Daily Current Affairs : 11th-15th July 2014

• World Population Day is being observed today, an annual event on 11 July to raise awareness of global population issues. Established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, it was inspired by the interest in Five Billion Day on 11 July 1987 – approximately the date when the world’s population reached five billion. This year, the theme is “Investing in Young People.” 
• Delhi has become the world’s second most populous city in 2014 after Tokyo, more than doubling its population since 1990 to 25 million, according to a UN report.The 2014 revision of the World Urbanisation Prospects launched yesterday said that India is projected to add the highest number of people to its urban population by 2050, ahead of China.
• US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and delivered US President Barack Obama’s invitation for him to visit Washington. Modi is scheduled to visit US in September for the UN General Assembly. The Prime Minister will also hold summit meeting with Obama to take the India-US relationship forward. 
• Grand old lady of Bollywood Zohra Sehgal passes away at 102. Family and friends bid farewell to veteran actress Zohra Sehgal, who was cremated in New Delhi on Friday. A Padma Shri awardee, she also received the Padma Vibhshan in 2010. 
• Mizoram Governor Vakkom Purushothaman resigned. The 86-year-old Congress veteran said that he sent his resignation to President Pranab Mukherjee this morning.
• Amul has inked an agreement with the Indian Olympic Association to sponsor the Indian contingent for the upcoming Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games to be held later this year in South Korea. Amul, which has recently started its ‘Eat Milk with Every Meal’ campaign, had also sponsored the Indian contingent for the London Olympics in 2012 and has been investing in football, cricket and Formula 1 in the past.
• India has inked a loan agreement with World Bank for an assistance of $153 million (about Rs 920 crore) for the Odisha Disaster Recovery Project. The objective of the project is to restore and improve housing and public services in targeted communities of Odisha, and increase the capacity of the state entities to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis of emergency.
• Sim Bhullar become the first player of Indian origin to be a part of the National Basketball Association (NBA) after he signed a summer contract with the Sacramento Kings, a professional basketball team in the US.21-year-old Bhullar, who is 7.5 feet tall and weighs 360 pounds, is a centre from New Mexico State University. 
• Daily Current Affairs : 12th July 2014
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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to participate in VIth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza and Brasilia, Brazil from 14 to 16th of July. He will embark upon his important journey on 13th of July. This will be his first multi-lateral meeting with the heads of BRICS countries, the growing world economies such as Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa.
• Air India on Friday formally became a member of Star Alliance, a conglomeration of 26 overseas airlines. The biggest growth will come from Air India’s home market, which till now was served by 13 Star Alliance members flying to 10 destinations.
• World Cup champions to get $35 mn from FIFA. The winning federation, either Germany or Argentina, will receive $35 million from the ruling body FIFA, and the losers $25 million, FIFA said on Friday. There is also a financial incentive in the match for third place between hosts Brazil and the Netherlands on Saturday, with $22 million for third place and $20 million for the fourth. Overall FIFA is dishing out $358 million to the 32 teams who competed at the June 12-July 13 tournament.
• The Northeast has the potential to become the largest producer of organic foods in the world, Union minister Vijay Kumar Singh said on Saturday. VK Singh, the Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region said, “Potential in North East is very high as it is already an organic hub by default.” 
• Satish Upadhyay formally takes charge as Delhi BJP chief. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who was appointed as the state party chief just before the Lok Sabha elections, handed over the charge of Delhi unit to Upadhyay at a function organised at Delhi BJP office in New Delhi. 
• IIP grows to 19-month high of 4.7% in May. Showing signs of recovery, industrial production grew at 19-month high of 4.7 percent in May due to improved performance of manufacturing, mining and power sectors and higher output of capital goods. The output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had contracted by 2.5 percent in the same month of last year.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has removed Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Virendra Kataria from his post. Lt. General (Retd.) Ajay Kumar Singh, Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands will have additional charge of Puducherry. 
• Indian Navy will formally receive the first fully ingeniously built anti-submarine warfare (ASW), INS Kamorta, at Visakhapatnam on Saturday. The naval warship will be handed over to the Indian Navy by Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. (GRSE) after a brief ceremony today. The first of the four such ships, INS Kamorta will be the first to integrate rocket launcher for anti-submarine warfare.
• Daily Current Affairs : 13th-14th July 2014
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• Germany lift FIFA World Cup 2014 title. Germany’s Mario Götze kicks in second half of extra time to win 1-0 against Argentina in final of the FIFA World Cup 2014. Germany is the first side from Europe to win a World Cup in the Americas, determined that a golden generation will finally get its reward after a string of near-misses. Messi was declared as the Player of the tournament and awarded Golden Ball.
• Union Government appointed 1980 batch IAS officer Shankar Aggarwal Secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development on Monday. The Uttar Pradesh cadre officer, Aggarwal was previously the Secretary, Union Ministry of Women & Child Development.
