(International News)

India, US Air Forces exercise Ex Cope India-2018
Air Forces of India and US began their 12-day joint exercise “Ex Cope India-2018” in West Bengal. It is fourth edition in series of bilateral joint exercise held by Air Forces of two nations conducted in India. 
Important
This edition of exercise is aimed at providing operational exposure to air force personnel of both countries and undertake mutual exchange of best practices for enhancing operational capability. It will be focused on enhancing US-Indian mutual cooperation and building on existing capabilities, aircrew tactics and force employment.

China, U.S. declare 90-day halt to new tariffs 
China and the United States have agreed to halt new tariffs as both nations engage in trade talks with the goal of reaching an agreement within 90 days, the White House announced after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held high-stakes talks in Argentina G20 summit. Mr Trump agreed not to boost tariffs on US$200 billion (S$274 billion) of Chinese goods to 25 per cent on Jan 1 as previously announced.

Former US President George HW Bush passed away 
George HW Bush became 41st president of the United States in 1989 after serving as vice-president under Ronald Reagan. His son, George W. Bush was also elected president and served two terms between 2001 and 2009. George HW Bush presided over the end of the Cold War and routed Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army but lost a chance for a second term after breaking a no-new-taxes pledge. 

(National News)

Sunil Arora takes over as new Chief Election Commissioner of India 
Sunil Arora assumed charge as 23rd Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India. He succeeded OP Rawat who retired on 1 December 2018.
Sunil Arora
Sunil Arora is retired IAS officer of1980-batch from Rajasthan cadre. He had retired in April 2016 as Information and Broadcasting secretary. Prior to this, he was skill development secretary. He has also worked in ministries and departments such as Finance, Textiles and Planning Commission and also has served as CMD of Indian Airlines for five years.

Bank of Maharashtra appoints A.S. Rajeev as MD and CEO
The 54-year-old previously served as the Executive Director of Indian Bank and had also been the CFO of Vijaya Bank. He will hold the position for a period of three years or till further orders, whichever is earlier.

(International News)

First global conference on Blue Economy held in Nairobi  
Kenya, Japan and Canada co-hosted the first global conference on the sustainable blue economy in Nairobi from 26 to 28 November 2018, in an event which brought together over 4,000 participants from around the world. It builds on the momentum of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris and the UN Ocean Conference 2017 “Call to Action”.

(National News)

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 
The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is observed on December 2 every year with an objective to raise awareness about slavery and its impact on the society. This day marks adaptation of resolution ‘Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Prostitution of Others’ by United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 2 December 1949.

Telangana State signed pact with British Council
The Telangana government and British Council have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen educational and cultural cooperation and support the knowledge ambitions and economic growth of Telangana. The signatories, Alan Gemmell, Director, British Council India, and Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Information Technology, signed the MoU in the presence of Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi. The British Council has aimed at inspiring youngsters from across Telangana and India to build a relationship with the UK for the next 70 years. Mr. Joshi hoped that the MoU will expand the scope of the Council’s engagements in developing the skill of young people.

First India-ASEAN InnoTech Summit held in New Delhi
The first India-ASEAN InnoTech Summit was held in New Delhi. It was organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in association with Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Ministry of External Affairs.
Objectives of this summit were
Explore avenues of cross country partnerships with Indian R&D-based enterprises.
Capture global trends in technology management and strategy
Advance progressive ideas for policy reforms and regulatory environment
Create avenues for industry-academia-government partnerships
 

(National News)

Kimberley Process Certification Scheme 
India will Chair Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) from 1st January 2018. It was was handed Chairmanship by the European Union during KPCS Plenary 2018, which was held in Brussels, Belgium. 

Commitments of India as KPCS Chair
1. Make KPCS stronger process in terms of inclusiveness, strengthened administration and implementation.
2. Make KPCS more efficient in terms of delivery of what it promises, more transparent and empathetic towards living standards of people who are dependent on production, trade and manufacture of diamonds.

eDrishti software launched to help Railways Minister keep track of punctuality of trains
Indian Railways unveiled ‘eDrishti’ software that will help Union Railway Minister to keep track of punctuality of trains as well as freight and passenger earnings and much more from anywhere in the country. 
eDrishti software
Using this software, Railway Minister can track any information with just a click of mouse — whether from his office or while on the move.

