Daily GK update 1st December 2014

1.    UN climate summit begins in Peru

i. Officials from over 190 nations, including India, on Monday converged in Lima at the UN climate summit to negotiate on a new ambitious and binding deal to cut global carbon emissions, in the last chance to reach on a historic deal to be signed next year in Paris.

ii. Negotiations have been ongoing for 20 years, as the UN continues to bring its member countries together to help curb the damaging effects of coal burning and gasoline use, among other sources of pollution. 
iii. During the 12-day summit in the Peruvian capital, countries will put forward what they plan to contribute to the 2015 pact in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) by the first quarter of 2015, well in advance of the Paris conference in December. 
iv. The Lima conference needs to provide final clarity on what the INDCs need to contain, including fordeveloping countries who are likely to have a range of options from, for example, sector-wide emission curbs to energy intensity goals. 
v. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar leads India's 17- member delegation to negotiate terms for the final agreement to be signed in Paris, which will take effect in 2020. 

2.    Tabare Ramon Vazquez Rosas won Uruguay Presidential Election 2014

i. Tabare Ramon Vazquez Rosas on 30 November 2014 won the 2014 presidential elections of Uruguay extending the decade-long rule of a leftist coalition. Vazquez belongs to the leftist Broad Front coalition party of Uruguay.
ii. Vazquez won comfortably with 52.8 percent votes support while his centre-right challenger Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party trailed on 40.5 percent votes.
iii. He will succeed President Jose Mujica who was barred by law from running for a second consecutive term. 

3.    Modi dedicates Tripura power plant to nation

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday dedicated to the nation the second unit of the 726 MW gas-based power plant at Palatana in Tripura. A host of dignitaries from India and Bangladesh, which facilitated transportation of heavy machineries to the plant, were present on the occasion.

ii. Senior advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Minister of State for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, as well Indian Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan graced the inauguration of the plant owned by ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC). ONGC CMD D.K. Sarraf and the Union Petroleum Secretary were also present.

iii. Mr. Modi commissioned the second unit by pushing a button in the plant control room at 2.40 p.m. He also addressed the gathering at the site.

4.    PM announces Rs 28,000 cr for new rail projs in Northeast

i. Focusing on improving connectivity to the Northeast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Centre would provide Rs 28,000 crore for laying new railway lines in the region and develop the untapped tourism potential of the area.

ii. The Prime Minister also said that the Centre has sanctioned Rs 5000 crore to provide 2G mobile coverage in this area for comprehensive telecom development plan of the northeast region. 

iii. As energy is a lifeline for development, Rs 5000 crore has been sanctioned for the northeastern region power system improvement project for six states, including Nagaland, the Prime Minister said. 

iv. The Prime Minister said his government has decided to set up a National Sports University in Manipur and the people of the region will be great beneficiaries. 
v. The NE region could be the organic capital of the country, Modi said, adding that the Centre has decided to set up six new agriculture colleges in this area. 

5.    The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence announced

i. The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence was announced on 30 November 2014.

The awards were announced in the following category:

ü  Business Leader of the Year – Dilip Shanghvi

ü  Company of the Year – Tata Consultancy Services

ü  Emerging Company of the Year – Adani Ports & SEZ

ü  Global Indian of the Year – Satya Nadella

ü  Startup of the Year – Zomato

ü  Business Reformer of the Year – UK Sinha

ü  Corporate Citizen of the Year – Tata Steel

ü  Lifetime Achievement – Yusuf Hamied

ü  Entrepreneur of the Year - Dhiraj Rajaram and Chandra Shekhar Ghosh

About ET Awards: i.  ET awards are the awards conferred by The Economic Times in the field of business, corporate and government policies, economies in India.

ii.  It is an annual award. The award was sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. Since 2012, Standard Chartered Bank has been the presenting sponsor of The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence.

6.    Egypt court declared Islamic State of Iraq and Syria a terrorist group

i. An Egyptian court on 30 November 2014 declared the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group as a terrorist organization and banned it in the country. 
ii. The court in its ruling added that it considers all of the Islamic State's affiliates to be terrorist organizations as well. 

iii. This jihadi group regularly attacks Egyptian security forces and has declared responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks.

7.    Former Arunachal Pradesh CM Jarbom Gamlin passes away

i. Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin has died.

ii. He was 53. Gamlin was suffering from liver thrombosis. His family said he passed away last night at a hospital at Gurgaon in Haryana.

iii.  His body will be flown to Aalo in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday. Gamlin is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son.

8.    ICC names SAP as analytics and cloud partner for 2015 World Cup

i. The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced an innovative new partnership with SAP SE, a worldwide leader in enterprise application software services, as its exclusive Analytics and Cloud Partner for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

ii. In addition, SAP will provision cloud-based services to host the ICC’s historical ICC Cricket World Cup statistics database, incorporating match data for its flagship ODI event.

iii. Our partnership with the ICC will allow SAP to continuously develop technology that can be adapted for infinite use cases. In this instance, our technology provides the ICC the ability to engage fans with insightful and user-friendly solutions, bring them closer to the action on the field and keep them informed about their favourite matches.”

9.    UAE captain Khurram Khan became the oldest player to score a century in ODI

i. United Arab Emirates (UAE) captain Khurram Khan became the oldest player to score a century in the One-Day International (ODI).  He scored the winning century against Afghanistan in Dubai on 30 November 2014.

ii. He achieved the feat at an age of 43 years and 162 days thus breaking the record held in the name of Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka. Jayasuriya scored 107 against India in 2009 when he was 39 years old.
 iii. Khan smashed 17 fours to score unbeaten 132 run and he also put on a 160 run third wicket partnership with Mohammad Shadzad.

10.  Mascot for the 2016 European football championship named Super Victor

i. The mascot for the 2016 European football championship has been named Super Victor.

ii. The announcement was made on 30 November 2014.The name for the cartoon character boy dressed as a footballer in blue and white with a red cape and number 16 jersey was preferred to Driblou and Goalix.

iii. The mascot made its first appearance on the pitch of Marseille`s new Velodrome stadium before kickoff of France`s 1-0 friendly victory over Sweden. In 1984, the mascot for the European Championships organised in France was Peno, and the 1998 World Cup mascot was called Footix.

iv. Euro 2016 will take place in France from 10 June 2016 to 10 July 2016.

11.  Baichung Bhutia conferred with AFC 'Hall of Fame' Award

i. Former Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia has been conferred with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Hall of Fame Award.

ii. He received the award in Manila, Philippines yesterday on the occasion of afc's 60th anniversary. FIFA President Sepp Blatter presented the award to Baichung, the only Indian in the AFC's Hall of Fame.
iii. All India Football Federation President Praful Patel and a host of dignitaries from all over the football world were present on the occasion.
iv. After receiving the award, Baichung said the award was not solely for him, but for football, for India and for all Indian footballers who have to struggle against all odds to prove themselves every single day.

12.  Adelaide to host 1st India-Australia Test

i. The first cricket Test between India and Australia will be held here from December 9 after the four-match series’ schedule was revised on Monday in the wake of young player Phillip Hughes’ tragic death which left the home team distraught.

ii. “Revised Schedule: 1st Test (Dec 9-13), 2nd Test (Dec 17-21), 3rd Test (Dec 26-30) and 4th Test (Jan 6-10). Venues: 1st Test (Adelaide), 2nd Test (Brisbane), 3rd Test (Melbourne) and 4th Test (Sydney) #AUSvsIND,” the BCCI said on its official twitter handle.

iii. Hughes’ funeral would be held in Macksville on Wednesday