26th September 2014 - Daily Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• India today announced USD 12 million contribution to the United Nations to help it fight the deadly Ebola virus in the African continent.
• Rival Palestinian groups, Fatah and Hamas, reached an agreement to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian national unity government, representatives of both factions have announced.
• India and China today resolved the stand-off at the Ladakh border.
• The withdrawal of troops will begin today and it will be completed by the month-end.
• The breakthrough came in a bilateral meeting of External Affairs Minister Sushma Sawaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in New York. 
• Leaders of the world's most developed economies today warned Russia of more sanctions unless all fighting stops in Ukraine and vowed to stand by the war-torn country as winter approaches. 

National Affairs

• The Tamil Nadu government today announced a populist ‘Amma Cement Scheme’

• Under this scheme the Govt will procure cement from private manufacturers and sell them at Rs. 190 per bag in the wake of possible increase in rates of the key construction component.
• In a parting shot, outgoing Chief Justice of India R M Lodha today strongly defended the collegium system of appointment of judges, saying any other mode of appointment may impact on the independence of judiciary.
• Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today said that the Centre will bring out new crop insurance policy by removing shortcomings in the current policy and provide Soil Health Cards to all farmers in the country in next three years.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in Assam and Meghalaya floods.

People in News

• Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan resigned today, a day after NCP broke its 15-year-old alliance with Congress in the state, reducing his government to a minority.

New Appointments

• Ashraf Ghani won Afghanistan's disputed presidential election decisively with 55 percent of the vote, results revealed today, after the figure was kept secret for five days over concerns that fraud allegations could trigger violence.

Business & Economy

• Ratings agency Standard & Poor's raised India's credit outlook to “stable” today, saying the prospects for reforms and fiscal management had grown under the NDA government in a vote of confidence ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the US.
• Asian Development Bank (ADB) sold its entire 5.2 per cent stake in Indian gas supplier Petronet LNG Ltd for Rs 714 crore ($116.8 million) via block deals.
• The government is planning to borrow Rs 2.4 lakh crore through bonds in the second half of the current fiscal taking the total borrowing to Rs 5.92 lakh crore, Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram said in New Delhi.

Science & Technology

• Amid the success of India's Mars Orbiter Mission to the Red Planet, ISRO scientists are working towards the launch of the country's next rocket PSLV-C26, which would carry IRNSS 1C satellite, the third in the IRNSS series from Sriharikota on 9th October 2014.

Awards & Honors

• Ten scientists were today felicitated with prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for their outstanding contributions to field of science and technology.

Sports

• AsianGames
• Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal wins bronze medal in 50m breaststroke event of the Asian Games.
• Indian Shooters (Vijay Kumar, Tamang Pemba,Gurpreet Singh) bag silver in Men's 25-metre Center Fire Pistol.
• India slipped to the 16th position in the overall standings with a tally of 17 medals on the seventh day of competitions in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon.
• BCCI appoints Ravi Shastri as the Director of Indian cricket team till 2015 ICC World Cup. 
• Duncan Fletcher, R Sridhar, Sanjay Bangar and Bharath Arun to continue in support staff

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