India and China sign agreement to inspect fish meal, fish oil imports
India and China signed protocol on hygiene and inspection requirements for exports of fish meal, fish oil imports from India to China.

Highlights of meeting
Both Indian and Chinese sides appreciated each other’s concerns and agreed to resolve market access issues expeditiously to achieve the vision of the leaders of both the countries by promoting a more balanced trade.

Indian Owl Festival, Indias first owl fest, held in Pune

The Indian Owl Festival, India’s first owl fest, was held at Pingori village in Purandar taluka of Pune, Maharashtra. The festival was organized by Ela Foundation.  It created awareness on owl conservation and feature art forms like pictures, paintings, lanterns, lamp shades, posters, origami, stitched articles, poems and stories on owls.  

(Space News)

ISRO successfully launches earth observation satellite HysIS 
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched country’s first advance earth observation satellite Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) along with 30 other satellites from eight countries.
Important
PSLV-C43 was 45th flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) with combined payload of 641.5kg. It was ‘Core Alone’ version of PSLV i.e. lightest version of the launch vehicle. PSLV is four stage launch vehicle with alternating solid and liquid stages.

National News

India, UK begin Ex 'KONKAN-18'
KONKAN-2018 will be conducted from November 28 to December 6 off Goa with units participating from both navies. 
The Bilateral KONKAN exercise provides a platform to periodically exercise at sea and in harbour, so as to build interoperability and share best practices. 
Aim : 
- deriving mutual benefit from each others’ experiences .
- indicative of the continuing cooperation between the two countries. 

Himachal First State To Launch Emergency Number 112 
Himachal Pradesh became the first state in the country to implement the Emergency response support system(ERSS),in which all the emergency numbers have integrated into one number-112.
Minister said anybody in distress, especially women, should call 112 from landline or mobile phone or by using the ERSS. The ERSS would also help in optimum utilization of manpower and prompt action on all the emergency calls.
“8 States achieve 100% household electrification under Saubhagya; total 15 States now have

100 % household electrification”, announces the Power Minister 
8 states are:  Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar, J&K, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana and West Bengal.
Saubhagya – ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ was launched in September, 2017 with the objective to provide access to electricity to all the remaining households in the country.
The Government is committed to ensure 24x7 access to electricity for all by 31stMarch 2019.”

Casio India Presents the World's First GST Calculator
The new GST calculators are launched to provide solutions for GST based invoicing.
The company has brought in 2 GST calculators MJ-120GST and MJ-12GST in the Indian market
 

BSNL’s 3,000 customer service centres to offer Aadhaar services
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will soon offer Aadhaar enrolment and updation facilities in its 3,000 customer service centres across India.
With this, BSNL joins the roaster of entities like banks and post offices that are authorised by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to offer Aadhaar services.

Award

49th IFFI Ends With Glittering Ceremony
The theme of for this year’s film festival was New India through a variety of genres of cinema, including history, action, romance and sports. Israel was focus country and Jharkhand was the focus state for this year’s IFFI. This is for the first time that any state was made focus state at IFFI.
Awards
Israeli Director Dan Wolman : lifetime achievement award

Salim Khan : IFFI 2018 Special Award
Best film (Golden Peacock) award: Donbass (Ukrainian movie) directed by Sergei Loznitsa.
Best director (Silver Peacock) award: Lijo Jose Pellissery (Malayalam film-India).
Best Actor (Male) Award: Chemban Vinod for his role in ‘Ee.Ma.Yau’ (Malayalam-India)
Best Actor (Female) Award: Anastasiia Pustovit for her role in ‘When the Trees Fall’ (Ukrainian)
Centenary Award for Best Debut Feature Film of Director: Alberto Monteras II for ‘Respeto’ (Filipino)
ICFT –UNESCO Gandhi Medal: ‘Walking with the Wind’ directed by Praveen Morchhale

Wipro's Azim Premji Honoured With Highest French Civilian Award
French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler on Wednesday honoured global software major Wipro Chairman Azim Premji with the highest French civilian award 'Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur' (Knight of the Legion of Honour) in Bengaluru, in recognition of his contribution to the Indian IT industry and philanthropy.

