1. 2 Indians named among 115 peacekeepers from 43 nations, who were honored by UN for sacrificing their lives in line of duty -
- Jitender was an Indian police officer deployed to UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in _______________.
- Shikha Garg was a consultant with UN Development Programme (UNDP), attached with India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. She was killed in Ethiopian Airlines (ET 302) plane crash.
2. ____________________________ (CTBTO) invited India to become an ‘observer’, Amid India's growing international influence.
- India will get rights to data from International Monitoring System - IMS, also to a network that includes 337 facilities in 89 countries.
- India will be able to access information of its neighbouring countries and their nuclear initiatives.
- CTBT is an international treaty that bans all nuclear explosions - everywhere, by everyone. It was negotiated at Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by UNGA, opened for signature in September 1996.
- Till now, 182 countries have signed this Treaty and 154 countries have ratified the Treaty – most recently Ghana in June 2011.
- Signature to a treaty indicates that country accepts the treaty, and commits not to take any actions that would undermine treaty’s purposes.
- Ratification symbolizes official sanction of a treaty to make it legally binding for government of a country.
3. Women in Business and Management: The business case for change report by United Nation’s (UN) ______________ -
- It states that Companies that improve gender diversity especially at top perform better and rake in higher profits (5 to 20 % more profits).
- Report results are eye-opening as it shows that companies should look at gender balance as a bottom-line issue and not just as a human resources issue.
4. A 1890 Made Painting by _____________________ Painter Claude Monet, titled ‘Mueles’ sold for a record-breaking price of $110.7 million at Sotheby’s auction in New York (US). Significance of painting is that it was first instance when painter went back to same subject while differing on atmospheric conditions.
- It became first work of an Impressionist Art to cross over $100 million threshold at an auction. It now becomes the 9th most expensive painting to have ever been sold at an international auction house.
5. A _________________ aerospace start-up Interstellar Technology Inc. launched a first privately developed rocket ‘Momo-3’ into space. It reached about 110 km in altitude before falling into Pacific Ocean after 10 minutes of flight.
6. According to Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), _____________ remained India’s top crude oil supplier for second year in a row.
- India is world’s third largest importer of crude oil (7% of total crude oil imports) after China (world’s largest importer with 20.2% of total crude oil imports) and USA (13.8%). sIndia’s crude oil imports meets 80 % its oil needs.
- India imported 207.3 MT (Metric Tons) of crude oil in 2018-19, down from 220.4 MT in 2017-18.
- Iraq meets more than 20% of India’s oil needs in 2018-19 fiscal year.
- Saudi Arabia has traditionally been India’s top oil import source, but in 2017-18 fiscal year it was dethroned by Iraq for the first time.
- Iran was third largest crude oil supplier to India, even after US sanctions on Iran.
- UAE and Venezuela are at 4th and 5th largest crude oil suppliers to India.
7. According to __________________ Commission on International Religious Freedom 2019 report, India saw an “overall deterioration of religious freedom conditions in 2018”.
- India continues to remain a Tier II country, in same list since 2009. Tier II countries are where ‘violations engaged in or tolerated by government are serious and characterized by at least one of the elements of systematic, ongoing, and egregious (horrible)’.
- Other Tier 2 countries are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia and Turkey.
- As per report, Minorities conditions have deteriorated in India. Although, Chairperson of Commission, Tenzin Dorjee argued that India is an open society with a robust democratic and judiciary system where religious harmony exists.
8. According to a recent UN report, Climate change and rising sea levels will wipe out ‘The Sundarbans’.
- If greenhouse gas emissions continue at current rate, atmosphere would become warmer by ____________ by 2040. This would lead to rising sea level and existential threat to the Sundarbans. It would also possess threat for existence of Royal Bengal Tigers.
- By 2070, there will be not be any suitable habitats of tiger remaining in Bangladesh Sundarbans.
- Sundarbans are 10,000 square kilometres of marshy mangroves ecosystem shared between Bangladesh and India.
9. According to a recent research, China continues to use banned ozone depleting chemical called CFC-11 in violation of Montreal Protocol, despite Being a Signatory to Montreal Protocol and agreeing to phase out production of harmful CFC-11 in 2010.
- New findings by researchers confirmed that emissions of ozone layer harming gas are coming from eastern China, primarily from its two heavily industrialised provinces namely Shandong province and Hebei province.
- In years between 2008 and 2012, eastern China emitted an average of about 6,400 metric tonnes (MT) of CFC-11 per year. This increased to an average of about 13,400 metric tonnes (MT) of CFC-11 per year in years between 2014 and 2017.
