Postal Exam : Update as on September 28, 2014

 Update as on September 28, 2014

IMPORTANT: For Candidates of Paper II (Computer Skill Test) at Tamil Nadu Postal Circle, who could not appear in the exam sessions on 28 September 2014 at the Coimbatore exam venue, have opportunity to appear on September 30, 2014 on First cum First Serve basis at the same exam venue in the morning sessions beginning 0900hrs. Same Admit Card will be valid.

Source : http://www.pasadrexam2014.in/

Current Affairs Daily Updates: 28 September 2014

1) Justice H L Dattu sworn in as 42nd Chief Justice of India: Justice HL Dattu was on Sunday sworn in as the Chief Justice of India. He was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee. He is the 42nd Chief Justice of India and will be at the helms of the Indian judiciary till December 2, 2015. He succeeds Chief Justice RM Lodha who demitted office September 27. The oath ceremony held in Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, home minister Rajnath Singh, urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu, outgoing Chief Justice RM Lodha and Justice AS Anand as well as other seating and retired judges.

2) O Panneerselvam named Tamil Nadu's new Chief Minister: O Panneerselvam has succeeded All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)) chief as Tamil Nadu's new Chief Minister. He will take oath as the CM at 11 am on Monday. The decision to appoint Panneerselvam as the CM was taken at a meeting of AIADMK MLAs at the party headquarters in Chennai on Sunday where his name was proposed for the top post. Soon after his appointment, Paneerselvam, who is currently Tamil Nadu's Finance Minister, drove to Raj Bhavan to call on Governor Rosaiah to convey the party's decision. He was accompanied by Housing minister R Vaithilingam, Electricity Minister Natham Viswanathan and Highway Minister Edappadi Palanisamy. 

3) Yogeshwar Dutt wins historic gold in wrestling at Asian Games:Olympic bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt won the fifth wrestling gold medal for India beating Jevon Balfour of Canada in the final of the men's freestyle 65kg category in the 2014 Commonwealth Games at the SECC Hall. Yogeshwar was declared the winner on grounds of technical superiority after he took a 10-0 lead within 1.53 minutes of the first period. It was also the second gold medal of the day after Babita Kumari's triumph in the women's freestyle 55kg category.

4) KV Kamath-led 15-member panel to study financing in MSME sector: The Finance Ministry has appointed a 15-member committee under the Chairmanship of ICICI Bank Chairman KV Kamath to examine the financial architecture for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.

The committee will, among other things, come up with concrete suggestions to improve the share of institutional finance to MSMEs. This Panel has been asked to submit its final report in three months.

5) Freedom fighter Bhagat Singh remembered on birth anniversary:Country celebrated the 107th birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh. "On his birth anniversary, I bow to the proud son of India, Shaheed Bhagat Singh. His undying patriotism and courage continue to inspire," the Prime Minister said in a message. The revolutionary freedom fighter was hanged at a Lahore jail along with Shivaram Hari Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar on March 23, 1931.

6) President's rule imposed in Maharashtra:  President's rule was imposed in poll-bound Maharashtra after Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resigned following the break-up of 15-year-old Congress-NCP alliance in the state. President Pranab Mukherjee signed the proclamation for imposition of central rule in Maharashtra, a day after the Union Cabinet recommended clamping of President's rule in the state, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

7) Khushbir scripts history, wins silver in 20km race walk: Khushbir Kaur today became the first Indian woman to win a medal in race walking in the Asian Games as she clinched silver in 20km event on the second day of the athletics competition. The 21-year-old from Amritsar clocked 1:33:07 to finish behind Lu Xiuzhi of China, who won the gold in 1:31:06, at the Marathon Course. The Indian, who holds the national record of 1:31:40, was consistently third till the 18km mark before going up a position in the final two kilometres, thanks largely to the slowing down of second-placed Chinese Nie Jingjing, who eventually finished fourth

Daily Current Affairs Updates: 27 September 2014

1) Jayalalithaa convicted; gets 4-year jail term, fined Rs. 100 cr: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has been sentenced to four years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs. 100 crore in the 18-year-old disproportionate assets case. Judge John Michael Cunha pronounced the verdict. Jayalalithaa has been convicted under Section 13(2) and 13(1) (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The conviction will lead to her immediate disqualification as an MLA and subsequent stepping down as Chief Minister. Jayalalitha's aide Sasikala, V N Sudhakaran, and J Ilavarasi have also been convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. 

