The Daily Brief – 16th September, 2016

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• Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu, has switched from the Congress to the People’s Party of Arunachal Pradesh, along with 43 other MLAs. Mr. Khandu replaced Nabam Tuki, to become the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, after a Supreme Court ruling reinstating the Congress government in the state. He became the youngest Chief Minister of the country. 
• Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kumar Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is currently on a visit to India and will push for Indian infrastructure projects in Nepal and the post-earthquake reconstruction.
• BRICS High Representatives in charge of security have agreed to intensify cooperation against terror groups like the IS in West Asia and North Africa region (WANA). The meeting of the High Representatives on security issues was led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and attended by his counterparts.
• French Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian is likely to visit India next week to conclude the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between India and France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. India and France had held several rounds of tough negotiations after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision for direct purchase of as many as 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition in April 2014.
• The Ministry of Railways has announced the launch of ‘Yatri Mitra Seva’ to simplify access to wheelchairs, battery operated cars and porter services, in an initiative to improve the railway travel experience of elderly, differently-abled and ailing passengers. The scheme will be operational at all major railway stations.
• Uber has announced a new initiative — UberSHAAN — in partnership with Maruti Suzuki and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), to create job opportunities for one million people by 2018. Under the pan-India programme, the partners will work on skill development and driver-training programmes to provide micro-entrepreneurship opportunities to drivers under the Uber platform.
• The central government has notifies regulations to ensure the security and confidentiality of details provided for the Aadhar Card. Agencies in possession of Aadhaar number of an individual will not be allowed to publish or post the information publicly.
• BJP president Amit Shah has called upon his party members to celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, on September 17, as ‘Sewa Diwas’ or service day by participating in social work.
• The 2018 Champions League soccer tournament will be held in Kiev, Ukraine.
• A piece of aircraft wreckage found in Tanzania has been confirmed to belong to the MH-370 flight that went missing earlier this year. The Malaysian Airlines jet was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
• A landmark report by the United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines has called for delinking drug prices from research and development (R&D) costs. The report calls for human rights to be placed over intellectual property laws and all countries must freely be able to use flexibilities granted under the TRIPS (The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) to access affordable medicines.
• Typhoon Meranti, stated to be the world’s strongest typhoon so far this year, made landfall in east China, causing widespread destruction.
• U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, serving a 35-year prison term for passing classified files to WikiLeaks, ended her hunger strike on Tuesday after the Army said she would be allowed to receive gender transition surgery.
• U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated a 47-year-old Indian-American woman, Diane Gujarati, to the U.S. District Court bench in New York. She will serve as a federal judge after approval from the Senate.

• Indian-American physician-author, Abraham Verghese (61) has been selected for the prestigious 2015 National Humanities Medal. His work emphasises that the patient is at the centre of medical enterprise.
• The US government has officially recalled the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after dozens of reported cases in which batteries exploded or caught fire.
• International Democracy Day is observed every year on 15 September to raise public awareness about the democratic system. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in November 2007 had decided to observe ‘International Democracy Day’ every year on September 15. It was observed for first time in 2008.

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