Current Affairs Updates of 7th November 2013

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INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

• Britain's intelligence chiefs will give their first ever public testimony on Thursday when they are cross-examined together in parliament about the case of former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
• Envoys from Iran and six world powers started a new round of nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, aiming for an agreement on initial concessions from both sides.

NATIONAL EVENTS

• The country's wheat production this year is likely to surpass the previous record of 94.88 million tonnes on better coverage and good weather condition, Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna said today.
• Sir C. V. Raman, the Nobel laureate physicist's Birthday today.
• Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar today accused a Nigerian diplomat of sending "offensive SMSs" to a senior police officer over the controversy relating to the killing of a Nigerian national whose death sparked protests by his countrymen.
• Shimla on Wednesday witnessed running of a 100-year-old steam engine on a heritage track along a short 1km stretch between the railway station and the bus stand.
• Britain on Wednesday announced a passport pass-back pilot scheme in southern India, which would allow applicants keep their passports while their visa is being processed.
• The recommendation of the Portuguese embassy in India to its government to stop granting Portuguese citizenships to Goan residents has evoked mixed response in the state.
• At 12 million, Mumbai has more internet users than any other city in the country, according to data released by the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

ECONOMY

• In volatile trade, the benchmark Sensex today fell by over 72 points to a fresh one-week low on heavy selling in consumer durables, banking and power shares after rating agency S&P cautioned it could downgrade India if the next government fails to reverse the slide in GDP growth.
• India has more number of billionaires than France, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Hong Kong and is home to the sixth largest group of super rich population in the world.Moreover, the country's financial capital Mumbai with 30 billionaire, is among the top 5 'billionaire cities' globally, which was topped by New York that is home to 96 billionaires.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• A breakthrough in genetics - described as "jaw-dropping" by one Nobel scientist - has created intense excitement among DNA experts around the world who believe the discovery will transform their ability to edit the genomes of all living organisms, including humans.
• Even as its Windows Phone mobile operating system stands a distant third in the smartphone race, software titan Microsoft may be raking in as much as $2 billion a year on the back of Android's growth.
• Russia on Thursday launched a rocket carrying Russian, Japanese and US astronauts and an Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
• Nasa scientists have discovered a strange new microbe living in one of the cleanest rooms in the world the room where spacecraft are prepared for final launch. The new berry-shaped bug can survive on very little to eat, Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab said.
• For the first time ever, scientists have reported the successful eradication of Hepatitis C in patients using two new antiviral drugs in a single pill, raising hopes of a possible cure.

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