Current Affairs Update 8 October 2018
Current Affairs is an important part for many exams. Be prepared for this section with ByScoop which brings all the important Current Affairs in one place. 8 October 2018
List of Nobel Prize Winners 2018
Complete list of Winners of 2018 Nobel Prize.
| Category | Winner | Purpose |
| Physiology or Medicine | James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo | For their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation |
| Physics | Arthur Ashkin | For the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems |
| Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland | For their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses | |
| Chemistry
|
Frances H. Arnold | For the directed evolution of enzymes |
| George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter | For the phage display of peptides and antibodies | |
| Nobel Peace Prize | Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad | For their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict |
| Economic Sciences |
William D. Nordhaus | For integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis |
| Paul M. Romer | For integrating technological innovations into long-run acroeconomic analysis | |
| ****Nobel Prize in Literature 2018 has been postponed and will be awarded next year. | ||
Government Reconstitutes Supreme Court-Powered Pollution Control Panel
- The Centre has reconstituted Supreme Court-empowered Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) which is tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region.
- The tenure of the last EPCA expired on October 3.
- The 20-member re-constituted authority will have former IAS Bhure Lal as the chairman.
Govt Sets Panel To Probe E-commerce Firms’ Big Discounts
- The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has set up 10-member panel Chaired by corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas to find out if the steep discounts offered by online retailers like Amazon and Flipkart, promotes competition.
- The panel will examine the trends in digital economy, including steep discounts in online retailing, and whether the e-tailers are subject to any restrictions in their access to dealerships from manufacturers.
Karnataka Unveils Unnati Scheme For SC/ST Entrepreneurs
- The Government of Karnataka has launched a scheme named Unnati for the entrepreneurs belonging to marginal background or SC/ST communities.
- Under the scheme, the Karnataka Department of Social Welfare will invest up to Rs 20 crore to create end-to-end support infrastructure for start-ups and entrepreneurs.
- The scheme aims to deliver sustainable development and social welfare which will identify, mentor, and promote young entrepreneurs from the SC/ST communities
CII-UNEP Signs MoU for Sustainable Environmental Development
- The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and UN Environment has signed an MoU for coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development.
- The MoU facilitates cooperation in issues of environment, climate change, renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource conservation and management, water sanitation, smart cities and urban infrastructure.
- A major focus of the MoU will be the #Un-plastic Initiative of CII and UN Environment, which is in line with World Environment Day 2018 theme, Beat Plastic Pollution.
NHB Increases Refinance Limit from Rs 24000 cr to Rs 30000 cr
- The National Housing Bank (NHB) has raised refinance limit for housing finance companies to Rs 30,000 crore from the earlier Rs 24,000 crore for the period between July 2018 to June 2019.
- Now, eligible Housing Finance Companies & other entities will have increased availability of funds.
- National Housing Bank (NHB) is the Principal Agency to promote Housing Finance Institutions and to provide financial support to eligible institutions.
- NHB regularly monitors the liquidity position of Housing Finance Companies (currently 97 in number).
World’s First Shared Trading Platform, Exchain, Launches Public Beta Test
- The world’s first shared trading platform, Exchain, rolled out its public beta test on October 6, 2018.
- Exchain is the first global shared trading platform, using centralized blockchain technology to matching orders efficiently, and gradually record platform Tokens on blockchain. Different from traditional trading platform, Exchain belongs to the real user and shares the income with partners, share the profit with users.
- Exchain intend to create a sharing, supervising, and transparent platform, also make the platform co-owned, shared, co-governed, transparent and mutual beneficial.
- Exchain will enable users to obtain the platform token, ET through trading and become a shareholder in Exchain, as well as share in the benefits and interests of Exchain.
Ukraine Launches Air Exercises “Clear Sky 2018” with NATO Countries
- Ukraine began a series of large-scale air force exercises “Clear Sky 2018” with the United States and other NATO countries on October 8 in western Ukraine.
- The war games will run until October 19.
- The aim is to enhance regional capabilities to secure air sovereignty and promote peace and security through cooperation.
Air Force Day 2018: October 8
- Air Force Day 2018 celebrated the 86th anniversary of the the official foundation day of the force on October 8.
- Indian Air Force was officially established on 8 October 1932 by the British Empire as the Royal Indian Air Force. The name was changed to Indian Air Force in 1950.