1. Volkswagen, Samsung top EU list of world’s top R&D investors
i. German carmaker Volkswagen is the world’s top private-sector investor in research and development (R&D), followed by South Korean electronics giant Samsung, according to EU data released on Monday.
ii. Volkswagen topped the list with 9.5 billion euros ($ 12.8 billion) of R&D investments in 2012, while Samsung stood at 8.3 billion euros.
iii. But the figures showed that European companies have to do more to keep up with competitors in China and the United States, as the bloc seeks to overcome its economic crisis.
iv. Volkswagen was the only European firm to reach the top 10, which also comprised US-based companies Microsoft, Intel, Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, Swiss companies Roche and Novartis and Japan’s Toyota.
v. The ranking includes 2,000 global companies, of which just over a quarter are EU-based.
vi. The EU still lags behind its main competitors in business investment in R&D,” said EU Research and Innovation Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, adding that there were some “worrying signs” for the 28-member bloc.
vii. “Despite the positive results of top EU companies in important industrial sectors such as automobiles, we are still too weak in high tech sectors such as biotechnology and software,” Geoghegan-Quinn added.
2.
Global Entrepreneurship event begins
i. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is set to hit India this week.
ii. GEW, along with Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE) run by IIM Ahmedabad be held from November 18 - 24, across 29 cities with 150 events and over 10,000 participants.
iii. GEW INDIA 2013 allows CIIE to create a platform to celebrate entrepreneurship across the country and help lower the societal barriers towards entrepreneurship, said Ashwin Joshi, VP Ecosystem Development, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship.
iv. There are events ranging from simple business plan competitions to policy level discussions between academia and policy makers for the event and thus the GEW is bringing entrepreneurship in focus for the society, as well as creating an opportunity for the ecosystem to assess its successes and failures and create a better environment for entrepreneurship in the country.
3.
World’s largest cancer database launched
i. The world’s largest cancer database — containing 1.7 billion experimental results — has been launched, with an aim to discover future treatments for the deadly disease.
ii. The system, called CanSAR, is the biggest disease database of its kind anywhere in the world and condenses more data than would be generated by one million years of use of the Hubble space telescope.
iii. It contains more than eight million experimentally derived measurements, nearly one million biologically active chemical compounds and data from over a thousand cancer cell lines.
iv. The database will utilise artificial intelligence similar to the technology used to predict the weather to predict which potential drugs are likely to work in which circumstances.
v. The new CanSAR database developed by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is more than double the size of a previous version and has been designed to cope with a huge expansion of data on cancer brought about by advances in DNA sequencing and other technologies.
4.
Birla Science centre chief gets award
i. Burra Gautham Sidharth, Director, B.M. Birla Science Centre, here has been chosen for the 2013 award given by the Institute for Theoretical Physics and Advanced Mathematics Einstein-Galilei (IFM), Italy.
ii. The award recognises Sidharth’s contributions and discovery that the universe is expanding, which he theoretically predicted one year ahead of the scientific confirmation.
iii. The award consists of an IFM Diploma and a gold medal. The announcement was made by Christian Corda, Chairman of the IFM. The other awardees for the year are Douglas D. Osheroff and Franco Pettini (posthmous), a former Secretary of IFM.
5.
Abdulla Yameen sworn in as the President of Maldives
i. Abdulla Yameen has been sworn in as the 6th President of the Maldives on 17 November 2013.
ii. The Chief Justice of Maldives, Ahmad Faiz at a special session of the Parliament in Male administered the oath of office to Abdulla Yameen. Mohammad Jameel was sworn in as vice-President.
iii. Yameen (54) a candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) secured 51.39 percent of votes, whereas the opposition leader and the former President Mohamed Nasheed received 48.61.
iv. Election Commission of Maldives, declared the results of the election on 16 November 2013 in which it declared Yameen, the half-brother of former autocratic ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as the President elect. -
6.
Malta to Host Next Commonwealth Summit in 2015
i. Malta, a Southern European country was on 17 November 2013 unanimously chosen as the host of the next Commonwealth summit in 2015.
ii. The decision was made at the retreat session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka after Mauritius withdrew as host of the 2015 Commonwealth summit as a result of its prime minister's boycott of the Colombo summit over Sri Lanka's human rights concerns.
Note: i. This is second time for Malta to host the Commonwealth summit. Before this, Malta hosted a Commonwealth Summit in 2005.
About Malta Malta is a southern European country in the Mediterranean Sea. The country covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi), making it one of the world's smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta which is also the smallest capital in the EU. Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English.
About CHOGM 2013 The 22nd CommonwealthHeads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 15-17 November 2013 on the theme Growth with Equity: Inclusive Development. The event concluded with the adoption of the independent declarations - on Youth, International Trade and Inclusive Development and the release of Summit Communiqué.
7.
India successfully Test Fired Advanced Version of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile
i. India on 18 November 2013 successfully test-fired the advanced version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Pokhran test firing range in Rajasthan.
ii. The block III variant of BrahMos with deep penetration capability was test launched from a Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL).
iii. The missile after launch followed the predetermined trajectory and successfully pierced the designated concrete structure.
iv. The 290-km BrahMos flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach and carries a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg. The missile can be launched from multiple platforms including land, sea, sub-sea and air.
8.
Waheeda Rehman to receive first Centenary film award at IFFI
i. Waheeda Rehman, the veteran actress of Bollywood will be conferred with the inaugural Centenary Award for the Indian Film Personality of the Year 2013 at the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on 20 November 2013.
ii. The award will be given to her in recognition of her contributions to the film industry. She has been selected unanimously by the team of five member jury.
iii.The award has been instituted by the Government of India to mark the 100 years of Indian Cinema. It includes a prize amount of 10 lakh rupees and a citation.
