*CURRENT AFFAIRS (23:05:2014)

1. Indian women's badminton
team writes history in the Uber
Cup by reaching Semi-final.
- The team is now assured of
historic bronze medal even if they
lose the Semi-final to Japan.
2. European Parliament elections
2014 gets going; Britain and
Netherlands are first two of the
28 Euro countries to ballot.
- The 8th parliamentary election
since the first direct elections in
1979, is spread over four days
(May 22-25) where 400 million
Europeans are eligible to vote.
- Its for the first time that the pan-
European political parties are
fielding candidates to elect the
president of the European
Commission - EU's executive body.
3. Former IB chief Rajiv Mathur
succeeds Sushma Singh as the
new Chief Information
Commissioner of India.
- He will have a short tenure of
just 3 months ending on August
23, when he attains 65 years of
age.
- CIC is appointed either for a
maximum of five-year term or till
65 years of age, whichever is
earlier.
4. Indian American boy Akhil
Rekulapelli wins National
Geographic Bee 2014; pockets
$50,000 college scholarship.
- The 13-year old from Virginia,
outclassed fellow Indian American
Ameya Mujumdar in the final
round.
- The 26th annual edition
witnessed 5 of the top 10
competitors belonging to Indian
descent.
- Indian-origin Sathwik Karnik had
captured the title last year.
5. World observes 'International
Day for Biological Diversity 2014'
on May 22.
- The theme for this year is 'Island
Biodiversity'.
- The day is celebrated globally to
increase understanding and
awareness of biodiversity issues.
6. Mumbai gets its first floatel
(floating hotel) namely 'AB
Celestial'.
- The dining floating hotel, to be
docked at Bandra under the
Bandra-Worli Sea Link, will be
open to public from mid-August.
- India already has several floatels
in places like Kolkata, Goa, Kerala
etc.