GK and Current Affairs Updates

The 8th BRICS summit ended here on Sunday with the adoption of the Goa Declaration which pledged opposition to terrorism, even as India failed to get a consensus on references to “cross-border terror” and Pakistan-based terror groups in the final statement.
●    The text of the declaration did not name any country specifically as the source of cross-border terrorism but officials maintained that India did get the diplomatic edge it wanted from the summit.
●    Reflecting international concern, the Goa Declaration of the BRICS summit, which concluded here on Sunday, pointed out the need for countering the Islamic State which has occupied territories in Iraq, Syria, and Libya.
●    The declaration called for resolution of the civil war in Syria, in accordance with the “legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria” and sought action against U.N.-designated terrorist groups like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.

India and Hungary on 16 October 2016 signed two agreements to enhance the bilateral relations between the two countries.
●    The first agreement is for cooperation in the field of water resources, including innovations in irrigation technology. 
●    The second agreement is for promotion of co-operation between Indian Council of World Affairs and its Hungarian counterpart.
●    The two agreements were inked in Budapest during Vice President, Mohammad Hamid Ansari's visit to that country. 
●    Vice President is on a two-nation tour to Hungary and Algeria.
●    During the visit, Vice President had bilateral discussions with Hungary's Prime Minister Victor Orban and other leaders. 
●    He also met the Hungarian President Janos Ader and the Speaker of National Assembly.

The five-nation group BRICS agreed to set up an independent rating agency based on market-oriented principles, saying it would further strengthen the global governance architecture.
●    “We believe that BRICS institution-building is critical to our shared vision of transforming the global financial architecture to one based on the principles of fairness and equity,” the declaration stated. “...to further bridge the gap in the global financial architecture, we agreed to fast-track the setting up of a BRICS Rating Agency,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement at the conclusion of the BRICS Summit.
●    Batting for a rating agency backed by BRICS, New Development Bank president K.V. Kamath had expressed concerns over methodologies of the three global agencies (S&P, Fitch, Moody’s) saying that these constrain growth in emerging nations. He had said that ratings of multilateral banks like the BRICS-promoted NDB were affected by the parent countries’ ratings, despite having deep capital buffers.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) on Thursday released a discussion paper on listing of Indian insurance firms.
●    The Irdai proposed that insurance firms having completed eight years of operations in case of general and reinsurance, and 10 years of operations in case of life insurance, can go for mandatory public listing.
●    As per the regulatory framework in place, a insurance company can get its shares listed through an offer-for-sale or through a public issue for meeting capital requirements.
●    All life insurance firms shall take steps to get their shares listed on completion of 10 years of operations, it said, adding all companies which have already exceeded the number of years of operations shall initiate steps to ensure that they get their shares listed within three years from the date of issue of directions under these guidelines.

●    Andy Murray defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (1), 6-1 to win the Shanghai Masters on Sunday, his second title in as many weeks and the sixth overall in what is shaping up to be his most successful season on tour.
●    Bautista Agut challenged Murray with his powerful forehands and sharp angles in the first set, keeping the second-seeded Scot on the defensive and forcing him to commit errors.
●    Serving for the set at 5-4, Murray appeared distracted by movement in the crowd and wasted three set points before Bautista Agut broke back to level the match. 
●    Murray settled down in the tiebreaker, however, and closed out the second set in just 31 minutes.
●    He had 16 unforced errors in the opening set, but only three after that.
●    No player outside the top 10 had beaten the top two ranked players in the same tournament since David Nalbandian beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to win the Paris Masters in 2007.

Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza could contain two previously unknown "cavities", scientists using radiography to scan the millennia-old monument said on Saturday
●    The antiquities ministry cautiously announced finding "two anomalies" in the pyramid built 4,500 years ago under King Khufu, with further tests to determine their function, nature and size.
●    At 146 metres (480 feet) tall, Khufu pyramid, named after the son of pharaoh Snefru, is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
●    It has three known chambers, and like other pyramids in Egypt was intended as a pharaoh's tomb.
●    Another "cavity" was discovered on the pyramid's northeast flank, said the researchers who are using radiography and 3D reconstruction for their study.

India and Russia on 15 October 2016 signed 16 agreements during India-Russia Annual Summit across multiple sectors. 
●    The MoUs were signed in Goa during India-Russia Annual Summit co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Putin is on a visit to India to attend 2016 Goa BRICS summit.
●    Following MoU took place:  
●    MoU on studying perspectives for cooperation in shipbuilding, implementation of infrastructure projects, transfer of technologies and training foreign specialists.
●    MoU on Cooperation in the implementation of smart cities program in India with the use of IT solutions of the Russian companies.
●    MoU on the joint study of a gas pipeline to India and the other possible areas of Cooperation.
●    Rosneft to purchase 98% Essar Oil.
●    Cooperation Agreement in the area of Education and Training.
●    MoU on setting up of Investment Fund: It was inked between NIIF and RDIF.
●    Signing of MoU for Cooperation in increasing the speed of trains between Nagpur- Secundrabad / Hyderabad.
●    MoU on Mutual Allocation of Ground Measurement Gathering Stations for GLONASS AND NAvIC.
●    MoU on expansion of Bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation.

One hundred and seven countries came to an agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, on Saturday, to substantially phase out a potent greenhouse gas by 2045 and move to prevent a potential 0.5 C rise in global temperature by 2050.
●    Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are a family of gases that are largely used in refrigerants in home and car airconditioners. 
●    They, however, substantially worsen global warming. 
●    On late Friday, India, China, the United States and Europe agreed on a timeline to reduce the use of HFC by 85% by 2045.
●    The developed countries, led by the US and Europe, according to a CSE statement, will reduce the HFC use by 85 per cent by 2036 over a 2011-13 baseline. 
●    China, which is the largest producer of HFC in the world, will reduce its use by 80 per cent by 2045 over the 2020-22 baseline and India will reduce the use of HFC by 85 per cent over the 2024-26 baseline.

The researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have developed a cost-effective, high-performance, self-powered UV photodetector.
●    The self-powered UV photodetector can use the harvested optical energy for direct self-charging of energy storage devices such as supercapacitor. 
●    It can also be used for operating electronic devices in the absence of external power source.
●    Photodector is a device capable of sensing (detecting) or responding to electromagnetic energy, typically light by using the electrical effect of individual photons.
●    The researchers have developed the photodetector by integrating semiconducting vanadium doped zinc oxide (VZnO) nanoflakes with a conducting polymer.
●    The zinc oxide (ZnO) is the base material for UV detection which can be doped with vanadium to produce photodetectors that are self-powered.
●    The photodetector has superior performance in terms of faster detection of photo signals in the order of milliseconds even when UV light intensity is low.

The International Day of Rural Women was observed across the world on 15 October 2016.
●    The theme for the day for the year 2016 is Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.
●    The theme tries to bring focus on farmers, fishers and pastoralists who are standing on the frontlines of food insecurity as temperatures rise, weather patterns become less predictable and climate-related disasters become more frequent. 
●    As key actors in food systems, as small-scale farmers and those in charge of ensuring adequate nutrition for families, rural women are at the centre of this challenge.
●    The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October 2008.
●    The day was established by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007.