DAILY GK UPDATE 15TH FEB.

1.    G20 finance ministers meet in Russia today

i. Financial ministers from the G20 Countries are meeting today in the Russian capital Moscow at the start of two days of meetings.
ii. Talks will likely focus on so-called currency wars, and, in particular, recent moves by Japan to spur economic growth.

iii. Analysts say, Japan's actions have caused the currency, the yen, to lose about 20 percent of its value since November.

iv. The value of a country's currency has a big impact on its trade and there are fears nations may try to influence markets to help boost their economies.

v. The G-20 has previously asked nations to refrain from market intervention.

vi. The G20 includes both the world's leading and emerging economies, accounting for 90 percent of the world economy.

2.    Tripura records highest ever polling of 93% in India

i. Tripura has recorded the highest ever polling of 93 per cent in the country.

ii. The State went to polls yesterday to elect a new 60-member Assembly.

iii. During the last Assembly elections in 2008, Tripura had recorded a polling of 91.22 per cent which was highest in the country till date.

iv. This was disclosed by Chief Electoral Officer of the State in Agartala last night.

3.    14th Meet of Environment Ministers of BASIC countries starts at Chennai

i. India will host the next meeting of BASIC ( Brazil South Africa India and China) Environment Ministers  in Chennai on February 15-16.

ii. The two day closed door meeting will review the decisions taken at Doha and plan the future steps for taking the global process for an ambitious and equitable agreement under Durban Platform.

iii. The meeting will also set an agenda for the ministers deliberations to be held tomorrow.

iv. Representatives from important members of G-77 countries like Bhutan, Fiji, Nauru and Qatar have also been invited for the meet.

v. The conference is also expected to ensure that the developed countries should take the lead not just in mitigation but also in adaptation, finance, technology transfer and capacity building.

NOTE: It is to be observed that in the 13th basic conference the ministers reiterated that centrality of equity should be adapted by all and also the importance of achieving the goal of providing 100 billion dollars per year by 2020 as committed by developed countries and underscored the need to scale up financial resources in order to avoid the funding gap from 2013 to 2020.

4.    Serena Williams all set to regain World Number one title at Qatar Open

i. The US Open Champion and reigning World Number 2, Serena Williams is all set to regain the World Number onetitle at Qatar Open Championship in Doha.

ii. She will become the number oner if she beats Ursula Radwanska on her way to the Semi finals on Thursday.

iii. The semi final line up will be decided on Thursday.

5.    India to launch seven satellites Feb 25

i. The Indian space agency will Feb 25 put into orbit seven foreign satellites including an Indo-French collaborative satellite SARAL and thus earn much wanted revenue.

ii. "The launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C20 (PSLV-C20) is currently fixed for Feb 25 evening," sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

iii. "The rocket will blast off from the Sriharikota rocket launch centre (around 80 km from here) carrying seven satellites, totally weighing around 700 kg,"

iv. The SARAL will carry an Altimeter (ALTIKA) for studying the sea surface heights and ARGOS payload, which is a satellite based data collection platform.

v. The satellite will also be useful in tracking resident space objects including space debris.

vi. The other four satellites to be carried by PSLV-C20 are BRITE and UniBRITE (both Austria), STRAND (Britain) and AAUSAT (Denmark).

6.    Pak successfully tests nuclear-capable Hatf-II missile

i. Pakistan on Friday successfully tested the nuclear-capable Hatf-II ballistic missile with a range of 180 km, marking the second test of a missile system in four days as part of measures to evaluate the capabilities of its Strategic Forces.

ii. The test of the Hatf-II or Abdali short range surface-to-surface ballistic missile was part of the “process of validation of land-based ballistic missile systems”,

iii. The missile can carry nuclear or conventional warheads with “high accuracy”,

iv. The short-range Hatf-IX missile is primarily aimed at deterring India’s Cold Start military doctrine, which envisages quick thrusts by small integrated battle groups in the event of hostilities.