- China has world’s largest polyurethane foam market which accounts for about 40 % of world’s total consumption. The Chinese foam manufacturers have been using CFC-11 illegally to save on higher cost of alternatives like hydrochloro-fluorocarbons named HCFC-141b, which is supposed to be phased out in China by 2026. New findings will add to international pressure on Chinese government to curtail illegal use of CFC-11.
- CFC-11 It is also called as freon-11, Trichlorofluoromethane or R-11, is one of a class of compounds called chlorofluorocarbons that is responsible for destroying atmospheric ozone.
- Montreal Protocol -
- Its a legally binding international pact signed in _________________ to preserve degradation of atmospheric ozone layer that blocks harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sun.
- It prescribes that production of compounds that deplete ozone (03) such as halons, carbon tetrachloride, stratosphere-chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and methyl chloroform-are to be phased out by 2000 (2005 for methyl chloroform).
10. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone will set up its first container terminal outside India in __________________ at an estimated cost of USD 290 million, at Yangon Port. The terminal will have a capacity to handle 0.80 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) of containers, with capability to handle 3 vessels at a time.
11. _________________ convened “Loya Jirga”, a four day long grand assembly or massive meeting for delegates from across country to discuss war and efforts of US to forge a peace deal with Taliban. During this peace summit in Kabul, Afghanistan called for permanent ceasefire.
- Loya Jirga is a centuries-old tradition in ___________ which is usually convened at times of national crisis or to settle national issues. It means “grand council” in Pashto.
12. After several months of negotiations, International Monetary Fund agreed to provide cash-strapped Pakistan with bailout fund worth _______________, to be paid over next 3 years. This is Pakistan's 22nd bailout with IMF, as Pakistan economy is struggling with low growth, soaring inflation and mounting debt.
- Pakistan's finance advisor Abdul Hafeez Sheikh recently announced that nation has a $12 billion gap in its annual payments and it doesn’t have capacity to pay them.
13. As per Asian Development Outlook 2019 report, Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at ____________________ in 2019 and 5.6 % in 2020.
14. As per UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019 Mid-year Update -
- Forecast for world economic growth downgraded to 2.7 % in FY 19 and ________________________________ in FY 20. Earlier, this prediction was 3 % for both years. Global Growth rate was 3 % in FY 18.
- UN predicted US to grow at 2.3 % and European Union at 1.5 %. Developing economies will expand at 4.1 %.
- For India, Growth rate is expected to be 7.0 % in 2019 and 7.1 % in 2020, down from earlier prediction of 7.6 % in FY 2019 and 7.4 in FY 20.
- Growth in China is projected to moderate from 6.6 % in 2018 to 6.3 % in 2019 and 6.2 % in 2020.
15. As per a recent Global study, it was stated that human activities disrupt natural flow of rivers by great extent.
- Survey examined _________________ million kilometres of river lengths and revealed that just 90 of 246 rivers more than 1000km long flowed without interruption.
- 97% of rivers shorter than 100 km are free-flowing, but only 37% of those longer than 1,000 km flow freely along their entire course.
- Most of these rivers are restricted to remote parts of the Arctic, and to the Amazon and Congo basins.
- Main reason for this distruption is approx 2.8 Million Dams globally.
16. As per digital marketing platform SEMrush, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is 2nd most followed politician in world on social media with a total audience of 110.9 million on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. World’s most followed politician is former ___________ President Barack Obama with a total following of 182.7 million.
17. Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched 5$ billion Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies for the Asia and Pacific region. It specifically aims at achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) # 14 - Life Below Water. It was launched at 52nd Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors, in ______________.
18. _____________________ flight carrier Qantas operated world’s first zero waste commercial flight named QF739 from Sydney to Adelaide which disposed all waste through compost, reuse or recycle.
19. __________________ Parliament approved a new law, to ban any ideological or religiously influenced clothing, which is associated with covering of head. It mainly targets Islamic headscarf. Government clarified that the patka head covering worn by Sikh boys and Jewish kippa would not be affected.
20. Billionaire Indian Origin Industrialists Hinduja brothers named as wealthiest people in the ________________ for 3rd time, as per Sunday Times Rich List. Sri and Gopi Hinduja saw their fortune increase to £22bn.
- Mumbai-born Brothers David and Simon Reuben secured second place with combined wealth of 18.66 billion pounds.
- Zimbabwe-born Valerie Moran became first black female entrepreneur ever to be ranked in the Times Rich List.
21. __________________ Updates -
- Broadened its block of online encyclopedia Wikipedia to include all language editions. Its online censorship apparatus - dubbed as ‘Great Firewall’, blocks a large number of foreign sites in the country, such as Google, Facebook and New York Times.
