1. Forbes released 4th annual America’s Richest Self-Made Women list 2018 -
- It lists 60 women with combined net worth of $71 billion, with minimum net worth needed is $320 million.
- Top 5 are -
| Rank |
Name |
Company |
Net Worth ($B) |
| 1. |
Diane Hendricks |
ABC Supply |
$4.9 billion |
| 2. |
Marian Ilitch |
Little Caesars |
$4.3 billion |
| 3. |
Judy Faulkner |
Epic Systems |
$3.5 billion |
| 4. |
Meg Whitman |
Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
$3.3 billion |
| 5. |
Johnelle Hunt |
J.B. Hunt Transport Enterprise |
$3.2 billion |
- Actress Kylie Jenner is notable entrant in list as at just 21 years, she has built a $900 million cosmetics fortune with virtually no employees or capital. Kylie Cosmetics launched 2 years ago has sold over $630 million worth of makeup accessories.
- 2 Indian-origin Women named in List. Jayshree Ullal (CEO of Arista Networks, ranked __________) has net worth of 1.3 billion dollars. Neerja Sethi is Vice president of Syntel and ranked 21st.
2. 18th International Children’s Film Festival began in ___________________, to screen 36 films from 17 countries. It is organised by Cine Central in collaboration with UNICEF.
3. 2018 Soft Power 30 Index, by UK-based firm Portland and University of Southern California -
- _____________ topped the list, with France placed second. List does not feature India. Germany was ranked 3rd, followed by USA.
- India does not feature in global list, but is ranked 8th 10 countries in Asia.
4. 3rd BRICS Film Festival held in Durban (_______________), along with International Durban Film Festival (DIFF). Last day of festival was celebrated as India Country Day. Indian winners of Film Festival -
- Best Actress - Bhanita Das, Village Rockstars
- Best Film - Newton by Amit Masurkar
- Special Jury Award - Village Rockstars by Rima Das
5. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), ______________ tops list of skilled immigrants to Australia, with 234395 individuals (19 %), followed by England and China at 160,558 (13 %) and 146,842 (12 %) people.
6. According to British aviation intelligence firm OAG, Mumbai is fifth-least punctual airport in world in terms of on-time performance out of 513 airports. ________________'s Nagoya Komaki airport was ranked best with 94.5% on-time performance during 12-month period.
7. According to International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) ‘Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/ GM Crops in 2017’ report -
- India with 11.4 million hectares (mh) has world’s 5th largest area cultivated under genetically modified (GM) crops in 2017. India’s entire GM crop area is under single crop BT Cotton incorporating genes from Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt soil bacterium coding for resistance against heliothis bollworm insect pests.
- ________________ has highest area under transgenic crops (75 mh), followed by Brazil (50.2 mh), Argentina (23.6 mh) and Canada (13.1 mh).
- In 2017, farmers planted 189.8 mh under transgenic crops, as against 1.7 mh in 1996, when transgenic crops were grown commercially for first time.
- Highest share in world’s total 189.8 mh GM crop area in 2017 is of soyabean (94.1 mh), followed by maize (59.7 mh), cotton (24.1 mh).
8. According to Walk Free Foundation's Global Slavery Index -
- Approx 4 crore people worldwide were subjected to modern slavery in 2016.
- __________________ has highest concentration of modern slavery where one in 10 people are in this condition.
- Most action taken by Netherlands, US, UK, Sweden, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Montenegro.
9. Acting ______________ PM Winston Peters demanded Australia to change their flag, As Flag of Both countries looks similar. _______________ flag was adopted 52 years before Australian flag and was adopted in 1902, replacing union jack. Australian flag was adopted in 1954.
10. _______________ Nations Ethiopia and Eritrea declared end to their long conflict,with marking launch of a commercial flight from Ethiopia to Eritrea in 20 years.
- Eritrea was once a province of Ethiopia. In 1993, Eritrea separated after an independence struggle. Demarcation of shared border caused a brutal conflict in 1998-2000, in which 80,000 people were killed.
11. After USA withdrawing recently from UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), UN General Assembly elected ________________ to replace USA, valid until December 31, 2019.
12. American e-Commerce Giant _____________ crossed $900-billion market cap for first time in its history, becoming 2nd company after Apple to achieve this milestone.
13. As part of its plan to connect billions of people who are still offline, ________________ will launch Athena, its own Internet satellite, early in 2019. The project is designed to efficiently provide broadband access to unserved and underserved areas throughout world.
