Daily Current Affairs Updates: 30 March 2014

1) Hamilton wins Malaysian Grand Prix: Briton's Lewis Hamilton won the Malaysian Grand Prix with a pole-to-flag victory ahead of Nico Rosberg on Sunday in a first Mercedes one-two since they returned to Formula One as a works team in 2010. The 2008 Formula One world champion easily pulled away from his rivals on a dry track with a three-stop strategy to win the race by 17.3 seconds, his 23rd career victory and first in Malaysia at the eighth attempt.

2) Nepal to host 18th SAARC Summit on Nov 14: Nepal will hold the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu on November 14, the third time the country is hosting the event since the establishment of eight-member regional grouping in 1985. A cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala decided to hold the summit on November 14 and directed authorities to make necessary preparations for the successful summit, according to cabinet sources. The date is subject to approval by SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) member states that include India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Nepal had last hosted the 11th SAARC Summit in January 2002 and 3rd Summit in November 1987. The 17th SAARC summit was held in Maldives in 2011.

3) India beat Australia by 73 runs in World Twenty20: India defeated Australia by 73 runs in their final Group-II match of the ICC World Twenty-20 at Dhaka on Sunday. Put in to bat, the Men in Blue posted a formidable 159 for 7 in the alloted 20 overs.Yuvraj Singh bucked bad form, as he scored a brilliant 43-ball 60 to take India past the 150-mark. Yuvraj's innings comprised 5 fours and 4 sixes.

4) Tibetan Communist leader ‘Phunwang’ dead: Phuntso Wangye, also known as ‘Phunwang’, a once influential former Tibetan Communist leader who later emerged as an unlikely — and outspoken — critic of Chinese rule in Tibet from within the establishment, died on Sunday. He was 92.

5) Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal to win fourth Miami Masters crown: Six-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic claimed his fourth Miami Masters crown with a dominating straight sets win over world number one Rafael Nadal on Sunday. Second seed Djokovic cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win in the men's final of the combined ATP and WTA Tour hardcourt tournament.

6) Rajapaksa-led coalition retains key provinces: The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, retained the country’s Western and Southern provinces after the provincial council elections held on Saturday. In the Western Province — covering Colombo, Gampaha and Kaluthara districts — the UPFA secured 53.35 per cent of the votes, cornering 56 seats, including two bonus seats that the party securing highest share of votes gets as per Sri Lanka’s Proportional representation system.

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Latest Current Affairs: March 2014 (3rd Week) PDF Download

Latest Current Affairs from Third Week of March 2014 in PDF- useful for all competitive Examinations!!!!!

March 2014 Current Affairs Questions and Answers for preparing Exams| Postal Assistant| IBPS | SSC CGL 2014| UPSC | Civil Services | Bank | LD Clerk and all other Competitive Examinations.

Prepared by: http://www.currentaffairs4examz.com

 Download as PDF-Click Here

Q1. World Water Day was observed on 22 March 2014 with the theme?

Ans. Water and Energy

Note: World Water Day is observed to preserve and ration consumption of water.

Q2. Who was selected for the 23rd G D Birla Award for scientific research for the year 2013?

Ans. Rajesh Gopakumar

Note: Gopakumar has been awarded for his important contributions on topics in Quantum Field Theory and String Theory. At present he is working as a theoretical physicist at Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad.

Q3. Name the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India who resigned on 20 March 2014, three months ahead of the completion of his term?

Ans. Dr KC Chakrabarty

Q4. Name the Malaysia Airlines flight which disappeared in the South China Sea on 8 March 2014?

Ans. MH370

Q5. Name the renowned author and journalist who died on 20 March 2014 at the age of 99 at his home in Sujan Singh Park in Delhi?

Ans. Khushwant Singh

Q6. Which team won the Vijay Hazare Cricket Trophy 2013-14 by defeating Railways by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 16 March 2014?

Ans. Karnataka

Q7. Which country is the world’s largest arms importer as per report published by as Swedish Think Tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on 17 March 2014?Visit:www.currentaffairs4examz.com

Ans. India

Q8. Government of India divested its 9 percent stake in which private bank on on 21 March 2014?