- Delivered the first overhauled multi-role JF-17 Thunder fighter jet the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). In recent years, JF-17 has become a mainstay of PAF when after US has restricted its sales of F-16 war planes post 1990 arms embargo imposed on Pakistan under Pressler Amendment. Pakistan has over 100 JF-17 planes with more in pipeline.
- JF17 is part of close China-Pakistan defence cooperation which China has become a major supplier of arms to Pakistan. China is also currently building four new modern naval warships for Pakistan.
- ______________'s Navy commissioned two new Type 052D guided missile destroyers. China, at present, has 20 Type 052Ds either in active service.
- ________________- Based Smartphone Maker Huawei overtook Apple to claim No. 2 spot in smartphones in first quarter of FY 2019-20, with Samsung at top.
22. ____________will launch its own cryptocurrency in early 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in a dozen countries. The currency, dubbed Global Coin, would enable _____________’s over 2.5 billion users to change international currencies into its digital coins.
23. Global payments brand ____________________________ will invest $1 billion in India over 5 years. $350 million would be invested in setting up a local payments processing center as per RBI’s mandate to store all payments data locally. This is first such processing center of _________ outside of US.
24. Google suspended all business with _______________ Telecom Equiment Maker Huawei, that includes transfer of hardware, software and technical services and cancelled its Android license.
- This came after US Commerce Department added Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and 70 affiliates to its “Entity List” thus, banning it from buying parts and components from US companies without US government approval. It comes amid trade war between US and China.
- This implies that Huawei can no longer license Google’s proprietary Android operating system and other services that it offers. Huawei is only able to use a public version of Google’s operating system through the Android Open Source Project.
- Google apps such as Chrome, Gmail, YouTube and Google Play will cease to exist on the upcoming Huawei phones.
25. ______________________ (GRIHA) Council launched a rating tool ‘GRIHA for Existing Day Schools’ to evaluate environmental performance of existing schools across India.
- GRIHA Council is a registered society for interaction on scientific and administrative issues related to sustainable habitats in Indian context. It was founded by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
26. Home Ministry extended ban imposed on __________________ militant group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for its strong anti-India posture. LTTE has been working towards creation of Tamil Eelam, a proposed independent state for Tamils.
27. IMD World Competitiveness Rankings 2019 (63 Nations) -
- India ranked _______________________, placed better than 44th rank in 2018.
- Top 5 - Singapore (1), Hong Kong (2), US (3), Switzerland (4), UAE (5). Singapore grabbed top position for first time in nine years.
- Saudi Arabia named as biggest gainer in 2019 rankings, rising from 39th place in 2018 to 26 in 2019.
- Bottom 3 - Venezuela (63), Mongolia (62), Argentina (61).
- China Got Ranked 14th in List.
28. In a international competition ‘Elsevier Foundation-ISC3 Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge’, a project idea by _____________ from Pune won second prize of €25,000. His project named ‘Butterfly attractant for pollination and ecosystem health’ is about relation between chemistry and ecosystem ?
29. In a survey conducted by Air Help, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport of ____________________ has been ranked as world’s 8th Best Airport.
- 5 Best Airports of 2019 - Hamad International Airport (Qatar), Tokyo International Airport (Japan), Athens International Airport (Greece), Afonso Pena International Airport (Brazil), Gdansk Lech Wasa Airport (Poland).
- Worst performing airlines were Ryanair, Korean Air, Kuwait Airways, United Kingdom’s (UK) EasyJet and Thomas Cook Airlines.
30. India Elected To Executive Board Of First UN-Habitat Assembly, at 1st session of UN-Habitat Assembly held at headquarters of UN-Habitat in Nairobi (_________________). Theme for UN-Habitat Assembly is "Innovation for Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities".
31. India and Bangladesh will jointly produce film based on life of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and documentary of Bangladesh Liberation War ______________. It was decided during visit of Gowher Rizvi, Adviser to PM of Bangladesh. Movie will be directed by Shyam Benegal.
32. India and China signed an agreement for export of _____________________ from India to China. It was decided during visit of Li Guo, General Administration of Customs of China (GACC), to discuss trade related issues of pending Indian request for clearance of agricultural products.
33. India extended USD 1 billion Line of Credit to _____________________________ to set up its first-ever petrochemical refinery at Sainshand in Dornogobi Province, to be implemented with Exim Bank funding. It is largest project undertaken by India under its Lines of Credit programme. It was announced by PM Narendra Modi during his visit to _____________ in 2015.
- Besides refinery work, India will also undertake construction of 27 kilometres of railway line, 17.5 kilometres of road and 19 kilometres of power transmission line in Mongolia. These projects are expected to be completed by September 2019.
34. India handed over first pair of replacement Mi-24 attack helicopters to _________________. Choppers were purchased from Belarus. These are the replacement for the four attack helicopters previously gifted by India to ___________ in 2015.