14. __________________ govt released an India Economic strategy report, recommending to lift India into its top three export markets. It prioritizes trade opportunities in India covering 10 sectors.
15. Blood Moon 2018 or century’s longest total lunar eclipse of 1 hour _________________ minutes occurred on July 27-28, 2018. It was majorly seen in Eastern Hemisphere including Central Asia, Eastern Africa and South East Asia.
- Moon was gradually covered by Earth’s shadow and totality phase was seen on July 28 and total eclipse lasted up to 2h 43m. During this time, Moon was located at apogee (i.e. at farthest from Earth) in its orbit and moved at slower speed in its orbit, making it longest duration of total eclipse of this century.
- Such long duration of total lunar eclipses earlier had occurred on July 16, 2000 for totality duration of 1 hour 46 minutes and on June 15, 2011 for totality duration of 1 hour 40 minutes.
16. ____________ Nation Democratic Republic of Congo declared end of an Ebola outbreak which was first reported in month of May in Bikoro province. It was the ninth Ebola outbreak since discovery of virus in Congo in 1976.
17. ____________________ Updates -
- Approved USD 1 billion grant to Pakistan, just after Pakistan has been placed in Financial Action Task Force FATF ‘grey list’, which may hamper Pakistan's Economy and make receiving foreign funds tougher.
- Launched an optical remote sensing satellite which will be used to monitor its Belt and Road Initiative, named Gaofen-11.
- Offered gift of $295 million to Sri Lanka, marking start of construction of a Chinese-funded kidney hospital in Polonnaruwa constituency.
- ___________ Based tech firm Baidu partnered with Softbank’s public-transportation subsidiary SB Drive to launch a self-driving bus service in Japan next year.
18. _____________________ Nations Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to fully implement a peace deal reached in 2000, ending 20-year war between two countries. Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, and the two countries fought a border war from 1998 to 2000.
19. European Nation __________________ will withdraw from Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration agreement, to be adopted in December 2018. ____________ government opposed migration, arguing that UN agreement could aid flow of migrants to Europe and force countries to shelter them. USA withdrew from it last year.
20. European Parliament rejected a controversial European Union copyright law proposal that was proposed by Beatles legend Paul McCartney against creators of _______________________.
- It proposed to put more responsibility on websites to check for copyright infringements and forced platforms to pay for linking to news.
- _____________ went down on July 4 in Poland, Spain and Italy, in protest against the Draft law.
- The two highly contested parts of the law are -
- Article 11 -
- Required online platforms to pay publishers a fee if they link to their news content. It proposed to protect newspapers and other outlets from internet giants like Google and Facebook using their material without payment.
- However, article failed to clearly define what constitutes a link and hence, could be manipulated by governments to curb freedom of speech on Internet.
- Article 13 -
- Proposed greater responsibility on websites to enforce copyright laws. It would make online platforms legally liable for copyrighted material put on the web by users.
- It means that social media sites and other websites would check every piece of content uploaded including texts, images, sounds or code. It is too expensive for most companies.
- Article has been most controversial and it faced most resistance from critics.
21. European Union (EU) and ______________________________ have signed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), as biggest ever trade deal negotiated by EU and creates free trade zone covering nearly third of the world’s GDP. Key Fats Include -
- Eases up Agricultural exports. It ensures protection in Japan of more than 200 high-quality European agricultural products (Geographical Indications (GIs)), and protection of several Japanese GIs in EU.
- Services markets - Opens up services markets, in particular financial services, e-commerce, telecommunications and transport.
- Procurement markets - Guarantees EU companies access to large procurement markets of 48 large Japanese cities.
- Automotive sector - Addresses sensitivities of EU in this sector and elimination of customs duties in transition periods of up to 7 years.
- Trade and sustainable development .
- Data protection.
22. ____________________ Updates -
- Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg overtook Warren Buffett as world’s third-richest person, with $81 Billion Net Worth. He is now only behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($141 Billion) and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($93 Billion).
- Obtained a licence to set up a startup incubator in China despite its website being banned in country since 2009. The $30-million subsidiary will be located in Hangzhou city, to reportedly make small investments and give advice to local businesses.
- Its Subsidiary WhatsApp has launched a ‘forward label’ feature which will highlight the forwarded messages on the platform. The feature will help users in determining that the sender is not the creator of the message. It will prevent spreading of fake messages that prompted many mob lynching cases in India.