9.
Bolt and Fraser-Pryce were crowned World Athletes of 2013
i. The Jamaican sprinters, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were crowned the male and female World Athletes of the Year, 2013 on 16 November 2013. They were selected as the world athletes of the year by the sport's governing IAAF at a ceremony in Monaco.
ii. Gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 relay at the Moscow Worlds in August helped Bolt to take his all-time tally to eight golds and two silvers at the championship.
iii. Usain Bolt had been the World Athlete of the Year in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, previously. Bolt won 10 out of his 11 100m races (including heats), and was unbeaten in his five races over 200m.
10.
Rapid Metro-India's First Private Metro service started operation from Gurgaon, Haryana
i. Rapid Metro-India's First Private Metro service started operation from Gurgaon, Haryana on 14 November 2013. Rapid Metro is India's first fully privately financed Metro system connecting NH-8 to Delhi Metro via Cyber City, Gurgaon.
ii. Rapid Metro, with an elevated route and six stations with a frequency of every four minutes, can carry 800 passengers in each trip.
iii. The 5.1 km long route covers six stations-Sikanderpur, Phase-2, Belvedere Towers, Cyber City, Moulsari Avenue and Phase 3. T
iv. The Rapid Metro is using a common ticketing system with Delhi Metro.
About Rapid Metro Rail System
Rapid Metro is a metro rail system in the Indian city of Gurgaon, Haryana, linked with the Delhi Metro system's Yellow Line. Built and operated by Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon Limited (RMGL), the system is India's first fully privately financed metro.
11.
India moved to second position in ICC test ranking
i. In the latest ICC test ranking, India moved to the second position, following the 2-0 victory over West Indies on 16 November 2013. South Africa stood at the top position with 131 points, which is followed by India with 119 ratings point. England stands at third position with 116 points.
ii. India in the two match test series made a clean sweep of West Indies. India defeated the West Indies in the second match with an innings and 126 runs in Mumbai.
iii. The second match of the series was also the last match of Sachin Tendulkar, as he hung his bat and gave an end to his 24 years long cricketing career -
12.
Sebastian Vettel won the United States Grand Prix for record 8th successive victory –
i. Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull’s team on 17 November 2013 won United States Grand Prix. France's Romain Grosjean in Lotus was second with Red Bull's Mark Webber took the third place.
ii. This was his eighth successive race of Vettel in a season. With this win he succeeded ahead of Michael Schumacher’s previous record of winning seven races in a row in the same season, which was set in 2004.
iii. This was also vettel’s 12th win of the season and if he wins the year-ender in Brazil than he will tie with Michael Schumacher Formulae one record of 13 victories in a single season.
13.
Sachin ends Test career in 18th position in ICC rankings
i. Legendary Sachin Tendulkar has ended his record-breaking 200-Test career by finishing 18th in the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen as he jumped five places in the latest chart, released on Sunday.
ii. Tendulkar had entered the series in 24th position, which was his lowest since 1992. He scored 74 runs in his final innings in the Mumbai Test against the West Indies.
iii. Cheteshwar Pujara is the highest-placed Indian in the batting chart. Pujara has moved up two places to a career-best sixth with a best-ever 801 ratings points, following his knock of 113 in the Mumbai Test.
iii. The batting chart continues to be headed by AB de Villiers of South Africa, with teammate Hashim Amla in second place and West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul in third place.
14.
Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize-Winning Author, Died at 94
i. British Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing was died on 17 November 2013 at London.She was 94 years old.
ii. Her best-known works are The Golden Notebook, Memoirs of a Survivor and The Summer Before the Dark.
iii. In her life time she wrote more than 80 books, including poetry, two operas, short stories, plays and non-fiction. In 2007, the 88-year-old Doris Lessing became the oldest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. and only the 11th woman to win the award. –
About Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing was born on 22 October 1919, in Kermanshah, Iran. When she was 3, the family settled in southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
15.
Bengal topped the medal list of the 23rd G V Mavalankar Shooting Championship
i. West Bengal, the host of the 23rd All India G V Mavalankar Shooting Championship topped the medals tally on 16 November 2013. The championship concluded at the Chandmari Range in West Bengal. This is the first time that West Bengal topped the medal table of national level of shooting championship.
ii. West Bengal, shooters won five gold, five silver and a bronze to top the 10 day long championship. Maharashtra stood at the second position in the championship with four gold, five silver and three bronze medals. Whereas, Chandigarh was third in the list as it won three gold, one silver and one bronze medal. -
16.
Redek Stepanek clinched Davis Cup for Czech Republic
i. he Czech Republic on 17 November 2013 defended the Davis Cup title 2013 after Redek Stepanek defeated the Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in the fifth rubber of the final by BNP Paribas Final in Belgrade.
ii. With the win Stepanek handed the win too Czech Republic 3-2.
iii. With this win, Stepanek became the third player in the history to win Two Davis Cup Finals live fifth singles rubbers. He is also the first man to do so on consecutive occasions after bypassing Serbian youngster Dusan Lajovic for the loss of just five games.
Note: In 2012, he defeated Nicolas Almagro in the fifth rubber of the 100th Final in Prague. Only France’s Henri Cochet (1927, 1929 and 1931) and Britain’s Fred Perry (1933, 1936) have won two Davis Cup Final live fifth singles rubbers before - Radek Stepanek.