Notes:
The World Trauma Day (WTD) is observed every year on October 17 to highlight the increasing rate of accidents and injuries causing death and disability across the world and the need to prevent them. It emphasizes the importance of saving and protecting a life during the most critical moments and preparing and applying critical measures to deal with and avoid trauma fatalities.Trauma means “any injury caused to the body”. The injury may be caused due to many reasons like road accidents, fires, burns, falls, acts of violence and crimes against the vulnerable population including women, children and elderly.

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On October 18, the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit has started in Brussels, Belgium with theme “Global Partners for Global Challenges”. The summit will prioritise 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).Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will lead the Indian delegation at the two-day summit. This will also be the first multilateral summit that Vice President will be attending after taking office in August 2017.

Notes:
Irish Author Anna Burns has won the prestigious 2018 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for her novel ‘Milkman’. With this, she became the first Northern Irish author and the first woman since 2013 to win the prize. Milkman is an exploration of Northern Ireland’s three decades of sectarian violence told through the voice of a young woman. The novel chronicles the struggles of a middle sister in a family as she confronts rumour, social pressures and politics amid violent sectarian divisions in her community.She had previously authored two novels – ‘No Bones’ and ‘Little Constructions’.

Notes:
Akash Malik from Haryana has become the India’s first silver-medallist in archery at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. He lost a one-sided final to Trenton Cowles of the USA by 0-6 in the men’s recurve final. With this, India concluded the youth Olympics with 13 medals, namely, 3 gold, 9 silver, and one bronze. In it, Jeremy Lalrinnunga won India’s first ever Youth Olympics Gold medal.While Tababi Devi won the first ever youth Olympics medal for India in Judo and later also won a silver in the mixed team event under mixed-NOC. Further, Manu Bhaker became the first Indian girl to win a Youth Olympics Gold medal. Both Boys’ and Girls’ Hockey 5s teams won silver medals in their debut.

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India has been ranked as the 58th most competitive economy on the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) for 2018. The WEF stated that India’s rank rose by five places from 2017, the largest gain among G20 economies. On the list of 140 economies, the US topped the list followed by Singapore and Germany. As per the report, India leads the region in all other areas of competitiveness except for health, education and skills. It further added that India has invested more heavily on transport infrastructure and services. As per the report, India’s greatest competitive advantages include its market size and innovation. Among the BRICS economies, China topped the list at 28th place. India, however, remained the “South Asia’s main driving force”. The GCI 4.0 is a composite indicator that assesses the set of factors that determine an economy’s level of productivity – widely considered as the most important determinant of long-term growth.

Notes:
Canada has officially become the 2nd Country in the world to legalize the recreational use of marijuana nationwide after Uruguay. The Cannabis Act (or Bill C-45) came into force on 17th October 2018. The new regulations aim to protect public health and safety by allowing adults access to legal cannabis and is a social experiment that the rest of the world will be carefully watching. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant intended for medical or recreational use. With this, Canada has also became the the first G7 nation to legalize the drug’s recreational use. It must be noted that the use of medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001. The Group of Seven (G7) is a group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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On 16th October 2018, China has successfully tested the world’s largest unmanned transport drone “Feihong-98 (FH-98)”, which can carry a payload of 1.5 tonnes, at Baotou test site in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The Feihong-98 has a maximum takeoff weight of 5.25 tonnes, a flight height of 4,500m, a cruising speed of 180 km/hr and a maximum range of 1,200 kms. The FH-98 was adapted from the prototype of the Shifei Y5B, a China-developed transport plane. It is developed and modified by the China Academy of Aerospace Electronics Technology (CAAET).

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The World Students’ Day (WSD) is observed every year on 15th of October to mark the birth anniversary of former President of India and great scientist Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam was also the great author. Among his books are: ‘Wings of Fire’, ‘My journey’, ‘Ignited Minds – Unleashing the power within India’ and ‘India 2020 – A Vision for the New Millennium’. In 2015 the United Nations declared 15 October “World Students’ Day”. The day is a celebration of multiculturalism, diversity and cooperation among students across the globe.

Notes:
As per clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution, President Ram Nath Kovind has recently accepted the resignation of M J Akbar from the Union council of ministers on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He resgined from the post of Minister of State for External Affairs due to allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women journalists.

Notes:
The first-ever Indo-Japan joint military exercise “Dharma Guardian- 2018” will be conducted at Counter Insurgency Warfare School, Vairengte from 01 November to 14 November. During the 14 day long exercise, due emphasis will be laid on increasing interoperability between forces from both countries. Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario. Experts from both sides will also hold detailed discussions to share their expertise on varied operational aspects. The exercise will contribute immensely in developing mutual understanding and respect for each other’s militaries and also facilitate tracking the worldwide phenomenon of terrorism.