Appointments

AM Naik Appointed Chairman Of National Skill Development Corp
Naik is currently the Group Chairman of engineering conglomerate Larsen and Toubro.
About NSDC
NSDC was set up in 2008 under the Public Private Partnership model. The Centre through Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship holds 49 per cent of the share capital of NSDC, while the private sector has the balance of 51 per cent.

Appointments

Arvind Saxena Appointed UPSC Chairman
He has been working as acting head of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) since June 20.
Saxena joined the UPSC as a member on May 8, 2015. Prior to joining the UPSC, he was working as director of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC).
He is replacing Vinay Mittal

International News

Inclusive Wealth Report
The Republic of Korea, Singapore and Malta come out on top of biennial survey of growth in the wealth of nations, the preliminary findings of which were presented by UN Environment and partners today in Paris.
Inclusive wealth index, as part of the Inclusive Wealth Report 2018 has been released by the UN Environment and partners. The Inclusive Wealth Report (IWR) is a biennial effort led by the UN Environment to evaluate the capacities and performance of the nations around the world to measure sustainability of economy and wellbeing of their people.
The report also revealed that carbon damage is relatively larger in high-income countries. India too sails in the same boat, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had said last month in a report on environment accounts.

Shri Nitin Gadkari addresses the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference in Nairobi 
India endorses the growth of the Blue Economy in a sustainable, inclusive and people centred manner through the framework of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). 
National Vision in this regard is clearly articulated in the term “SAGAR”- Security and Growth for All.
About IORA
The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is a dynamic inter-governmental organisation aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region through its 22 Member States and 9 Dialogue Partners.

Sports News

Magnus Carlsen Won Chess World Championship Title 
Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has defended his chess world championship title by beating American challenger Fabiano Caruana 3-0 in rapid tiebreaker games.
It’s the third time the 27-year-old Carlsen has successfully defended his title after winning it from Viswanathan Anand of India in 2013.

Sports

The Ironman Comes To India 
On October 20, 2019, the world’s 127th Ironman 70.3 race, and India’s first, will be held in Goa, in a culmination of discussions for two-and-a-half years.
Licensed by Yoska, a Bengaluru-based fit-tech start-up founded by Deepak Raj and Rudraprasad Nanjundappa, the race includes an open-water swim of 1.9 km, a bike ride of 90 km, and a run of 21.1km, totalling 113.1 km.
The brand ambassadors, Pete Jacobs, an Australian-born professional triathlete who won the IRONMAN World Championship in 2012; and Jaimielle Jacobs, a four-time IRONMAN 70.3 Age Group Champion, are expected to tour the country to introduce the race.

Science and technology

ISRO to launch HysIS satellite 
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the PSLV-C43/HysIS mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
HysIS – India’s own earth observation satellite. 
About HysIS
Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite
Aim : to provide observations within the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Science news

Newly discovered deep-sea microbes
The team uncovered new microbial species that are so genetically different from those that have been previously studied that they represent new branches in the tree of life. Many of these same species possess keen pollutant-eating powers, like other, previously identified microbes in the ocean and soil.
Beneath the ocean floor huge reservoirs of hydrocarbon gases -- including methane, propane, butane and others -- exist now, and these microbes prevent greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere.
Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin's Marine Science Institute have discovered it.

National News

Health Ministry launches a new state-of-the art Information Platform to monitor public health surveillance 
Union Health Secretary did soft-launch of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) segment of Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) in seven states . 
The path-breaking initiative will provide near-real-time data to policy makers for detecting outbreaks, reducing the morbidity and mortality and lessening disease burden in the populations and better health systems.

Making of New India book released 
Released by finance minister Arun Jaitley today, in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the book, Making of New India, put together by the nationalist think tank Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (SPMRF) and members of the Niti Aayog, is an attempt seen as to cash in on Modi’s image as "a hands-on decision-maker obsessed with efficiency and accountability", ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

NPCC is now a Miniratna 
National Projects Construction Corporation Limited (NPCC) has been conferred with the status of Miniratna : Category –I by the Government of India. The empowerment of Miniratna Status to NPCC will help the company in taking speedy decisions by enhancing the delegation of powers to the Board.
The Corporation,  incorporated in 1957, is a premier construction company having mandate with creation of infrastructure to provide impetus for economic development of the country.

