19th August 2014 - Daily Current Affairs updates

19th August 2014 - Daily Current Affairs updates


National Affairs

• A court in Manipur today ordered the release of Irom Sharmila who has staged a 14-year hunger strike in protest at human rights abuses in Manipur.
• Taking a step further towards scrapping the Planning Commission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited ideas from the people on the new institution to replace the plan body.The government also announced creation of a special open forum on the website mygov.nic.in for suggestions on the new institution. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid the foundation stone of 166 km Kaithal- Rajasthan border section of the National Highway-Haryana. 
• The Supreme Court today issued notices to Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government on a plea challenging the provisions of Article 370, which provides special status to the state.  
• The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre on a plea seeking its direction to the government to amend the Constitution for making Hindi official language for conducting court proceedings in higher judiciary. 
• In a bid to have an accident-free operation in the national capital, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has introduced a "Road Safety Award" for its drivers who will have a good track record.  
• India, Sri Lanka to meet for the first time to discuss narcotics menace in two-day conference starting tomorrow.
• The 'Intensive Household Survey' across Telangana, first exercise of its kind anywhere in the country, aiming to ascertain the details of an estimated 84 lakh families living in the state, began this morning. The purpose is to know social and economic status of nearly four crore people in a single day. 

International Affairs

• Today is World Photography Day. It marks the 175th anniversary of the first permanent photographic process patented and freely released to the world on 19th August 1839.
• Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday that Israel will hit back hard if Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza resume, speaking just hours before the midnight expiry of a five-day ceasefire.
• Israel and Palestine have agreed to extend a temporary ceasefire in Gaza by 24 hours to allow more time for negotiating a lasting truce. 
• The World Health Organization today said that it had set up a task force with the global airline and tourism industry in an effort to contain the spread of Ebola.
• The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 1,200 people since it began in December 2013, the World Health Organisation said.
• The United States has said it was "unfortunate" that the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks have fallen through and asked both the countries to take steps to improve bilateral ties irrespective of what happened.  
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Ukraine on Saturday (23rd August 2014) amid international tensions over fighting in the east of the country, Ukraine's foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin said.  
• Cameroon has closed all its land, sea and air borders with Nigeria in a move to help prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
• US President Barack Obama will chair a special meeting of the UN Security Council next month on tackling the surge of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria.
• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Monday marked 500 days of action until the deadline to reach the Millennium Development Goals, known worldwide as the MDGs.

MOUs

• With an aim to get expertise in running semi high-speed trains and modernizing signalling system of Railways, India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Czech Republic. 

New Appointments

• Ravi Shastri appointed Director of Indian cricket team for ODI series against England
• Former players Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun are appointed as assistant coaches and R Sridhar as the fielding coach.