Top Best Current Affairs 18 November 2020

The 12th edition of BRICS Summit hosted by Russia, under the theme of 'Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth', will be held virtually Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the summit at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, informed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). India will be taking over the chair ship of the BRICS, which would be the third BRICS Presidency for the country since its inception, after 2012 and 2016, and will host the 13th BRICS Summit in 2021,

WHO today listed the nOPV2 vaccine (Bio Farma, Indonesia) for emergency use to address the rising cases of a vaccine-derived polio strain in a number of African and East Mediterranean countries. Countries in WHO's Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions are also affected by these outbreaks. The emergency use listing, or EUL, is the first of its kind for a vaccine and paves the way for potential listing of COVID-19 vaccines.

International Students' Day is an international observance of the student community, held annually on 17 November. Originally commemorating the Czech universities which were stormed by Nazis in 1939 and the students who were subsequently killed and sent to concentration camps, it is now marked by a number of universities, sometimes on a day other than 17 November, as a non-political celebration of the multiculturalism of their international students.

Rachna Bisht Rawat is the author Insomnia: Army Stories. Rachna Bisht Rawat is the author of five books by Penguin Random House, including the bestsellers The Brave and Kargil.

15 Asia Pacific countries have signed the world's biggest free trade deal, led by China, on the side-lines of the 37th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. The deal called as 'Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)', is the world's largest trading bloc, comprising of 10 Southeast Asian countries, as well as South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Novak Djokovic was honored on Sunday afternoon at the Nitto ATP Finals, receiving his ATP Tour No. 1 trophy from ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi for finishing as the year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for a record-equalling sixth time. The Serbian finishes as World No. 1 for the sixth time in the past 10 years draws level with his childhood hero, American Pete Sampras, who ended six straight years at the pinnacle of men's professional tennis between 1993 and 1998.

Karnataka Bank Ltd has launched National Common Mobility Debit Card. The bank said this Rupay card is a contactless debit-cum-prepaid and interoperable transport the users can make payments without inserting the card at PoS terminals. Payments can be made at toll plazas, metro transits, parking lots, retail outlets and smart cities

Dr. Susanta Kar of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Central Drug Research Institute (CSIR-CDRI), Lucknow has been chosen for this year's Prof. AN Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award by the Society of Biological Chemists (India). The Society Of Biological Chemists (India) was founded in 1930, with its Headquarters at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.