28th October 2014 - Daily Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (28th October) is International Animation Day.
• This day was proclaimed in 2002 by the ASIFA as the main global event to celebrate the art of animation.
• ASIFA - International Animated Film Association (Association Internationale du Film d'Animation) 
• UNESCO has threatened to put Great Barrier Reef on the World Heritage in Danger list.
• The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia.
• It contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs which are threatened with extinction.
• Afghanistan's newly-elected President Ashraf Ghani begins his 4-day visit to China.
• This is Ghani's first overseas trip. 
• World Economic Forum's 2014 gender Gap Index
  
• India has performed poorly in removing gender-based disparities, ranking 114 out of 142 countries
• It slipped 13 spots from its last year's ranking of 101.
• Last year's top four Iceland (1st), Finland (2nd), Norway (3rd) and Sweden (4th) retained their rankings.
• Rwanda entered the index for the first time at the seventh position.

MOUs and Agreements 

• India-Vietnam sign seven agreements including in the areas of education, culture, and oil exploration.
• The agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung, who arrived on a two-day visit.
• Vietnam has offered two more oil blocks to India.
• It extends contract of another oil block for two more years

National Affairs

• Devendra Fadnavis of BJP to be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra; Swearing-in on Friday (29th October 2014).
• He is going to be the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
• The Supreme Court today ordered the Centre to disclose all the names of black money holders abroad to it by tomorrow in a sealed envelope while slamming the government for reluctance on the issue.
• Finance Minister  Arun Jaitley said that the Government has no intention to protect anyone and assured that assured that names of all black money account holders with the government will be given to the Supreme Court.
• In a press statement the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) has announced that it has issued 70 crore Aadhaar numbers to residents across the country as of now.
• 9 States, including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, have crossed 90 per cent Aadhaar coverage 
• 16 States have over 70 per cent coverage 
• The Madras High Court today fined the Tamil Nadu state government Rs.10,000 for delaying the appointment of IAS officer U. Sagayam to probe the granite scam.
• The government has decided to clean in situ 144 open drains carrying sewage along with industrial effluents into the river Ganga as part of its plan to clean up the river system and allow eco-flows.
• It has been decided not to allow immersion of ashes (from cremation) at the shallow end along the banks of the river. 
• The flowers and coconut offerings in the river shall be trapped through a mesh and recycled for making ‘holi’ colours and composts by those making a livelihood off the river.

New Govt Schemes

• Minister for Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram, launches the 'Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana' in New Delhi.
• This scheme been launched on pilot basis in one block each of the States of AP, MP, HP, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat.   
• These blocks have been selected on the recommendations of the concerned States and have very low literacy rate. 
• Under the scheme centre will provide Rs. 10 crore for each block for the development of various facilities for the Tribals.

New Appointments

• Veteran Journalist Dr. A. Surya Prakash appointed Chairman of Prasar Bharati Board.
• Prasar Bharti CEO Jawhar Sircar elected Vice-President of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (world's largest TV and Radio body)

People in News

• Forbes names Jack Ma as the Richest person in China with a fortune of $19.5bn (£12bn)
• He is the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba
• Mr Ma's wealth more than doubled from last year's $7.1bn after his company's record-setting share sale in September.
• A US court has issued summons against Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan in an alleged human rights violation case filed by a Sikh rights group.
• The complaint alleged that Mr Bachchan instigated people for violence after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Business & Economy

• Japanese telecom giant Softbank is going to invest 627 million US dollars (about 3,762 crore rupees) in the online marketplace company Snapdeal.
• This is the largest investment made by a single investor in an e-commerce company in India which is the world's second most populous market.
• ONGC produced 22.24 million tonnes of crude oil from its fields in 2013-14.
• Australia is looking forward to strengthen trade and economic ties and converging strategic interests with India, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has extended an invitation to public and private companies from Oman to invest in the 'Make in India' programme which offers good returns.
• This was conveyed by the President when the Commerce and Industry Minister of the Sultanate of Oman, Dr Ali Bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, called on him yesterday.

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