International NEWS Summary for September:
- Canada’s British Columbia province has become the first foreign government to issue of masala bonds, a rupee-denominated bond.
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially declared Sri Lanka a malaria-free, after certifying that the life-threatening disease had been completely eliminated in the island. With this, Sri Lanka became second country in the South-East Asia Region declared as malaria after Maldives by the WHO.
- The world’s first daily driverless bus service has started in Lyon, France which will run in the city’s Confluence area. The driverless bus service includes two electric shuttles that will transport passengers on a ten-minute route hosting five stops.
- It has features like LIDAR radar technology and motion sensors will help to avoid accidents. LIDAR is acronym of Light Detection And Ranging. Originally it was created as a portmanteau of “light” and “radar”.
- State owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has granted prestigious membership of Asia-Pacific Aerospace Quality Group (APAQG) under category ‘Full Member with voting rights’.
- The 193 countries of the United Nations (UN) have signed a landmark declaration to rid the world of drug-resistant infections or Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or superbugs. It is the fourth time a UN declaration has been reached on a health issue, following HIV in 2001, non-communicable diseases in 2011 and Ebola in 2013.
- Syrian aid group White Helmets has won the prestigious Right Livelihood Award, which is also known as ‘alternative Nobel’ prize. The White Helmets also known as the Syria Civil Defence is a Syrian civil organisation of emergency responders in rebel-held areas.
- The world’s first three-parent baby boy was born in Mexico to a Jordanian couple with the help a controversial new fertility technique that incorporates DNA from three people in the embryo. The ‘three-parent’ technique also known as Mitochondrial donation (Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy) allows parents with rare genetic mutations to have healthy babies.