Daily GK Updates: 15th Oct 2014

1.    Australian author Richard Flanagan won 2014 Man Booker Prize

i. Australian author Richard Flanagan on 14 October 2014 won the 50000 pounds Man Booker Prize for his wartime novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

ii. His name was announced as the winner at London’s Guildhall and was presented the prize by The Duchess of Cornwall.

iii. Flanagan is the third Australian to win the prize after Thomas Keneally and Peter Carey. Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark won in 1982 while Peter Carey won for Oscar and Lucinda (1988) and The True History of the Kelly Gang (2001).

iv. This was the first year that the Man Booker prize was open to all authors writing in English, regardless of nationality. With this change in the rules of the prize, some writers had expressed fears that this change would lead to dominance of the US authors.

2.    Indian cop wins UN's international female peacekeeper award 

i. An Indian police inspector has been named recipient of a prestigious international female peacekeeper award by the UN's police division for her "exceptional achievements" in her duty with the UN mission in Afghanistan, including her efforts towards helping victims of sexual and gender-based violence. 

ii. Inspector Shakti Devi of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, currently deployed in the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has been awarded the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014.

iii. Devi has been honoured for her "exceptional achievements" in leading the establishment of Women Police Councils in several parts of Afghanistan, the UN Police Division said in a communication to the Indian mission.

iv. The award was delivered during the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) conference held earlier this month in Winnipeg, Canada. 

v. The honour is a competitive award given to an outstanding female police peacekeeper serving in a UN peace operation. 

vi. India is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, having contributed more than 170,000 troops in 43 out of 69 peacekeeping missions mandated by the United Nations Security Council so far. 
vii. The UN owes India USD 110 million, the second highest outstanding payment to any country, for costs relating to peacekeeping operations and troops. 

3.    Mark Zuckerberg donates $25 mn to fight Ebola

i. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on the social networking site that he and his wife, Priscilla, have donated $25 million to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention for the fight against the Ebola virus disease.

ii. We need to get Ebola under control in the near term so that it doesn’t spread further and become a long term global health crisis that we end up fighting for decades at large scale, like HIV or polio,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

iii. The founder of the popular social networking site believes that making a donation of this kind is the “quickest way to empower the CDC and the experts in this field to prevent this outcome”.

iv. Since the Ebola epidemic broke out last March, more than 4,000 people, most of them in West Africa, have died from the disease, according to the World Health Organisation.

4.    Full mobile number portability by March 31

i. Mobile phone users will soon be able to change their telecom operators and retain their numbers even if they are relocating to areas outside the service providers’ operations.

ii. At present, mobile subscribers have restricted facility of changing their telcos while retaining their number within same service area using mobile number portability (MNP). For example, a subscriber in Delhi NCR can switch operator within Delhi NCR only.

iii. The Department of Telecom has set a target date of March 31, 2015 to implement the full mobile number portability (MNP), an official source said.

iv. TRAI in its recommendation on full MNP had suggested to give telecom operators six-month time to make necessary changes in their network from the date the proposal is cleared. The source said that DoT will make efforts to get it expeditiously done in about five-month time.

5.    Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar authored by Dilip D’Souza released

i. A book titled Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar authored by writer-journalist Dilip D’Souza was released on 15 October 2014. The book has been published by Random House India and books forward has been written by Harsha Bhogle.

ii. Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar is a close scrutiny of Tendulkar’s last Test played at the Wankhede in November 2013 in which he scored 74 in the only innings that he played in the match. India won the match against West Indies by an innings and 126 runs against West Indies.

iiii. The book includes minute details of the match both on and off-field and the writer has also tried to tease out larger issues that plague the game in India as well as overseas.

6.    Vice President of India released the book titled Untold Story of Indian Public Sector

i. The Vice President of India M Hamid Ansari on 14 October 2014 released a book entitled Untold Story of the Indian Public Sector authored by Dr UD Choubey, the Director General of SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises).

ii. Today, millions of young men and women aspire to join the esteemed ranks in Indian Public Sector to contribute to the creation of a new nation. Unfortunately, over the years the Public Sector has witnessed tremendous defamation.

iii. The book throws light on various aspects of working in Public Sectors. The book provides a clear presentation of the overall environment and workings of the Public Sector that the author Dr UD Choubey had experienced.

7.    Global Handwashing Day observed across the world on 15 October

i. Global Handwashing Day (GHD) was observed across the world on 15 October 2014. Theme for 2014 GHD is Clean Hands Save Lives. 

ii. GHD is a campaign to motivate and mobilize millions around the world to wash their hands with soap as handwashing with soap is a key approach to disease prevention.

iii. Handwashing with soap is the most effective & inexpensive way to prevent diarrheal & acute respiratory infections, which take the lives of millions of children in developing countries. Together, they are responsible for the majority of all child deaths.

8.    Dubai's Burj Khalifa bags another Guinness World Records

i. The world's tallest building Burj Khalifa has clinched its newest Guinness World Records title for being the highest man-made vantage point on earth.

ii. For the first time, Emaar Properties, the developer of Burj Khalifa, opened the doors for the public on Tuesday to soak up unmatched views of the Dubai city from the all-new 'At the Top, Burj Khalifa SKY'. 
iii. The grand unveiling of Burj Khalifa-SKY was also attended by the adjudicators of the Guinness World Records, who declared Dubai's newest tourist attraction as the 'Highest Observation Deck' in the world. 
iv. At 555 metres high, Burj Khalifa bagged the laurel from Canton Tower in Guangzhou, China, which held the record for its observation deck at 488 metres high. 

v. The new honor adds to Burj Khalifa's three existing Guinness World Records titles for the Tallest Building, the Tallest Man-made Structure on Land and the Highest Restaurant from Ground Level. 

9.    India Expo 2014 begins in Dubai

i. India Expo 2014, an event focused on showcasing India’s export potential in key sectors and its marketing in UAE has been organized by the Federation of Indian Export Organization, FIEO in Dubai.

ii. The highlight of the two day event is a buyer seller meet which will be inaugurated by the Ambassador of India in UAE, T.P. Seetharam in presence of Regional Chairman of FIEO, Walter D’Souza.

iii. Ahead of the meet, the Consul General of India Shri Anurag Bhushan said the India Expo 2014 will help Indian enterprise to market their products in the target markets and enhance the economic engagement between the two countries. 

iv.  During the meet, focus will be on Indian products ranging from Agri Commodities, Spices & Processed Foods, Building & Construction Material, Textiles, Handloom & Handicraft, Wellness & Beauty Products, Jute & Jute Products, IT Solutions etc