• New governors have been appointed in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Nagaland. Ram Naik will be the new Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Balramji Dass Tandon, the Governor of Chhattisgarh. Keshari Nath Tripathi, former UP Assembly speaker, has been appointed as the Governor of West Bengal. Om Prakash Kohli, former Delhi BJP chief, will be the new Governor of Gujarat. Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya has been appointed as Nagaland Governor.The President has accepted the resignation of Vakkom Purushothaman, as Governor of Tripura and given additional charge to Mr. Acharya.
• Also Check ► Recently New Appointed Governors of UP, WB, Chhattisgarh Gujarat and Nagaland
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• Electric bus pilot project to be launched in Gujarat as part of efforts to ensure a cleaner and greener environment. Moving ahead, the state-run Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd (GPCL) has invited expression of interest from the potential companies interested in the project which has been flashed on its official Web site. The project is to be launched to reduce the carbon emission and to create an ecological equilibrium by using non-traditional fuel like electricity,” the officer said.
• India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sri Lanka for setting up of a Faculty of Agriculture and a Faculty of Engineering for the University of Jaffna at Kilinochchi. The MoU was signed by High Commissioner of India, Mr. Y.K. Sinha, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne, in the presence of Sri Lanka’s Minister of Higher Education, S.B. Dissanayake in Colombo.
• The government has slapped an additional penalty of USD 579 million on Reliance Industries for producing less than targeted natural gas from its KG-D6 block, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. With this, the total penalty on RIL for missing the target in four fiscal years beginning 1st April 2010 now stands at a cumulative USD 2.376 billion, the Minister informed the Lok Sabha on Monday. 
• The 14th edition of Agri Intex 2014, an agricultural trade fair, is scheduled between July 18 and 21 at the Codissia Trade Fair complex here. The event, which is aimed at transforming Indian agriculture, is being jointly organised by the small industries association Codissia and the State farm university. Over 235 exhibitors have registered for participation, including exhibitors from Italy, Israel, Japan, China and Germany.
• Former Sri Lanka Skipper Mahela Jayawardene has announced his retirement from Test Cricket following the home series against South Africa and Pakistan this year. Sri Lanka Cricket Board said that Jayawardene, 37, has written a letter to the Chief Executive Officer Ashley De Silva, announcing his wish to retire from the longest version of the game. Jayawardene, who made his Test debut against India in 1997, played 145 Tests scoring 11,493 runs with 33 centuries and 48 fifties
• Inflation dipped to 5.43 per cent in June mainly on account of decline in prices of food items and vegetables with the exception of potato and onion after rising to a five-month high in May. It was at 5.16 per cent a year ago in June 2013.
• Indo-Russian joint venture firm BrahMos Aerospace today said it is developing a smaller version of the 290-km supersonic cruise missile for enabling its deployment on submarines and smaller fighter aircraft such as MiG 29K. Addressing a gathering while launching his book The Path Unexplored, BrahMos Aerospace chief A Sivathanu Pillai said the firm was preparing for the test-firing of the air-launched version of the missile by the end of this year.
• Legendary actor Dilip Kumar’s ancestral home has been declared as a national heritage and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered authorities to acquire the dilapidated property, a move he hopes would bring Pakistan and India closer. 
• Daily Current Affairs : 15th July 2014
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• Environmentalist and social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt has been awarded the prestigious Gandhi Peace prize for 2013. President Pranab Mukherjee presented the award to him at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. The Gandhi Peace Prize is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. 
• India has emerged as the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics followed by China and the US, according to a new study which quantifies the growing alarm surrounding antibiotic-resistance. The study quantifies the growing alarm surrounding antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and a loss of efficacy among antibiotics used to combat the most common illnesses. 
• BRICS nations, including India, today expressed commitment to refrain from taking any protectionist measures and improve policy coordination to enhance trade and investment. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended the meeting of Trade Ministers of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
• Britain’s Foreign secretary William Hague has resigned as part of an anticipated reshuffle of the Conservative-led Government ahead of a general election next year.
• South African Nobel Prize-winning writer and anti-apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer, who became an icon through her unique insights into the country’s social agonies, has died at the age of 90. The writer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Johannesburg yesterday.
• The third oldest football tournament in the world, Durand Cup, will be held in Goa between October 28 and November 9 this year. A host of top clubs and military football teams will participate in the tournament. Durand Cup was first held in the year 1888.
• Visakhapatnam will be made the IT capital of Andhra Pradesh because of its immense potential, Minister for Information Technology Palle Raghunadha Reddy said here on Tuesday. The State Government would be announcing the new IT policy in 10 days. A single window clearance for investments would be set up in the State as part of the policy to promote IT industry.
• Typhoon Rammasun hits Philippines; to toss monsoon ‘low’ into Bay. Northwest Pacific typhoon Rammasun has barrelled into the Philippines this noon as a category-2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of storm intensity. Rammasun is far from being finished as normally happens with a storm on making landfall; instead it will enter South China Sea and churn up into a stronger category-3 typhoon.
• Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has resigned. The country’s football federation has confirmed the news. Scolari, 65, was appointed the coach of the team in 2012. Brazil finished fourth at this year’s FIFA World Cup.