Current Affairs Updates of 22 Feb 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned Venezuela’s “unacceptable” use of force against anti-government protesters, and declined to respond to a call from Caracas for bilateral talks.
Three persons, including a local political leader, were killed in a remote-controlled explosion in northwest Pakistan.
UN said Civilians in South Sudan have been the main target of recent ethnic violence that is likely to have killed thousands, and thousands more have been raped, arrested and tortured.
North Korea has "categorically" rejected a UN report on its human rights record, accusing it of being a "sheer fabrication" invented by the United States and its allies.

Parliament approves Whistleblowers Protection Bill to encourage those disclosing information on corrupt public servants.
Even as the World Health Organization has declared India polio free since last year, the state government launched the second phase of its polio immunization programme to achieve 'absolute results.'
West Bengal Government decides to give cashless treatment facilities worth 1 lakh rupees to its employees at private nursing homes.
The TTD Trust board under the leadership of its chairman K Bapiraju has approved Rs 2401.70 crore budget for the fiscal year 2014-15.
BJP is likely to come out with its first list of Lok Sabha candidates on February 27 when the party's top leadership discusses the possible candidates at a meeting of the central Election Committee.
HAL chairman RK Tyagi said Shortage of skill-based workforce was posing a challenge to the growth of the Indian aerospace industry in the absence of synergy between policy, industry and academia.

Matteo Renzi became Italy's youngest ever prime minister, at the age of 39.
Lakshmi Swaminathan has been elected president of Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for three years.

G20 ministers began their two-day deliberations to work out a "real and tangible framework" to push global growth amid clamour for a more transparent tapering programme by the US Fed Reserve with a view to reducing volatility in the global financial markets.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended auction of CDMA spectrum at a reserve price of Rs 2,685 crore per megahertz, which is around 50 per cent higher than the previous pan-India base price.
General Motors India launched limited edition versions of its Chevrolet Sail hatchback and sedan priced between Rs 4.21 lakh and Rs 7.45 lakh.
HSBC will announce staff bonuses totalling just under 2.4 billion pounds globally for 2013 and is expected to report a significant rise in pretax profit.

The Centre would set up 15 Technology Training Centres in the country during the current five year plan with an outlay of Rs 2,200 crore, Union Minister of State for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.
An international team of scientists has traced the origin of Plasmodium vivax, the secondworst malaria parasite in humans, to primates in Africa, not Asia as was once thought.

England knock defending champions India out of ICC Under-19 World Cup.
Bangladesh Cricket Board suspends a top cricketer and former captain Shakib al Hasan for 3 ODIs.

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