2) PM Narendra Modi addressed UN Assembly:   Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in Hindi as he addressed the UN General Assembly session in New York on Saturday, emulating his party, the BJP's iconic leader and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Since taking charge as Prime Minister in May, Mr Modi has stuck to Hindi for most of his speeches and interactions with world leaders. Only after the historic entry of India's Mangalyaan into the Mars orbit earlier this week, did he use more than a smattering of English while addressing space scientists. Mr Vajpayee, who was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2004, was the first person to speak in Hindi at the United Nations General Assembly. As foreign minister, he addressed a session in 1977 in Hindi.

3) Indian men's squash team gets historic gold, women grab silver:  The Indian squash players wrapped up a historic performance in the Asian Games, clinching an unprecedented men's team gold after the women's side settled for its first ever silver on Saturday. With a silver and a bronze, through Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal respectively in the individual events, the squash players signed off with their best ever medal haul in the Games. The icing on the cake was provided by the men's team, led by Ghosal, which clinched the historic gold after edging out Malaysia in the summit clash.

4) Cabinet nod for President’s rule in Maharashtra: Assembly poll–bound Maharashtra is all set to be brought under President’s rule as the Union Cabinet made a recommendation to the effect on Saturday. The meeting of the Union Cabinet was presided over by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is away on a visit to the United States. Mr. Singh chaired the meeting of the Cabinet soon after his return from Kerala in the evening, government sources said.

5) BCCI extended tenure of Ravi Shastri as team India Director till 2015 World Cup: The Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) Working Committee on 26 September 2014 extended Ravi Shastri’s tenure as Director of Indian Cricket team till end of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. The ICC Cricket World Cup is to be played in Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015. The decision of retaining 52-year-old former India all-rounder Shastri as the Director was made during the BCCI Working Committee meet.

Recent Current Affairs Questions/Answers: September 2014

1) Name the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who has been sentenced to 4 years in jail after a Bangalore court found her guilty of corruption case in her assets value on 27 Sep 2014?

(A) J Jayalalithaa

(B) Mamta Banerjee

(C) Shashikala

(D) Vasundhara Raje

2) Name the Maharashtra Chief Minister who resigned from his post, as his party lost majority in the assembly following withdrawal of support by NCP recently?

(A) Manohar Parrikar

(B) Siddaramaiah

(C) Prithviraj Chavan

(B) Shivraj Singh Chouhan

3) BJP and Shiv Sena recently ended its ......... year old alliance and decided to contest state election in Maharastra independently?

(A) 10

(B) 50

(C) 30

(D) 25

4) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014 left for which country on a six-day visit?

(A) Germany

(B) USA

(C) China

(D) Russia

5) Which Indian cricketer has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony in the House of Lords recently?

(A) Kapil Dev

(B) Sachin Tendulkar

(C) Mohinder Amarnath

(D) Rahul Dravid

6) Which film was selected as India's official entry for OSCAR film awards 2015?

(A) Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

(B) Madras Cafe

(C) Liar’s Dice

(D) Ship of Theseus

7) Who recently won India's first gold medal at the Asian Games after clinching the men's 50 metre pistol event?

(A) Abhinav Bindra

(B) Gagan Narang

(C) Vijay Kumar

(D) Jitu Rai

8) People of which country recently rejected the referendum of independence from Britain in a historic voting?

(A) Ireland

(B) Scotland

(C) Wales

(D) All of the above

9) 17th Asian Games started on 19th September 2014 at?

(A) Jakarta, Indonesia

(B) Beijing, China

(C) Incheon, South Korea

(D) Daka, Bangladesh

10) Asia's only grand slam singles champion Li Na announced her retirement from tennis recently. She is from which country?

(A) China

(B) Japan

(C) South Korea

(D) Kazakhstan

Answers

1) Ans. (A) J Jayalalithaa

2) Ans. (C) Prithviraj Chavan

3) Ans. (D) 25

4) Ans. (B) USA

5) Ans. (A) Kapil Dev

6) Ans. (C) Liar’s Dice

7) Ans. (D) Jitu Rai

8) Ans. (B) Scotland

9) Ans. (C) Incheon, South Korea

10) Ans. (A) China 

26th September 2014 Current Affairs Updates

1) Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resigned: Prithviraj Chavan has resigned as Maharashtra chief minister after his government was reduced to a minority with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) withdrawing support. President's Rule is expected to be imposed in the state, where elections will be held in less than three weeks. NCP's insistence on the two allies contesting an equal number of the state's 288 Assembly seats and the demand for rotational chief minister for half of the government's five-year term if the alliance retained power were the sticking points during the seat-sharing talks which eventually led to the collapse of the alliance.

