Federer has clinched his sixth title in the 2014 Western & Southern Open or the Cincinnati Masters after defeating Spain's David Ferrer in the finals, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Federer fell in the second set but held his nerve to beat Ferrer in the three-set thriller at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.

6) Retirement age of state govt staff raised to 60 years in Haryana: With assembly poll dates likely to announced any time now, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who has been power for the past about nine years, on Saturday announced to raise the retirement age of the state government employees from 58 to 60 years, 25% hike in dearness allowance and full pension after 20 years of service, besides various other benefits.

7) Jayawardene ends test career in near-perfect style: Mahela Jayawardene ended his illustrious 17-year test career in near perfect style in the whitewash win for Sri Lanka against Pakistan on Monday. A half-century at his home ground, another century stand with his friend and favourite batting partner Kumar Sangakkara, capped with his teammates carrying him off the field on their shoulders.