Daily Current Affairs 29 November 2014

1) Narendra Modi flagged off 1st train connecting Meghalaya: Meghalaya on 29 November 2014 came on the country's rail map more than six decades after independence, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging off the first train to the northeastern state and favouring privatisation of railway stations. "Railway facilities are the same as they were 100 years back.... Privatise the railway stations and modernise them," he said after flagging off the first train linking Meghalaya. The first train from Meghalaya – the 55819 Up Mendipathar – Guwahati. Mendipathar is the first railway station in Meghalaya and train connectivity in the state became possible due to construction of the 19.75 km long line from Dudhnoi in Assam to Mendipathar.

2) Jhumpa Lahiri, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi in DSC Prize shortlist: Indian writer critic Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri are among five authors shortlisted for next year's USD 50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Lahiri's novel "The Lowland", an intimate portrayal of two brothers and political passion was earlier on the 2013 Man Booker Prize shortlist as well. Her debut short story collection, "Interpreter of Maladies" had won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

3) Egypt court dropped charges against Hosni Mubarak: A court in Egypt has dropped charges against former President Hosni Mubarak over the killing of 239 protesters during the 2011 uprising against him. The Cairo court erupted in cheers when the judge said Mubarak should not have been a defendant in the case as the charges against him were added late.

4) ISRO to launch communication satellite GSAT-16 on December 5: India is set to launch its latest communication satellite GSAT-16 onboard Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana next month. “GSAT-16 communication satellite would be launched onboard Ariane 5 from French Guiana in the early hours of December 4 (Dec 5 in Indian time), a senior Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official was quoted as saying to PTI. GSAT-16 will be the 11th among GSAT series of Indian communication satellites and will have a mission life of more than 12 years. GSAT-16 is similar to GSAT-15 with each satellite weighing 3,150 kg and having power generation capacity of 6.8 kW.

5) India-Australia first Test postponed: With the cricket world mourning Phillip Hughes’ tragic death, next week’s first Test between India and Australia was on Saturday pushed back to an unspecified date to let the players attend the late batsman’s funeral scheduled on Wednesday in his hometown. In a statement issued on Saturday, Cricket Australia (CA) said that it was neither feasible nor fair to begin the Test on December 4 as originally planned. “The first Test between Australia and India that was scheduled to start in Brisbane next Thursday has been postponed until an unspecified date to allow the cricket world time to grieve over the death of Phillip Hughes,” the statement said.