2) PM Narendra Modi arrived in New York: Describing America as India's "natural global partner", Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in New York on Friday on a five-day visit to the US, holding out an assurance that India is "open and friendly" for business and innovations.  Modi, 64, flew into New York's JFK airport on a special Air India Boeing plane on the first leg of his maiden visit to the US as Prime Minister after a nearly nine-hour flight from Frankfurt where he had an overnight halt.

3) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award 2014 announced: CSIR on 26 September 2014 announced the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2014 for ten scientists in recognition of their work. The awards were announced by Director General of Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Dr. Paramvir Singh Ahuja during the CSIR’s 72nd Foundation day celebrations in New Delhi. The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology consists of a citation, a plaque and a cash prize of 5 lakh rupees.

4) Union Government launched Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana for urban and rural poor: Union Government on 25 September 2014 launched Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana for urban and rural poor. The Yojana aims at alleviating urban and rural poverty through enhancement of livelihood opportunities through skill development and other means. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana has two components one for urban India and other for rural India. The Urban component will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation while rural component named as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.

5) Rajat Sharma is new President of News Broadcasters Association: The News Broadcasters Association announced appointment of office bearers for the year 2014-15 with India TV's Rajat Sharma as the President and Ashok Venkatramani of ABP News as the Vice President. A statement from the Association, which represents private television news andcurrent affairs broadcasters, said Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV has been appointed as the President.

6) S&P upgrades India's credit outlook from negative to stable: Rating agency Standard & Poors has reversed its opinion about the Indian economy and upgraded the rating outlook to stable from negative while maintaining the credit rating at BBB-. This is a major change from its position last year when it said India faces one in three chances of a downgrade.

Daily Current Affairs Updates: 25 September 2014

1) BJP, Shiv Sena ends 25-year-old alliance in Maharashtra: The BJP Maharashtra unit called off its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena on Thursday, two days before the deadline for filing of nomination for the October 15 Assembly elections ends. "Shiv Sena never gave a suitable proposal, we could not accommodate our allies in that," BJP leader Eknath Khadse said. The party made a formal announcement of the split after two weeks of high drama and intense parleys between the two allies. 

2) PM Narendra Modi launched 'Make in India' campaign: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (25 Sep 2014) launched his flagship 'Make in India' campaign to put the country prominently on the global manufacturing map and, in turn, facilitate the inflow of new technology and capital, while creating millions of jobs. The ambitious scheme, that also puts in place the logistics and systems to address, in a timely manner, queries of potential investors, was unveiled along with a logo, a portal and brochures on 25 identified growth sectors before bigshots from the corporate world from India and abroad at the Vigyan Bhavan conference complex in the national capital.

3) Kapil Dev honoured With lifetime achievement award at House of Lords: Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony in the House of Lords in London. The award, constituted by the Indo-European Business Forum (IBEF), was presented to the former India World Cup-winning captain for his contribution to the sport and for his work in the field of upliftment of poor and destitute communities through the Khushii society. Arguably the greatest pacer bowler and all-rounder India has produced, Dev led the country to its maiden World Cup triumph in 1983, beating the then formidable West Indies in the title clash at Lord's.

4) PM Modi left for America on a six day visit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left for his visit to the United States of America with a vision to start a new chapter in the strategic partnership of the two countries. Modi's packed schedule includes meetings with US President Barack Obama, the US administration, other heads of states, leading industrialists and the Indian diaspora. He will also conduct bilateral meetings with the leaders of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Prime Minister will make his first address to the UN General Assembly as well as address prominent Indian-Americans at the famous Madison Square Gardens.

5) Isro’s Mars Orbiter Mission sends its first image home: India’s Mars Orbiter Mission on 25 Sep 2014 despatched the first image of the red planet, shot from a height of 7.3km with its colour camera, which has a 376m spatial resolution. The blurry image showing a surface pockmarked with giant craters was taken after the Martian Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, took its position above the red planet.

6) Bamiyan to be SAARC cultural capital for 2015: Bamiyan, the Afghan town which shot into prominence when the Taliban blew up two ancient statues of the Buddha in 2001, has been selected to be the SAARC cultural capital for a year beginning April 2015. Dhaka will be the SAARC cultural capital in 2016-17. The year 2016-17 will also be declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.