23. First-ever land-based communication link between China and ____________________ has been inaugurated, named Optical Fibre Cable project. It includes an 820-kilometre underground cable that starts from Rawalpindi and ends at Khunjerab.
24. Forbes Released Celebrity 100 list of World’s Highest-Paid Entertainers. ____________________'s Boxer Floyd Mayweather captures top spot with $285 Million Earnings, followed by American Actor George Clooney ($268 Million) and American Actress Kylie Jenner at 3rd Place. Indian Actor Akshay Kumar (40.5 million dollars) is ranked 76th while Salman Khan (37.7 million dollars) is 82nd.
25. Four persons of India-origin are named by Fortune among 40 of most influential and inspiring young people in business under age of 40 -
- Dhivya Suryadevara (4th) (CFO of _____________________ based Car Major General Motors)
- Anjali Sud (14th), CEO of Vimeo
- Baiju Bhatt (24th), Cofounder & Co-CEO of Robinhood
- Anu Duggal (32nd), founding partner of Female Founders Fund
26. _________________ banned smartphones, tablets and other internet-enabled devices in schools, applicable for pupils aged between 3 - 15 years.
27. Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018, by Corn-ell University, INSEAD and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) -
- India ranked ______________________, improving from its last year rank of 60.
- Top 6 - Switzerland (1), Netherlands (2), Sweden (3), United Kingdom (4), Singapore (5), USA (6)
- Neighbours - China (17), Bangladesh (116), Pakistan (109), Sri Lanka (88), Nepal (108)
28. High-level talks between USA and North Korea held during U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Visit to North Korea. Its aim was to make sure North Korea completely discontinues its Nuclear Programme, as decided during a recent high voltage meet US Prez Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong un In ________________ in June 2018.
29. India and China signed an agreement for reduction of tariffs on Chinese imports of Indian medicines, particularly cancer drugs. China also agreed to increase imports of Indian medicines.
- India and China had both slashed import tariffs for a range of products with effect from July 1, following the fourth round of negotiations under the ________________________ (APTA), which also includes Bangladesh, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka.
- Under APTA, China reduced tariffs on 8549 items, while India agreed to do the same for 3142 products.
- Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), previously named Bangkok Agreement, was signed in 1975 as an initiative of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). It is the oldest preferential trade agreement among the developing countries in Asia-Pacific region.
30. India and _______________________ signed MoU to create a bilateral Artificial Intelligence Bridge that envisages the generation of $20 billion in economic benefits during the next decade. It was signed During Visit of Deepak Bagla to UAE, managing director and CEO of Invest India.
31. _____________ Updates -
- Become 69th shareholder of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
- European Bank is headquartered in London (UK). President is Suma Chakrabarti (Indian Origin).
- Has been elected new President of Asian Tug of War Federation. Gautam Kaul won prestigious post in Federations’ Executive Committee elections held in Kathmandu (Nepal).
- Invited USA President Donald Trump to be chief guest at 2019 Republic Day celebrations. If accepted, Trump will be 2nd serving US President after Barack Obama to be invited as chief guest of Republic Day Parade.
- 1st 2+2 Talks with USA may be held in September 2018. Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs Minister) and Nirmala Sitharaman (Defence Minister) will be attending the talks.
- Elected as Vice Chair of Asia Pacific Region of World Customs Organisation (WCO) for 2 years.
- WCO is Located in Brussels (Belgium), with 182 customs administrations as Members and Kunio Mikuriya as Secretary General.
- Ranked 6th in global optimism index in second quarter (Q2) of 2018, by Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR), a quarterly global business survey. It was topped by Indonesia followed by Netherlands, Austria, Philippines and China.
- Moved up 15 places to 73rd in terms of money parked by its citizens with Swiss banks in 2017, while UK remains on top. UK accounted for over 27% (403 billion francs) of total foreign money while India accounted for 0.07%. The money held by Indians rose 50% to 1.01 billion francs (INR 7000 crores).
- Ranked 11 in terms of FDI attractiveness, according to AT Kearney report, down from 8 in 2017 and 9 in 2016.
- Top 5 - US (1), Canada (2), Germany (3), UK (4), China (5)
- Ranks 109th in overall 4G mobile internet speeds with an average download speed of 9.12 Mbps which is less than Pakistan (14.03 Mbps), according to data speed tester Ookla. Out of 124 countries, Qatar ranked first with 63.22 Mbps, Norway 2nd with 62.14 Mbps download speed.
