DAILY GK UPDATE - 27th March

1.    3rd Nuclear Security Summit 2014 held in Netherlands

i. The Third Nuclear Security Summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands from 24 to 25 March 2014.

ii. The summit was attended by 58 World leaders. The third NSS synergizes previous two summits without their backdrops.

iii. At the Summit, the leaders agreed to build a robust Nuclear Security Structure. Besides, the summit also saw the agreement on Strengthening Initiative wherein 35 countries agreed to incorporate the guidelines of IAEA into their national legislation to assess the security of nuclear materials.

About Nuclear Security Summit

i. The goal of the Summit is to address the threat of nuclear terrorism by enhancing international cooperation to prevent the illicit acquisition of nuclear material by non-state actors such as terrorist groups and smugglers.

ii. The first NSS was held in Washington DC in 2010 and the second NSS was held in Seoul in 2012. The United States will host the next Summit in 2016.

2.    WHO certifies India as a polio-free nation

i. India and the 11-country South-East Asia region today received formal certificates to mark a health milestone � being polio-free.

ii. India, the largest country in region, was the most recent member to achieve the status of being polio-free for at least three years.

iii. Minister of Health Ghulam Nabi Azad received the certificate on behalf of India.

iv. According to the international guidelines, a country or region has to be polio-free at least for three years to qualify to be declared polio-free. India touched this milestone in January this year.

v. However, the country's close proximity to polio affected nations, such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, remains a danger.

3.    Shigeru Banwon the Pritzker Prize 2014

i. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban won the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2014. He won the award for his creative and inexpensive designs for disaster relief shelters.

ii. The world's most prestigious architecture award was announced by the Hyatt Foundation on 25 March 2014. The Prize will be awarded to Ban on 13 June 2014 in Amsterdam.

iii. The prize has recognized for the first time an architect for his contribution in the area of housing disaster victims. 

iv. Ban will be the seventh Japanese architect to receive the prize.

About Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban, 56, started his involvement in disaster relief structures in Rwanda in 1994. He set up a non- governmental organisation, voluntary architects Network, for taking up construction in Sri Lanka, India, Haiti, Italy and New Zealand in 1995.

About the Pritzker Architecture Prize
The international prize is awarded annually to living architects who significantly contributed to humanity and for excellence in built work. It was instituted by Hyatt Foundation in 1979. It carries 100000 dollar grant, a citation and a bronze medallion.

4.    Facebook to acquire virtual reality technology firm Oculus VR

i. Facebook decided to acquire two year old virtual reality technology firm Oculus VR for 2 billion dollar. As per the analyst, virtual reality technology could be a new way for people to communicate, learn or be entertained.
ii. The deal includes 400 million dollar in cash and 23.1 million shares worth about 1.6 billion dollar. Oculus employees are also eligible for an additional 300 million dollar if the company achieves certain targets.

iii. Oculus VR founded by Palmer Luckey develops virtual-reality glasses for gaming. Oculus VR Inc. had developed the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset which received a lot of attention from video game developers. The headsets cover a user�s eyes and create an immersive world that reacts to turning one�s head or moving back and forth.

iv. Oculus VR raised 75 million dollar in December 2013 to market its virtual-reality headset for video games and develop the product for use in areas like education, film, architecture and design.

5.    SC Suggests Gavaskar as BCCI President

i. In a big setback BCCI President N Srinivasan, the Supreme Court today proposed his replacement by Sunil Gavaskar and suspension of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) along with Rajasthan Royals (RR) from IPL 7 till the pendency of case of betting and spot fixing scandal before it.

ii. The court said it is intending to bar CSK, owned by India Cements, which is promoted by Srinivasan, and RR, whose players and team officials are allegedly involved in the scandal, from participating in the IPL 7 tournament slated to begin from April 16.
iii. A bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik proposed the name of veteran cricketer and commentator Sunil Gavaskar to head the Board during the pendency of the case in the apex court.
iv. The bench asked the Board to give its response by tomorrow on its proposals after which it will pass an interim order.
v. The bench also proposed to pass an order barring India Cements officials from getting involved with the functioning of BCCI after senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Cricket Association of Bihar, pointed out that many such officials are at present part of BCCI team.

6.    Felix appointed India coach

i. Olympian and former India captain Jude Felix was, on Wednesday, appointed coach of the National men�s hockey team.

ii. He will be on probation for three months. Felix, an accomplished centre-half, played more than 250 international matches and represented the country in the Olympics (1988, 1992), World Cups (1990, 1994), Asian Games (1990, 1994) and Champions Trophy (1985, 1987 and 1989).

iii. He worked as a player-cum-coach with the Paris-based Racing Club, which took part in the French League and European League, from 1997 to 2000 and Singapore Recreation Club from 1995 to 1997 and 2001 to 2011.

iv. During his stint in Singapore, he was adjudged Coach-of-the-year in 2005 and 2007.

v. Felix, who will work under chief coach Terry Walsh, is all set to join the ongoing training camp here on Thursday.

7.    Indian-origin student Gopal Rao wins UK Twitter prize

i. An Indian-origin MBA student at the University of Cambridge has won accolades from British Foreign Secretary William Hague after winning a Twitter competition which asked a question regarding UK's foreign policy.
ii. Hague had asked his followers on Twitter to tweet the answer to a question: "What do you think is the biggest contribution UK foreign policy can make to the world?"
iii. The winning entry was from Gopal Rao, who answered: "UK foreign policy should focus on emancipation of #girlsandwomen through enterprise, supported by vibrant #socent culture within UK. #meetFS."
iv. The prize was to meet the Foreign Secretary and live tweet an event, according to a statement by The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).