35. India has found The _____________________ (STRI) issued by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as Faulty, after noting problems with its methodologies. As per India, Data generated by OECD’s methodology has been through arbitrary procedures and reflects being bias towards developed countries.
- For Example, It shows Indian services sector as highly restrictive in areas such as FDI. This is astonishing as since 1991, after LPG reforms the one area that has seen maximum liberalisation in India is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). India is trying to build a consensus around adopting a new method of measuring trade restrictiveness in services sector.
- India’s Argument is that problem in services sector is that for a long time there was not any way to find that whether a country’s service trade policies were restrictive. Unlike manufacturing trade, which has a well-documented system of classification of commodities.
- STRI was launched in 2014, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It purpose is to rank countries based on their services trade policies.
36. India joined a major global initiative titled Christchurch call to action to combat terrorism and extremism online; and make internet a safe and secure place. It was launched during theOnline Extremism Summitin Paris. India was represented by MEITY Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney.
- The named is based on recent _________________ city Christchurch Shootings, where over 50 people were killed in shootings at two mosques.
- USA declined to be a part of the initiative. US claimed that it supports Christchurch initiative, however, it is not in a position to join it officially, citing need for freedom of speech.
37. India re-elected as an observer to intergovernmental forum Arctic Council, during 11th Arctic Council ministerial meeting held at Rovaniemi in __________________.
- Arctic Council was established in 1996 by Ottawa Declaration. Its Headquarter in Tromso (Norway). It has 8 Members - Russia, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark (representing Greenland and Faroe Islands), Canada and United States.
38. India will make its 2nd appearance in world’s oldest Biennale Art event held in Venice (____________). India’s Participation in event will be after a gap of 8 years, with theme for Indian Pavilion as ‘150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’. It will take place for 6 months between May - November 19.
39. India's Konkan Railways and _______________’s Department of Railways signed deal to supply two 1600 HP Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) train sets. ________________ will procure two diesel-operated trains within five months, Manufactured by Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai ?
40. India's Reliance Industries acquired _______________ toy retailer Hamleys in a all cash deal, for 67.96 million pounds (about Rs. 620 crores). Reliance will get hold of 100% shares of Hamleys Global Holdings Limited (HGHL).
41. Indian Air Force (IAF) intercepted an unknown ________________ Antonov-12, a heavy cargo aircraft trespassing into Indian sovereign territory, flowing In From Pakistan. It was force to land in Jaipur for necessary investigation.
- Initially, it neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception. But, when challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non-scheduled An-12 aircraft that flew from Tbilisi (__________) and was on its way to New Delhi via Karachi
42. Indian Government banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan and all its manifestations under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 35 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act ______________.
43. Indian IT firm Tech Mahindra and ___________________ digital content publishing firm Rakuten Aquafadas signed MoU to collaborate on building enhanced customer experience offerings.
44. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and Commonwealth Bank ____________ enabled secondary market trading recorded on blockchain for bond-i (blockchain operated new debt instrument), making this first bond whose issuance and trading are recorded using distributed ledger technologies.
- It illustrates vast potential to enhance co-ordination of securities trading and management on blockchain – delivering a verified, permanent record and instant reconciliation.
- World Bank issued bond-i in August 2018, which was world’s first bond to be created, allocated, transferred and managed through its life cycle using distributed ledger technology. CBA was sole arranger for the bond.
45. Iran announced to continue its low-level uranium enrichment in line with its nuclear deal with world powers, evan after US forcing Iran to stop producing low-enriched uranium and halt expanding its only nuclear power plant.
- US efforts to impose isolation on Tehran began in 2018 when US withdrew from nuclear deal which US and other world powers negotiated with Iran in _____________.
46. Iran announced to pull out of some commitments under _______________ international nuclear agreement signed with world powers, called Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA). Including -
- Iran will stop suppressing its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water, as these are needed by certain types of reactor for nuclear fission to take place. As per Iran, such action is required as European Union (EU) and other countries did not have power to resist US pressure.
- Iran gave 60 days to remaining countries of deal, to implement their commitments, mainly in fields of banking and oil.
- As a response, USA has imposed harsher sanctions on iron, copper, steel and aluminium industry of Iran, aimed at stopping Iran from pursuing its nuclear interests.
- Earlier, US In May 2018, announced its pull out of from JCPOA, re-imposing US sanctions on Iran. US also announced to cancel waivers to countries (including India) who continue to purchase oil from Iran.
47. ______________ Citizens voted to ease constitutional restriction on country’s divorce law.
- A 1995 referendum granted couples right to divorce. Since then, mandated separation period was a hangover condition.
