CURRENT AFFAIRS 23rd August, 2024

CURRENT AFFAIRS 23 August, 2024

India overtook China as the world’s biggest importer of Russian oil in July as Chinese refiners bought less because of lower profit margins from producing fuels, a comparison of import data showed.
Russian crude made up a record 44% of India’s overall imports last month, rising to a record 2.07 million barrels per day (bpd), 4.2% higher than in June and 12% more than a year ago, data on Indian shipments from trade and industry sources showed.
That surpassed China’s July oil imports from Russia of 1.76 million bpd via pipelines and shipments, based on Chinese customs data.
Indian refiners have been gorging on Russian oil sold at discounts after Western nations imposed sanctions against Moscow and curtailed their energy purchases in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“India’s requirement for Russian oil is going to go up as long as there are no further tightening of sanctions,” an Indian refining source said.

President Droupadi Murmu presided over the first-ever investiture ceremony for the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (National Science Awards). These awards, instituted last year to replace all existing science accolades, mark a new chapter in recognizing scientific excellence in the country.
The ceremony’s highlight was the conferral of the inaugural Vigyan Ratna Puraskar, India’s highest science award, to Govindrajan Padmanabhan, a renowned biochemist and former director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
This award acknowledges Dr. Padmanabhan’s significant contributions to biochemistry and his leadership in Indian scientific research.

Senior IAS officer Govind Mohan on August 22, will take charge as the new Union Home Secretary from Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who completes his five year tenure at the sensitive post, official sources said.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on August 21, appointed 1989-Sikkim cadre IAS officer Govind Mohan as the next Home Secretary. Mohan will replace Ajay Kumar Bhalla upon completion of his tenure on August 22.
Mohan is currently posted as Secretary in the Ministry of Culture. Bhalla, a 1984-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was appointed as Home Secretary in August 2019.

SpaceX’s upcoming Polaris Dawn mission is set to make history as the first private spacewalk. Scheduled for launch on August 26, 2024, at 3:38 a.m. EDT (0738 GMT), this five-day expedition will be led by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who previously chartered the Inspiration4 mission in 2021.
The mission will utilize a Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon capsule, Resilience, for its third flight.

Crew Details-

Jared Isaacman: Mission Commander and the financier behind the Polaris Program.
Scott “Kidd” Poteet: Pilot, a retired US Air Force Lt. Col.
Sarah Gillis: Mission Specialist and SpaceX’s lead space operations engineer for astronaut training.
Anna Menon: Mission Specialist, SpaceX’s lead operations engineer for crew operations development, and medical officer.

The ICC has announced the relocation of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to significant safety concerns. The event, originally set to be hosted in Bangladesh, will now take place from October 3 to 20 in Dubai and Sharjah.
This decision follows a series of political upheavals in Bangladesh, including unrest and the flight of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which led to travel advisories from several participating countries.
The move was confirmed after a virtual board meeting where the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) consented to the change.
Despite efforts by the new interim government to retain the event through the United Nations, the escalating unrest and the issuance of travel advisories made it impractical to proceed with the event in Bangladesh.

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