- Signed joint venture with Sri Lanka Government to operate loss-making Mattala international airport in southern Sri Lanka, named after former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
- Its emergency ambulance service launched in Sri Lanka, with Indian grant of $22.8 million - $7.6 million for the first phase and $15.2 million. Under the first phase, 88 ambulances were purchased for the two provinces while another 209 ambulances will be provided to cover all districts in the country.
32. Indian Pharma Firm Aurobindo Pharma received approval from _____________'s Food and Drug Administration to manufacture Azithromycin tablets, used for treatment of patients with mild to moderate infections.
33. Internet Firm Google has been fined a record _____________________ by European Commission, saying it used Android mobile operating system to illegally cement its dominant position in search.
34. Invest India and Business ___________________ have signed an MoU to promote investment facilitation and cooperation between startups of both nations, to facilitate direct foreign investment by providing investment information to enterprises and support companies pursue those opportunities.
35.________________ government enacted a new law which will financially penalize Palestinian Authority for paying stipends to Palestinians killed or jailed by _________. PM Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly demanded to stop Palestinians from paying stipends to prisoners and their families.
36. ____________________ passed a Controversial Bill declaring that only Jews have right of self-determination in country, defining it as an exclusively Jewish state. It also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a special status that enables its continued use within __________'s institutions.
37. __________________ administration launched Walking Action Plan, to make it as world's Most walkable City. It aims to reduce air pollution by making streets more pedestrian friendly.
38. ______________________ launched ‘Remote Sensing Toolkit’ to promote commercial use of satellite data, as part of its Technology Transfer program. It aims to make it easier for users to utilise relevant satellite data for their research or conservation efforts. It aims to spark innovation among entrepreneurial community and lead to further commercialisation of technology.
39. Over 100 ___________________________ intellectuals joined formed The New Academy, as a new prize-giving body to award a new literature prize as 2018’s Nobel Literature Prize has been postponed. ____________ that selects Nobel laureates, had postponed 2018’s Nobel Literature Prize due to sexual assault allegations. This was he first time in almost 70 years that Nobel literature award has been postponed.
40. Pacific nation of _________________ reimposed emergency and ordered a mandatory evacuation of residents of Ambae island as a volcano erupted and filled sky with ash. It was temporarily evacuated in September 2017 when eruption cycle began.
41. ___________________ launched 2 indigenously built satellites named PRSS1 and PAK-TES-1A, from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. PRSS-1 is a Earth observational and optical satellite. PAK-TES-1A is a research satellite.
42. ______________________ parliament approved a law that will allow citizens to change their gender and name from age of 16 without a medical report showing identity disruption. It become 6th European country to grant right to self-determination of transgender identity without guardianship of a third party and without a diagnosis of identity.
43. Property consultant CBRE report on Most expensive markets -
- New Delhi’s Connaught Place ranked _____________________ most expensive office location, with annual rent of USD 153 per sq ft, Up from 10t place last year. Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) ranked 26th. Central business district (CBD) of Nariman Point ranked 37th.
- Hong Kong (Central) is at first position with an annual rent of USD 306.57 per sq ft, followed by London (West End), Beijing (Finance Street) in China, Hong Kong (Kowloon) and Beijing (CBD) in China.
44. Researchers discovered new strain of Ebola virus in bats in northern Bambuli region of African Nation _________________, named as Bambuli. It is 6th known virus strain Ebola virus. Others are Zaire, Sudan, Tai Forest, Bundibugyo and Reston. Zaire strain of Ebola virus is the most deadly strain known.
45. ________________ established a new directorate in its Army to promote patriotism. A similar directorate existed in the Soviet Army to ensure that soldiers remained loyal to then-ruling Communist party.
46. _____________________ will build 2 nuclear power units in China, to be operational by 2026 and 2027 respectively. Rosatom and China’s National Energy Administration signed a deal to build the two 1,200-megawatt units at Tianwan nuclear power plant. It has built 35 nuclear power units around the world under intergovernmental agreements.
47. South Africa unveiled a powerful radio telescope, part of an international project that scientists say will provide new details on the Milky Way and other galaxies, called MeerKAT.
- MeerKAT, originally Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 mirrors.
- It is largest and most sensitive radio telescope in southern hemisphere until Square Kilometer Array is completed in 2024 (tentative).
- Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a large multi radio telescope project aimed to be built in _____________________ and South Africa. If built, it would have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometer.
