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• On 12th November 2018, World Pneumonia Day was observed throughout the world.


• In 2009, the first World Pneumonia Day was observed as a joint effort by various organisations.


• This day aims to create awareness about pneumonia and focus the efforts to protect, prevent and treat pneumonia.


• Pneumonia is one of the major causes of deaths in children under 5 years of age. It is a lung infection caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites.

Source: Cick Here

• On 13th November 2018, World Kindness Day was celebrated all over the world.


• In 1998, World Kindness Day was introduced by the World Kindness Movement, which is a coalition of various kindness NGOs. World Kindness Day is observed annually on November 13.


• The World Kindness Movement was formed at a conference in Tokyo, Japan, in 1997. Over 28 countries are members of this movement.


• World Kindness Day highlights good deeds in the society, and stresses on the importance kindness as a binding factor between members of the society.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, according to a report by Which? Travel, Iceland is the safest country to visit.


• It ranked 20 of the most popular destinations around the world for its safety.


• The data was compiled after considering several factors like crime rates, the likelihood of terrorist attacks, natural disasters and health concerns.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 12, 2018, the 2-day meeting for trade Ministers of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership began in Singapore.


• Indian delegation will be headed by : Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri. Suresh Prabhu.


• Singapore is the current chair of the ASEAN countries and so it is hosting the summit.


• This ministerial meeting will be followed by RCEP Leaders Summit on November 14, 2018.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, the 2 day 3rd annual meeting of World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Councils concluded in Dubai, UAE.


• Experts to identify new ideas and models that can be applied to critical global challenges.


• This year’s Annual Meeting theme is: Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.


• Comprising 38 distinct councils, the community of Global Future Councils covers subject areas like Global financial system, geopolitics, cities and urbanization, cybersecurity and the bio-economy.


• Ideas generated at the meeting will be adopted and integrated into the programme of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, in January 2019.


• 3 new councils were introduced Biodiversity and the Bio-economy, which aims to protect nature through innovative technology and business models, New Social Contract, whose mandate is to rethink the future of work, education and gender parity, Advanced Energy Technologies, which has been charged with developing ways to accelerate global energy transition.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, Government approved the process of constitution of new Boards of Governors for the IIMs as per the IIM Act 2017.


• This was announced by Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar.


• This process is in accordance with the provisions of the Section 10 of the IIM Act 2017, andhas been approved in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice.


• According to the Section 10 of the Act, 3 Ex-officio members will select Chairperson, He would lead the further process of constitution of the Boards.


• 5 alumni from each of the IIMs will be selected , who will normally be the current serving members.


• In the first meeting of the Board, the regulations for selection of (4)eminent persons and two faculty members would be framed.


• This process is expected to be completed before 15th Dec 2018.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy prepared a draft of new Scheme called Indian Wind Turbine Certification Scheme (IWTCS).


• This was done in consultation with National Institute of Wind Energy Chennai.


• The draft Scheme comprises of guidelines for the benefit of all the stakeholders from concept to lifetime of wind turbine.


• This would benefit Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) End Users -Utilities, SNAs, Developers, IPPs, Owners, Authorities, Investors and Insurers.

• On November 13, 2018, Government set up a state of -the- art National Data Repository.


• This was announced by the Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan at the DG Carbons Roadshow programme in Abu Dhabi.


• This will consist of a database of all the Geo-scientific data of hydrocarbon resources in the country populated – over 9.3 lakh line kilometres of 2D seismic, 2.8 lakh square km of 3D seismic and 1,717 well data.


• This will enable organization and regulation of data for use in future exploration, and development, besides use by R&D and other educational institutions.


• It will be wholly funded by Government of India and will be housed with the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.


• With this, India has joined the league of countries like UK and Norway which have a National Data Repository for the upstream sector.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 12, 2018, INS Rana reached the port of Surabaya to participate in the 7-day inaugural edition of Indian Navy – Indonesian Navy Bilateral Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’.


• To strengthen bilateral relations, expand maritime co-operation, enhance interoperability and exchange best practices.


• It would include operations such as Joint Manoeuvres, Helicopter Operations, Surface Warfare exercise, ASW exercise and Anti-Piracy exercises.


• India is represented by : INS Rana of the Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, India increased its financial contribution to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).


• This was announced by First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Mahesh Kumar at the UN General Assembly Fourth Committee meeting on the UNRWA.


• It was increased five-fold to the agency’s core budget, from one million dollars in 2016 to five million dollars in 2018.


• India is also committed to contribute five million dollars in 2019.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, Kochi Corporation and Vilnius signed a memorandum of understanding of cooperation in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania.


• The MOU was signed by Kochi Corporation delegation and opposition leader K.J. Antony to Vilnius.


• It was signed as a part of the European Union (EU) project ‘International Urban Cooperation’.


• The delegation held discussions on urban development policies, cultural heritage, democratic administrative system and modern technologies of both cities.


• According to the MOU, in January 2019, the Vilnius team will visit Kochi to identify more areas of cooeperation between the two cities.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, Union minister of state for Ayush Shripad Naik laid the foundation stone for the All India Institute of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy at Dhargal, North Goa.


• The project will be a medical hub and will contribute to research due to its proximity to the biodiverse Western Ghats and the sea.


• The institute will house a 100-bed hospital, outpatient department and a research centre; and offer postgraduate and PhD courses.


• It will also boost tourism in Goa by offering various short-term courses on yoga and naturopathy.

