23rd September 2014 - Daily Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• India will seek re-election to the UN's main human rights body for a second consecutive term in a vote to be held next month.
• India is currently a member of the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council and its term ends on 31st December 2014.
• A wave of suicide bombings by Islamic State militants in western Iraq has killed 40 soldiers amid waning efforts by security forces to retake territory from the Sunni extremist group.
• The number of Ebola infections will triple to 20,000 by November, soaring by the thousands every week if efforts are not significantly stepped up to stop the outbreak, the WHO recently warned.
• The U.S. and five Middle Eastern allies launched an expansive attack on extremist fighters in Syria as air strikes hit Islamic State strongholds and another anti-Western group, opening a challenging new front in an expanding Middle East war.
• Modi's US visit
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a 5-day visit to the US from September 25th. 
• He is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA.
• He will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ahead of his address. 
• He will meet President Barack Obama in Washington. 
• Modi to focus on issues of paramount importance including India's permanent membership of UN Security Council
  He will have meetings with heads of eleven American companies including Google and Pepsico. 

National Affairs

• National Award winning Hindi film "Liar's Dice", starring acclaimed actors Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, has been shortlisted as India's official entry for the best foreign film category at the 87th Academy Awards (Oscars).
• Debut directed by Malayalam actress Geetu Mohandas. 
• Won the best cinematography honor for Rajeev Ravi and best actress title for Geetanjali at the 61st National Film Awards.
• Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan
• In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of clean India, Delhi government will take action against people who are found littering and also impound vehicles parked illegally as part of its 'Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan' which will kick start from 2nd October 2014.  
• To restore the glory of the Ganga river, the Centre has presented a blueprint of short, medium and long term measures which is spread over 18 years and involves investment of thousands of crore.
• With less than a week left for nominations to close for Maharashtra Assembly polls, top Congress and NCP leaders will meet tomorrow in a last ditch attempt to resolve the seat-sharing deadlock and salvage the 15-year-old alliance.
• The Supreme Court issued guidelines on encounters
• Every encounter must be probed by independent agency.
• The policemen accused of staging fake encounters should not be promoted or given a gallantry award. 

People in News

• Jack Ma (50) has overtaken Mukesh Ambani and Hong Kong's Lee Shau Kee to become China's richest and Asia's second wealthiest with a personal wealth of $26.5 billion.
• He is the founder of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant.
• Enforcement Directorate, ED, has arrested businessman Gautam Khaitan in money laundering probe in VVIP choppers deal case.
• Khaitan is the first arrest carried out by the ED in the 3,600-crore rupees Agusta Westland chopper deal.

Sports

• Asian Games 2014
• AbhinavBindra wins bronze in men's 10m Air Rifle event in his last AsianGames appearance
• Indian team comprising of Abhinav Bindra, Ravi Kumar and Sanjeev Rajput won bronze in the men's 10 m air rifle event.
• Saurav Ghoshal bags India's first ever Silver medal in Squash.
• Wushu player Yumnam Sanathoi Devi wins bronze in the Women's 52 kg (Sanda) event.

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