Ans. Axis Bank

Note: The divestment resulted into generation of 5500 crore rupees.

Q9. Which day was was observed across the world on 21 March 2014 to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities?

Ans. World Poetry Day

Q10. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued notice to banks on 19 March 2014 to take measures to counter the threat expected to arise from discontinuation of Windows XP. From which date Windows will withdraw support for XP?

Ans. 8 April 2014

Q11. e-Commerce firm & online travel company ibiboGroup on 20 March 2014 announced to acquire Bangalore-based which startup to strengthen the offers in the bus travel space?

Ans. YourBus.in

Q12. Name the scheme extended recently by RBI to import gold to five private banks?

Ans. 80:20 scheme

Note: The five banks which have been allowed to import gold under the 80:20 scheme are HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank.

Q13. What was India's rank in a Microsoft report in the list of the countries sending out spam e-mails released by Microsoft on 28 February 2014?

Ans. Fourth

Q14. Name the World largest TV which was unveiled for the first time at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, US on 21 March 2014?

Ans. Big Hoss

Note: Big Hoss was recorded as world largest TV in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Q15. Name the Indian journalist who won digital activism award on 20 March 2014 for regional news service?Visit:www.currentaffairs4examz.com

Ans. Shubranshu Choudhary

Q16. Union health ministry on 19 March 2014 revoked the ban on which painkiller and anti-pyretic drug?

Ans. Analgin

Q17. Which day was observed on 20 March 2014 to create awareness about the House Sparrow?

Ans. World Sparrow Day

Q18. Who won in Women’s doubles final of the BNP Paribas Open by defeating Sania Mirza and Cara Black from Zimbabwe 7-6(5), 6-2 recently?

Ans. Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Peng Shuai

Q19. International Day of Forests was observed across the world on 21 March 2014 with the theme?

Ans. Celebrating Forests for Sustainable Development.

Q20. India has nominated which sites for UNESCO’s World Heritage Site Status for 2014?

Ans. Rani-ki-Vav located in Patan, Gujarat and the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Himachal Pradesh

Q21. Who has been selected for the 17th Gollapudi Srinivas National Award 2013 for his debut film as a director, The Good Road in Gujarati?

Ans. Gyan Correa

Q22. Who was unanimously elected as the first women President of Indian Journalists’ Association (IJA) in London?

Ans. Aditi Khanna

Q23. Name the former Brazilian international footballer who died on 21 March 2014?

Ans. Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini

Q24. Which country announced to lift state of emergency on 18 March 2014?

Ans. Thailand

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Daily Current Affairs: 29 March 2014

1) Earth Hour 2014 observed: Millions across the world turned off lights: People across the globe observed Earth Hour 2014 on Saturday after turning-off non-essential lights in their communities, households and businesses and joined millions others across the world. Earth Hour is organized by the World Wildlife Fund each year since 2007 and requests people to conserve energy and trim down its wastage. Since the first time the event has spread across 7,001 cities and towns in 152 countries. It was observed from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.

2) Jaswant Singh expelled from BJP for six years: The BJP on Saturday announced the expulsion of senior leader Jaswant Singh and Subhash Mahariya for six years. The decision comes in the wake of Mr. Singh’s decision to contest as an Independent from Barmer and Mr. Mahariya’s announcement to do the same from Sikar in Rajasthan. This is the second time the party has taken such action Mr. Singh. He was earlier expelled in 2009 for praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founding father.

3) Anurag Kumar is IISc. new director: The council of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) on Saturday selected, as its 20th director, Anurag Kumar, who is now the Chairman of the Electrical Sciences Division at the institute. IISc.’s present director, P. Balaram, retires on July 31 after an eight-year tenure.

4) Imran Masood arrested for hate speech: Congress Lok Sabha candidate Imran Masood was on Saturday arrested for his hate speech in which he allegedly threatened to “chop” Narendra Modi “into pieces”, remarks that had sparked an outrage.

  

5) Saudi King appointed half-brother Moqren as next heir to throne: Abdullah, the king of Saudi Arabia on 27 March 2014 appointed his half-brother Moqren (69) as the next heir to the throne. This step has paved a way for Moqren to become a future king of the world’s largest exporter of crude oil.

