CURRENT UPDATE : NEPAL TO HOST 18TH SAARC SUMMIT ON 14TH NOVEMBER

18^TH  SAARC SUMMIT

Nepal will hold the 18^th  SAARC Summit in Kathmandu on 14^th  November, the third time the country is hosting the event since the establishment of eight-member regional grouping in 1985.

A cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Thursday decided to hold the summit on 14th November and directed authorities to make necessary preparations for the successful summit, according to cabinet sources. 

The date is subject to approval by SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) member states that include India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. 

Nepal had last hosted the 11th SAARC Summit in January 2002 and 3rd Summit in November 1987. 

The 17th SAARC summit was held in Maldives in 2011. 

The cabinet also decided to form various committees to expedite preparation works for hosting the summit on time. 

CURRENT UPDATE : NUCLEAR-CAPABLE PRITHVI II MISSILE TEST-FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

PRITHVI II MISSILE 

India on Friday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Prithvi II missile, with a range of 350 km, from a test range near Balasore in Orissa as part of a user trial by the Army.

Integrated Test Range (ITR) Director M V K V Prasad said the missile is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads. 

"It was a perfect launch and all mission objectives were met," he said, adding the missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher in salvo mode from launch complex-3 at Chandipur at about 9.45 AM. 

"The missile trajectory was tracked by DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located along the coast of Odisha," defence sources said. 

"The downrange teams onboard the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown," they said.

Defence sources said the training launch of Prithvi II, which was inducted into Strategic Force Command (SFC) in 2003, clearly indicate the country's operational readiness to meet any eventuality besides establishing the reliability of this deterrent component of India's strategic arsenal.

Prithvi-II is the first missile to be developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and is now a proven technology.

The missile is thrust by liquid propulsion twin engines and uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory. 

The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed SFC as part of a regular training exercise. 

It was monitored by DRDO scientists, the sources said. 

The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted from the same base on January 7, 2014.

CURRENT UPDATE : INDIA OFFICIALLY DECLARED 'POLIO FREE'

INDIA OFFICIALLY DECLARED 'POLIO FREE'

India was officially declared Polio Free by the World Health Organisation on Thursday.

India is one of the 11 countries in the South East Asian region which have been certified as being free of the wild polio virus. 

The Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad received the official certificate at a function in New Delhi on Thursday. 

This achievement makes the South-East Asia Region, the fourth WHO Region to be certified as polio-free, after the Region of the Americas in 1994, the Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the European Region in 2002. 

"India has been polio free since January 2011. India embarked on the programme to eradicate polio 19 years ago in 1995, when the disease used to cripple more than 50,000 children in the country every year", Azad said. 

"This achievement has been possible with resolute will at the highest levels, technological innovations like the indigenous bivalent polio vaccine, adequate domestic financial resources and close monitoring of polio programme, with which immunization levels soared to 99 per cent coverage and India achieved polio eradication. A 2.3 million strong team of polio volunteers and 150,000 supervisors worked day and night to reach every child," he said. 

A 2.3 million strong team of polio volunteers and 150, 000 supervisors worked day and night to reach every child. 

The Health Minister expressed gratitude towards WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others stakeholders, including the parents of the children, for their strong technical and operational support to this collective effort in this region. 

Also present at the certification ceremony were representatives from WHO and senior officers from the Ministry of Health and family Welfare. 

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK QUIZ - 149

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK  QUIZ

1. As per the decision of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), all non-machine readable passports will be phased out globally by____? 

[A]2014            

[B]2015           

[C]2016           

[D]2017

2. The Palatana power project the biggest gas-based power project in the north-eastern region has been commissioned recently by___?

[A]Reliance Power                  

[B]Tata Power

[C]ONGC                               

[D]NTPC

3. Name the Indian who has become the first male junior badminton player from India to be ranked top in the world?

[A]Naveen Singh                   

[B]Aditya Joshi

[C]Jaswanth Singh                  

[D]Mahendra Singh

4. What is India’s ranking in the recently released Nuclear Materials Security Index?

[A]20^th             

[B]22^nd            

[C]23^rd             

[D]25^th

5. Which one of the following is not a member country of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation(BIMSTEC)?

