India becomes permanent Signatory to Washington Accord

1.    India becomes permanent Signatory to Washington Accord

i. India has become a permanent Signatory to Washington Accord which will enable global recognition of Indian degrees in engineering and technical education. With this, India has joined a select group of 17 countries that are permanent signatories to the Accord. 

ii. It is an international agreement amongst prominent nations with the charter of promoting mobility and quality assurance of engineers across international boundaries.

iii. New Delhi was given a signatory status at a meeting of the International Engineering Alliance of Washington Accord member countries in New Zealand today.

iv. Human Resource Development Minister, Smriti Irani said in a statement issued in New Delhi, that the status will ensure that highest quality assurance standards are implemented in technical and engineering programmes to provide global mobility to India's engineering graduates.

2.    Malnutrition kills over 3 million child a year: UN 

i. More than three million children under the age of five die annually of malnutrition, the UN food agency and World Health Organisation said on Thursday, urging governments to tackle the problem. 

ii. "Malnutrition is responsible for about half of all child deaths under five years of age, causing over three million deaths every year," the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. 
iii. Some 162 million children are left stunted by chronic malnutrition and 99 million children are underweight across the world, it added. Since the first international conference on nutrition in 1992, "important advances in the fight against hunger and malnutrition have been made, but this progress has been insufficient and uneven," FAO head Jose Graziano da Silva said. 

iv. Around 160 million children under five are stunted or chronically malnourished, while over two billion people suffer one or more micronutrient deficiencies," they said in a statement. 

3.    Neymar rescues Brazil in World Cup opener 

i. Neymar hit two goals including a bitterly contested penalty to guide Brazil to a 3-1 victory over Croatia in the opening match of the World Cup on Thursday.

ii. Croatia took a shock lead when Marcelo scored an own goal in the 11th minute.
iii. Neymar pulled Brazil level after 30 minutes, but Croatia were left in fury when Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura pointed to the spot in the second half after Fred backed into Croatian defender Dejean Lovren and fell.

iv. Barcelona golden boy Neymar, who was also booked, converted the penalty to put Brazil ahead and Chelsea midfielder Oscar scored a brilliant individual goal to seal the crucial victory in Group A.
v. The five-time winners start the tournament as overwhelming favourites, seeking to heal decades of hurt after the humiliation of losing the final to Uruguay on home soil in 1950. But they made a nervous start in the Corinthians Arena.