CURRENT AFFAIRS 30-31st August, 2014

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CURRENT AFFAIRS 31st August, 2014

1. European Union leaders have elected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as the new president of their European Council and Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini as the bloc's new foreign policy chief. Donald Tusk succeeds the outgoing European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

2. Noted historian Bipan Chandra died on 30-08-2014 due to age related illness. He was considered to be an authority on Mahatma Gandhi. He had authored several books like "The Making of Modern India: From Marx to Gandhi", "History of Modern India" and "The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India". He was also the former chairman of the National Book Trust.

3. The government will pay the premium on the Rs 30,000 life insurance cover and the National Payments Corporation of India will provide the premium on the Rs 1 lakh accident insurance cover for the beneficiaries of Jan Dhan Yojana.

4. A Partner City MoU was signed by India with Japan to develop Varanasi, Prime Minister's constituency into a smart city on the lines of Kyoto City in Japan. The MoU will serve as framework for Smart heritage city programme between the two countries. This is Prime Minister’s first bilateral visit outside South Asia since he took office.

5. Former Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam is to be the next Governor of Kerala following the resignation of Sheila Dikshit. He will be the first retired CJI to be appointed as a Governor of a State.

6. The foundation stone of the world’s first Natural World Heritage Centre was laid at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun. It's objective is to achieve a more balanced representation of properties from Asia and the Pacific on the World Heritage List, and raising awareness towards protection and conservation of the natural world heritage.

CURRENT AFFAIRS 30th August, 2014

1. Centre is considering a ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes based on the recommendations of an expert panel set up by the health ministry. Electronic cigarettes is a vapour device that delivers a nicotine minus the smoke. It's safety is not yet proved and its use has been regulated in UK and EU. Recently, Punjab banned them.

2. Asian Development Bank will provide up to 7-9 billion loan to the India over the next three years for developing its infrastructure. It will also provide around $30 million for technical assistance grants for building institutions and capacity at the state and local levels.

3. Reliance Industries Ltd plans to invest about $13 billion in energy projects, including a crude refinery at its Jamnagar complex. It would process cheap, heavy crudes that are increasingly available to Asia due to increase in shale gas explorations.

4. Malaysia's airline AirAsia has launched a two month-long free user trial of its on board Wi-Fi service. It is designed to provide low-cost, affordable Internet connectivity to airline passengers on selected flights.

5. Supreme Court may frame guidelines for media over covering criminal cases and briefing by investigating agencies considering the increasing instances of media trials. Trials by media and public condemnation of accused is happening based on the basis information provided by police and prosecutors although the trial remains to conclude.