6) Heena Sidhu wins silver in ISSF World Cup: World number two air pistol shooter Heena Sidhu continued her impressive form as she clinched a silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA, the feat taking her closer to the numero uno spot in her event. She now has the maximum medals in a World Cup by any Indian pistol shooter.

7) World Cup T20- South Africa enters semifinal: South Africa sailed into the World Twenty20 semifinals with a three-run victory over former champion England in their super-10 group-1 match in Chittagong on Saturday. England slumped out of contention for a place in the last four after falling short of a 197-run target in the face of some impressive bowling by Wayne Parnell (three for 31) and leg-spinner Imran Tahir (two for 27).

8) President re-promulgates SEBI Ordinance: President Pranab Mukherjee, on Saturday, cleared the re-promulgation of the SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) Ordinance that had lapsed on January 15, since Parliament could not pass the Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013, in the winter session. The Ordinance empowers the SEBI Chairman to order searches and seizures and crack downs on Ponzi schemes. The Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013, seeks to empower SEBI to regulate all money pooling scheme worth Rs.100 crore or more, and also attach assets in cases of non-compliance.

9) Anand wins Candidates, sets up World Championship rematch with Carlsen:  Five-times world champion Viswanathan Anand proved all his critics wrong and won the Candidates Chess tournament after settling for a draw with Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the 13th and penultimate round. The tournament victory gives Anand winner`s cheque of 135000 Euros (a little over Rs 1 crore) and the right to a match against Magnus Carlsen of Norway who dethroned the Indian champion at Chennai in November last. This rematch will take place sometime in the last quarter of this year.

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Current Affairs Quiz Expected Questions for exams: 25 & 26 March 2014

1) Which country was suspended from the G8- Group of Eight recently?

(A) Russia

(B) Germany

(C) Canada

(D) France

2) Who won 2014 Pritzker Prize considered the most prestigious prize in the world of architecture?

(A) Toyo Ito

(B) Wang Shu

(C) Shigeru Ban

(D) Peter Zumthor

3) Name the light-weight revolver launched by Indian Ordinance factory on 25 Mar 2014 for the safety of women?

(A) Nirbhay

(B) Nirbheek

(C) Nirdesh

(D) Nirdheek

4) Name the Jet Airways acting CEO who has resigned from his post recently?

(A) Gary Kenneth Toomey

(B) Kris Gopalakrishnan

(C) Naresh Goyal

(D) Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan

5) Who was appointed as the new revenue secretary on 25 March 2014?

(A) Rajiv Takru

(B) Sumit Bose

(C) Gurdial Singh Sandhu

(D) Padmini Gopinath

6) Who won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year 2014?

(A) Ussain Bolt

(B) Rafael Nadal

(C) Sebastian Vettel

(D) Christiano Ronaldo

7) Name the virtual reality headset for video gamers company being acquired by facebook as announced recently?

(A) WhatsApp

(B) Nest

(C) DeepMind

(D) Oculus

8) Whom among the following was appointed as new Coach of Senior Men's Hockey Team recently?

(A) Terry Walsh

(B) Jude Felix

(C) V. Baskaran

(D) Maharaj Krishan Kaushik

9) Which state became the first state in the country to declare all election booths as 'no smoking zones'?

(A) Kerala

(B) Uttar Pradesh

(C) Mizoram

(D) Jammu & Kashmir

 

10) Which actor was named national ambassador for Earth Hour 2014?

