18 October 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

The two-day 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit begins in Brussels, Belgium.
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will lead the Indian delegation at Europa Building for Opening Ceremony of ASEM Summit.
The theme this year is, 'Global Partners for Global Challenges'.
The summit will prioritize issues related to connectivity, trade and investment, sustainable development, climate change, terrorism, migration, maritime security and cyberspace.
The meeting will bring together Heads of state of 30 European and 21 Asian countries, besides top representatives of the European Union and Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit to India.
He will hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his stay.
India is among the top four investors in Sri Lanka with cumulative investments of over one billion dollars since 2003.
The investments are in diverse areas including petroleum retail, IT, financial services, real estate, and telecommunication.
Trade between the two countries grew rapidly after the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement in March 2000.

The third General elections of National Assembly (the lower house of Parliament) in Bhutan being held today.
The voters will seal the fate of total 94 candidates, 47 each from both the parties.
The Election Commission has deputed over 5,300 officials in 865 polling stations across the country.
Out of four lakh 38,000 registered voters, more than three lakhs are expected to exercise their franchise through EVMs.
There is a straight contest between Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) and Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) parties in third parliamentary elections.

Note:

The Government of Bhutan has been a constitutional monarchy since 18 July 2008 and King of Bhutan is the head of state.
The executive power is exercised by the council of ministers, headed by the Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is nominated by the party that wins the most seats in the National Assembly and heads the executive cabinet, called the ‘Lhengye Zhungtshog’ (Council of Ministers).

Vladimir Putin (Russian President) and Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (Egyptian President) have signed a strategic co-operation treaty to increase trade, military and other ties in Sochi.
Mr al-Sisi hailed his talks with Mr. Putin and termed the agreement as a new chapter in the history of the countries' bilateral relations.
Mr. Putin and the Egyptian President discussed expanding arms trade and military ties.

Canada has become the second country (first Uruguay) to legalize possession and use of recreational cannabis.
Now, Canadians can grow up to four plants in their own home and carry up to 30 grams of dried cannabis for personal use.
Cannabis possession first became a crime in Canada in 1923 but medical use has been legal since 2001.

Appointments

The Minister of State for External Affairs Mobashar Jawed Akbar has resigned from his post in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment made by several women against him.
The resignation comes in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against him.
Mr. Akbar has already filed a criminal defamation case in this regard.

Note:

Veteran Indian journalist M J Akbar is Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (In July, 2015) from Jharkhand.
During his long career in journalism, he launched, as editor, India’s first weekly political news periodicals in India including India Today, Headlines Today, The Telegraph, The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle',' among others.

NITI Aayog has launched the model guidelines for Public-Private partnership in Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
As per the guidelines, the private partner will invest in upgrading, building and deploying human resources, responsible for operational management and service delivery.
The guidelines will help streamline private participation and encourage world-class infra & patient care in the health sector.
The state governments will provide the required physical space.
It is suggested that the tariff structure for the services offered under the NCD care facility may be linked to the existing state and Central Government Health Insurance Scheme.
All service in NCD care facility will be offered by a single entity, be it a trust, company, and consortium under the PPP arrangement.

The famous ‘Shahi litchi’ of North Bihar has got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag after Jardalu mango, Katarni rice and Magahi paan from the state.
GI is a name (sign) used on products to certify that they possess certain qualities for being made or produced as per traditional methods or enjoy a certain reputation due to its geographical origin.
A total of 3 lakh metric tonnes of different varieties of litchi were produced in Bihar in 2017-18, out of which 60 percent were Shahi litchis.

A book on Maharana Pratap named “Maharana Pratap: The Invincible Warrior” authored by historian Rima Hooja has been released.
The book narrates the life of Maharana Pratap, the great Rajput warrior and talks about the famous battle of ‘Haldighati’.

UK-built spacecraft will set off for Mercury to determine whether the plant, which is the closest to the Sun (contains water).
The European Space Agency's (ESA) BepiColombo mission will send two orbiters to explore the planet where the surface temperatures reach about 450 degrees Celsius.
The space agency hopes to get answers to the questions raised by the previous missions such as whether the planet holds water.
On 20^th October, Spacecraft will launch from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
It will take seven years to reach Mercury, arriving in 2025.

Akash Malik (15-year) became India’s first silver-medallist in archery at the Youth Olympic Games.
He lost one-sided final to Trenton Cowles of the USA 0-6.
Currently, Akash is enrolled by the Olympic Gold Quest and trains under South Korean coach Kim Hagyong at the Army Sports Institute in Pune.
India concluded with 3 gold, 9 silver, and 1 bronze at the event that was launched in 2010.