TAMILNADU CIRCLE : VACANCIES ANNOUNCED FOR THE POSTMAN EXAM - 2014

Current Affairs daily Updates: 24 September 2014

1) Mission Mars accomplished, India's Mangalyaan enters red planet's orbit: Creating history in space, India on Wednesday (September 24) successfully placed its Mangalyaan into the Martian orbit in a record time of mere three hours. Thus, India has become the first Asian country to reach Mars and the first in the world to enter Martian orbit in its maiden attempt. Nearly 13 hours after the Mangalyaan was placed in the martian orbit, the spacecraft started sending pictures of the red planet's surface, confirmed a senior official of the ISRO. With the success of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), India has joined the United States, European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union in the elite club of Martian explorers. 

2) Supreme Court cancels all but four coal blocks allocated since 1993: The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled 214 coal block allocations, giving the owners six months time to wind up their work. A bench, headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha, saved only four blocks — one belonging to NTPC and SAIL each and two allocated to Sasan ultra mega power projects — from being cancelled. The bench, also comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, granted six months breathing time to mining companies to wind up their operations in the coal blocks.

3) PM Modi inaugurates mega food park in Tumkur, Karnataka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a mega food park in Tumkur, Karnataka on Wednesday. The park has been developed with the support of the Ministry of Food, state and central governments. Future Group's food park is first of its kind in India with the group investing about Rs 250 crore in the project. Till date, 50 units have been established for food processing.

PM Modi congratulated the crowds on the Mangalyaan successfully reaching Mars. Modi in his speech emphasised the importance of the state and Centre working together for any scheme to be successfully implemented.

4) ICICI launched SB account for minors: Private sector bank ICICI Bank on Wednesday launched a savings account for minors above 10 years of age. The account, which will be opened in the name of the minor, will offer a personalised cheque book and a debit card with a picture of his or her choice, the bank said in a statement. “We are pleased to offer the ‘Smart Star’ account, which allows minors to operate their accounts independently. This will help to inculcate a habit of saving and responsibility of spending wisely,” bank’s executive director Rajiv Sabharwal said.

5) Atapattu appointed SL head coach: Marvan Atapattu's appointment as Sri Lanka's first full-time local coach in 15 years has been confirmed by Sri Lanka Cricket, following a six-week vetting process, and his three-month tenure as interim coach. SLC's coach-selection committee interviewed Atapattu and one other remaining candidate on Tuesday, and then recommended Atapattu as their preferred candidate to the executive committee. The executive committee then "unanimously approved and appointed Mr. Marvan Attapattu to the position of National Head Coach of Sri Lanka Cricket with immediate effect," an SLC release said.

Postal Exams 2014 : Update as on September 25, 2014

Postal Exam 2014 Updates on 25.09.2014

Schedule of Paper II (Computer Skill Test) for the following Postal Circle is as follows

Postal Circles	Exam Date	Exam Time
West Bengal(32)	09 to 13 October 2014	09:00AM onwards in Batches. Please check your Admit Card for timings

Candidates for the above mentioned Postal Circles may check their status for Paper I by Logging into the website. Candidates, shortlisted to appear in the Paper II, may download the Admit Cards.

Please keep visiting the website for exam schedules for other Postal Circles & updates.

Mars Orbiter Mission: India becomes first country to enter Mars orbit in maiden attempt

>> Creating history, ISRO's Mars OrbiterMission (MOM) on Wednesday successfully entered the orbit of the red planet. With this, India has become the first nation in the world to have entered the Mars orbit in the first attempt. ISRO's MOM is also the cheapest such mission till now.

>> Indian Space Research Organisation'sMars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft started orbiting the red planet at 7.47am, but it was only 12 minutes later —because of a time delay in radio signals travelling the 680 million km -- that scientists at Isro Telemetry,Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore, could erupt in joy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood a happy witness.

>> The scientists had waited for more than 300 days as MOM journeyed on through space, but the last 54 minutes were virtually unbearable. For, it was during this period that the orbiter first reoriented itself and then fired its engine and thrusters for about 24 minutes to get into the Mars orbit.

>> Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Isro scientists over the success. "MOM never disappoints," he told applauding scientists at the Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore. "India is the first country to get this right in the first attempt," he said.

