Daily Current Affairs Updates - 22nd October 2013

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INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

• A high-level conference that evaluate challenges and opportunities of mobile payments globally would be held in Dubai from November 5-7.
• Aiming to promote hygienic practices and enhance the quality of life in South Asian countries, a regional conference on sanitation has been inaugurated by Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav.
• Authorities in Vietnam have seized 2.4 tons of elephant tusks illegally imported from Malaysia in the second large seizure this month.
• Russian troops have carried out live firing practice using Indian military equipment as part of joint military exercise `INDRA 2013` at Mahajan field firing range near India-Pakistan border in Thar desert of Rajasthan.
• India and China agreed that in any face-off on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) they will not use force or threaten to use force against each other and prevent exchange of fire or an armed conflict.

NATIONAL EVENTS

• Ushering in a new system of conducting examinations, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has told schools across the country to implement open book examinations from March 2014 and has also released study material for the same.
• Bangalore, known as India’s silicon city, has been ranked as the country’s top business destination, followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune in terms of infrastructure, human capital, city culture and basic quality of living, says a survey.
• Uttar Pradesh Governor B L Joshi appointed Munna Singh as the Vice Chancellor of Chandra Shekhar Azad (CSA) University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur.
• Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde visited the sites of recent twin terror strikes and conducted an aerial survey of the area near the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir as part of his visit to the state to review the situation there in the wake of increasing cases of ceasefire violations by Pakistan.
• Three Indian-Americans have been elected members of the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM), including Subra Suresh, who has become the only current university president to be elected to all three US national academies.

ECONOMY

• Concerned over defaults by big borrowers, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said the government is monitoring the top 30 NPA accounts in each PSU bank and asked the lenders to set up separate verticals to recover money from written-off accounts.
• At an event meant to feature its latest iPad tablet computing devices, Apple on Tuesday took aim at one of rival Microsoft’s biggest and once unassailable businesses, its Office software for tasks like word processing and spreadsheets.
• Wipro grew at its fastest pace in two years in the September quarter, yet remained a clear laggard among the top tier of India's software services exporters.
• Reliance Industries is likely to snag Prabir Jha, senior vice-president and chief HR officer at Tata Motors, as its HR head, according to top sources in the recruitment industry. The 46-year-old Jha has been offered the role, but is yet to decide.

SPORTS

• Indian boxers continued to touch new highs at the World Championships as three of them entered the quarterfinals on an all-win day today to take the total number to an unprecedented five.
• South African off-spinner, Johan Botha, who also plays for Adelaide Strikers, has passed the bio-mechanical analysis of his bowling action and is free to continue playing in CA Competitions, Cricket Australia (CA) said.

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