The Daily Brief – 6th November, 2016

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• According to a new announcement by the Central government, the Centre will track air travel data and may look for unusual ticket purchases in a bid to keep a check on terror. The aviation security apparatus is being spruced up with a profiling upgrade, under which potential troublemakers will come under the scanner of aviation security authorities the moment their tickets are booked.
• The Centre has called a meeting of Environment Ministers of all the neighbouring States to the NCR of Delhi to discuss curbs on stubble burning by farmers which has turned the Capital into a “gas chamber”.
• China will feature as the ‘Focus Country’ in the 22nd edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), beginning on November 11.
• In Delhi’s worst spell of persistent pollution in nearly two decades, the city’s air quality slipped into the ‘hazardous’ level. Low wind speed and high moisture content ensured that the city remained engulfed in smog and suffered poor visibility throughout the day. Perhaps for the first time, the three municipal corporations of Delhi closed schools under their jurisdiction, numbering around 1,700, due to the high level of pollution.
• National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart agreed to hold the next round of border talks in India next year at a daylong meeting held in Hyderabad. Mr. Doval and China’s State Councillor Yang Jiechi discussed a gamut of issues covering bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
• After a gap of six months, the Union government has agreed to a resolution passed by the judiciary in the Chief Justices and Chief Ministers Annual Conference in 2016 to use the services of retired High Court judges with proven integrity and track record to tackle pendency of cases. The provision to use the services of retired judges is open to the Chief Justices of High Courts under Article 224A of the Constitution with the previous consent of the President as an extraordinary measure to tide over case pile-ups.
• India and Sri Lanka have agreed to set up a Joint Working Group on Fisheries (JWG) and a hotline between their Coast Guards to address the long-standing issue of fishermen from Tamil Nadu being arrested.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to head for New Delhi on her first trade mission, and her first bilateral visit outside the European Union. The visit, which has been pegged as one of May’s first major opportunities to showcase post-Brexit Britain to the world, is taking place under a cloud of uncertainty, with Parliament set to get a say in the process of exiting the EU, and toughening immigration rules governing Indian temporary workers and students. Accompanied by International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Trade Minister Greg Hands, Ms. May is set to arrive in New Delhi today, leading a 40-member business delegation.
• The Karnataka State government has released Rs. 107 crore for establishing a world-class Bengaluru School of Economics, which will commence functioning from the next academic year (2017–18).
• The 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) adopted the ‘New Delhi Declaration’ and the ‘Asian Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework’. The next AMCDRR will be held in Mongolia in 2018. The Conference also commemorated the first World Tsunami Awareness Day (observed on 5 November) to spread awareness on tsunamis. India and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction also signed a Statement of Cooperation (SoC) of the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).

• Britain’s Andy Murray became the new World No. 1 after Milos Raonic withdrew from their ATP Paris Masters semifinal with injury. With this, Murray replaces Novak Djokovic as World No. 1.
• Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad was crowned World champion in squash for the first time when three-time winner Ramy Ashour was forced to quit, in the fourth game of the World squash championship final in Cairo.
• India beat China 2-1 to win the women’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament held in New Delhi this year.
• Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a browser extension “Stop Clickbait” that can detect and block clickbaits.
• The Canadian navy is heading to the coast of British Columbia to investigate claims that a diver may have come across a lost nuclear bomb — a Mark IV bomb that went missing during the Cold War.