>> With MOM successfully entering the red planet's orbit, ISRO on Wednesday also launched the MOM's official Twitter handle, @MarsOrbiter.

>> With the success of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), India has joined the United States, European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union in the elite club of Martian explorers.

>> Interestingly, India's MOM is also the world's cheapest inter-planetary mission costing around Rs 450 crores or 74 million USD, which is a tenth of NASA's Mars mission MAVEN that entered the Martian orbit on September 22.

>> It aims to study Mars' surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane with the help of scientific instruments.

Daily Current Affairs Updates: 23 September 2014

1) Hindi film 'Liar's Dice' to represent India at Oscars: Hindi film 'Liar's Dice', a road drama about a tribal woman's journey to find her missing husband, has been selected as India's official entry to the upcoming Academy awards in the best foreign film category. Directed by Geetu Mohandas and starring Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles, 'Liar's Dice' beat 29 other films to represent India at the Oscars 2015, Supran Sen, secretary general of the Film Federation of India (FFI) told PTI. 

2) Abhinav Bindra Finishes Asian Games Career With Bronze: Ace Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra claimed his first Asian Games individualmedal by winning the bronze in the men's 10 metre air rifle event at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range at Incheon on Tuesday. Chinese pair Haoran Yang (209.6) and Yifei Cao (208.9) proved too strong for the 31-year-old Indian, who had a final score of 187.1. The 2008 Olympic gold medallist had won his first Asian Games medal earlier in the day by taking third place in the men's team 10m air rifle event along with compatriots Sanjeev Rajput and Ravi Kumar.

3) AP Govt. raises age limit to 40 years for direct recruitment: The Andhra Pradesh government has issued orders relaxing the upper age limit for direct recruitment from 34 years to 40 years for the ensuring recruitments by the AP Public Service Commission and other recruiting agencies. The G.O. No.295 issued on Tuesday said that the upper age limit was relaxed in order to compensate for the shrinking opportunities to the educated unemployed youth in Andhra Pradesh post bifurcation. The opportunities that existed before the bifurcation of combined AP were lost after the bifurcation of the State, it said.

4) Google launches new social campaign: Internet search major Google, on Tuesday, launched a new social campaign to increase the internet literacy among women in India. Google has tied up MARD, an initiative started by Bollywood actor-cum-director Farhan Akhtar. MARD has tied up with Google’s digital literacy initiative for women ‘Helping Women get online’ (HWGO). HWGO was launched by Google India in collaboration with Axis Bank, Intel and Hindustan Unilever about a year ago, a statement from Google India said.

5) South Indian Bank appoints V G Mathew as new MD & CEO: Private lender South Indian Bank has appointed V G Mathew as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for three years. Mathew's appointment will come to effect from October 1, 2014. He was the Executive Vice President of the bank earlier.

6) Amit Mathew elected as chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations: Amit Mathew on 22 September 2014 was unanimously elected as Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for the year 2014-15. He is the resident editor and director of Malyala Manorama. In addition to Mathews, Shashidhar Sinha was elected as the deputy chairman of the ABC for the 2014-15.

Daily Current Affairs from 22 September 2014

1) Pakistan appointed Rizwan Akhtar as new ISI chief: Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar was on Monday appointed the new chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in commander-level promotions announced in the country’s powerful Army. The announcement was made on Twitter by Major General Asim Bajwa, director-general of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Dawn online reported.

2) Entry norms for IITs relaxed: The Ministry of Human Resource Development has ratified new criteria for admission to the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), paving the way for participation of more students in counselling from next year. Until now, students in the top 20 percentile of Class XII marks alone were eligible for entry into IITs. As a result, those who scored well in the Joint Entrance Examination, but failed to make it to the top 20 percentile were denied admission. Under the new rules, those who have scored 75 per cent marks in Class XII will also be eligible.

3) Mars Orbiter Mission: ISRO on verge of creating space history: The Mars Orbiter spacecraft of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) moved closer to its home on Monday, as ISRO woke up its liquid engine from slumber and slowed down the spacecraft marginally. This is in preparation for the final manoeuvres on Wednesday morning, which will slow it further and place it in Martian orbit by 8 am. A successful set of manoeuvres will make ISRO the world's only organisation to reach Mars in its first attempt. 