(A) Arjun Kapoor

(B) Aamir Khan

(C) Amitab Bachan

(D) Dhanush

Answers

1) Ans. (A) Russia

2) Ans. (C) Shigeru Ban

3) Ans. (B) Nirbheek

4) Ans. (D) Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan

5) Ans. (A) Rajiv Takru

6) Ans. (C) Sebastian Vettel

7) Ans. (D) Oculus

8) Ans. (B) Jude Felix. (Note: He will work under Chief Coach Terry Walsh)

9) Ans. (D) Jammu & Kashmir

10) Ans. (A) Arjun Kapoor

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Daily Current Affairs Updates: 28 March 2014

1) SC appoints Gavaskar interim BCCI chief for IPL 7: The Supreme Court installed batting legend Sunil Gavaskar as the interim head of India's troubled cricket board on Friday after forcing the scandal-tainted incumbent N Srinivasan from office. Three days after warning Srinivasan they would order him to stand down if he tried to cling to power, a panel of judges announced that 64-year-old Gavaskar would take the helm of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

2) Air Force's new C-130J aircraft crashed near Gwalior, five killed: Less than 10 minutes after it took off from Agra, one of the Indian Air Force's newest and sturdiest aircraft crashed near Gwalior, killing all five people on board. The US-made C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft came down 115 kms or 72 miles west of Gwalior, while on a routine training mission. The Defence Minister said it had ordered an investigation into the cause of the accident. The black Box and the flight data recorder of the aircraft have been recovered and could help unravel what went wrong.

3) India first team to enter World T20 semi-finals: Leg-spinner Amit Mishra continued his awesome form as India roared into the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 with an eight-wicket demolition of hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka on Friday. The victory marks India's first semi-final appearance in the tournament since winning the inaugural title in South Africa in 2007.

4) India become No. 1 in ICC T20I Rankings: India are on top of the world. The MS Dhoni-led side is now the number one ranked team in ICC Twenty20 International Rankings Table. Last night, India defeated Bangladesh by 8 wickets at the ICC World Twenty20 to rise to the top of the rankings. It was a double delight for India at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday as they not only reached the semi-finals of World T20 but also climed to the top of rankings table. India has won three matches in a row at World T20.

5) China Executed More People In 2013 Than The Rest Of The World Combined: China defended the death penalty on Thursday as a traditional deterrent, after a report said its annual executions had again far exceeded the rest of the world's combined. Beijing judicially put to death thousands of people in 2013 compared to a total of 778 elsewhere, the campaign group Amnesty International said in its annual report. It did not give a specific figure for China as Beijing considers the statistic a state secret and does not release it.

6) NATO names Norway's Stoltenberg as new Secretary-General: NATO designates Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway, as its new Secretary-General. He succeeds Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

7)  RBI extends deadline to implement Basel III norms to 2019: The Reserve Bank of India has extended the timeline for full implementation of the Basel III capital regulations by a year to March 31, 2019. This breather comes in the wake of industry-wide concerns about the potential stresses (of the implementation of the regulations) on the asset quality and consequential impact on the performance/profitability of banks.

Know Basel III?- Basel III (or the Third Basel Accord) is a global, voluntary regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity risk. It was agreed upon by the members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 2010–11, and was scheduled to be introduced from 2013 until 2015; however, changes from 1st April 2013 extended implementation until 31 March 2018 & now to 2019.

8) Ajay S Shriram elected CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) President: Ajay S. Shriram, Chairman and Sr. Managing Director of DCM Shriram Ltd, has been elected as the President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2014-15. He succeeds S Gopalakrishnan of Infosys as the new President.

9) Veteran Malayalam director P Ramdas passed away: Yesteryear veteran director P Ramdas, who introduced the neo-realistic wave in Malayalam cinema during the 1950s through his path breaking movie Newspaper Boy, has passed away at a hospital in Kottayam.

10) West Zone beat North Zone to clinch Deodhar Trophy: A clinical all-round performance took West Zone to their third successive Deodhar Trophy as they registered a comprehensive 133-run win over North Zone in the final yesterday. Riding on Kedar Devdhar's 94 and skipper Cheteshwar Pujara's patient half-century, West Zone posted a challenging 281 for three in 50 overs.

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Daily Current Affairs: 27 March 2014

1) SC Suggests Gavaskar as BCCI President: In a big setback BCCI President N Srinivasan, the Supreme Court on Thursday proposed his replacement by Sunil Gavaskar and suspension of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) along with Rajasthan Royals (RR) from IPL 7 till the pendency of case of betting and spot fixing scandal before it.

2) India officially declared polio-free: The World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region, home to a quarter of the world’s population, was certified polio-free on Thursday by an independent commission under the WHO certification process. To mark the occasion, the WHO presented official certification to India for its achievement.

