The Daily Brief – 10th October, 2016

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• Ahead of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping‘s visit to India for the BRICS Summit to be held in Goa, China has said it is ready to continue its dialogue, to “build consensus” with India on its membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). It also stuck to its position regarding the decision to stall U.N. sanctions on Masood Azhar, the chief of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) group. The NSG is a 48 nation group.
• For the first time in the history of student politics in Aligarh Muslim University, three girls won in the student union elections, the results of which were declared yesterday. Ghazala Ahmad, Sadaf Rasool and Labiba Sherwani were elected as cabinet members of the AMUSU. All three contested for the first time.
• In a first, a researcher from Pune’s Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) has successfully produced a stable, high-efficiency, all-inorganic perovskite nanocrystal solar cells. The new material has 10.77% efficiency to convert sunlight to electricity.
• Annoyed with the non-stop flow of applications under the Right to Information Act (RTI), most of them flippant, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has recently put out an advisory stating that the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the PMO is obliged under the RTI Act to provide only such information which is under its control and related to its function(s) as defined under the Business Rules, 1961.
• A new study brings in first conclusive evidence of the role played by Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) in reducing ‘socioeconomic disparities’ existing in maternal care. The JSY was launched in 2005 as part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve maternal and neonatal health by promotion of institutional deliveries (childbirth in hospitals).
• In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court has widened the scope of the Domestic Violence Act by ordering deletion of the words “adult male” from it, paving the way for prosecution of women and even non-adults for subjecting a woman relative to violence and harassment.
• Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the State legislature of Karnataka, commemorated 60 years since its inauguration on October 10, 1956.
• The Andhra Pradesh Government is planning to set up a Space Innovation Centre at Amaravati capital city, in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to encourage young researchers keen on exploring space technology.
• Five Indian-Americans are among the richest in the U.S., according to a Forbes list of 400 people which has been topped by Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates for the 23rd year in a row.
• Indian shuttlers claimed the women’s singles and mixed doubles titles at the Russian Open Grand Prix. Fourth seed Ruthvika Shivani Gadde won the women’s singles title, while N. Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Chopra won the mixed doubles.
• Nico Rosberg won at the Japanese Grand Prix, to extend his lead over world champion Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One title race.

• British-born Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom of Finland won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their contributions to contract theory, shedding light on how contracts help people deal with conflicting interests. The economics prize is not an original Nobel Prize. It was added to the others in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank. Each award is worth 8 million kronor, or about $930,000. The laureates will collect them on Dec. 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
• The George Airport in South Africa became Africa’s first “green” airport to be powered by the sun. The solar plant, launched in September 2015, is the second solar-run airport in the world after Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery.
• NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has detected Great Balls of Fire, mysterious super-hot blobs of gas seen near a dying star. The plasma gas balls were observed near a red giant called V Hydrae, about 1,200 light years away from Earth. Red giants are dying stars that are nearing the end of their fuel supplies and have begun to expand and puff up. The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched in 1990 by NASA in collaboration with European Space Agency. It is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble and is still in operation.
• World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is observed every year on 10 October to raise awareness about mental health issues around the world and mobilise efforts in support of mental health.
• World Post Day is observed each year on October 9 to spread awareness about the postal services and their role in the everyday lives of people and businesses.

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