Read from our blog

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• India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th in a global index that measures competitiveness, as it fared poorly in most parameters such as infrastructure, the adoption of information, communications and technology (ICT), financial markets, skills, and innovation capability, compared to last year.
• The Global Competitiveness Report 2019 was released by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF).

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• The government of Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam introduced a ban on people wearing masks at public assemblies, a colonial-era emergency legislation that has not been used in more than half a century.
• The ban was aimed to putting a stop to nearly four months of anti-government protests in the city that started against the now-shelved extradition bill.
• The violators of the law could be sentenced to one year in prison, or fined HK$25,000 ($3,188).

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• Turkey began a planned military offensive into north-eastern Syria launching airstrikes and artillery fire across the border just days after the Trump administration announced it was pulling US troops back from the area.
• The operation is aimed at pushing Kurdish forces, who were a key ally of the US in the fight against ISIS -- away from Turkey's border.
• The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who operate in the area are US allies.
• They are led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.
• The SDF suspended their counter-ISIS operations amid the bombardment in order to focus on the Turkish offensive.
• The Syrian National Army is considered the biggest umbrella group for the factions of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army.

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• UNICEF will now be able to receive, hold and disburse donations of cryptocurrencies ether and bitcoin, through its newly-established UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund.
• In a first for United Nations organizations, UNICEF will use cryptocurrencies to fund open source technology benefiting children and young people around the world.
• Under the structure of the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund, contributions will be held in their cryptocurrency of contribution, and granted out in the same cryptocurrency.
• The first contributions to the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund will be received from the Ethereum Foundation and will benefit three grantees of the UNICEF Innovation Fund – and a project coordinated by the GIGA initiative to connect schools across the world to the internet.

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• The US has blacklisted 28 Chinese organisations for their alleged involvement in abuses against ethnic Uighurs in China's Xinjiang province.
• The organisations are now on the so-called Entity List, which bars them from buying products from US companies without approval from Washington.
• The 28 targets include both government agencies and technology companies specialising in surveillance equipment. China reacted angrily, dismissing the US allegations as groundless.
• It is not the first time the US has put Chinese groups under a trade ban. In May, the Trump administration added telecommunications giant Huawei to the Entity List because of security fears over its products.

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• The International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced its latest discovery of Saturn’s 20 new moons.
• Saturn now has 82 moons, 3 more than Jupiter.
• Saturn now has the most number of moons among planets.
• The discovery comes from observation made between 2004 and 2007.

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• NASA launched a satellite to explore the mysterious, dynamic region where air meets space. The satellite — called Icon, short for Ionospheric Connection Explorer — rocketed into orbit following a two-year delay.
• The ionosphere is the charged part of the upper atmosphere extending several hundred miles (kilometres) up.
• It's in constant flux as space weather bombards it from above and Earth weather from below, sometimes disrupting radio communications.

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• The government hiked dearness allowance (DA) given to central government employees by 5% in what seems to be a move aimed at reviving consumer demand amid an economic slowdown.
• Dearness Allowance or DA is paid by the government to its employees as well as pensioners to offset the impact of inflation.
• The move will be effective from July 2019 and is a major relief for government employees who will now be entitled to an additional five per cent dearness allowance.

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• World Trade Organisation (WTO) hosted the event on the World Cotton Day at the request of the Cotton – 4 countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali to celebrate their official application for the recognition of 7th October as World Cotton Day by the United Nations.
• The objective of observing October, 7 as World Cotton Day is to give exposure and recognition to cotton and all its stakeholders in production, transformation and trade; to engage donors and beneficiaries and strengthen development assistance for cotton; seek new collaborations with the private sector and investors for the cotton related industries and production in developing countries and promote technological advances, as well as further research and development on cotton.

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• 13 DCBs would be merged with the Kerala State Co-operative Bank for forming the proposed Kerala Bank. With its formation, the proposed "Kerala Bank" will be largest banking network in the state.
• All the DCBs, except the one in Malappuram district controlled by the opposition Congress-led UDF, had approved the Left government's proposal of amalgamation in their respective general body meetings.

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• Antonio Costa has been re-elected as the Prime Minister of Portugal after winning the general elections. He will to continue lead the government for another four years.