3) Samsung launched Galaxy S5 in India:  Smart phone manufacturer Samsung Electronics, on Thursday, introduced Galaxy S5 in the domestic market.  The features include a 16-megapixel camera, fast 3G speeds at 42Mbps and Octa-core processor capable of operating all eight cores at the same time, said a company release. It has a perforated pattern on the back cover, and is being offered in charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold, and is IP67 dust and water resistant. It has a finger scanner and biometric screen locking feature. Galaxy S5 also introduces S Health 3.0, a fitness application. Galaxy S5 to be available from April 11 in the range of Rs.51,000 to Rs.53,000

4) Ya.G. Sinai is 2014 Abel Laureate: Russian mathematician Yakov Grigorevich Sinai, one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th Century, has been chosen for the 2014 Abel Prize by the Norwegian Academy of Science Letters. The President of the Academy, Nils Chr. Stenseth, announced this on Thursday in Oslo. He was awarded for his contribution to “dynamical systems, ergodic theory and mathematical physics.” The Abel Prize recognises contributions of extraordinary depth and influence to the mathematical sciences and has been awarded annually since 2003.

5) T20 World Cup: England won against Sri Lanka: Opener Alex Hales smashed his maiden T20 hundred to help England upset world No. 1 Sri Lanka in a thrilling World Twenty20 Super-10 stage match in Chittagong on Thursday. The 24-year-old smashed a 64-ball 116 not out as England chased down a challenging 190-run target in 19.2 overs. With England needing 23 off the last two overs Hales smashed Nuwan Kulasekara for a six to reach his hundred off 60 balls and then hit Angelo Mathews for the winning six, to anchor England’s best chase in all T20 cricket. Hales hit six sixes and 11 boundaries in a breathtaking display of batting.

6) Turkey bans YouTube: Turkey banned video-sharing website YouTube on Thursday, having blocked Twitter a week earlier after both were used to spread audio recordings damaging to the government, local media reported. The move came hours after the release of an audio file on YouTube, purporting to be of a security meeting in which top government, military and spy officials discuss a possible scenario for military action inside Syria.

7) 3rd Nuclear Security Summit 2014 held in Netherlands: The Third Nuclear Security Summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands from 24 to 25 March 2014. The summit was attended by 58 World leaders. The third NSS synergizes previous two summits without their backdrops.

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Daily Current Affairs Updates: 26 March 2014

1) Lok Sabha polls: Congress released 2014 people's manifesto: The Congress on Wednesday released its 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto. The document focuses on inclusive growth, agriculture, education and health. Party president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi were present at the party office to release the manifesto. Speaking at the party office in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said that UPA has delivered 90% of the promises of our 2009 manifesto.

2) Laureus World Sports Awards 2014 winners revealed: Three of the most exciting young sports stars of their generation, who have proved world-beaters despite their age, have been honoured at the 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

>> Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, the youngest four-time Formula One world champion in history at 26, was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, US swimmer Missy Franklin, at 18, became the youngest ever winner of the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, while Spain’s Marc Márquez received the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award, after winning the World MotoGP Championship at just 20 years and 266 days.

 Other winners are as follows:

>> Formula one champion 'Sebastian Vettel': Sportsman of the Year

>> US swimmer Missy Franklin: World Sportswoman of the Year (youngest ever)

>> Marc Marquez (Spain): Breakthrough of the Year Award

>> Bayern Munich: World Team of the Year Award

>> Rafael Nadal: Laureus Comeback Award

>> Marie Bochet (France): World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

>> Jamie Bestwick (UK): World Action Sportsperson of the Year

Two additional Awards were also presented

>> Spirit of Sport Award: Afghanistan Cricket Team

>> Sport for Good Award: Magic Bus (a sports-based community project in India)

The annual award, widely considered as the "Oscars of sports, was established in 1999.

3) Facebook to buy virtual reality firm Oculus for $2bn: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is definitely not finished with his shopping. Barely a month after Facebook spent $19 billion on WhatsApp, the company on Wednesday announced that it was buying Oculus VR, a firm that was working on a virtual reality headset for video gamers. For Oculus, Facebook is forking out around $2 billion. According to the company, "this includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock."

