Remaining global carbon budget meagre, the World needs rapid and transformative actions: Shri Bhupender Yadav at LMDC ministerial

• It comprises of around 18 developing countries from Asia and other regions.
• India is part of the LMDC grouping along with Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and others.
• It represents about 50 per cent of the world’s population.
• It usually presents a common front at climate negotiations.

U.S. considers HAWK air defence equipment for Ukraine

• HAWK, short for ‘Homing All the Way Killer’, entered service with the US Army in 1959, during the Vietnam War.
• It is a mobile air defense system.
• It is a medium-range surface to air missile.
• It underwent upgrades over the decades that followed, including a major one in 1971 that produced the so-called I-HAWK (or improved HAWK), with a kill probability of 85%.
• The first versions of the system had a range of 25 km for aerial targets, and an altitude of 14 km. After modernization: the maximum target interception range increased to 40 km with a maximum interception altitude of 18 km.
• The HAWK system was the predecessor to the PATRIOT missile defence system that Raytheon built in the 1990s.
• US forces largely stopped using HAWK from the early years of the new century.

United Nations Day is celebrated on October 24.

• It marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the U.N. Charter.
• With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.
• The Charter of the United Nations is the founding document of the United Nations.
• It was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force on 24 October 1945.
• The United Nations can take action on a wide variety of issues due to its unique international character and the powers vested in its Charter, which is considered an international treaty.
• As such, the UN Charter is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.
• The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.
• The mission and work of the Organization have been guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter, which has been amended three times in 1963, 1965, and 1973.

What was Neanderthals'' family life like? DNA grants a glimpse

• Nobel laureate Svante Paabo and his team have recently published one of the biggest genetic studies yet of Neanderthals, providing clues about their community life and structure.
• Neanderthals are a hominin species that existed for at least 200,000 years throughout Europe and western Asia, and disappeared about 27,000 years ago.
• During this time, they witnessed some of the coldest climatic conditions ever known in these regions.
• Many of their physical features suggest that they were adapted for the cold, such as their barrel-shaped chests, shorter limbs, and larger brains, all of which suggest a body shape adapted for retaining heat.
• Their face was also distinctive. The central part of the face protruded forward and was dominated by a very big, wide nose.
• They excelled at hunting animals and making complex stone tools
• They were first discovered in 1856.
• Many Europeans and Asians have between 1 per cent and 4 per cent Neanderthal DNA while African people south of the Sahara have almost zero.

Russia tells Ukraine planning ''dirty bomb'' attack

• It is a bomb that contains radioactive material, such as uranium, which is scattered through the air when its conventional explosive detonates.
• It doesn''t need to contain highly refined radioactive material, as is used in a nuclear bomb. Instead, it could use radioactive materials from hospitals, nuclear power stations or research laboratories.
• This makes them much cheaper and quicker to make than nuclear weapons. They can also be carried in the back of a vehicle.
• However, as weapons, they are very unreliable.
• For the radioactive material in a dirty bomb to be scattered across its target zone, it has to be reduced to powder form.
• But if the particles are too fine or released into strong winds, they will scatter too widely to do much harm.
• Material used:
  • Cesium-137
  • Cobalt-60
  • Iridium-192
  • Dynamite

President of India to Present Silver Trumpet and Trumpet Banner to The President’s Bodyguard on October 27, 2022

