North Korea

North Korea has confirmed the end of the 60-year-old armistice signed after the end of the Korean War, and warned of “merciless” military retaliation against its enemies. The North has annulled the 1953 armistice in protest over joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres.
The armistice was approved by the UN General Assembly, and both the United Nations and South Korea have repudiated the North’s unilateral withdrawal.
The North has also threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the United States and South Korea in response to fresh UN sanctions adopted after the North carried out its third nuclear

Vienna Convention

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 is an international pact that defines a framework for diplomatic relations b/w independent nations. It specifies the privileges of a diplomatic mission that enable diplomats to perform their function without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country. This forms the legal basis for diplomatic immunity. It has been ratified by 187 nations.

Summary of the Treaty:

High Net-Worth Individual

As per Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2013:
India with 122 billionaires stood at 5th position in the list of to 10 countries with highest number of High Net-Worth Individual (HNWI).


Top 5 countries are:

1. US
2. China
3. Germany
4. UK
5. India

Who is a High Net-Worth Individual (HNWI)?
The most commonly quoted figure for membership in the high net worth “club” is $1 million in liquid financial assets. An investor with less than $1 million but more than $100,000 is considered to be “affluent”, or perhaps even “sub-HNWI”. The upper end of HNWI is around $5 million, at which point the client is then referred to as “very HNWI”. More than $50 million in wealth classifies a person as “ultra HNWI”.

Days Celebrated

• June 5 : World Environment Day
• March 8 : Mothers Day 
• September 21 : Alzheimer's day (Alzheimer’s disease is most common form of dementia (loss of memory)
• January 24 : National Girl Child Day
• Feb 28 : National Science Day
• Nov 10 : UN declared this as Malala day
• March 15 : World Consumer Rights Day
• March 20 : International Happiness Day
• April 18 : World Heritage Day
• April 21 : Civil Services Day
• April 22 : Earth Day
• Oct 11 : International day of girl Child
• May 1  : Labour Day

Boeing Dreamliner 787

• The US and Japan have grounded their Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircrafts due to concerns over it battery safety.
• Recently, a battery-fault warning on an All Nippon Airways Dreamliner in Japan forced an emergency landing.
• Lithium Batteries
• Although all air-planes have batteries, but the Dreamliner requires powerful batteries because Dreamliner’s control systems are driven entirely by electrical signals in place of the hydraulic controls found in traditional generations of jets
• Boeing depends in part on lithium-ion batteries, which provide quick and powerful charges. Designers needed something which is light in weight and at the same time gives high power output. So, they opted for Lithium-ion technology batteries which have an unusually high energy density
• Lithium-ion technology is the same technology that we see in in the batteries of most modern smartphones and laptop computers, where the demands are rather similar, but on a much smaller scale.
• Another big advantage of using Lithium-ion units: These can be moulded into a variety of shapes
• Airbus A380 superjumbo also uses the same technology
• Disadvantage
• Lithium-ion batteries require more careful management than other types of battery due to the ‘Thermal Runaway problem’.(smoking and catching fire)
• Also these batteries are Vulnerable to problems and leaks of battery fluid. When the problem of leakage starts, the fuel can in turn ignite automatically. 

World Economic Forum

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva. (2nd largest populous city of Switzerland)
•  It is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agenda

International Organisations

5+5 Countries 

• It is a group of 10 nations, 5 from Europe and another 5 from North Africa. The 5+5 initiative was first proposed by France in the 1980s. Its members include France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Malta from Europe  and five countries from Maghreb in North Africa - Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania the forum in 1991. Among these, Portugal and Mauritania are the countries which do not actually border the Mediterranean, but they do have cultural links with their Mediterranean neighbors.

