17th January 2014 Current Affairs Updates

17th January 2014 Current Affairs Updates

International Affairs

• The Australian government said Friday it had apologised unreservedly to Jakarta after its navy "inadvertently" violated Indonesian waters, but vowed to pursue a hardline policy to halt asylum-seeker boats.
• The White House has released a summary of the implementation deal of the six-month interim nuclear agreement with Iran, in an attempt to ease pressure from domestic opponents of the pact.
• US President Barack Obama has called up British Prime Minister David Cameron discussing a host of issues that included the Syrian crisis, Af-Pak situation and also briefed him on a review of NSA intelligence activities.
• The Syrian government allowed supplies to enter two contested front-line areas near the capital, a relief official said today. 

National Affairs

• 4th death anniversary of former Chief Minister of West Bengal JyotiBasu observed today.
• The seventh edition of the popular Jaipur Literature Festival, begins today at Diggi Palace on Friday. It will feature as many as 240 speakers, including two Nobel laureates — Amartya Sen and Harold Varmus — who will engage in conversations on a wide range of subjects.
• Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today issued a showcause notice to its dissident MLA Vinod Kumar Binny, a day after his outburst against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the party leadership.
• Intensified Pulse Polio campaign from January 19th in Odisha, around 45.2 lakh children to be benefitted.
• In a press meet at Delhi on January 17, Gita Siddartha, president of the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) introduced 23 the brave-hearts, who will be honored with National Bravery Awards. Of the 23 — nine girls and 14 boys — two children will be awarded posthumously.

Deaths

• Legendary actress of yesteryears Suchitra Sen (82) died in a Kolkata hospital.
• Jose Sulaiman (82), the longtime head of the World Boxing Council who introduced rules to protect boxers, died today. 
• Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, was found dead at a five star hotel room in New Delhi today. 

Sports

• India lead ICC ODI team rankings table with 120 ratings points followed by Australia (114) in second position and England (111) in third.
• Captain Mithali Raj was the highest-placed Indian batter at seventh, while Jhulan Goswami was the best-placed bowler at 12th in the latest ICC women's cricket Twenty20 rankings issued Monday.   
• The BCCI on Friday announced a 30-member probables list for the ICC Women`s World Twenty20 to be played in Bangladesh which will be held from March 23 to April 6, 2014.