Friday, October 24, 2014

23 October 2014: Daily Current Affairs Updates

1) India celebrated Diwali with traditional fervour: Diwali, the festival of lights, was celebrated with traditional fervour across the country with people exchanging sweets and gifts with friends and relatives, decking up their houses with earthen diyas and tiny lights and illuminating the evening sky with fireworks. Diwali is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya from his exile after vanquishing demon-king Ravana.

2) PM Modi visits Siachen, meets soldiers on Diwali: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday morning visited forward posts in the Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge region, ahead of his scheduled visit to be with flood-hit people of J&K on Diwali. "It's my good fortune that I will be able to spend time with our brave soldiers on this special day," Modi tweeted on Thursday morning. Siachen, often described as the world's highest, coldest and costliest battlefield, is one of the eight points in the stalled composite dialogue process with Pakistan.

3) PM Modi announced Rs 745 crore for Jammu & Kashmir: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced Rs 175 crore for renovation of six major hospitals and Rs 570 crore for the rebuilding homes damaged in the recent floods in Jammu & Kashmir. Announcing this in Srinagar, the Prime Minister also assured of all possible assistance from the Centre to the state to help it recover from the devastation caused by the floods. Modi said the loss memo of Rs 44,000 crore submitted to the Centre by the state government was being considered.

4) Google launched new email service dubbed ‘Inbox’: Google Inc launched an email service called 'Inbox' on Wednesday that will better organize emails and display information such as appointments, flight bookings and package deliveries in a more user-friendly way. Google said it was sending out invitations to selected Gmail users to try out the new service. Users can also email the company at inbox@google.com to get an invitation.

5) Microsoft to drop Nokia name from smartphones in India by year-end: Microsoft is set to drop the iconic Nokia name from its smartphones in India by the end of this year, as the US giant embarks on a drive to give a new identity to a brand that was once a synonym for mobile handsets. According to people in the know, Microsoft will be undertaking the rebranding exercise country-by-country, instead of doing it in one sweep globally. The first brand change will happen in France, where, over the coming days, the Nokia name will be replaced on its Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts by "Microsoft Lumia", the new brand identity.

6) Kosovo granted provisional Olympic recognition by IOC: Kosovo is on track to take part in its first ever Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 after the region in the Balkans was granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday. It could now achieve full membership as early as the IOC session in December, the IOC said in a statement on Wednesday. The decision angered Serbia's Olympic Committee which has lodged an official protest with the Olympic body. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after NATO went to war to halt the massacre and expulsion of Albanians by Serbian forces waging a two-year counter-insurgency.

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