- Now, Over 82 % of voters casted their ballot in favour of removing a provision that requires couples to live separately for four out of previous five years before their marriage is dissolved. This makes present ______________ divorce law as among most restrictive in Europe.
- ___________ also became second country (After Britain) to declare a climate emergency, aimed at undertaking measures to enable becoming carbon-neutral by 2030.
48. ______________ tested its fastest-ever bullet train - capable of reaching 400 kilometres per hour, as ALFA-X version of Shinkansen train. After operationalisation around 2030, it will be world’s fastest bullet train.
49. _________________ became first state to tap into masala bond market by listing State Infrastructure Investment Fund Board’s masala bond worth of USD 312 million (Rs 2,150 crore) in London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s International Securities Market (ISM), with fixed interest rate of 9.723% per annum.
50. Kids Right Index Issued by Kids Right Foundation in cooperation with Erasmus University, Rotterdam (The Netherlands) -
- India ranks ___________________ position out of 181 countries.
- Top 3 - Iceland (1), Portugal (2), Switzerland (3).
- Bottom 3 - Afghanistan (181), Sierra Leon (180), Chad (179).
- Countries are judged on five indicators - right to life, right to education, right to health, right to protection and enabling environment for child rights.
- Neighbours - China (105), Nepal (136), Pakistan (151), Bangladesh (108), Sri Lanka (143)
51. _______________launched ElectionGuard free open-source Software Development Kit (SDK) to help nations to carry out secure and verifiable voting,as a supplement to paper ballots. It is verifiable as it allows voters and third-party organizations to verify election results.
_____________ also unveiled fully-managed Azure Blockchain Service that would simplify formation, management, and governance so that businesses can focus on workflow logic and application development.
52. _____________________ banned popular Chinese digital payment apps WeChat Pay and AliPay, stating payments from unregistered systems were illegal and resulting in a loss of income.
53. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Predicted world economy would grow _________________ in 2019 and 3.4 % in 2020, representing cuts of 0.2 percentage points for 2019 and 0.1 percentage points for 2020, compared to OECD's last forecasts in November 2018.
- For India, OECD Predicted it grow at 7.25% in FY19 and 7.5% in FY20, due to higher domestic demand and improved financial conditions. India has fastest growth among G20 economies.
54. PCT Humanity, a charity run by an Indian in the ____________________, entered Guinness Book of World Records for Longest Line of Hunger Relief Package, during holy month of Ramzan in Abu Dhabi. It is founded by Joginder Singh Salaria.
55. Pakistan announced to observe Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) retaliatory action on ________________________ February 2019 against India as ‘Operation Swift Retort’. Which, as per Pakistan, demonstrates their firm resolve, capacity and capability in thwarting (opposing successfully) the criminal designs of adversary.
- After Pulwama Terror Attack on 14 February 2019, in which over 40 CRPF Personnel were martyred, a global outrage rose against pakistan and its terror friendly nature.
- India struck several terror bases in Pakistan, on February 26, Killing over 300 Militants and neutralizing majot training camp in Balakot.
- As a response, Pakstan sent over 20 F-16 American Jets to carry out strikes on Indian military bases. The threats were neutralized by Indian forces and no harms were conceived on Indian Side.
- Also, Indian Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down PAF’s F-16 fighter aircraft in the process.
56. ______________ successfully test-fired a land-based nuclear-capable ballistic missile named ‘Shaheen-II’, with range under 2000 km. Shaheen missile series is named after a Falcon (mountain bird) species.
57. Parliament of ______________________ passed Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, to fight menace of fake news, empowering authorities to order the removal of any content reported to be fake It has received fierce criticism from tech giants and media and rights groups.
- It will enable government to order social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to put up warnings next to posts that the authorities deem to be false or get them taken down in extreme cases.
- Under new laws, violation can be subjected to a hefty fine or jail term. Companies could face a fine of up to 735,000 US dollars,individuals could face jail terms of up to 10 years.
58. Puerto Williams in _______________ became world’s southernmost city after its status upgraded from hamlet to city. It took over the title from Ushuaia in Argentina.
59. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (_____________________) evaluated India’s state-level information on causes of casualty among children under 5 years of age for 2000-2015. Research studies were published in Lancet Global Health.
- India progressed from reducing mortality among children under 5 years from 2.5 million in 2000 to 1.2 million in 2015 which, still was highest in world.
- As per UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that were set up in 2000, target for India was to decrease under-five mortality rate in 2015 to 39 deaths per 1000 live births. But, in 2015, India is still much above at 47.8 deaths per 1000 live births.
- Highest mortality rate is in Assam, which is over 7 times then that in Goa.