[A]China                                 

[B]Bhutan

[C]India                                  

[D]Nepal

6. Which one of the following is not a capital city of South Africa?

[A]Cape Town                        

[B]Pretoria

[C]Durban                               

[D]Bloemfontein

7. In which among the following countries “Tenharim” tribal people are living?

[A]Australia                           

[B]Kenya

[C]Brazil                                

[D]Republic of Congo

8. Which among the following has become the first in the country to implement foreign tracking system?

[A]Tamil Nadu               

[B]Karnataka

[C]Maharashtra                      

[D]Goa

9. Which among the following Planet pole is the only known hot polar vortex in our solar system?

[A]Jupiter                               

[B]Earth

[C]Saturn                                

[D]Mars

10. Name the first woman lawyer to file public interest litigation (PIL) to earn the title “Mother of PIL” who

passed away, recently___?

[A]Kapila Hingorani              

[B]Shwetha Mahadevi

[C]Anupama Rao                    

[D]Srilatha Patkar

          ANSWER

1	B	6	C
2	C	7	C
3	B	8	A
4	C	9	C
5	A	10	A

CURRENT UPDATE : G D BIRLA AWARD FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2013

G D BIRLA AWARD FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 2013

Physicist Prof. Rajesh Gopakumar has been selected for the 23^rd  G D Birla award for scientific research for the year 2013. Mr Gopakumar is presently working as a theoritical physicist at Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad and has made important contributions on topics in quantum field theory and string theory. The award is meant for scientists below the age of 50 and it carries a monetary reward of one lakh, 50 thousand rupees.

CURRENT UPDATE : CRIMEA DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM UKRAINE

CRIMEA DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM UKRAINE, APPLIES TO JOIN RUSSIA

Crimea has declared independence from Ukraine and applied to join Russia. This has evoked severe reaction from European Union and US leading to imposition of sanctions.

Reports from Simferopol, Ukraine says, Crimea's regional assembly today approved independence of Crimea from Ukrain after the controversial but overwhelming 96.6 per cent of voters on the mostly Russian-speaking peninsula chose to secede from Ukraine. The assembly also approved the decision to join Russia, saying all Ukrainian state property on the peninsula will be nationalised.

A document approved by the assembly said that Crimea also appeals to the United Nations and to all countries of the world to recognise it as an independent state.

Crimea's local prime minister Sergiy Aksyonov tweeted that starting on the 30th of this month the region will switch to Moscow time.

The document was approved by all 85 deputies present in the 100-seat assembly. 

It said that from today, Ukrainian laws will no longer apply in Crimea and decisions taken by the Ukrainian state since the ouster of Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych last month had no authority. 

US President Barack Obama in an executive order imposed sanctions related to Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

The sanction was also imposed on former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The White House said, the US on Monday imposed sanctions on seven top Russian officials, including presidential aides, and lawmakers for their alleged actions in Crimea that violated Ukraine's sovereignty.

Earlier in the day, the European Union announced travel bans and asset freezes on 21 people they have linked to the unrest in Crimea.

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK QUIZ

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK  QUIZ - 148

1. Which among the following has been adjudged “Best Motion Picture” at 71st annual Golden Globe Awards?

[A]American Hustle                

[B]Gravity

[C]12 Years a Slave    

[D]The Wolf of Wall Street

2. Recently, which of the following has become the first “5S” certified public sector enterprises in the steel industry?

[A]SAIL                                 

[B]RINL        

[C]MECON                            

[D]NMDC

3. Who among the following has won the FIFA Ballon d’ Or award for 2013?

[A]Lionel Messi                      

[B]Cristiano Ronaldo

[C]Franck Ribery                    

[D]Manuel Neuer

4. The term “Wavetable Synthesis” is related to _____?

[A]Video                                 

[B]Sound

[C]Memory                             

[D]CD-ROM

5. Which among the following countries has claimed that it overtook the United States as the world’s top trading nation, recently?

[A]Japan                                  

[B]Russia

[C]China                                 

[D]Australia

6. World Hindi Diwas is being observed every year on _____?

[A]January 6                           

[B]January 7

[C]January 9                            

[D]January 10

7. Ariel Sharon, who passed away recently, was a former Prime Minister of which country?

[A]Iran                                    

[B]Sweden

[C]Israel                                  

[D]Rwanda

8. According to Indian Council for Medical Research report, which of the following cities has largest number of child cancer cases in the country?

[A]Bangalore                         

[B]Chennai

[C]Bhopal                              

[D]Mumbai

9. Recently, South Korean steel maker giant POSCO has received environment clearance from the MoEF to set up steel plant in which state?