4) Jude Felix Appointed As New Coach Of Senior Men's Hockey Team: Former India captain Jude Felix has been appointed as coach of the senior men's national hockey team and the Olympian will work under Chief Coach Terry Walsh, Hockey India (HI) said. Felix will join the training camp of the senior men hockey team at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi for preparations of the FIH Men's World Cup 2014 to be held at The Hague, Netherlands from May 31 to June 15.

5) Kotak Mahindra Bank links current accounts to Twitter: Digitally-savvy customers of private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank will soon be able to check their balance and do a host of non-financial services transactions using the microblogging website Twitter. The bank on Wednesday launched a new current account product directed at the younger lot that will enable the account holders to undertake 21 such services like cheque book requisitioning, checking last few transactions, etc, using their Twitter accounts.

6) Bayern Munich clinch Bundesliga title with seven games to spare: Bayern Munich wrapped up the Bundesliga title in record time on Tuesday night with a 3-1 win over Hertha Berlin at the Olympic Stadium. After being crowned champions with six games to spare last season, the Bavarians have gone one better this year, winning with seven still left to play.

7) Investment limit in inflation bonds doubled to Rs 10 lakh: The Reserve Bank on Wednesday said the investment limit in the inflation indexed bonds for individuals has been doubled to Rs 10 lakh.

8) Turkish court orders lifting of Twitter ban: A Turkish court on Wednesday ordered the lifting of last week's Twitter ban which came after the social media site was used to spread audio recordings implicating Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in corruption.

9) Dendroid virus threatening Android phones in India: Indian cyber security sleuths have alerted users of Android smartphones about the malicious activities of a tricky virus called 'Dendroid' whose infection could "completely compromise" their personal phone device. The virus of the Trojan family, once activated, could change the command and control server of a user's personal Android phone and intercept private SMSes coming in or going out. Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) said "Do not download and install applications from untrusted sources, install applications downloaded from reputed application market only."

10) J&K becomes first state to declare poll booths as 'no smoking zones': Jammu and Kashmir becomes the first state in the country to declare all election booths as 'no smoking zones' with chief electoral officer (CEO) Umang Narula on Tuesday directing all returning officers (ROs) and district election officers (DEOs) to ensure that all booths are 'smoke free'.

11) Arjun Kapoor named national ambassador for Earth Hour 2014: Young actor Arjun Kapoor has been named the national ambassador of the Earth Hour to be observed March 29. He is glad that he can influence young minds and bring about positive change.

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Daily Current Affairs: 25 March 2014

1) IPL fixing scandal: SC asks Srinivasan to step down for fair probe-  Coming down heavily on BCCI president N Srinivasan, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked him to step down for a free and fair probe in the betting and spot fixing scandal involving his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and some cricketers, failing which it would pass an order.

2) Russia suspended from G8, but not expelled: The United States and its allies suspended Russia from the Group of Eight, but the BRICS nations refused to join in the campaign to isolate Moscow. At a meeting in the Netherlands on Monday the leaders of the G8 announced that they would cancel their planned June meeting in Sochi, Russia, and would meet instead in Brussels in the G7 format without Russia.

3) MK Alagiri expelled from DMK:  DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Friday suspended his elder son MK Alagiri from the party, citing indiscipline. In a statement DMK said former Union minister M K Alagiri has been suspended from all party posts for anti-party activities. DMK on January 10 had suspended five loyalists of Alagiri for violating party discipline. The suspension of the five come just days after Karunanidhi warned his son for going against party decorum and publicly airing his views about alliance issues.

4) Japanese architect Shigeru Ban wins 2014 Pritzker Prize: Shigeru Ban, Japanese architect known for his creative and inexpensive designs for disaster relief shelters, has won the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The annual award, considered the most prestigious prize in the world of architecture, is given to designers who have “significantly contributed to humanity” and for “excellence in built work.”