60. _________________ Updates -
- Launched nuclear-powered Arctic icebreaker named ‘Ural’ at Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, aimed at tapping commercial potential of Arctic Ocean. It is one of the trio which when completed will be largest and most powerful icebreakers in world. Other two of trio are - Arktika (Arctic) and Sibir (Siberia).
- President Vladimir Putin signed into law a “sovereign internet” bill which will allow Russian authorities to isolate country’s internet.
- The move is being publicly denounced by all rights groups in country. Russian lawmakers support new law as deeming it necessary to ensure security of Nation’s online networks.
- It is being criticized as a vaguely worded bill which gives new censorship powers to government monitors and is aimed at restricting information and communication online. It will allow greater surveillance by Russian intelligence agencies, and increase ability of state authorities to control information.
61. ______________________ Updates -
- Lifted ban on imorting fruits and vegetable from Kerala, which was put after Nipah virus attack last year.
- approved for the first time a scheme that gives permanent residency to certain expatriates, allowing them to own real estate in kingdom and reside with their families without a Saudi sponsor, under name Privileged Iqama system.
62. _________________ parliament approved a constitutional reform to remove post of prime minister. Parliament also supported legislative alterations, whose objective was to prevent president from dissolving National Assembly. In doing so, it could no longer raise a motion of no confidence against government. Now supreme and sole authority will be the President, currently Macky Sall (serving his 2nd term) ?
63____________________ reported its first ever case of the Monkeypox Virus, a rare virus similar to human smallpox, brought in by a Nigerian.
- Monkeypox virus was eradicated in 1980. It does not spread easily from person to person, but in rare cases, it can be fatal. The rare virus disease occurs in West and Central Africa.
64. Social Platform Facebook chose ______________ as centre for rolling out digital payments service WhatsApp Pay globally. It Might be due to WhatsApp being far more popular in UK than USA.
65. Social media Firm Facebook registered its blockchain subsidiary named Libra Networks, in Geneva (__________________). It is expected to aid Facebook's rollout of their secretive cryptocurrency. Libra will focus on blockchain and fintech payments data as well as investing services.
66. Software major ________________' consulting arm will buy 75 % stake in Starter N.V., a subsidiary of Dutch-based ABN AMRO Bank for Rs 999 crore ($144 million) in cash for strategic partnership in The Netherlands. ABN will hold remaining 25 %.
67. ______________ Saray Khumalo Summited Mount Everest, becoming first black African woman to scale Mount Everest.
68. Sri Lanka, India and _______________ signed Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to jointly develop East Container Terminal (ECT) at Colombo Port in Sri Lanka.
- East Container Terminal is located near China backed international financial city, popularly known as “Port City”.
- Sri Lanka holds 51% stake in project and Japan and India will retain 49%.
- It is estimated to cost between $500 - $700 million USD.
69. Stockholm International peace research institute (SIPRI) launched a new initiative named Global Registry of Violent Deaths (GReVD) to establish annual number of violent deaths worldwide. GReVD will enable monitoring of progress on world’s commitment to ‘significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere’ by 2030 as set out in ___________________ of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
70. ______________ will host an international conference against anti-Semitism (discrimination against Jews) in memory of Holocaust in October 2020, 20 years after Declaration of Stockholm International Forum on Holocaust and 75 years after liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.
- Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was World War II genocide of European Jews Between 1941 and 1945. Six million Jews were killed, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population.
71. ______________ approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, a landmark decision that makes this self-ruled island, the first place in Asia to pass gay marriage legislation.
72. Telecom major __________________ and Hughes Communications India (HCIL) will combine their VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) satellite communications operations in India.
- HCIL is a broadband satellite service operator in India, and offers a range of broadband networking solutions.
- Combined entity will benefit from enhanced scale, improved operational efficiencies and wider market reach.
- VSAT is provision of data services using satellites and is used extensively by banks and ATMs.
73. _________________ emerged as 3rd largest FDI investor in India during 2017-18, with investments of $2.67 billion across sectors. It was also 2nd largest destination for foreign investment by Indian companies, after Singapore, with investments worth $12.8 billion in 2017.
74. U.S. Navy conducted Pacific Vanguard joint drills with Japan, _______________and South Korea in their first combined exercise in Western Pacific. It aims at countering China’s Increasing military might in region.
- US also recently approved Anti-Ballistic Missile sales to South Korea and Japan, worth over $600 million, amid mounting tensions with North Korea.
- US approved sale of-92 ‘Standard Missile-2’ (SM-2), a premier fleet-area air defense weapon and anti-air AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) missiles.
75. _______________ Updates -
- Emerged at top in terms of attracting Indian FDI with 52 projects, ahead of US (51) and UAE (32), in 2018, as per London & Partners (L&P), Mayor of London's promotional agency. Also, London accopunted for over 60 % of Indian Investment in UK in 2018.
