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Indians Top Facebook's Bug Bounty Programme

Facebook today said it has paid Rs. 4.84 crore to researchers in India as part of its bug bounty programme, the most paid till date by the world’s largest social networking platform.
тЧП    India, which has over 142 million Facebook users, also holds top rank among 127 countries in terms of researchers contributing to its bug bounty programme, it said in a blog.
тЧП    A bug is an error or defect in software or hardware that causes a programme to malfunction. It often occurs due to conflicts in software when applications try to run in tandem.
тЧП    While bugs can cause software to crash or produce unexpected results, certain defects can be used to gain unauthorised access to systems.
тЧП    Since its launch in 2011, Facebook’s bug bounty programme has received over 2,400 valid submissions and has awarded more than USD 4.3 million to 800-plus researchers globally.
тЧП    Under the programme, researchers get rewarded for reporting security bugs, identifying vulnerabilities in Facebook’s services or infrastructure that can create security or privacy risks.
 

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Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Bob Dylan on 13 October 2016 won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.
тЧП    Dylan was bestowed with the precious award for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.
тЧП    Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, artist and writer.
тЧП    His early songs such as Blowin' in the Wind and The Times They Are a-Changing became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements.
тЧП    His lyrics have incorporated various political, social, philosophical and literary influences.
тЧП    His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but songwriting is considered his greatest contribution.
тЧП    Since 1994, he has published six books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries.

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King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand Passes Away

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away on 13 October 2016 at Bangkok, Thailand. He was 88.
тЧП    King Adulyadej was the world’s longest reigning monarch.
тЧП    After the demise of the Thai King, 63-year old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to become the new king.
тЧП    Bhumibol Adulyadej was the ninth monarch of Thailand from the Chakri Dynasty as Rama IX.
тЧП    He was also known as King Bhumibol the Great.
тЧП    He was crowned King of Thailand on 5 May 1950 at the Royal Palace in Bangkok.
тЧП    He was the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history, serving for 70 years, 127 days.
тЧП    During his reign, he was served by a total of 30 prime ministers beginning with Pridi Banomyong and ending with Prayut Chan-o-cha. They are otherwise known as Bhumibol's Thirty.
тЧП    Forbes estimated his fortune to be $30 billion US dollar in May 2014.


 

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World Powers to Try Again for Syria Ceasefire


Despite repeated setbacks on the path to peace in war-wracked Syria, the United States and Russia will give diplomacy another chance, as Washington convenes international talks in Europe this weekend to try to secure a ceasefire that sticks.
тЧП    The meetings come after Syria was plunged into some of the worst violence it has seen, as government forces backed by Russian airpower push a brutal assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
тЧП    Fresh air strikes in Aleppo on Wednesday left at least seven dead.
тЧП    In the Swiss city, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov should be joined by their counterparts from Turkey and Gulf countries.
тЧП    Lavrov named Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — all backers of Syrian opposition forces — as possible participants. 
тЧП    French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Putin to push for a ceasefire, despite the repeated setbacks.

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Revised Ethanol price to Public Sector OMCs Approved by CCEA

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 13 October 2016 approved the mechanism for revision of ethanol price for supply to Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to carry out the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme.
тЧП    The administered price of ethanol for the Programme will be 39 rupees per litre for the next sugar season from 1 December 2016 to 30 November 2017.
тЧП    Charges will be paid to the ethanol suppliers as per actuals in case of Excise Duty and VAT or GST and transportation charges as decided by the oil marketing companies.
тЧП    The prices of ethanol will be reviewed and suitably revised by Government at any time during the ethanol supply period depending upon the prevailing economic situation and other relevant factors.
тЧП    The revision in ethanol prices will facilitate Government in providing price stability and remunerative prices for ethanol suppliers.

