INTERNATIONAL

International Literacy Day is celebrated annually on September 8 across the world.

The UN postal agency will issue special stamps here next month to commemorate the festival of Diwali.

The United Nations Postal Administration will issue a New York special event sheet on October 19 to commemorate the Indian festival.

The background of the sheet features the United Nations Headquarters building illuminated with the message of “Happy Diwali” to celebrate the spirit of the festival.

· Dr Arif Alvi sworn in as 13th president of Pakistan

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisaradministered the oath on September 9. Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi is succeeding Mamnoon Hussain, who took oath as 12th head of state on September 9, 2013 after his election as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Alvi, one of the founders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and dentist by profession, contested against two opposition candidates Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakistan Peoples Party senior leader Aitzaz Ahsan.

NATIONAL

· Government spent Rs 132 crore on GST advertisements

The expenditure on advertisements through print mediastood at nearly ₹127 crore while more than ₹5 crore was spent on advertisements with outdoor media.
There was “nil” expenditure for the same on electronic media.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented on July 1, 2017.
The government had also roped in Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchanas brand ambassador to promote GST and inform people about its benefits.

Union Home Ministry has approved allotment of Rs 3,000 crore for women safety projects in eight metro cities, including Delhi. The project includes setting up of women police patrol teams, technological installations like panic buttons, smart-LED street lights, transit dormitories for women and children, one-stop crisis centres, forensic and cyber crime cells in the selected metros under the Women Safe City Project. It will be implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

An integrated approach has been followed while designing the physical infrastructure to be added to enhance safety of women and children in public places and to instil a sense of security in them

Businesses may soon have to geo-tag their registered office premises in the statutory filings with the Registrar of Companies, as the government tightens regulatory systems to prevent fraud. Geo-tagging will let the online return filing system raise red flags wherever it detects that far too many companies are registered in the same premises.

This will help government identify instances of one building being used by hundreds of shell companies as their registered office or of companies citing vacant plots as their registered office address.

Novak Djokovic produced an impeccable performance to beat Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open final and win his 14th Grand Slam title.

Djokovic, who won Wimbledon in July, will climb to fourth in the world after back-to-back Grand Slam victories.

Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese woman to win a Grand Slam title after she registered an emphatic win over Serena Williams in the finals of the U.S Open.