- _________ parliament became first national legislative body in world to declare a climate change emergency. It also calls for government to work towards carbon neutrality before 2050.
76. _____________________ Updates -
- _______________'s Report ‘Global Assessment’, stated that among approximated 8 million plant, insect and animal species, around 1 million is at risk of extinction within next few decades, as a direct result of human activities. Study was launched by Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Report also said that over 40 % of amphibian species and over 33% of all marine mammals are threatened.
- ___________ Agency Security Council designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” after China lifted its prolonged hold on proposal to blacklist him. It is being seen as a huge diplomatic win for India. China has been repetedly blocking the resolution, despite its backing by other world powers.
- Imposed sanctions on terror group ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) for its links with Al-Qaeda and involvement in several attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- __________ Agency UNESCO added Indian part of Kailash Mansarovar to its tentative list of World Heritage Sites, under mixed category - both as a natural as well as a cultural heritage.
- Kailash Mansarovar is expanded across an area of 6,836 sq km within India, flanked in east by Nepal and China on north.
- Indian part is in Uttarakhand State, comprising four major watersheds – Panar-Saryu, Saryu-Ramganga, Gori-Kali and Dhauli-Kali.
- At present, UNESCO’s list includes 845 cultural Heritage sites across the world, out of which 29 are from India.
- ______ Agency General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution asking United Kingdom (UK) to return Chagos Archipelago in Indian Ocean to Mauritius.
- Earlier in Feb 19, International Court of Justice (ICJ) advised UK to return the Diego Garcia (Chagos Islands) to Mauritius as rapidly as possible. It also ruled the UK’s decolonisation of the Indian Ocean islands was unlawful.
- ICJ stated that decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully complete when it attained independence because Britain carved away Chagos Archipelago in 1965 before granting independence to Mauritius in 1968.
- Also, residents of Chagos Archipelago were forcibly removed and Chagos Archipelago was handed over to US. US established its strategic Indian Ocean military base there. Both UK and US had opposed UN resolution which referred matter to ICJ saying it was a bilateral matter with Mauritius. It was unlikely that UK would accept the ICJ advisory.
- Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls comprises of more than 60 islands in Indian Ocean, located about 500 km south of Maldives. Since 18th century when the French first settled in islands, it had been part of Mauritius only. In 1801, all of the islands of French colonial territory in region were ceded to British.
- Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed 17 global figures as new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) advocates, It Includes which includes China’s Alibaba chief Jack Ma and Indian actress Dia Mirza.
- SDG Advocates are globally influential public figures who are committed to inspiring greater ambition, raising awareness, and pushing for faster action on SDGs.
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) SDGs were born at UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. SDGs replaced Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were active from 2000-2015.
- They were adopted by world leaders in September 2015.
- ________________ Agency UNEP released a report on sand mining and its consumption, titled Sand and sustainability: Finding new solutions for environmental governance of global sand resources.
- Report said that global demand for sand and gravel is at 40 to 50 billion tonnes per year. It also highlights the issues caused by illegal sand mining from rivers such as flooding, rising level of pollution, lowering of water aquifers and worse drought occurrences.
- China and India head the list of critical hotspots for sand extraction impacts in rivers, lakes and on coastlines, most likely because these countries also lead globally on infrastructure and construction.
- 3 major strategies emerged that could lay new foundations for improved governance of sand resources in 2019 and thereafter -
- Avoiding unnecessary natural sand consumption in construction;
- Using alternative materials to replace natural sand in construction; and
- Reducing sand extraction impacts with existing standards and best practices.
- ____________ Sustainable Development Goals' 10 Most Influential People in Healthcare Award received by Acharya Balkrishna, MD of Patanjali Ayurved, in Geneva (Switzerland).
77. ______________ Updates -
- _______ Air Force tested a laser system called Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) at Army’s White Sands Missile range in New Mexico, successfully shooting down multiple air-launched missiles while in flight.
- _________ Food and Drug Administration approved Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ $2.1-million (14.7-crore), one-time gene therapy Zolgensma for treatment of a rare disease that afflicts infants, making it world’s most expensive drug.
- President Donald Trump announced new proposal to harden border security and overhaul legal immigration system to give preference to foreigners based on merit rather than family ties.
- It could largely benefit thousands of Indian professionals, who end up waiting for long to get Green Card. Trump will soon present an overview of the plan.
- New plan will enable people with merit, higher degrees and professional qualifications to get easy access to USA immigration system.
- Currently, 66 % green cards are given to those with family ties and only 12 % are based on skills.
- President Donald Trump announced tariffs on all goods coming from Mexico in a bid to curb illegal immigration. From 10th June 2019, 5 % tariff would be imposed and slowly raised until Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.
