1) Nobel Peace Prize: Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian women’s rights advocate, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.
- She was honoured for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and to promote human rights and freedom for all.
- The Nobel Peace Prize is the only Nobel Prize that is presented by the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; the other Nobel prizes are administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.
- Kailash Satyarthi (2014) and Mother Teresa (1979) are Indian recipients of the peace prize.
2) Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development: India was reelected as president of AIBD for third successive term.
- AIBD, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was established in 1977 under United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
- International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN Development Programme (UNDP) are also its founding organisations.
- It has 26 Government Members countries including India represented by their 48 broadcasting authorities.
- It envisages to achieve a vibrant electronic media environment in the region.
- Functions:
- To establish inter-regional links and cooperation for media and communications development.
- A think-tank for the development of regional programming
3) Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme: RBI has extended the PIDF scheme by another two years. It will now include beneficiaries of the PM Vishwakarma scheme.
- It was operationalised in 2021.
- It will incentivise the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure such as physical Point of Sale (PoS), Quick Response (QR) codes.
- Target Geographies: In tier-3 to tier-6 centres, the north-eastern states and Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
- Beneficiaries of the PM SVANidhi Scheme in Tier-1 and 2 centres were included.
4) Permal Rice 126 (PR 126): Punjab Government may ban PUSA variety in a push for cultivation of PR126 variety.
- PUSA is a long-duration variety (taking around 160 days to mature).
- Short-duration PR 126 (crop cycle takes only 123 days) will help to conserve one month of irrigation water
- It can escape abiotic stresses and incidence of pests and diseases
- It has lower cost of cultivation and straw load is also lower.
- However, its average paddy yield is lower (~30 quintals/acre) than PUSA44 (~34-40 Quintals/acre)
Places in News:
1) Syria (Capital: Damascus) –
- Turkey steps up strikes on militants as conflict escalates in Syria
- Political Boundaries:
- Bounded by Turkey (north), Iraq (east and southeast), Jordan (south), Lebanon and Israel (southwest).
- Geographical features:
- It has a short coastline along the Mediterranean Sea.
- Its area includes territory in the Golan Heights that has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
- Highest Point: Mount Hermon
- Longest River: The Euphrates River
- Largest lake: Lake Assad