International News

Gandhi Smriti to Organise ‘South Asia Regional Youth Peace Conference’
Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (GSDS), functioning under Ministry of Culture, Government of India will be organising a 3 day ‘South Asia Regional Youth Peace Conference’ .
The conference is being organized to mark the beginning of celebration of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
This conference focuses on building a network for young leaders from South Asian countries working on various social issues, to identify avenues for partnership and collaboration, support and show solidarity towards each other’s initiatives, nurture relationships and promote global citizenship to work towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

U.N. approves $9 million in aid for crisis-stricken Venezuela
For health and nutritional aid for crisis-stricken Venezuela, where hunger and preventable disease are soaring amid the collapse of the country’s socialist economic system.
The U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will support projects to provide nutritional support to children under five years old, pregnant women and lactating mothers at risk, and emergency health care for the vulnerable.
Venezuela Crisis
Arguably the biggest problem facing Venezuelans in their day-to-day lives is hyperinflation. The annual inflation rate reached 83,000% in July.

Obituary news

Mohammed Aziz passes away
Singer Mohammed Aziz, who did playback for artistes such as Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda and Rishi Kapoor, passed away on Tuesday. He was 64.
Mr. Aziz, who has over 20,000 songs to his credit, has sung in Bollywood, Bengali and Odia film industries. 
He made his film debut with Bengali film Jyoti.

Space news

InSights lands on Red Planet After 6 Months
A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile (482 million-kilometre) journey.
It was NASA’s ninth attempt to land at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes. All but one of the previous U.S. touchdowns were successful. NASA last landed on Mars in 2012 with the Curiosity rover.
InSight was shooting for Elysium Planitia, a plain near the Martian equator that the InSight team hopes is as flat as a parking lot in Kansas with few, if any, rocks.
InSight has no life-detecting capability, however. That will be left to future rovers. NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, for instance, will collect rocks that will eventually be brought back to Earth and analysed for evidence of ancient life.

National News

Vice President lays foundation stone for Kartarpur corridor
Foundation stone for the construction of Kartarpur Corridor at Mann village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. 
It will connect Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib situated at Kartarpur.
Presently, Sikh pilgrims have to go through the long visa process and have to wait for particular dates of buses to reach the Gurudwara via Wagah border. 

Lord Buddha's 70-Feet Statue In Bihar's Rajgir Unveiled
Nitish Kumar  unveiled a 70-feet tall statue of Lord Buddha at Rajgir in Nalanda district.
It is the second tallest statue of Buddha in the country.
The statue has been installed above a 16 metre radius pedestal in the middle of the lake Ghora Katora.
Tathagata Tsal – 39 m
Buddha Park of Ravangla in South Sikkim host the tallest status of Lord Buddha in India, constructed between 2006 and 2013 and Ravangla is part of the Himalayan Buddhist Circuit.

Sunil Arora next CEC
Sunil Arora is learnt to have been appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
A CEC of the Election Commission can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The convention is to appoint the senior-most election commissioner as chief election commissioner.
A former bureaucrat, Mr. Arora was appointed as Election Commissioner on August 31, 2017. He succeeds Om Prakash Rawat who retired .

International news

Ohio becomes first U.S. state to accept Bitcoin for tax payments
Ohio is now the first U.S. state to accept tax payments in the form of cryptocurrency.
Twenty-three different taxes are eligible for payment via Bitcoin. Payments made through OhioCrypto.com will be immediately converted to U.S. dollars before they are deposited into a state account.

Sports news

Dipa Karmakar grabs bronze in vault event at Artistic Gymnastics World Cup
She bagged a bronze medal in the vault event on the third day of Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus, Germany. 
She had become the first Indian gymnast to win a gold at the World Challenge Cup.
On 6 July 2016, FIG honored Dipa by naming her World Class Gymnast. At Rio Olympics she achieved 4th place in vaults.

National news

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (IDEVAW) is observed every year across the world on 25 November. Observance of this day seeks to raise awareness about violence against women and girls, end violence against women.
The UN theme for this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (25 November – 10 December) under the UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign is “Orange the World: #HearMeToo”.

