Current Affairs Updates of 6th January 2014

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International Affairs

• Malaysia has introduced visa on arrival (VoA) facility for Indians travelling to this South Asian country from a third country, including Singapore and Thailand.
• Nepal SC gives voters 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option; becomes 15th country to ensure negative voting in elections.
• US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had won Saudi support for his efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, in a day of whistlestop diplomacy to key Arab allies.

National Affairs

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be the chief guest at this year's Republic Day parade at Rajpath in Delhi.
• Guru Purab, birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Guru of the Sikhs, being celebrated today.
• Gujarat has done a little worse than the national average when it comes to achieving decline in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), according to the Union Health Ministry.
• An ambitious project to mitigate flood damage in Bihar has taken a major step forward with a central agency finalising the detailed project report for linking four intra-state rivers which would help protect three districts from floods.
• An FIR has been lodged against social activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand, Zakia Jafri's son Tanvir Jafri and two others for allegedly usurping Rs 1.51 crore collected by them for turning Gulbarg Society into a museum, police said.
• Raman Singh and BJP MLAs took oath as the first session of the  newly-elected Chhattisgarh Assembly began on Monday, with BJP leader Gaurishankar Agrawal set to be elected as the Speaker. Agrawal, a two-time MLA, is the only candidate who had filed nomination for Speaker's post by Sunday evening, as the deadline expired. The session will have five sittings and end on January 10.
• Employees of Kingfisher Airlines who have not been paid salaries for the past 17 months today launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding stringent action against the defaulting company.
• Foot and mouth disease has claimed lives of over 4,700 cattle in Kerala after its outbreak a few months ago, State Agriculture Minister K P Mohanan told the state Assembly today.
• The Visakhapatnam airport has commenced 24-hour operations from January 1 this year, Indian Navy Operates it. 
• The Mumbai police on Monday filed a 9,600 page chargesheet in the Rs. 5,600 crore National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) payment scam in the special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act court.
• The famous Nataraja temple in the town of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu will be managed by priests and not by the state government, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered.

Deaths

• Telugu actor Uday Kiran (33) has allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his home in Hyderabad.

Awards and Honors

• Manipur's M Khayingthei and Mizoram's Ramdinthara, who lost their lives while trying to save friends from drowning, are among three persons selected for 'Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak'.

Business and Economy

• The Delhi high court on Monday gave nod to the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) to audit the accounts of private telecom companies.
• Market regulator Sebi on Monday cautioned investors and the general public against entities making false promises of exorbitant returns through schemes being run without regulatory approvals.

Science and Technology

• State-run BHEL has completed building a transmission sub-station in Karnataka, a link that connects the southern and national electricity grids.
• Delhi Government today warned private power distribution companies that their licenses may be cancelled if they do not cooperate with the Comptroller and Auditor General which is scrutinising their finances.
• The Supreme Court on Monday directed the government to appoint a Regulator with offices in States under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for appraising projects, enforcing environmental conditions for approvals and imposing penalties on polluters.

Sports

• The fate of former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who contested the Rajasthan Cricket Association polls, is likely to be known on January 17 with the Supreme Court today saying that it would open the sealed enveloped containing the results on that day.
• Courtesy his quarter-final appearance at the Chennai Open, Yuki Bhambri jumped 23 places to career-best rank of 172, while Somdev Devvarman lost three places to be 93 in the latest ATP chart, released on Monday.
• 75th Senior National and Inter-State TableTennis Championship to begin tomorrow at Patna. 600 players from 32 states & UTs to participate.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here 

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