Daily Current Affairs 26 September for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.
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NATIONAL NEWS
India gets its 54th Tiger Reserve “Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve” in MP
The Madhya Pradesh Government recently announced the establishment of the “Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve”; marking the seventh tiger reserve in the state and the 54th in the country.
- Until now, MP was home to six tiger reserves Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Satpura, Pench, Panna and Sanjay-Dubri.
- MP retained the “tiger state” status in the 2022 census with the number of big cats in the state rising to 785 from 526 in 2018.
India’s first lighthouse festival took place in Goa
Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterway Sarbananda Sonowal to inaugurate India’s first lighthouse festival from the Fort Aguada Lighthouse at Panjim in Goa.
- The three-day festival beginning September 23 will be celebrated across all the lighthouses in the country as part of an effort to transform these historic spots as tourist destinations, the statement said.
India allows 75,000 tons of non-basmati white rice export to UAE
India has lifted the ban on the export of non-basmati white rice and allowed the export of 75,000 tonnes to the UAE.
- Notably, the export of non-basmati white rice was prohibited from July 20 to check the domestic prices and ensure domestic food security.
- The exports to UAE are permitted through National Cooperative Exports Limited, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
World’s 2nd-largest Hindu temple outside India to be inaugurated in US
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha has said the Swaminarayan Akshardham at Robbinsville Township in New Jersey will be formally inaugurated under the guidance of its spiritual head Mahant Swami Maharaj on October 8 and will be opened for visitors from October 18.
- The world’s second largest temple constructed outside India measures 255 ft x 345 ft x 191 ft and spans over 183 acres. It has been designed according to ancient Hindu scriptures and includes design elements from ancient Indian culture including 10,000 statues and statuettes, carvings of Indian musical instruments and dance forms.
- The New Jersey Akshardham temple is possibly the second largest after Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The 12th-century Angkor Wat Temple Complex, the largest Hindu temple in the World, is spread over 500 acres and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Amazon to invest up to $4 billion for minority stake in AI startup Anthropic
Amazon is set to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic, a leading rival to ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, as it prepares to up the stakes in the AI wars.
- The deal gives Amazon a minority stake in Anthropic, while the startup will use AWS cloud and Trainium, a chip purpose-built by Amazon to rival Nvidia’s processors and support the training of AI models.
- Anthropic, which bills itself as an “AI safety and research company,” was founded in 2021 by former employees of OpenAI, and has since become one of the fastest-growing AI companies having raised $750 million before Amazon’s backing.
SPORTS
Asian Games 2023: India women’s cricket team wins Gold after beating Sri Lanka
India women’s cricket team defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final to win a gold medal in the ongoing Asian Games 2023. This was India’s second gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games.
- Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss for India and opted to bat first in the final. Opener Shafali Varma was the first to fall, departing with Sugandika Kumari picking up her first wicket of the day.
- Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues then stitched a crucial 73-run stand to get India back in the game.
IndianOil unveils India’s first green hydrogen-run bus that emits just water
India’s largest oil company, IOC, showcased the country’s first green hydrogen-powered bus that emits only water, as it takes the lead in developing unparalleled instruments to replace fossil fuels.
- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) would manufacture nearly 75 kg of hydrogen by splitting water using renewable electricity. This hydrogen will be utilized to power two buses that will make trial runs across the national capital region.
- For the test run, IOC’s R&D Centre in Faridabad is producing green hydrogen. The buses can go 350 kilometers on four cylinders with a capacity of 30 kg.
APPOINTMENTS
Pramila Mallik becomes the first women speaker of Odisha legislative Assembly
Senior Biju Janata Dal leader Pramila Mallik was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, becoming the first woman to occupy the prestigious post.
- Speaker in-charge Rajanikant Singh announced Mallik’s election as the first woman Speaker of the Odisha Assembly at a special session held before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of the House.
- The opposition BJP and Congress did not field any candidate for the election to the Speaker’s post.
AWARDS
Waheeda Rehman to be conferred with Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Veteran actor Waheeda Rehman will be honoured with this year’s Dadasaheb Phalke Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest recognition in the field of Indian cinema, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur announced.
- Waheeda Rehman is regarded as one of India’s finest actors and is best known for her roles in films like “Pyaasa”, “CID”, “Guide”, “Kaagaz Ke Phool”, “Khamoshi” and “Trishul”.
- In a career spanning over five decades, the legendary actor has worked in more than 90 films across languages.Earlier, she has also received National Film Award for her role as a clanswoman in “Reshma and Shera” (1971).
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
NASA capsule carrying asteroid samples lands safely on Utah desert
A NASA space capsule carrying the largest soil sample ever scooped up from the surface of an asteroid streaked through Earth’s atmosphere and parachuted into the Utah desert, delivering the celestial specimen to scientists.
- The gumdrop-shaped capsule, released from the robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx as the mothership passed within 67,000 miles (107,826 km) of Earth hours earlier, touched down within a designated landing zone west of Salt Lake City on the U.S. military’s vast Utah Test and Training Range.
- The final descent and landing, shown on a NASA livestream, capped a six-year joint mission between the U.S. space agency and the University of Arizona. It was only the third asteroid sample, and by far the biggest, ever returned to Earth for analysis, following two similar missions by Japan’s space agency ending in 2010 and 2020.