GK and Current Affairs Updates

Founder: Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala. Four new hermit species of crab has been found by them. These hermit crabs are ubiquitous animals. They are not true crabs, as they lack an external shell on their soft abdomen which leaves them vulnerable to predators. 

   Four new species.
1.    Paguristes Luculentus 
•    Found from the coast of Kollam.
•    Luculentus refers to the livid living colour of the crustacean. 

2.     Diogenes Canaliculated
•    Belongs to Diogenidae family, which are left handed hermits. 

3.     Pagurus Spinossior. 
•    Belongs to paguridae family. 

4.     Pinnotherid crab
•    Named as Ratnakara, means Indian Ocean in Sanskrit 

For the very first time, astrophysicists have found the technique to determine the presence of strong magnetic fields deep inside the pulsating giant stars. Researchers used Asterosesimology– (Similar to seismology) to track waves travelling through stars in order to determine their inner properties. The study analysed data from the Kepler satellite, a space telescope that measures stellar brightness variations with very high precision.

Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta wins the Hoogveen International open chess Tournamen against Neeloptal Das in the ninth & final round. This tournament consists of Hoogeveen matches, the Hoogeveen open & 2 amerture tournaments, all will take place in the town hall of Hoogeveen.Hoogeveen is a municipality and a town in the, north eastern Netherlands. 
 

The project will provide an alternate access route to the North-Eastern region of India and contribute towards the region's economic development. Being a key connectivity project, it will promote economic, commercial and strategic links between India and Myanmar. 

Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project was jointly identified by the India and Myanmar to create a multi-modal mode of transport for shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India to Myanmar as well as to the North- Eastern part of India through Myanmar. 
This project, which will connect Sittwe Port in Myanmar to the India-Myanmar border, is expected to contribute to the economic development of the North-Eastern States of India, by opening up the sea route for the products. It also provides a strategic link to the North-East, thereby reducing pressure on the Siliguri Corridor. 

In a collective order, the Supreme Court has struck down on the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) law meant to replace the two-decade old collegium system of judges appointing judges in higher judiciary. A Bench of five judges of the SC held the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act and the NJAC Act 2014 "unconstitutional and void".The Supreme Court also held that the Collegium system as it existed before the NJAC 'operative'. The five-judge Bench listed the petitions on November 3 to invite suggestions to improve the working of the existing Collegium system. "Help us decide for a better system of judicial appointments," Justice J.S. Khehar told the Centre and the petitioners. The Bench said that the judgment was the "collective view of the court".The Bench struck down on the government's arguments that the question of validity of the NJAC and the 99th Constitutional Amendment should be referred to a larger Bench in light of the two 'Judges Cases' of 1993 and 1998.The NJAC Act was meant to replace the two-decade old collegium system of judges appointing judges in higher judiciary. The SC rejected the plea of Centre that the petition challenging NJAC Act be referred to a larger Bench.The NJAC was a body created to end the two-decade-old Supreme Court Collegium system of judges appointing judges to the highest courts in the land.

Marlon James, the Jamaican novelist, has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for “A Brief History of Seven Killings.” He is the first Jamaican author to win the prize in the British award’s 47 years. It’s also the first for his publisher, Oneworld Publications.The novel is fictional retelling of the 1976 attempted murder of Bob Marley.

Scientists have found fossilized remains of a 125-million-year-old rat-sized mammal in Spain, pushing back the earliest record of preserved mammalian hair structures and inner organs by more than 60 million years. The microscopic structures of hair and spines in the specimen, named Spinolestes xenarthrosus, are the earliest-known examples in mammalian evolutionary history. Spinolestes xenarthrosus lived in the Cretaceous period and belonged to an extinct lineage of early mammals known as triconodonts. 
Its teeth and skeletal features indicate it was a ground-dweller that ate insects. Its soft tissues, with discernable microscopic structures, were preserved through a rare process known as phosphatic fossilization.Individual hair follicles and bulbs, as well as the composition of individual hair shafts, could be identified using an electron scanning microscope. 
Spinolestes had remarkably modern mammalian hair and skin structures, such as compound follicles in which multiple hairs emerge from the same pore. It had small spines around a tenth of a millimetre in diameter on its back, similar to modern hedgehogs and African spiny mice, which appeared to be formed by the fusion of filaments at follicles during development. 
 

The UN General Assembly has elected Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning January 1 next year. The new members, elected in one round of voting here yesterday, will serve until December 31, 2017. 

The five overall seats available for election in 2015, distributed regionally, were: two seats for the African Group (currently held by Chad and Nigeria); one seat for the Asia-Pacific Group (currently held by Jordan); one seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (currently held by Chile); and one seat for the Eastern European Group (currently held by Lithuania). 

The Western European and Others Group is contesting no seats this year, as its two seats (currently held by New Zealand and Spain) are up for election every even calendar year. The five permanent Council members, which each wield the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United  States. The non-permanent members that will remain on the Council until the end of 2016 are Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela. India has led the charge among developing nations to press for reform of the Security Council to make it more representative and in line with the realities of the 21^st century. 

Last month, the 193 member General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution to commence negotiations in the 70th session of the UNGA on Security Council reform on the basis of a text that would have the positions of various nations on the increase in the number of permanent and non-permanent seats and use of veto in a reformed Council. 

About UN Security Council.
Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Each of the Council's members has one vote. Under the Charter, all UN Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions. The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. The Security Council also recommends to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and the admission of new Members to the United Nations. And, together with the General Assembly, it elects the judges of the International Court of Justice. 

Mr Oli, 63, won 338 votes in a parliamentary ballot, easily defeating Sushil Koirala on 249Oli, of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), has vowed to speed up rebuilding after an earthquake. He will also have to quell protests over the new constitution aimed at bolstering Nepal’s transformation to a peaceful democracy.
 

A R Rehman was on 8 October 2015 chosen for the 2015 Hridaynath Mangeskar Award.The Academy award winning music composer and singer was chosen by the Hridayesh Art for his contribution to the Indian music in his career spanning over two decades.He is expected to receive the award from veteran film maker Subhash Ghai on 26 October 2015 at a function in Mumbai.