5) Lightweight revolver “Nirbheek” launched: More than a year after the shocking Delhi gang rape, the Indian Ordinance factory on Tuesday launched a light-weight revolver, “Nirbheek,” designed especially for women to defend themselves from assault. “Nirbheek,” a .32 bore revolver, weighing 500gm, can be carried by women in their purses or handbags. The nomenclature of the light-weight revolver is inspired by ‘Nirbhaya,’ the name given by the media to a paramedical student who was brutally gang raped (and who died later) in a bus in Delhi in 2012. The revolver, priced at Rs 1,22,360, is made of titanium alloy, said Abdul Hamid, General Manager of the Field Gun Factory.

6) Jet Airways' acting CEO quits: Jet Airways' acting CEO Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan has resigned from the post, spending less than three months in the job. He was made CEO in mid-January when Gary Kenneth Toomey quit from the position. The airline had then said Gopalakrishnan will remain CEO till a new chief is appointed. Jet spokespersons did not comment on the latest CEO resignation.

7) Takru is new revenue secretary: The government on Tuesday appointed Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru as revenue secretary. He will take over charge from Sumit Bose, also finance secretary. Bose retires on March 31. Gurdial Singh Sandhu from the Rajasthan cadre was named financial services secretary. He will take over from Takru when the latter relinquishes his charge, the appointments committee of the Cabinet said on Tuesday.

 

8) Veteran actress Nanda passes away at 75: Legendary actress Nanda who is best known for films like Hum Dono (1961), Teen Deviyan and Kanoon (1960), passed away on Tuesday morning, following a heart attack. She was 75.

9) Amitabh Bachchan receives India’s Global Icon of the Year award: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was conferred India’s Global Icon of the Year award at the NRI of the Year awards. The 71-year-old, who has been ruling the film industry for over four decades now, dedicated the award to the younger generation of actors in the film industry.

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Daily Current Affairs Quiz Questions: 23 & 24 March 2014

1) World Tuberculosis Day was observed across the world on 24 March 2014 with the theme?

(A) I am stopping TB

(B) Actions for life – Towards a world free of TB

(C) On the move against TB: Transforming the fight towards elimination

(D) Reach the three million A TB test, treatment and cure for all.

2) Name the Maldives President, whose party is set for a coalition rule in the country, after polls held recently?

(A) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

(B) Abdulla Yameen

(C) Mamnoon Hussain

(D) Emomalii Rahmon

3) World Meteorological Day 2014 was observed on March 23 with the theme?

(A) Weather and climate: engaging youth

(B) Climate for you

(C) Powering our future with weather, climate and water

(D) Weather, climate, water and sustainable development

4) Name the veteran BJP leader who has quit the party and filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Barmer on 24 March 2014?

(A) Murali Manohar Joshi

(B) L K Advani

(C) Jaswant Singh

(D) Arun Jaitley

5) Who was selected for the 23rd G D Birla Award for scientific research for the year 2013?

(A) Puran Chand Pradhan

(B) Nibir Mandal

(C) Rajesh Gopakumar

(D) D.D. Sarma

6) Dalai Lama on 23 March 2014 released a book on which former prime minister of India?

(A) Lal Bahadur Shastri

(B) Indira Gandhi

(C) Jawaharlal Nehru

(D) Rajiv Gandhi

7) Which company unveiled the world's largest TV "Big Hoss" recently?

(A) LG

(B) Panasonic

(C) Sony

(D) Samsung

8) Who will captain Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 7 starting April 16, 2014?

(A) Kumar Sangakkara

(B) Darren Sammy

(C) Amit Mishra

(D) Shikhar Dhawan

9) Which bank has on 24 March 2014 launched IMT (Instant Money Transfer), which allows cardless cash withdrawal at its IMT-enabled ATMs, a first-of-its-kind initiative by any public sector bank?

(A) Bank of India

(B) State Bank of India

(C) Union Bank of India

(D) Indian Overseas Bank

10) Vodafone on 24 March 2014 launched M-Pesa its popular mobile money transfer and payment service M-Pesa in Tamil Nadu, partnering with which private sector bank?

(A) HDFC Bank

(B) Yes Bank

(C) Axis Bank

(D) ICICI Bank

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