7th International Tourism Mart 2018 being organised in Agartala 
The 7th edition of the ‘International Tourism Mart’ was held in Agartala, the capital city of Tripura. It was organised by Union Ministry of Tourism in association with Department of Tourism, Government of Tripura and North Eastern States. The theme for this year is “Adventure Tourism”.
Important
This edition of tourism mart is expected to witness wide participation of international buyers and media delegates from countries around the world and from different regions of the country.

Andhra Pradesh Government launches Bhuseva and Bhudaar web portal
Andhra Pradesh Government has launched Bhuseva and Bhudaar web portal through which people can view land records online. People can get land record records online through these portals using Aadhaar card.
Bhudaar
It is 11 digit unique identification code to be assigned to each agriculture land holding and rural and urban property. It will allow people to get land details on their mobile phones. It will help to transparency in land records. It provides information related to all transactions of particular land or property in single source.

70-feet tall statue of Lord Buddha unveiled at Rajgir in Nalanda district
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar unveiled 70-feet tall statue of Lord Buddha at Rajgir in Nalanda district of state. It is second tallest statue of Buddha in the country.
Important
The statue has been installed above 16 metre radius pedestal in middle of lake Ghora Katora. It has been made from 45,000 cubic foot pink sand stone. Ghora Katora is natural lake surrounded by five hills.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands home to tenth of India’s fauna species 
Andaman & Nicobar Islands are to home to tenth of India’s fauna species and hosts 1,067 endemic faunal species found nowhere else. It was revealed by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) publication titled Faunal Diversity of Biogeographic Zones: Islands of India.
ZSI publication
Total area of A&N Islands, which comprises of 572 islands, islets and rocky outcrops, is about 8,249 sq. km has around total 11,009 species. It comprises only 0.25% of India’s geographical area but is home to more than 10% of country’s fauna species.

Sports News

Syed Modi International : Sameer Verma retains title
Sameer Verma gives India a perfect end to the tournament, WINS men's singles final .
Saina Nehwal settles for silver.
About Syed Modi International Badminton Championship
It is is an international badminton tournament, which is held annually in India. Annually held in Lucknow at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.

Harmanpreet Kaur named captain of Women’s World XI
Harmanpreet Kaur was named captain of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 XI.
A selection panel comprising former players and commentators Ian Bishop, Anjum Chopra and Ebony Rainford-Brent, journalist Melinda Farrell and ICC's General Manager - Cricket, Geoff Allardice, picked the team on the basis of the players' performances in the tournament.

National News

Government of India to observe the remembrance of100 years of the historical Jallianwalla Bagh massacre
The Government is  planning to renovate the historical site by creating suitable infrastructure for providing basic amenities for the tourists.
The commemorative coin and postage stamps will be released on 13th April, 2019 (the day the incident took place 100 years ago).

National news

International conference on microbiome research
From November 19 to 22, Pune hosted it.
India’s Project on Biome:
The project will include collection of saliva, stool and skin swabs of 20,000 Indians across various ethnic groups from different geographical regions. India provides for a wide range of research with more than 4,500 ethnic groups and presence of two global biodiversity hotspots (Himalayan range and Western Ghats).

Nahid Afrin appointed by UNICEF as first 'Youth Advocate' of northeastern region

Aim : to fight for child rights.
The UNICEF engages 'Youth Advocates' to harness their voice as agents of change in society. 
About Nahid Afrin
Nahid made her playback debut in the 2016 Bollywood film 'Akira' starring Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. She received the best female playback singer award at the Assam state Film Award 2018.

International news

First-Ever MIT Scientists Fly Silent Plane With No Moving Parts 
Built and flown the first-ever silent airplane with no moving propellers or jet turbines.
The new light aircraft, inspired from the movie and television series "Star Trek", carries neither propellers or turbines, nor it depends on fossil fuels to fly.
The plane, detailed in the journal Nature, was developed around the concept of "ionic wind" or electrodynamic thrust, which dates back to the 1920s.

IMD will now use new forecast technique
It will assess the impact of downpours over water levels in rivers and reservoirs.
The IMD chief referred to it as an “Impact Based Forecasting Approach,” which can present a “pre-event scenario,” and believes it will assist governments on the ground to make real-time decisions.
There was also a talk about the technology to identify “warm ocean segments” developed last month, which can help the IMD better identify and forecast the impact of unpredictable cyclones like Ockhi.