22nd July 2014 - Daily Current Affairs Updates

22nd July 2014 - Daily Current Affairs Updates

National Affairs

• India has the sixth highest prevalence of child marriage in the world with one in every three child bride living in India, a United Nations report said today.
• Uttar Pradesh government today decided to do away with under 5000 redundant posts in several departments of the state.

Business & Economy

• The Central Government has notified fresh rules for the public servants to furnish information and annual return containing declaration of assets and liabilities. Under the Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014 every public servant shall made a declaration of his/her assets and liabilities in the specified formats as on the 31st day of March every year to the competent authority on or before of 31st day of July of that year.
• The Indian airline industry suffered a total operating loss of over Rs 5,840 crore, including over Rs 3,159 crore of Air India, in 2012-13, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
• World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to review key development priorities.

International Affairs

• Foreign Ministers from the European Union gathered today in Brussels, where a bloc of nations led by Britain was pressing for tough new sanctions if Russia does not immediately alter course in Ukraine after the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane.
• The UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees has said that over 100,000 internally displaced people are seeking safety in its facilities amid deteriorating security conditions in the Gaza Strip as it appealed for $60 million for urgent humanitarian needs.
• The United States has urged its citizens to defer their non-essential travel to Israel and the West Bank in view of the ongoing hostilities in Gaza.
• South Korean President , Park Geun-Hye calls Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. PM welcomes greater economic engagement between two countries.

Science & Technology

• Inching closer to the red planet, India's ambitious Mars orbiter spacecraft has covered more than 540 million kilometres, about 80 per cent of its journey for its rendezvous with the planet scheduled for September 24.
• Search giant Google today launched its Google Maps in Hindi seeking to make its navigation service more useful for users locally. These hindi google maps will be available for desktop and android mobile phone users, who will be able to see Hindi names for cities, localities, important roads and routes as well as popular points of interest such as public parks and schools.
• The newly discovered Kepler-421b circles its star in 704 days. It is the longest period of revolution known yet for a planet outside of our solar system.

Sports

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today wished the Indian contingent participating in the 20th Commonwealth Games beginning at Glasgow tomorrow, saying he is "sure they will do our nation very proud."
• Brazil has hired Dunga as the coach of the national football team, returning to a job he held four years ago.