National
PM Narendra Modi inaugurate Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction:-
i) Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in New Delhi
ii) The conference has been organised by Union Government in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
iii) 2016 AMCDRR will pave the way for implementation of the Sendai framework in the Asian region and will also devise a mechanism for monitoring its progress.
India’s first titanium project starts test production in Odisha:-
i) The first titanium project of India has started its test production Ganjam district of Odisha. The project has been established by Saraf Group.
ii) This is first of its kind titanium plant and the only one in the country. During the test run, one of its four furnaces became functional.
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan:-
i) The Union Government launched Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals.
ii) The Scheme was launched by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda in New Delhi. It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his monthly radio address Mann Ki Baat in June 2016
iii) The national programme aims to provide pregnant ladies free ante-natal services (ANC) and required treatment for free on 9th of every month.
iv) Objectives of the scheme are (i) Provide healthy life to the pregnant women. (ii) Lowering the maternity mortality rate. (iii) Making pregnant women aware of their health issues and diseases. (iv) Making sure safe delivery and healthy life of the baby.
v) The scheme is applicable only for the pregnant women in their pregnancy period of 3 to 6 months. It will provide all kinds of medical checkups completely free to pregnant women.
James Webb Space Telescope construction completed:-
i) The telescope, which took nearly 20 years to build, will replace the 26-year-old Hubble Space Telescope
ii) JWST is the largest-ever space telescope is expected to launch in 2018 following the in-depth testing.
iii) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope optimized for observations in the infrared. It is a planned to be launched in 2018 on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.
iv) JWST has been named after James E. Webb, former administrator of NASA. It was formerly known as the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST).
Paris Agreement on Climate Change inforced now:-
i) The Paris Agreement to combat climate change officially entered into force after 55 parties to the convention accounting for at least 55% of total GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions ratified it.
ii) In this agreement all countries must pursue to keep global temperature rising below 2°C by 2100 above pre-industrial levels with an ideal target of keeping temperature rise below 1.5°C.
Maharashtra launch cyber police stations in all districts:-
i) Maharashtra has become the first state in the country to have a cyber-police station in each district to take on cyber criminals. In this regard, state government is converting 42 state-of-the-art cybercrime labs into cyber police stations simultaneously.
ii) The cyber-crime wing of Maharashtra government had proposed to set up 51 cyber-crime labs across the state take on cyber criminals. These included 34 labs at the district level, 7 labs at Inspector General’s offices, 9 labs at Commissioner of Police offices and 1 lab at the state police headquarters.
President approves 2% hike in Dearness Allowance:-
i) President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday approved the 2% hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees, a move that could benefit 50.68 lakh employees and 54.24 lakh pensioners.
ii) DA is provided to employees and pensioners to minimise the impact of price rise on their earnings. Earlier this year, DA was hiked 6% to 125% of the basic pay.
India-Bangladesh joint military exercise SAMPRITI-2016 begins:-
i) The seventh edition of India-Bangladesh joint military exercise SAMPRITI-2016 has commenced to practise counter-terrorism and disaster-management operations.
ii) The 14-day (from 05 to 18 November 2016) joint military exercise will be held at Shaheed Salauddin Cantonment in Tangail, Dhaka (Bangladesh’s Capital).
iii) The SAMPRITI 2016 will simulate a scenario where both nations are working together in a Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism environment under the UN Charter.
India sign deals with Venezuela to increase oil production:-
i) India and Venezuela have signed an oil production deals worth about 1.45 billion US dollar to increase oil production.
ii) The agreement was signed between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Venezeulas Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), and Venezuela’s consortium Delta Finance BVin Caracas.
Short News
i) Veteran Bollywood actress and Rajya Sabha MP Rekha will be honoured by the upcoming Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) with a Lifetime Achievement Award. DIFF is an annual film festival held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
ii) Seventh century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and scholar Xuan Zang (also spelled Hsuan Tsang) stayed a couple of years in Bezawada (the old name of Vijayawada) to copy and study Buddhist scriptures.
iii) The Union Government has announced that the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 which envisages supply of subsidised foodgrains has been implemented across the country.
iv) Google Capital, the search giant’s venture arm that invests in growth-stage companies, has changed its name to ‘CapitalG’.
v) The world football governing body FIFA announced a 23-man shortlist for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016. The shortlist features five Real Madrid players and four Barcelona players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
vi) Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh has been named the Indian ambassador for Switzerland Tourism.
vii) Twenty-six-year-old Uppma Virdi, an Indian hailing from Punjab and settled in Australia received the ‘Businesswoman of the Year Award’ at the India Australia Business Community Awards.
vii) Latvia has become the first country in the Baltic Sea area to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to link up with China’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) Initiative.
vii) Technology giant Google has tied up with Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) for 360 degree virtual tour of 280-odd monuments across the country.
viii) The First World Tsunami Awareness Day was observed across the world on 5 November 2016 to spread awareness among people across the world about Tsunami