• The PBG is the oldest regiment of the Indian Army.
• It is the senior-most unit of the Army, whose distinction is in its position as ‘Right of the Line’ on all official and ceremonial occasions. The PBG, thus, takes precedence over all other regiments and corps.
• The PBG was raised in 1773 at Benares (now Varanasi) by then Governor Warren Hastings, with a strength of 50 handpicked troopers.
• This nucleus of the Bodyguard was later augmented by another 50 horsemen, provided by Raja Cheyt Singh of Benares, thus bringing the overall strength of the regiment up to 100 horses and men by the end of that year.
• The establishment of the regiment varied through the years, being augmented in times of war and it attained its maximum strength of 1,929 all ranks, as per the Army List of 1845, just prior to the First Sikh War.
• The PBG continued to be a select Cavalry Unit, primarily for the personal and battlefield security of the Governor and later Governor General, who often had to personally lead his forces into battle.
• The Raising Charter clearly spelt out the role of the PBG, namely — “To act as Bodyguard to the Governor in peace and to accompany him as Commander-in-Chief in battle”.
• This unique band of select troops, in over two centuries of service, has seen action in various roles — as mounted and dismounted cavalry; Artillery, with ‘Galloper Guns’ in the Egyptian Expedition of 1801-1802; Marines in 1809, protecting naval transports in the Bay of Bengal; and more recently as mechanised and airborne troops.
• As of today, PBG is a small body of handpicked men, comprising four officers, 14 Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and 161 troopers backed by administrative support personnel.
• This establishment has not changed much since the 19th century.
• Its men are trained for operational duties, both, as tankmen and airborne troops in addition to their ceremonial role.
• The physical standards for the PBG are very specific with six feet being the minimum height for a trooper.
• Men of the PBG are expert horsemen, adept at ceremonial punctilio, trained combat paratroopers, armoured vehicle crewmen and tradesmen.
• Honed in diverse combat skills, the PBG personnel have proven their worth in battle as well as in mounted tourneys and equestrian skills.

Deep depression over Bay of Bengal has intensified into cyclonic storm Sitrang

• Cyclones are centres of low pressure surrounded by closed isobars and having increasing pressure outwards.
• As air enters an area of low pressure from all directions, the Coriolis Effect bends the direction of the wind to the right of its path.
• This creates a counter clockwise rotation around the low and convergence near the centre of the system. As the air collides near the centre it is forced aloft where divergence takes air away from the centre of the system.
• A Cyclone is a system of low level convergence and high level divergence with a rising column of air in the centre of the rotating air mass. If the upper air is not diverging then there cannot be a cyclone present.
• Cyclones are broadly of two types:
  • Temperate cyclones (caused in middle and high latitudes, thus does not occur in India)
  • Tropical cyclones

Diwali

• Diwali, which is the festival of lights, stands for the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil and falls on the day of ‘amavasya’ or new moon in the Hindu month of Kartik.
• It usually falls in mid-October and mid-November on Kartik Amavasya.
• The festival is extended over five days, beginning with Dhanteras and ending with Bhai Dooj.
• According to Hindu mythology, the legends associate Diwali with Lord Ram''s return to Ayodhya with his wife, Mata Sita, and brother, Lakshman, after spending 14 years in exile and defeating the King of Lanka, Ravan.
• People of Ayodhya marked the occasion by lighting rows of lamps and diyas.
• The tradition has continued to date and is celebrated as the festival of Diwali.
• In Chennai and Tamil Nadu, people observe Narak Chaturdashi.
• In West Bengal, devotees worship Goddess Kali rather than Goddess Lakshmi on the third day of Diwali.

Gujarati new year ''Bestu Varsh'' being celebrated on October 26, 2022

• In Gujarat, the New Year which is popularly known as Bestu Varsh is celebrated as part of the five-day Diwali Celebrations.
• Ideally, Gujarati New Year falls on Pratipada of Shukla Paksha in the Kartik month; therefore, it is generally celebrated on Govardhan Puja during Diwali.
• People begin their New Year by visiting temples in the morning.
• Homes are decorated with Asopalav torans and marigold flowers, and attractive Rangoli at the entrance to welcome guests on the New Year.

Rishi Sunak becomes Britain''s first Indian-origin Prime Minister

• Since the Conservative party has a majority in the current U.K. parliament, the winner of the party leadership contest will automatically become prime minister.
• Under usual circumstances, British prime ministers are chosen in a general election held every five years.
• Instead of voting for the nation’s leader directly, as is the case in presidential electoral systems, the public chooses between delegates of each party to represent their local area, known as a constituency.
• The party that wins the most constituencies wins the election, and the leader of that party typically becomes the prime minister.
• Party leaders are chosen by an internal process normally in advance of a general election, or in the case that a leader steps down or is forced out.
• To take part in the race, a Conservative member of parliament needs to be nominated by at least 20 colleagues.
• First, MPs whittle the candidates down in a series of secret ballots, whereby the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated at each round until two are remaining.
• In the second stage, card-carrying grassroots party members vote on the final two candidates.