1. India, US to carry out joint Military Exercise "Yudh Abhyas 2019"

• Indo-US defence cooperation, a joint military training, Exercise "Yudh Abhyas 2019". This exercise is being conducted at Joint Base Lewis Mc Chord, Washington, the USA from 05-18 September 2019.
• Exercise Yudh Abhyas is one of the largest joint running military training and defence corporation endeavours between India and USA. This will be the 15th edition of the joint exercise hosted alternately between the two countries.
• The exercise is also an ideal platform to learn from each other's expertise and experiences of planning and execution of operations.

Foot Notes:
1.  Chief of the Army Staff of India: General Bipin Rawat.
2 . Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army: Mark A Milley.

2. PM has begun his 3 day visit to Russia

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun his three-day trip to Russia on 3 September. PM Modi along with Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Russian Zvezda shipbuilding complex. He is the first Indian prime minister to visit the Russian Far East Region.
• During his visit, the PM will hold India-Russia 20th Annual Summit talks with President Putin. Also, Mr.Modi has been invited to attend the Eastern Economic Forum. Also, Modi and Putin are expected to discuss a gamut of bilateral and regional issues.
• The visit of Modi and Russian president will consent to arrangements sectors such as defense, trade, investments, industrial cooperation, energy and connectivity corridors at the summit.

Foot Notes:
About Russia
1. President: Vladimir Putin
2. Capital: Moscow
3. Currency: Russian ruble

3. Vaishno Devi Shrine adjudged as Best Swachh Iconic Place in India

• Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir has been adjudged as the 'Best Swachh Iconic place' in the country in the 'Swachh Iconic Places' list released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
• The initiatives of water kiosks, reverse vending machines, equid dung management centre, installation of kill waste machine, collection, transportation, and disposal of waste along with regular mopping up of waste though a workforce of 1300 sanitation workers (Shrine cadre and outsourced) have enabled the shrine to achieve the top rank.
• The shrine was in direct competition with dozen other iconic places including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Maharashtra), Taj Mahal (Uttar Pradesh), Tirupati Temple (Andhra Pradesh) Golden Temple (Punjab) Manikarnika Ghat (Varanasi), Ajmer Sharif Dargah (Rajasthan) among others.

• Employees State Insurance Corporation partnered with State Bank of India for direct transfer of benefits electronically into bank accounts of all stakeholders.
• The agreement signed between the two departments SBI Mill provide e-payment services directly to bank accounts of all ESIC beneficiaries and payees Without any manual intervention as an integrated and automated process. The bank would provide e-payment integration with the enterprise resource planning processes of ESIC through its cash management product e- payment technology platform.
•  The e-payment integration would affect statutory benefit payments to ESIC beneficiaries The new system will benefit all stakeholders of ESIC.

5. Qatar unveils 2022 FIFA World Cup logo round the globe

• Qatar unveiled the logo for the 2022 World Cup. It will hosted by the Gulf emirate displaying it in public spaces in Doha and cities around the world.
• The design is a stylised Arabic white unisex shawl with maroon patterning. It displayed in a figure-of-eight symbolising infinity while creating a heart shape above the words FIFA WORLD CUP Qatar 2022
• The logo is very elegant and showing local culture with the burgundy colour of the Qatari flag, Algerian hospitality worker Mourad Bencheikh.
• The emblem was also displayed in Madrid, Buenos Aires and Beirut along with several other major cities.

Foot Notes:
About Qatar
1. Capital: Doha
2. Currency: Qatari riyal

6. China’s Yutu-2 lunar rover discovers ‘gel-like’ substance hidden on the Moon

• China's Yutu-2 rover has discovered a "gel-like" substance inside a crater on the surface of the Moon. The rover landed on the surface after as part of China's Chang'e 4 mission to the far side of the Moon.
• The gel's shape and color are significantly different from the surrounding lunar soil. The colour of the material has been described as unusual. The material is located on the inner edge of the impact crater. The substance was found during the 8th day of an exploration mission to a region covered in small impact craters.
• The Chang-e-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover landed on the other side of the moon in January. It became the first spacecraft to reach the unexplored region of Earth's only satellite. Scientists believe that the far side of the moon has unique features never before explored on site.Chang-e 4 is a robotic spacecraft mission. It is part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.

Foot Notes:
About China
1. Capital: Beijing
2. Currency: Renminbi
3. President: Xi Jinping

7. A new book entitled First They Erased Our Name A Rohingya Speaks

• A new book entitled First They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks book journalist Sophie Ansel (France) released by Penguin Random House on September 9, 2019.
• The book explains about the Rohingya community through the eyes of a Rohingya, Habiburahman who was born and raised in a small village in western Burma in 1979 grew up stateless with his people when their own country’s military leader ordered that Rohingya were not one among the 135 recognized ethnic groups that formed the 8 national races.
• Millions of Rohingya people left their homes since the year 1982.The Myanmar government rapids the process of ethnic cleansing in 2016 & 2017 and about 600,000 Rohingya were forced to cross the border into Bangladesh.

Foot Notes:
About Myanmar
1. Capital: Naypyitaw
2. Currency: Burmese kyat
3. President: Win Myint

8. Mithali Raj retires from T20Is, says focussed on getting ready for 2021 ODI World Cup

• Mithali Raj has announced retirement from T20 Internationals. She led India in 32 T20Is India including 3 Women's T20 World Cups in 2012 (Sri Lanka), 2014 (Bangladesh) and 2016 (India).
• Mithali Raj was captain when India played their first ever women's T20 International in Derby in 2006. In 89 T20 Internationals, Mithali scored 2364 runs including 17 fifties with a career-best 97 not out.
• Mithali Raj played her last T2I against England on March 9, 2019 and remained unbeaten on 30 off 32 balls.

9. Army to commission 1st batch of women soldiers in 2021

• The Indian Army has announced that the first batch of 100 women soldiers in the Army is likely to be commissioned by March 2021.
• The women soldiers will be commissioned into the Corps of Military Police of the Indian Army. In the Corps of Military Police, women soldiers will take up duties of policing cantonments and other Army establishments.
• They will also work in co-operation with civil police of various state governments as well as the Centre and will also investigate cases of crime.At present, women in the Army work only in engineering, medical, legal, signals and educational wings.

10. Japanese woman gets worlds 1st stem cell corneal transplant

• Japan woman becomes the first person in the world to receive a corneal transplant made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). The treatment was successfully carried out by a team of researchers led by ophthalmologist Kohji Nishida at Osaka University.
•  Generally, the damaged or diseased corneas are treated using tissue from donors who have died. But in this case, the researchers created sheets of corneal cells from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. These IPS cells were made by reprogramming adult skin cells from a donor into an embryonic-like state from which they can transform into other cell types, such as corneal cells. After the transplant, the woman’s cornea remained clear and her vision had improved.
• The cornea of the eye is the transparent or clear front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber of the eye. The cornea contains stem cells which can repair damage and maintain vision. These damage in the stem cells that are caused due to disease or injury can lead to blindness. The damaged/diseased cornea can be replaced by donated corneal tissue.

Foot Notes:
About Japan
1. Capital: Tokyo
2. Currency: Japanese yen
3. Prime minister: Shinzō Abe