Important Current Affairs 4th September 2018 English

Important Current Affairs 4th September 2018

                                                           (International News)

India to take part in tsunami mock drill 
India along with 23 other nations would be participating in a major Indian ocean-wide tsunami mock exercise (drill) on September four and five, which would involve evacuation of thousands of people from coastal areas in over half a dozen states.
About the Exercise:
The exercise, known as IOWave18, is being organised by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, which coordinated the setting up of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) in the aftermath of December 26, 2004 tsunami.
The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC), based out of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, is an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.
The purpose of exercise is to increase tsunami preparedness, evaluate response capabilities in each state and improve coordination throughout the region.
The exercise would involve the evacuation of more than 1,25,000 people from the coastal communities of Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Goa, the release said.

India, Cyprus ink two MoUs on financial intelligence sharing and environment
India and Cyprus have signed two MoUs in the field of sharing of financial intelligence and environment. The MoUs were signed between the two countries after delegation-level talks in Nicosia. 

India and Cyprus agreed for the revision in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement made in 2016 to further enhance investment partnership to grow by strengthening the institutional framework to facilitate investment cross flows. 

Important Takeaways:

President invited Cyprus to become part of International Solar alliance. He said India and Cyprus can also cooperate in the field of generic medicine and vaccine and Healthcare where India has made significant advances. 
Also enhance business collaboration in the field of IT and IT-enabled services, tourism, shipping and renewable energy.

China pledges $60 bn to Africa, waives debt for certain countries
China  pledged $60 billion of financial assistance to Africa and announced it would waive the debt for certain countries in the continent amid the mounting criticism and suspicion about Beijing's "debt diplomacy".

Important To Know:

During the last summit in Johannesburg in 2015, China had announced the monetary assistance of a similar amount which was more or less implemented.

"China will extend $60 billion financing to Africa in the form of government assistance as well as investment, financing by financial institutions and companies," Xi said in his address at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

China is Africa's biggest trade partner. Officials and leaders from 53 countries of the continent attended the Summit. Of the 54 nations, only Eswatini is not attending the forum as it does not have diplomatic ties with China due to its recognition of Taiwan as a country.

Beijing has been heavily investing in the continent and building a variety of infrastructure projects, ranging from schools to hospitals and football stadia to parliament buildings.

Ukraine-NATO Joint Military Exercises 
Ukraine  launched joint military exercises with the United States and a string of other NATO countries. The annual Rapid Trident military exercises, taking place in the western Ukrainian village of Starychi from September 2nd to 15th, involve some 2,200 soldiers from 14 countries.
The drills start a week before Russia holds its biggest military exercises VOSTOK 2018 since the Cold War, in the east of the country and with the participation of China and Mongolia.
Rapid Trident
Rapid Trident is an annual, multinational exercise that serves as the validation for Ukraine's Ministry of Defense unit currently undergoing at the Ukrainian-led Combat Training Center, under the advisement of allied and partner nations.

                                                         (National News) 
Health Ministry releases draft rules on sale of drugs by e-pharmacies

The Union Health Ministry on September 1, 2018 released draft rules on sale of drugs by e-pharmacies to regulate online sale of medicines across the country.
The draft rules on "sale of drugs by e-pharmacy" state that no person will distribute or sell, stock, exhibit or offer for sale of drugs through e-pharmacy portal unless registered

Objective
The rules aim to provide patients access to genuine drugs from authentic online portals.

Other Details
• The new draft rules prohibit the sale of tranquilizers, psychotropic drugs, narcotics and habit-forming drugs through the online portals.
• The draft also prohibits the e-pharmacies from advertising any drug on radio, television, print or internet or any other media for any purpose.
• The draft also has provisions of suspension and cancellation of registration of the e-portal if the latter contravenes any provision of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Background
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, governs the sale of medicines in India. Medicines can be sold from licensed premises only.
The Act, however, does not cover e-pharmacies at present and the government had decided to appoint a sub-committee, after receiving complaints of violations.
The draft released on September 1 is based on the sub-committee's recommendations.

September being celebrated as National Nutrition Month 

The National Nutrition Month is being celebrated across the country to mark the fight against malnutrition. 
Objective
In this National Nutrition Month, various programmes have been organized by the Women and Child Development Ministry to spread broad awareness on the issues related to malnutrition like stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight in children.
The Nutrition Month will also focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers to eliminate the deficiencies prevailing in the Health sector. 
Background
The decision to celebrate September as the National Nutrition Month every year was taken during the second meeting of National Council on India's Nutrition Challenges under the Poshan Abhiyaan held in July this year. With the aim to bring down stunting of children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022, POSHAN Abhiyaan- the National Nutrition Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 8th this year in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. 

 Mauritius tops India’s FDI charts
  
Mauritius remained the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India in 2017-18 followed by Singapore, whereas total FDI stood at $37.36 billion in the financial year, a marginal rise over the $36.31 billion recorded in the previous fiscal, according to RBI data.
While FDI from Mauritius totalled $13.41 billion as against $13.38 billion in the previous year, inflows from Singapore rose to $9.27 billion from $6.52 billion. FDI from the Netherlands declined marginally to $2.67 billion as against $3.23 billion a year earlier.

                                                               (Sports)

Most Valuable Player' of Asian Games

Japanese swimmer Ikee Rikako has been named as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the recently-concluded 18th edition of the Asian Games.
The 18-year-old, who bagged six gold and two silver medals in the tournament, became the first female athlete to win the MVP title.
Rikako Ikee 
Rikako Ikee born on 4 July 2000 is a Japanese competitive swimmer. She is the national record holder in the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly, and the junior world record holder in the 50-meter freestyle and 50-meter butterfly long-course events, and the 50- and 100-meter butterfly, and 100-meter individual medley in short course.
Rikako became the fourth Japanese athlete to win the MVP award since its inception during the 1998 Bangkok Games.

First set of Indian shooters to secure quota places for 2020 Olympics
Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela have become the first set of Indian shooters to secure quota places for the 2020 Olympics.

Moudgil finished second on the podium and won a silver in the women's 10m air rifle event of the International Shooting Sport Federation's (ISSF) World Championship in Changwon, South Korea. 

Chandela finished fourth in the same event. The 24-year-old Moudgil shot a total of 248.4 in the eight-woman final to open the Indian senior squad's medal account in the prestigious tournament. 

International Shooting Sport Federation
The International Shooting Sport Federation, also known with the acronym ISSF, is the governing body of the Olympic Shooting events in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun disciplines, and of several non-Olympic Shooting sport events. ISSF’s activities include regulation of the sport, Olympic qualifications and organization of international competitions such as the ISSF World Cup Series, the ISSF World Cup Finals, the ISSF Separate World Championship in Shotgun eventsand the ISSF World Championship in all events.