- Removed India and Switzerland from currency monitoring lists.
- In May 2018, India was placed by US in its currency monitoring list of countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange policies. Other five countries are Japan, China, Switzerland, Germany and South Korea.
- The list now includes other countries like Italy, Japan, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Ireland, Vietnam, Germany and Korea.
- ___________ Govt stated that India has taken certain steps which address some of its major concerns over its currency practices and macroeconomic policies.
- Over past 2 years, _______________ has been putting pressure on India by increasing tariffs on products like steel and aluminum, and also removed India from US’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), that allowed Indian businesses certain trade benefits. India attempts to reduce its trade surplus of over $20 billion with US.
- _______________ and United Arab Emirates's mutual defence cooperation agreement (DCA) came into force, amid increasing tensions between US and Iran.
- _____________________ government unveiled ‘Global Health Security Strategy’, as an effort which outlines coordinated approach to help improve world’s ability in stopping deadly outbreaks even before they spread globally.
- Its a first of its kind strategy that seeks to detect, prevent, and respond to threats from various infectious diseases occurring naturally or accidentally. It defines actions that US administration will undertake by adopting a whole-of-government approach to health security.
- Placed 12 foreign companies in its entity list to ensure that sensitive technologies do not fall into the hands of those who would threaten its national security.
- It include four companies with locations in both China and Hong Kong, and a further two Chinese, one Pakistani and five Emirati persons. It Includes Chinese Telecom Equipment Maker Huawei. This could further fuel China US Trade War.
- Also US Prez Donald Trump declared a national emergency to protect US computer networks from foreign adversaries.
It was made through an executive order that bars US companies from using foreign telecoms that are believed to pose a risk to US security. Analysts say its mainly directed at Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
- _____________________'s NASA unveiled schedule for its “Artemis” program, including eight scheduled launches and a mini-station in lunar orbit by 2024. It aims at taking astronauts to Moon for first time in past 50 years.
- Artemis 1 is planned for 2020, as an uncrewed flight test mission around Moon. After Artemis 1, NASA is also targeting 2020 for launch of its powerful Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft (which will carry astronauts) together for the first time from a modernized Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US.
- Artemis 2 is next mission planned for 2022. It will orbit Earth’s satellite (moon) and will fly a different path than first test flight. It will be a crewed mission and around Moon for first time in 50 years.
- Artemis 3 will follow Artemis 2, as ‘Artemis’ 2024 Moon mission. It will return astronauts to lunar surface by 2024, including first woman. So far only 12 humans (all American male) have walked on Moon.
- Artemis is abbreviation for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of Moon’s Interaction with the Sun. It is named Artemis after Greek mythological Goddess of Moon and also twin sister to Apollo (namesake of Apollo program which sent 12 American astronauts to Moon between 1969 and 1972).
78. _____________________ launched ‘Golden Card’ Permanent Residency Scheme, to woo wealthy individuals and exceptional talents from all over world.
- Expatriates in ___________ are usually given limited duration residence permits under a sponsorship system.
- Golden Card Programme is open to investors and ‘exceptional talents’, offering permanent residency and unprecedented benefits to cardholders.
- As part of this, first group of 6800 investors from over 70 countries with investments of about 100 Billion Dirhams (USD 27 billion), were given permanent residency.
79. World Bank will provide _______________ Million USD grants for cyclone-ravaged southern African countries - including Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
80. _________________________ Updates -
- Declared excessive mobile, video gaming as a disorder. Gaming disorder and gambling disorder are officially placed in 11th revision of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) list of “disorders due to addictive behaviours”.
- It also recognised “burn-out” in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Burn-out syndrome is conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.
- Launched its global strategy for control and prevention of snakebite envenoming, which affects between 1.8 and 2.7 million people each year, claiming 81,000–138,000 lives and causing 400,000 cases of permanent disability. Soumya Swaminathan is Indian Origin Chief Scientist at WHO, appointed in March 2019.
- Aim is to halve the numbers of deaths and cases of disability due to snakebite over next 12 years. The programme proposed targets affected communities and their health systems, as well as aiming to ensure access to safe, effective treatment through increased partnerships.
- Declared Algeria and Argentina as malaria-free, with no recorded cases of indigenous transmission of the disease since 2013 and 2010 respectively.
- Collaborated with International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) to eliminate industrially produced trans fat (iTFA) from food supply worldwide by 2023.
- Trans fat-intake leads to coronary heart disease, causing over 5 Lakh deaths annually.
- It aims to make sure that amount of industrial trans fat in their products does not go beyond 2 gram of iTFA per 100 gram fat/oil globally by 2023. It aligns with WHO’s mission of its REPLACE action package, launched in 2018.