• The fourth National Security Advisor Level Meeting on Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation was held between India, Sri Lanka and Maldives in Colombo yesterday.
• The participants took stock of the current maritime security environment in the region. They have discussed mutual cooperation in an array of areas including Maritime Domain Awareness, Humanitarian Assistance, Disaster Relief, Joint Exercises and Maritime pollution.
• Exchanging views on common security threats, India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives have agreed to broad base cooperation on a host of maritime security related issues.

• The Bengaluru based Indian Institute of Science researchers have developed an efficient decentralised wastewater treatment and recycling system for rural areas. A study on decentralised wastewater treatment systems developed by the premier institute was published in the Journal of water Process Engineering. The model is demonstrated in Berambadi Primary school in a remote village in Karnataka. 
• The Assistant Professor at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies in Indian Institute of Science, Lakshminarayana Rao has informed that the water treatment system demonstrated by them is economical and enables reuse of wastewater, reducing dependence on freshwater resources. He informed that the 667 litres of grey water can be treated daily, thereby saving around 180,000 litres of water annually. 
• The water that drains out of the wash basin and kitchen is treated and recycled after removing the oil and grease and used again for non potable purposes such as toilet flushing and gardening. Based on the success of this sustainable wastewater management project, several other schools in Karnataka have approached the institute to set up the system in their schools also.

• Serum Institute of India (SII) will apply for emergency authorisation of COVID-19 vaccine in next two weeks. This was stated by the chief executive of the Institute, Adar Poonawalla in Pune yesterday. Serum Institute of India is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume. Pune based drugmaker partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca to produce COVID-19 vaccine by University of Oxford for low-and-middle income countries. Dubbed as Covishield, the COVID-19 vaccine is currently in the Phase III clinical trial in India.
• Mr Poonawalla said Covishield is a highly effective vaccine against novel coronavirus. AstraZeneca and Oxford University earlier said that their drug had proved on average 70% effective at stopping the virus after trying it on 23,000 people.

• Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe will visit Nepal on Sunday and meet the country’s top leadership, the Foreign Ministry here announced on Saturday.
• “The Chinese Defence Minister will also meet Chief of Army Staff General of Nepal Army Purna Chandra Thapa. Mr. Wei will return Beijing the same evening wrapping up his brief visit,” the Ministry said in a statement.
• During his two-day state visit - the first by a Chinese leader in 23 years- in October last year, President Xi said China will provide Nepalese ₹56 billion assistance to Kathmandu over the next two years to help Nepal’s development programmes and transform the landlocked nation into a land-linked country.

• The deal will see French patrols doubled from December 1, with drones and radar used to detect those attempting to cross, Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel.
• Increased patrols and technology will be deployed along France’s beaches under a new agreement between Paris and London aimed at stopping illegal migration across the Channel.
• A growing number of migrants have tried to reach Britain across the perilous and busy shipping lane in recent months, with four deaths recorded in 2019 and seven so far this year.

• The fourth edition of United Economic Forum World Summit along with Trade Expo is scheduled to be held from December 4.
• The three-day event would see participation of more than 80 speakers from 30 countries
• The summit to be held online would be on the theme - 'Imagine-Impact-Inspire', UEF President Ahmed A R Buhari said.

• Madhya Pradesh, which is known as the 'tiger state' of India, has lost 26 striped animals so far this year, as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
• Karnataka, which is on the second position in the number of tigers in the country, registered eight deaths and two seizures of tiger body parts this year, as per the data.
• The southern state lost 12 big cats last year.
• "Right now, MP has 124 tiger cubs. The cubs were not counted during the last census (in 2018). In the next count, we are going to have more than 600 tigers," Shah said.

• Sydney Thunder on Saturday were crowned the champions of the Women`s Big Bash League (WBBL) for the second time. The side achieved the feat by defeating Melbourne Stars by seven wickets here at the North Sydney Oval.
• The match was a no-contest as Sydney Thunder restricted Melbourne Stars to just 86/9 in the allotted twenty overs.
• Thunder had won the inaugural edition of the WBBL in the 2015-16 season and then the side had to wait for four more years to win their second title. Ismail was declared the 'Player of the Match'  

Download Daily GK PDF of 29 November 2020