• National

Satyarup Siddhanta becomes first Indian to climb Mt Giluwe in Papua New Guinea

• Indian mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta became the first Indian to climb Mt Giluwe – the second highest mountain in Papua New Guinea.
• Satyarup reached the summit of the mountain which is at an elevation of 4,367 meters on November 11.
• Satya now has scaled 5 of the 7 volcanic summits.
• In December he is heading to complete his 6th Volcano in Mexico Mt Pico de Orizaba and then to Antarctica to climb Mt Sidley.
• In September this year, Satyarup Siddhanta and Mousumi Khatua created history by climbing Asia’s highest volcanic peak Mount Damavand and became the first Bengalis to do so.

• International

Amnesty strips Aung San Suu Kyi of highest honor

• Amnesty International has withdrawn a prestigious human rights award from Myanmar Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi, accusing her of perpetuating human rights abuses by not speaking out about violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
• The international human rights group named Suu Kyi as its 2009 Ambassador of Conscience Award recipient when she was still under house arrest for her opposition to Myanmar’s oppressive military junta.
• “Amnesty International cannot justify your continued status as a recipient of the Ambassador of Conscience award and so with great sadness we are hereby withdrawing it from you.

• Economy and Business

Uco Bank seeks Rs 7000 crore capital from the government

• State-run lender UCO Bank has requested the government to inject Rs 7000 crore to prop up capital, which has gone below the regulatory minimum.
• The bank’s capital adequacy ratio slipped to 7.57% against the stipulated 9% while its net loss widened to Rs 1136 crore in the September quarter owing to fresh slippages worth Rs 2000 crore.
• Net loss was Rs 623 crore in the year-ago period.
• Managing director AK Goel, who assumed charge on November 2, expects the government to infuse capital by March.
• There was, however, no confirmation from the government on the size of capital infusion.

• Awards

Dr. Debabhuson Borah gets Munin Barkotoki Literary Award

• The prestigious Munin Barkotoki Literary Award 2018 in Assam has been given to young writer-critic Dr. Debabhuson Borah for his book on literary criticism titled ‘Nirbochon’.
• The Munin Barkotoki Memorial Trust announced the annual Award instituted to encourage young and promising writers in Assamese.
• The award carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000 along with a citation and a plaque.
• The award was named after the renowned writer, critic, and journalist Munin Barkotoki, it added.

• Awards

Six professors won Infosys Prize 2018 – II

• Kavita Singh was awarded in the field of Humanities.
• Roop Mallik was awarded in the field of Life Sciences.
• Nalini Anantharaman was awarded in the field of Mathematical Sciences.
• SK Satheesh was awarded in the field of Physical Sciences.
• Sendhil Mullainathan was awarded in the field of Social Sciences

• Appointments

Siddharth Tiwari joins BIS as Chief Representative for Asia, Pacific

• The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has appointed Siddharth Tiwari as the Chief Representative for Asia and the Pacific.
• Tiwari, who took up his new position on November 1, succeeds Eli Remolona, who was Chief Representative of the Asian Office from 2008 to 2018.
• Tiwari has served as Executive Secretary to the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance.
• He holds an MA and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

• Science and Tech

Largest brain-like supercomputer switched on

• The world’s largest supercomputer designed to work in the same way as the human brain has been switched on for the first time.
• The ‘Spiking Neural Network Architecture’ (SpiNNaker) machine is capable of completing more than 200 million actions per second.
• The SpiNNaker machine has been designed and built in the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

• Science and Tech

ISRO to launch communication satellite GSAT-29

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch ‘GSLV MkIII-D2’ mission on 14 November 2018.
• The mission will carry India’s high throughput communication satellite ‘GSAT-29’.
• ‘GSAT-29’ is a multibeam, multi-band communication satellite weighing 3,423 kgs.
• The satellite will be carried by Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III.

• Defence

Samudra Shakti 2018: Navy exercise between India & Indonesia begins

• “Samudra Shakti” is a bilateral Navy exercise between India and Indonesia begins on 12th Nov 2018 at the port of Surabaya in Indonesia.
• The aim of the exercise is to strengthen bilateral relations, expand maritime co-operation, enhance interoperability and exchange best practices.

• Obituaries

Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee dead at 95

• Stan Lee, one of the masterminds of the Marvel comics universe, has died at the age of 95.
• Lee created the Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics in 1961.
• Lee was the creator of dozens of now-iconic comic-book heroes, including Spider-Man, X-Men, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Black Panther.
• All of those characters have since been adapted into hugely popular budget-busting films, most of which were made after entertainment giant Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion in 2009.
• Lee was born as Stanley Martin Lieber in New York on December 28, 1922, the son of Jewish immigrants from Romania.

• States

Renaming of two divisions in UP approved

• The Uttar Pradesh government approved the renaming of Faizabad and Allahabad divisions as Ayodhya and Prayagraj respectively on 13 November 2018.
• Prayagraj division will comprise Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Fatehpur and Pratapgarh districts.
• Ayodhya division will include Ayodhya, Ambedkarnagar, Sultanpur, Amethi and Barabanki districts.