Daily GK Update: 10th November 2023

 Sports

1. R Vaishali and Vidit Gujrathi win FIDE Grand Swiss Women's and Open titles

• In Chess, R Vaishali defeated Mongolia’s Batkhuyag Munguntuul to win FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss 2023 at the Isle of Man in UK. 
• Vidit Gujrathi beat Alexandr Predke of Serbia to record his seventh victory in the event and take the top spot in open section. 
• Vaishali became the first Indian to win the Grand Swiss and will have her task cut out in the Candidates alongside India’s first woman Grandmaster - Koneru Humpy.

 National & International Appointments

2. Pankaj Tripathi named as 'UPI Safety Ambassador'

• The National Payments Corporation of India has announced the appointment of actor Pankaj Tripathi as its 'UPI Safety Ambassador.' 
• Aim: To strengthen safety awareness on digital payment platforms
• This move comes in the wake of ongoing discussions regarding the safety and security of digital payment platforms, particularly United Payments Interface.
• NPCI's initiatives such as UPI, RuPay, and IMPS, reach the farthest corners of India, including cities, and villages.

 National & International Organizations

3. Kozhikode and Gwalior Join UNESCO Creative Cities Network

• Kozhikode in Kerala and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh have made it to the prestigious creative cities list of UNESCO for contributions in the fields of literature and music respectively.
• On World Cities Day, 55 cities join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN).
• New cities were acknowledged for their strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity as part of their development strategies, and displaying innovative practices in human-centred urban planning

 National & International Organizations

4. WHO Confirms India’s Achievement In Decreasing TB Incidents

• The Global Tuberculosis Report 2023, issued by the WHO offered a mixed bag for India.
• While India improved case detection for TB and was able to cover the losses made during the pandemic in this regard, it missed major milestones. 
• India, incidentally, accounts for the highest TB burden across the world contributing 27% of all the TB cases followed by Indonesia (10%) and China (7.1%). 
• The current report of 2023 gives figures on various indicators of TB for 2022.

 National & International Organizations

5. IBM And AWS Launched An Innovation Lab In Bengalur

• IT major IBM and Amazon Web Services announced an expansion of their services to facilitate mutual clients operations and derive value from generative artificial intelligence (AI).
• As part of this, IBM launched the Innovation Lab, in collaboration with AWS, at the IBM Client Experience Center in Bengaluru.
• Objective: To showcase the full potential of the joint value proposition that IBM and AWS offer to our clients from across the world.

 National & International Appointments

6. Santosh Kumar Jha set to be next CMD of Konkan Railway

• Santosh Kumar Jha is set to be the next Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL), a PSU under the Ministry of Railways. 
• Jha is an Indian Railway Traffic Services (IRTS) officer of the 1992 batch. 
• He has rich experience over 28 years of experience in operations, infrastructure planning, and business development. He has hands-on experience as head of operations on major divisions of Indian Railways.

 Agreement

7. India and Netherlands sign a MoI to cooperate on medical product regulatio

• India and Netherlands have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to cooperate on medical product regulation and enhance the quality of medical products and healthcare services for both countries at Hague, Netherlands. 
• An Indian delegation led by Shri Khuba is in Netherlands to participate in the second World Local Production Forum (WLPF) meeting being held in The Hague.
• Aim: To increase access to medicines and other health technologies.

 Defense

8. Hermes 900 Starliner drones set to be inducted into Indian Army

• The induction of the Heron Mark-2 drones along with the planned induction of the Hermes-900 drones is set to boost the surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of the Indian Army. 
• Aim: To boost the reconnaissance and surveillance capability of the Indian Army also their teaming with combat helicopters, which will prove to be a game changer in the third dimension
• India is also expected to receive 31 General Atomics MQ-9B Sky Guardian drones for the Army and IAF.

 Sports

9. Meg Lanning Announces Retirement From International Cricket

• Australian Women's captain Meg Lanning has announced her retirement from international cricket. 
• Meg Lanning quit international cricket after winning seven World Cup titles during a 241-match career.
• Lanning, with two ICC Women's Cricket World Cup wins and five ICC Women's T20 World Cup victories to her name, retires from cricket at 31. 
• She has scored over 8,000 runs in all formats for her nation.
• She won her first ICC trophy at the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2012.

 National Affairs

10. India and Nepal Border Forces Join Hands to Combat Crime

• Border forces of India and Nepal have expressed their commitment to strengthen bilateral security efforts by focussing on curbing trans-border crimes, smuggling of arms and ammunition, and combating human trafficking. 
• Aim: To facilitate the movement of citizens from both nations, particularly during festive seasons. 
• The decision was taken in the seventh annual Coordination Meeting between Sashastra Seema Bal of India and Armed Police Force of Nepal in New Delhi.