[A]Odisha                               

[B]Bihar

[C]Jharkhand                         

[D]West Bengal

10. In computer terminology DPI refers to: ____? 

[A]Data Process Information

[B]Dots Per Inch

[C]Data Programme Information

[D]Data Protocol Integration

           ANSWER

1	C	6	D
2	B	7	C
3	B	8	B
4	B	9	A
5	C	10	B

CURRENT UPDATE : LARGEST EVER YELLOW HYPERGIANT STAR DISCOVERED

LARGEST EVER YELLOW HYPERGIANT STAR DISCOVERED

The largest ever yellow star, measuring 1,300 times the size of our Sun, has been discovered nearly 12,000 light-years from Earth.

The star, dubbed HR 5171 A, located in the constellation Centaurus is the largest known member of the family of yellow stars to which our Sun belongs. 

It is also one of the ten largest stars found so far - 50 per cent larger than the famous red supergiant Betelgeuse - and about one million times brighter than the Sun. 

The team led by Oliver Chesneau of the Cote d'Azur Observatory in Nice, France, which studied the star with the Very Large Telescope in Atacama, Chile found that the yellow hypergiant star is much bigger than was expected, measuring 1,300 times the diameter of the Sun. 

Yellow hypergiants are very rare, with only a dozen or so known in our galaxy - the best-known example being Rho Cassiopeiae. 

They are among the biggest and brightest stars known and are at a stage of their lives when they are unstable and changing rapidly. Due to this instability, yellow hypergiants also expel material outwards, forming a large, extended atmosphere around the star. 

The team also discovered that HR 5171 A has a companion star. The companion star orbits HR 5171 A every 1,300 days. 

"The new observations also showed that this star has a very close binary partner, which was a real surprise. The two stars are so close that they touch and the whole system resembles a gigantic peanut," said Chesneau. 

"The companion we have found is very significant as it can have an influence on the fate of HR 5171 A, for example, stripping off its outer layers and modifying its evolution," Chesneau said.

Despite its great distance of nearly 12,000 light-years from Earth, the object can just about be seen with the naked eye by the keen-sighted. 

HR 5171 A has been found to be getting bigger over the last 40 years, cooling as it grows, and its evolution has now been caught in action, researchers said. 

Only a few stars are caught in this very brief phase, where they undergo a dramatic change in temperature as they rapidly evolve. 

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK QUIZ - 147

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK  QUIZ - 147

1. Y B Datuk Seri Palanivel, who was the chief guest of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas-2014, belongs to which country?

[A]Canada                              

[B]Australia

[C]Malaysia                             

[D]Indonesia

2. Ila Pathak, who passed away recently, was a famous___?

[A]Folk dancer                        

[B]Author

[C]Social activist                     

[D]Actress

3. The “Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award” is given for excellence in ___?

[A]Telugu                                

[B]Bengali

[C]Odisi                                  

[D]Rajasthani

4. World’s first Bitcoin storage service that insures deposits of the digital currency against loss and theft has launched in ___?

[A]London                             

[B]New York

[C]Sydney                               

[D]Beijing

5. The Agulhas and Kuroshio are the names refer for ?

[A]Mountains                         

[B]Ocean Currents

[C]Arctic winds                      

[D]Volcanoes

6. Which one of the following is not a capital city of South Africa?

[A]Cape Town                        

[B]Pretoria

[C]Durban                               

[D]Bloemfontein

7. Which of the following statements is true about “Nirbheek”?

[A]It is India’s first gun for woman

[B]A mobile app for woman safety

[C]Transport facility exclusively for women

[D]Fund for rehabilitation of rape victims

8. The Gangotri National Park, which is home to snow leopard, is located in ___?

[A]Uttrakhand                        

[B]Uttar Pradesh

[C]Assam                                

[D]Himachal Pradesh

9. As per the YouGov poll survey, who among the following has been named as the most admired person in world?

[A]Sachin Tendulkar               

[B]Bill Gates

[C]Barack Obama                   

[D]Narendra Modi

10. Consider the following:

1.Estonia                      2.Latvia                         3.Lithuania                   4.Finland

Which of the above correctly represents the “Baltic Nations”?

[A]Only 1, 2 & 4                     

[B]Only 2, 3 & 4

[C]Only 1, 2 & 3                    

[D]1, 2, 3 & 4

           ANSWER

1	C	6	C
2	C	7	A
3	B	8	A
4	A	9	B
5	B	10	C