Awards

• Pandit Hridaynath Lifeachievement Award 2013 : Asha Bhosle
• Saraswati Samman 2013 to A A Manavalan for his comparative study on Ramayana 
• Pulitzer Awards 2013 :
• FICTION : - "The Orphan Master’s Son" by Adam Johnson 
• DRAMA : - "Disgraced" by Ayad Akhtar 
• HISTORY :   – "Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam" by Fredrik Logevall (Random House), 
• BIOGRAPHY :  – "The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo" by Tom Reiss (Crown) 
• POETRY : - "Stag’s Leap" by Sharon Olds 
• MUSIC  : - "Partita for 8 Voices" by Caroline Shaw, recording released on October 30, 2012 (New Amsterdam Records)
• Journalism : Public Service :  – Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL 

News for Sept 2012

• Aishwarya Bachchan : Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS.
• Persons in News: A.A.Manavalan : Saraswati Samman 
• India and Burundi ink major pacts : 
• Kabu –16 Hydro-electric project
• MOU for Rural development,health and medicine,education.
• Deepika Kumari won silver in recurve event at World Archery.
• Youth Unite for Voter Awareness” (YUVA) 
• to encourage increased participation of young women and men in the electoral process by EC of India
• India, Britain ink pact on urban regeneration & development
• Foreign Investment limit raised to 74% for Broadcasting Services.
• Broadcast content companies (news channel and FM) : have only 26%
• The Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was conferred with the US Congress highest Civilian Honor.
• Mariamma Koshy becomes President of Hockey India
• AGNI-IV was successfully test fired from the Wheeler’s Island in Odisha.
• ‘Track Child’: A web portal by Women and Child Development Ministry
• Union Government to launch “Saksham” to Educate Adolescent Boys :
• Young boys in the age group of :10-18 yr
• by giving lessons in gender sensitivity and instilling in them respect for women.
• India inks MoU with Egypt for their ongoing cooperation in the domain of election management and administration.
• Shonkaliya region of Ajmer to breed Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican (endangered)
• Virat Kohli: ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year
• · The ICC Cricketer of the year, ICC Test Cricketer of the Year and the People`s Choice Award:  Kumar Sangakkara
• · The ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year : Richard Levi (SA)
•   Jal Satyagraha was a unique demonstration in which 51 farmers from Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh stood in the neck dip water of Omkareshwar Dam on Narmada river for 17 days continuously demanding for their rehabilitation came to an end
• Cabinet allowed 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and also 49% FDI in the aviation domain.
• But the Govt left it to the state governments to allow establishment of multi-brand retail stores.
• India, Myanmar and Thailand decided to implement Trilateral Connectivity Project by 2016
• It is a trilateral highway construction project that aims to connect India, Myanmar and Thailand. 
• The idea was conceived at the trilateral ministerial meeting on transport linkages in Yangon in April 2002. The trilateral highway will connect Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand through Myanmar. 
• Andy Murray: First British man to win a Grand Slam title after 76 years defeated Novak Djokovic.(before this Fred Perry).
• Andy Murray is also the first British player, who bagged an Olympic Gold medal in 100 years.
• RuPay cards will be acceptable at all PoS by January, 2013: National Payment Corporation of India 
• RuPay card is a domestic debic card, launched by NPCI in April 2011. 
• The card provides a platform to carry out electronic transactions at PoS terminals.
• Serena Williams clinches Women's Singles US Open 2012
• Government chooses 3 institutes to assess the quantum of black money by Indians
• National Institute of Public Finance and Policy
• National Institute of Finance Management
• National Council for Applied Economic Research

AirBourne Troubles

• Federal Aviation administration in US grounded all 6 dreamlines aircraft.Taking the cue DGCA has grounded Indian Fleet.
• Reason :  Lithium ion batteries are more energy efficient but a greater fire risk.
• Impact : On 16 Jan 2013 electrolyte leaked out in a All Nippon Airways flight,gicing a burning smell.Chances of fire breaking led to emergency landing.
• Why Dreamliners : 
• 20% less fuel
• 60% less noise
• 30% larger windows with adjustable tint.
• Spacious storage