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Maldives Quits Commonwealth


The Maldives on Thursday pulled out of the Commonwealth calling as “unjust” the grouping’s decision to penalise the island nation over the circumstances that led to then President Mohamed Nasheed’s ouster in 2012 and the lack of subsequent progress in resolving the political unrest.
тЧП    The Maldives Foreign Ministry termed “difficult” but “inevitable” the decision to leave the Commonwealth, a grouping of 53 nations that were mostly territories of the former British Empire.
тЧП    Last month, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), had warned Maldives of suspension from the bloc expressing its “deep disappointment” over the country’s lack of progress in resolving the political crisis.
тЧП    Severely critical of Commonwealth, the Maldives said in the name of promotion of democracy, the grouping used the country to increase the organisation’s own relevance and leverage in international politics.

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Draft National Water Framework Bill, 2016 taken up by Central Government

With an aim to resolve the inter-state disputes over river water sharing, the Union Government in October 2016 came out with a draft National Water Framework Bill, 2016. 
тЧП    The bill seeks to set up a mechanism to develop and manage river basin in an integrated manner.
тЧП    This mechanism will help the states to get equitable share of the river’s water without violating rights of others.
тЧП    It calls for establishment of a River Basin Authority for each inter-state basin to ensure optimum and sustainable development of rivers and valleys.
тЧП    It proposes establishment of institutional arrangements at all levels to solve disputes through negotiations, conciliation or mediation before they become acute.
тЧП    It also devises an integrated approach to conserve water and manage groundwater in a sustainable manner.
тЧП    It says that every person has a right to sufficient quantity of safe water for life within easy reach of the household.

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India to ban Release of Potent GHG


Environment Minister Anil Dave has said India will no longer permit the release of HFC-23, a family of potent greenhouse gases, released when local companies produce the refrigerant HCFC-22.
тЧП    Mr. Dave is at Kigali, Rwanda, in the midst of thrashing out a deal with the developed countries to amend the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 agreement whereby countries have agreed to limit the emission of gases that destroy the ozone layer.
тЧП    The latest amendment is to discuss the phasing out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs, of which HFC-23 is one), only beginning to be used in India and still used in the developed countries and once a replacement for the ozone-destroying gases. 
тЧП    Over the years, HFCs were found to be exacerbating global warming.
тЧП    The Kigali talks will also discuss the years by which the developing and the developed countries will cap HFC emissions and switch to a new suite of gases that cause less global warming and become the mainstay of home and car air-conditioners and industrial cooling solutions.


 

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October 13 : International Day for Disaster Reduction

International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) was observed globally on 13 October 2016 with theme Live to Tell: Raising Awareness, Reducing Mortality. 
тЧП    The day encourages every citizen and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and nations.
тЧП    The 2016 edition marks the launch of the new "Sendai Seven" campaign by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). 
тЧП    Sendai Seven is centred on the seven targets of theSendai Framework, the first of which is reducing disaster mortality. 
тЧП    UNISDR’s campaign seeks to create a wave of awareness about actions taken to reduce mortality around the world.
тЧП    Earlier, the day was celebrated on the second Wednesday of October (Resolution 44/236, 22 December 1989). 
тЧП    But in 2009, the UN General Assembly formally designated 13 October as the annual date (Resolution 64/200, 21 December 2009).


 

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First World Tsunami Awareness Day to be celebrated on Nov 5

The First World Tsunami Awareness Day will be celebrated on 5 November 2016 at the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016.
тЧП    The event will be organised with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champions at the Conference.
тЧП    The significance of the day to tsunami awareness can be traced back to the year 1854. 
тЧП    A villager in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, was concerned about an impending tsunami after a high-intensity earthquake on 5 November 1854. 
тЧП    He set up a fire to rice sheaves on the top of a hill. 
тЧП    Fellow villagers, who went atop to put off the fire, were saved even as a tsunami destroyed their village down below. 
тЧП    This was the first documented instance of a tsunami early warning.
тЧП    To commemorate that day of “Inamura no Hi” (the burning of rice sheaves), a resolution was jointly proposed by 142 countries including Japan as a follow up of the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 
тЧП    The United Nations designated the 5th November as World Tsunami Awareness Day.

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