4) Saurav Ghosal, Dipika Pallikal Create History at Asian Games: Saurav Ghosal became first Indian to enter squash final at Asian Games, while Dipika Pallikal became first Indian woman to win a squash bronze. Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal scripted history on the squash court, while shooters also continued to deliver medals as India bagged two more bronze to boost their tally to six on the third day of the 17th Asian Games. Pallikal settled for a bronze medal -- the first by an Indian woman squash player -- after losing to world number one Nicol David in the semifinals. India were also assured of at least a silver in the men's singles event after Ghosal stormed into the final -- the first from the country to achieve such a feat.

5) Sonowal Inaugurates National Academy for Athletics and National Golf Academy at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated two Sports Academies National Academy for Athletics and National Academy for Golf at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sonowal urged the youth and sports enthusiasts to make sports a part of their daily life. Quoting Swami Vivakananda, the Minister said, playing football will make you understand the meaning of Bhagavat Geeta. The National Academy for Athletics will give training for sub junior, junior and senior athletes, selected across the Country with the help of expert coaches including foreign ones. The Academy has been established as the first Academy in Sports in the country under Public-Private Partnership with M/s. JSW.

6) Ashraf Ghani declared next Afghanistan president: Afghanistan's election commission on Sunday has named Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner of the country's presidential election. The commission's announcement came hours after Ghani Ahmadzai signed a power sharing agreement with opponent Abdullah Abdullah, who will fill the newly created position of government chief executive.

Daily Current Affairs Updates: 18 September 2014

1) Richard Verma named new US ambassador to India: Indian-American Richard Rahul Verma was nominated by US President Barack Obama as the next ambassador to India. The move that comes ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US next week is being seen as a positive signal since the US embassy is being headed by charge d’affaires Kathleen Stephens since June this year. Verma’s confirmation, however, is expected to take a while due to the current political situation in the US.

2) Li Na Announced Retirement From Tennis: Li Na, Asia's biggest tennis star, said she is retiring from the sport, capping a career in which she became the first Asian woman to win a Grand Slam, as well as an iconoclastic personality that made her one of China's most marketable sports stars. The 32-year-old said in statements via her verified Chinese social-media microblog and Facebook that four surgeries on her knees to heal pain and swelling had taken their toll, including the most recent in July on her left knee. "My chronic injuries will never again let me be the tennis player that I can be," she wrote.

3) Sardar Singh to be India's flag bearer at Asian Games opening ceremony: Ending the suspense over who would be the Indian contingent's flag bearer at 17th Asian Games opening ceremony in SOuth Korea, men's hockey team captain Sardar Singh was bestowed with the honour. "The flag bearer will be Sardar Singh, captain of the men's hockey team. Actually all the people were asked and we have been trying to ask the coaches about who is available. They all have matches the next day or the day after and none wanted to stand outside the stadium from 12 noon to 4 pm (before the parade). Sardar does not have a match. He was happy to do so," said Chef-de-Mission Adille Sumariwalla.

4) Xi Jinping announces new route to Kailash-Mansarovar: Chinese President Xi Jinping made a special announcement on opening a new route for pilgrims to Kailash-Mansarovar in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked Mr. Xi on behalf of the people of India and said the gesture will enable a higher number of pilgrims to visit the shrine and will be especially beneficial to older pilgrims. India and China signed 13 agreements even as the two leaders called for a speedy border resolution process.

5) International Economic Association appointed Kaushik Basu as President-Elect: The International Economic Association (IEA) on 16 September 2014 appointed Kaushik Basu as president-elect of the association beginning September 2014. However, he will continue to serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of World Bank. This will be the second time that an Indian will be heading this association that produces a large number of research papers and books and organizes round tables on topics of contemporary interest. Amartya Sen became the first Indian to join IEA.

6) Le Yucheng is China's New Ambassador to India: China appointed Le Yucheng as its ambassador to India, a day ahead of President Xi Jinping's maiden visit to the country. The President appointed Le as the country's envoy, replacing Wei Wei, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a statement from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body.

7) Leonardo DiCaprio appointed as UN Messenger of Peace: Academy Award-nominated actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio has been designated the United Nations Messenger of Peace by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, with a special focus on climate change.

8) Naseeruddin Shah released his autobiography And then One Day: A Memoir: Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah on 12 September 2014 released his autobiography And then One Day: A Memoir. And Then One Day is the poignant and inspiring memoir of the acclaimed Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah. The autobiography depicts his extraordinary journey from a feudal village near Meerut, to Catholic schools in Nainital and Ajmer, and finally to stage and film fame in Mumbai.