History made in Britain, Rishi Sunak to become Britain’s PM

• Rishi Sunak is due to be installed as Britain’s third Prime Minister of the year by King Charles III on October 25, 2022, before appointing a Cabinet that will have to wrestle with the U.K.’s economic and political crises.
• Liz Truss will depart after making a brief public statement, seven weeks to the day after she was appointed Prime Minister
• Mr. Sunak, the U.K.’s first leader of color, was selected as leader of the governing Conservative Party on Monday as it tries to stabilize the economy, and its own plunging popularity, after the brief, disastrous term of Liz Truss.
• Rishi Sunak arrives at Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles III to be anointed Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister

Governor Gives Assent to Ordinance Increasing SC, ST Reservation in Karnataka

• Reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in poll-bound Karnataka are all set to increase, with state governor Thaawarchand Gehlot giving his assent to an ordinance in this connection
• With the passage of the ordinance, which was in accordance with the Justice Nagamohan Das committee report, the reservation for the SCs will increase from the existing 15% to 17%.
• For the Scheduled Tribes, it will be 7%, going up from the existing 3%.

IMD issues advisory of Cyclone Sitrang, suspends offshore activities in north Bay of Bengal

• In the wake of Cyclone Sitrang, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an advisory pertaining to the suspension of offshore activities in the north Bay of Bengal from October 24-25 along with issuing a warning of the possible impact of the storm in North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts of West Bengal.
• Due to the cyclonic storm over West Central Bay of Bengal and adjoining East Central Bay of Bengal and its likely intensification into a severe cyclonic stor

Australia approves commercial release of GM variety of Indian mustard

• Scientists say this could be first such approval for a GM variety of Indian mustard anywhere in the world
• The approval has been granted to BASF Australia to commercially release the Indian mustard genetically modified for herbicide tolerance across all of Australia, subject to restrictions in some states and territories for marketing reasons.
• At present, Indian mustard varieties are commercially cultivated in a very small part of Australia, mainly in Central New South Wales and western Victoria.
• Ayodhyas enters Guinness Book of World Records by lighting up over 15 lakh diyas

Ayodhya, the Land of Lord Rama, has entered the Guinness Book of World Records by lighting up 15.76 lakh diyas

• The grand celebration was held on the occasion of Chotti Diwaliat Ram Ki Paidi on the banks of the revered Saryu River.
• There were 19000 volunteers who made sure that the event was a success.
• A total of 17 lakh earthen lamps across 37 ghats of Ram Ki Paidiwere lit.
• But the Guinness Book of World Records only took those diyas into consideration which remained lit for five minutes or more.
• Also, the diyas were to be lit within a 40 minutes time frame as mandated by the world records firm
• The event was attended by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• He attended the event as the chief guest.
• After the success of the event, the PM gave the prestigious achievement certificate to the state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
• When the grand record was created, the ghat was surrounded by over 50000 people.

Punjab sets a new record by lighting world’s largest diya in Mohali

• Hero Homes in Chandigarh’s Mohali made a new world record by lighting the world’s largest diya constructed in the premises of the housing complex.
• The diya has been manufactured with approximately 1,000kg steel.
• Over 10,000 citizens pooled in over 3,500 litres of organic oil for the diya.
• The Guinness Book of World Records said the diya is the world’s biggest diya ever lit.

Hotel Taj has been rated the world’s strongest hotel brand

• Indian Hotels Company’s Taj has been rated the world’s strongest hotel brand while Hilton (brand value up 58 per cent to US$12.0 billion) has extended its reign as the world’s most valuable hotels brand, according to the latest report from the leading brand valuation consultancy, Brand Finance
• The ‘Hotels 50 2022’ annual report by the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy recognizes the most valuable and strongest hotel brands across the globe.
• Taj received an overall Brand Strength Index of 88.9 out of 100, with a corresponding AAA rating for customer familiarity, employee satisfaction and corporate reputation as well as its world-class customer service.

U.S.A.  returns 307 antiquities items, valued at nearly $4 million, to India

• The U.S. authorities formally handed over 307 antiquities, estimated to be worth nearly $4 million to Indian officials on Monday.
• These were recovered from international smuggler Subash Kapoor’s art gallery, other art galleries as well as multiple trafficking networks.
• As many as 235 of the antiquities were seized pursuant to an investigation against Subash Kapoor, who helped traffic items from India and other countries.
• Five others were seized from a person, Nancy Wiener, in New York and one pursuant to an investigation against another person, Nayef Homsi. The remaining 66 antiquities were stolen from India by multiple smaller trafficking networks.

Wildlife Board Approves Durgavati Tiger Reserve as New Tiger Reserve

• The Durgavati Tiger Reserve is a 2,339 square kilometers new tiger reserve that will spread across Narsinghpur, Damoh, and Sagar districts approved by Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Board.
• The Durgavati Tiger Reserve is a 2,339 square kilometers new tiger reserve that will spread across Narsinghpur, Damoh, and Sagar districts. Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Board has approved the making of a new tiger reserve of Panna Tiger Reserve (PTP), one-fourth of which will get submerged due to the Linkin of the Ken-Betwa rivers.

About Durgavati Tiger Reserve

• The new tiger reserve will be known as Durgavati Tiger Reserve and it will spread across Narsinghpur, Damoh, and Sagar districts.
• A green corridor linking PTR with Durgavati will be developed for the natural movement of the tiger to the new reserve.
• The Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Board was chaired by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
• He approved a notify 1,414 sq km area as the core area and 925 sq km as a buffer in the new tiger reserve.
• The new tiger reserves are a part of a wildlife management plan for Panna for the Ken-Betwa rivers linking project.
• The two state governments with the center are implementing a ₹44,605 crore river-linking project to end the water crisis in the Bundelkhand region.

Dr. Sankarsubramanian K appointed as the principal scientist of the Aditya L1 mission