48. __________________ launched new UKRI Science, Research and Academia scheme for overseas scientists and researchers, including Indians, to enhance growth of its research sector. It invites researchers and academics to come to UK for up to 2 years. It is being added to the already existing Tier 5 (Temporary Worker Government Authorised Exchange) visa route.
49. UN Environment Programme (UNEP) partnered with _______________ to monitor impacts of human activity on global ecosystems by using sophisticated online tools, to develop platform to enable governments, NGO’s and public to track specific environment-related development targets with user-friendly front-end.
- In long term, it will strive to establish platform for open-source data and analysis of UN Sustainable Development Goals. It will enable UNEP to get access to most sophisticated online tools to track progress, identify priority areas for action, and needs for making world sustainable.
50. UN Member states approved a 6.69 billion US Dollar budget for __________________ peacekeeping operations for 2018-19. It is 2nd year in a row, that UN has made significant cuts to overall peacekeeping budget.
- Missions include -
- MINUJUSTH (UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti)
- MINUSCA (Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Central African Republic)
- MINURSO (Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara)
- MONUSCO (Stabilisation Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- UNIFIL (Interim Force in Lebanon).
- United States is biggest contributor to UB, paying 22% of $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5% of US $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget. China is other top contributor with 10.3% followed by Japan with 9.7 %.
51. ________________ Food and Drug Administration approved use of Epidiolex, an oral solution made from marijuana, for treatment of seizures related to 2 rare and severe forms of epilepsy. Epidiolex is a plant-derived oral solution of cannabidiol (CBD), the main ingredient of marijuana that does not cause intoxication or a euphoric high.
52. _________________ Space exploration firm SpaceX launched Telstar 19 Vantage satellite, world’s heaviest commercial communications satellite weighing over 7000 kg, through its Falcon 9 rocket.
53. USA designated India as ____________________-1 (STA-1) country that will allow it to buy highly advanced and cutting-edge sensitive technologies from USA, bringing India in par with US’s closest allies such as NATO.
- Currently there are 36 countries on STA-1 list, wit India being only South Asian on list.
- STA-1 treatment will expand scope of technology exports subject to Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that can be made to India without individual licenses.
54. USA proposed establishing an Arab NATO force to counter __________________’s military expansion in region. Proposed Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) will consist of the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan.
55. Udaipur (___________________) has been ranked among World’s Best Cities by Travel + Leisure, ranked 3rd among 15 of world’s best cities to travel to.
56. ___________________ chosen Sutherland, on A’Mhoine peninsula on north coast of Scotland as site of _____________’s first spaceport, to send satellites vertically into orbit by early 2020s.
57. United Nations E-Government Survey 2018 -
- India jumped 22 places to break into top 100 this year, ranked ____________________.
- Top 5 - Denmark (1), Australia (2), South Korea (3), UK (4), Sweden (5)
58. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres constituted a High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, to be co-chaired by Melinda Gates and Jack Ma (Executive Chairman of _______________ Group).
- Panel has been mandated to contribute to broader public debate on the importance of cooperative and interdisciplinary approaches to ensure a safe and inclusive digital future. It Panel will identify policy, research and information gaps, and make proposals to strengthen international cooperation in the digital space.
59. ____________ Updates -
- Security Council adopted Resolutions -
- Adopted Resolution 2427 Aimed at providing legal framework for mainstreaming protection, rights, well-being and empowerment of children throughout conflict cycle. It strongly condemns recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts.
- Adopted Resolution 2428 to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan, 5 years after civil war began. It calls upon all UN member states to prevent supply, sale or transfer to South Sudan — from or through their territories till 31 May 2019.
- Finalized Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration to better manage international migration and strengthen migrant rights. Its first time that ____________ Member countries negotiated an agreement covering all dimensions of international migration, forming a non legally binding framework. US did not agreed upon these new Migration terms.
60. University of Houston (_____________________) signed MoU with Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) to build scientific and technical knowledge through joint research.
61. _______________________ (WMO) designated India as nodal centre for developing customized model to issue advance warning of floods to Asian countries, called as Flash Flood Guidance System.
- It will provide forecasts by computing likelihood of rainfall and soil moisture levels to warn of possible floods. It will be customized weather model, originally developed by US and donated to WMO to warn about flash floods at least six hours in advance.
62. World’s first all-digital art museum opened at MORI Building Digital Art Museum in ______________________’s Tokyo. It features around 50 kaleidoscopic installations triggered by motion sensors, which are projected across every surface of 100,000-square-foot exhibit space with help of lights.
