India, Russia seal $5 Billion S-400 missile air defence deal

  • India and Russia have signed a $5 billion S-400 air defence system deal.
  • The deal was signed during the annual bilateral summit between PM Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
  • India is aiming to procure long-range missile systems in order to tighten its air defence systems, especially along the 4,000-km-long Sino-India border.

RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.5%

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%.
  • The decision was taken at the fourth bi-monthly monetary policy committee meeting.
  • Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 6.25%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75%.

Nobel Peace Prize 2018 conferred upon Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for fighting sexual violence

  • The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi survivor of rape and captivity by ISIS.
  • Dr. Mukwege and Murad jointly received the award for their contributions toward combating wartime sexual assault.
  • The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the winners for being symbols in the fight to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.
  • Dr. Mukwege has treated victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for most of his adult life

R N Ravi appointed Deputy National Security Advisor

  • R N Ravi, the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, has been appointed the Deputy National Security Advisor.
  • He is also the government’s interlocutor for the ongoing talks with Naga insurgent group.
  • Ravi will be third deputy to NSA Ajit Doval after former Research and Analysis Wing chief Rajinder Khanna and serving diplomat Pankaj Saran.

India’s first Methanol Cooking Fuel Program launched

  • India and Assam Petro-chemicals have launched Asia’s first canister-based cooking stoves and India’s first Methanol Cooking Fuel Program.
  • The program will first be piloted at 500 households inside the Assam Petro Complex.
  • This will later be scaled to 40,000 households in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Goa and Karnataka.
  • The system uses a special cooking stove and 1.2-litre methanol canisters, and a rack of 8 such canisters is expected to last for a month.
  • An amount of methanol equivalent to one LPG cylinder is expected to offer at minimum 20% savings.

Aung San Suu Kyi becomes 1st person to lose honorary Canadian citizenship

  • Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi became the first person to be stripped of the honorary Canadian citizenship.
  • This was done because of her role in the human rights violations against the Rohingya people.
  • She had received honorary Canadian citizenship in 2007
  • Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.

Konkan Alphonso mango, the king of mangoes, gets GI Tag

  • The Alphonso mango variety from Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts of Maharashtra have been registered under the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
  • The GI tag is an indication that a product has a specific geographical origin and possesses qualities or a reputation due to its origin.
  • The GI tag is an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
  • The king of mangoes, the Alphonso, better known as ‘Hapus’ in Maharashtra, is in demand in domestic and international markets.
  • A few of the other GIs of India include Darjeeling Tea, Mahabaleshwar Strawberry, Blue Pottery of Jaipur, Banarasi Sarees and Tirupati Laddus.

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