Source: Cick Here

• From 4th October to 11th November 2018, the international cricket team of West Indies visited India and played 2 Test matches, 5 One Day Internationals (ODIs) matches and 3 Twenty 20 International (T20I) matches.


• India won the Test Series 2-0 against West Indies. Prithvi Shaw was named the man-of-the-series.


• Prithvi Shaw who is 18-year-old finished the series with 237 runs. He became the 15th Indian to score a Test century on debut.


• The first Test match was played in Rajkot from October 4 to 8, 2018. Second Test match was played from October 12 to 16, 2018, in Hyderabad.

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• On 11th November 2018, Czech Republic won the 2018 Fed Cup Trophy for the 6th time in eight years, in Czech Republic.


• Czech Republic defeated defending champion United States 3-0 in the final and won the 2018 Fed Cup.


• It was the first victory for Czech Republic against United States, since Czech Republic was created after separation from Czechoslovakia in 1993.


• U.S. has won 18 Fed Cups so far. Lucie Safarova and Helena Sukova of Czech Republic were awarded the Fed Cup Commitment Awards.

Source: Cick Here

• On 10th November 2018, 7 people including Elvis Presley were announced as recipients of Presidential Medal of Freedom, by the White House, United States.


• Elvis Presley is awarded the medal posthumously for his contribution to American culture.


• Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor of the United States of America. The recipients will be awarded the medal on 16th November 2018.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, Late Dr. Martha Farrell was honoured with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 6th Indian Social Work Congress in New Delhi.


• She was recognized for her lifelong work towards gender equality, women’s empowerment and prevention of sexual harassment at workplace.


• In 1991, she co-founded Creative Learning for Change, an NGO for students, teachers and facilitators in non-formal settings.


• In 2014, she published the first Indian book on the subject, “Engendering the Workplace: Gender Discrimination and Prevention of Sexual Harassment in Organizations”.

Source: Cick Here

• Amnesty International has withdrawn ‘Ambassador of Conscience’ Award, from Myanmar Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi, accusing her of supporting human rights abuses by not taking efforts to stop violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority.


• Amnesty International awarded Ambassador of Conscience Award, which is a human rights award, to Aung San Suu Kyi in 2009.


• On 11th November 2018, 73-year old Aung San Suu Kyi was informed of the withdrawal of this award.


• She has been withdrawn from various international honours because of the Rohingya issue that started in August 2017.


• Over 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar’s western border into Bangladesh following Myanmar military’s attack which was done in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks on the security forces.


• Myanmar military has been accused of launching a campaign of killings, rape and arson.

Source: Cick Here

• The Centre has appointed 4 new members to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) Society.


• These members have been appointed for a term till April 26, 2020, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.


• They replace 3 previous members and one member who had resigned. Pratap Bhanu Mehta had resigned in 2016.


• The other 3 members who have been replaced are: economist Nitin Desai, retired bureaucrat B.P. Singh and professor Udayon Misra.

Source: Cick Here

• On 9th November 2018, Vodafone Group appointed Sanjiv Ahuja as a non-executive director with immediate effect.
  
• Sanjiv Ahuja is the Chairman of Tillman Global Holdings, which was founded by him in 2013.


• He was Chief Operating Officer and President of Telcordia Technologies. He held various roles in Orange Telecommunications namely Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive and Chairman.


• He was CEO and Chairman of wireless broadband companies LightSquared and Augere.


• He also founded and chaired Eaton Towers, a telecom infrastructure company, in Africa.


• He was on the boards of Telenor ASA, Network Appliance, Cadbury Schweppes and Williams Sonoma.

Source: Cick Here

• On November 13, 2018, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced appointment of Siddharth Tiwari as Chief Representative for Asia and the Pacific.


• He succeeded Eli Remolona, who was Chief Representative of the Asian Office from 2008 to 2018.


• Prior to this, he served as the Executive Secretary to the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance.


• He also is a veteran of the International Monetary Fund.

Source: Cick Here

• NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has planned to send tissue chips or organs-on-chips, to the International Space Station (ISS) to test their response to stress, drugs and genetic changes.


• The tissue chips are small devices containing human cells in a 3D matrix. They are made of flexible plastic. They have ports and channels to provide nutrients and oxygen to the cells inside them.


• This “Tissue Chips in Space” initiative will help to understand the role of microgravity on human health and disease.


• NASA is planning the investigations in collaboration with: Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes for Health (NIH).


• The 1st phase will have 5 investigations. An investigation of immune system ageing will be launched on the SpaceX CRS-16 flight, in 2018.


• 4 investigations on lung host defence, the blood-brain barrier, musculoskeletal disease and kidney function, will be launched on SpaceX CRS-17 or subsequent flights.


• Four more projects are scheduled for launch in 2020: 2 on engineered heart tissue, 1 on muscle wasting and 1 on gut inflammation.

Source: Cick Here

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has issued an announcement of opportunity (AO) to international space scientists to propose their scientific payloads to be carried on its mission to Venus planned for 2023.


• This AO has a specific objective to identify important science experiments that are in line with the pre-selected proposals from India.


• Proposals will be accepted till December 20, 2018. Payload capacity of the proposed satellite will be around 100 kg with 500W of power.


• The satellite’s proposed highly inclined orbit around Venus is expected be around 500 Km X 60,000 km.

• On 10th November 2018, sports journalist Roshan Lal Sethi died following a long term illness, at his residence in Delhi.


• He was 81 years old. In 1964, he started his career as a sports journalist with Motherland newspaper. Till 1975, he was associated with it as sports editor.


• He also worked with the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, National Herald, Navbharat Times and Sandhya Times.