For the first time, Mumbai is to host the 34th annual conference of the Asian Bankers Association (ABA) on 16th and 17th November 2017.
34th annual conference of the Asian Bankers Association (ABA):
Sainik Sankshema Sabha:
The resignation of Bangladesh Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha:
Spain’s Marc Marquez won his sixth world championship and fourth in the premier MotoGP category with third place at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix.
Marc Marquez – fourth MotoGP world title:
i. Marc Marquez was holding a commanding 21-point lead in the championship from Andrea Dovizioso and he was guaranteed the title with a top-11 finish or if Dovizioso failed to win the race.
ii. Dovizioso crashed out five laps from the end. Marc Marquez finished in the third position and won the MotoGP world title in the Valencia MotoGP 2017.
iii. Marquez’s Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa won the race. France’s Johann Zarco finished in the second position.
iv. The Honda team secured a ‘triple crown’ comprising the constructor, rider and team championships.
New organic material that generates electricity:
i. The researchers have created a thin, flexible, rubbery material that generates electricity when stretched and compressed. This works using Piezo-electric effect.
ii. To create this material, polar nanoparticles and silicone must be shaped before they are connected. Then, a strong electric field is introduced into the thin, elastic film to create the piezoelectric effect, which is achieved by exposing the material to extremely hot, then cool temperatures.
iii. This could be used in pressure sensors, pacemakers, other medical devices, clothing, control buttons, or even wearable monitors that generate electricity from the wearer’s movement.
VegEze:
i. VegEze app has been developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). It aims to encourage Australians to add extra vegetables to their daily diets.
ii. CSIRO nutritionists will study how effective the app’s game-like nature is at changing people’s eating patterns as part of a broader research study.
iii. VegEze challenges users to eat three different vegetables at their evening meal daily for 21 days. It will track their intake and tally vegetable serves, with reminders and rewards.
iv. VegEze app features educational resources, including a visual guide to optimum serve sizes, recipes, and nutritional information.
About Bharat Net Project:
Bharat Net Project, formerly known as National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) was launched by Central Government in October 2011 with an aim to deploy high-speed optical fiber cables across rural areas of India.
The United Nations is set to open its first official talks on the use of autonomous weapons, including killer robots, at the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) for 5 days, in Geneva.
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW):
i. The meeting is chaired by Indian ambassador on disarmament, Amandeep Gill. He said that, anything resembling a ban, or even a treaty, is unlikely to be imposed on killer robots.
ii. The discussion will also include civil society and technology companies. It will be partly focused on understanding the types of weapons in the pipeline.
iii. Proponents of a ban, including the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots pressure group, insist that human beings must ultimately be responsible for the final decision to kill or destroy.
Nepal canceled power project with Chinese firm:
i. Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa announced that the power project with Chinese firm has been canceled as directed by the parliamentary committee. It is said to be canceled due to irregularities and lack of transparency.
ii. Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project is a storage type project, located in Central/ Western Development region on the Budhi Gandaki River of Nepal.
iii. The project was granted to the Gezhouba Water & Power (Group) Co Ltd (CGGC) company one and a half year ago by the the Nepal government, headed by Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Shri Narendra Modi Resilient Rice Field Laboratory:
i. Narendra Modi unveiled a plaque to mark the inauguration of the ‘Shri Narendra Modi Resilient Rice Field Laboratory’. He also undertook a symbolic groundbreaking for a new plot for submergence tolerant rice varieties and presented two Indian rice seed varieties to the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) gene bank.
ii. He interacted with several Indian scientists working at IRRI. He also reviewed a photo exhibit showcasing flood-tolerant rice varieties, drought tolerant rice varieties, salinity tolerant rice varieties and IRRI’s work with women farming cooperatives.
India’s first Air Dispensary in North East:
i. The Union Minister of DoNER, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the Air Dispensary plan might be implemented, by the beginning of 2018. As per the plan, the helicopter will be based at two locations, namely Imphal in Manipur and Meghalaya in Shillong.
ii. From these two locations, specialist doctors, paramedical staff, and necessary equipment would move into the helicopter and hold a dispensary in different locations across the eight States of North Eastern Region.
iii. On its way back, the helicopter can transport a sick patient, requiring admission, to a city hospital. He also said that three twin-engine helicopters would be placed for initial operation on six routes in the region around Imphal, Guwahati, and Dibrugarh.
© 2018 BreakInerview