1. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) become first Indian Oil Marketing Company (OMC) to enter lubricant market in __________ ?
2. 2017 Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index by Australian Centre for Financial Studies (ACFS) -
- India has ranked 28th out of 30 countries. India’s overall index value in 2017 is 44.9, which marks an improvement over index value of 43.4 in 2016.
- ____________ has retained the top spot in this index for sixth consecutive year.
3. 2017 World Solar Challenge (solar car race) began from Darwin (_____________). In this race, 42 solar cars will cover a distance of 3,000 kms from Darwin to Adelaide ?
4. ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)) became first institutional investor in India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)’s Master Fund and a shareholder in NIIF’s investment management Company. ADIA invested approx ________ USD in NIIF ?
5. African country ______________ became first nation to withdraw from International Criminal Court (Hague, Netherlands) that has authority to prosecute individuals for international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
6. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) launched promotion of north eastern products in Bangladesh and _____________. ?
7. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and ___________ launched open-source and deep learning interface Gluon that will help developers to deploy machine learning models across several platforms. It will give developers a place to prototype, build, train and deploy machine learning models. ?
8. American tech Firm Cisco Systems acquired American communication software and service provider BroadSoft for ____________ ?
9. As per Authentic Brands Study by Cohn & Wolfe -
- Indian consumers regard ___________ as most authentic brand, followed by Microsoft, Amazon, Maruti Suzuki and Apple.
- Amazon tops list globally, followed by Apple.
10. As per Credit Suisse Research Institute's (CSRI) report CS Family 1000 -
- India has ___________ publicly-listed family owned businesses, 3rd highest in world. With average market capitalization of USD 6.5 billion, India ranks 5th in Asia Pacific and 22nd globally, in terms of average m-cap.
- Top 5 countries in terms of number of family-owned companies - China, USA, India, France AND Hong Kong.
11. As per Data by Twiplomacy (Burson Marsteller research project that tracks use of Twitter by governments and international organizations) -
- _________Prez Donald Trump is most followed leader on Twitter, followed by Pope Francis and Indian PM Narendra Modi.
12. As per Report by Tourism Australia, ___________ is leading Indian tourist source market for Australia with over 59,000 tourists having visited Australia in year ended June 2017, folowed by Delhi and Karnataka.
13. As per Thomson Reuters Foundation - Delhi ranked fourth in terms of women safety, among 19 assessed megacities of over 1 crore population. _______________’s capital Tokyo emerged as safest city in terms of risk of sexual harassment ?
14. _______________ Government announced that it will establish a national space agency as a part of long term plan to develop domestic space industry. It will be called ARSE (____________
Research & Space Exploration).
15. _____________’s last car factory was shut down as USA carmaker GM Holden Ltd closed its plant in South Australia. It marks end of car manufacturing industry in Nation ?
16.__________ ’s law banning face veils such as burkhas or niqabs came into effect, to promote cohabitation between majority population and people from third countries living there ?
17. BRICS - themed subway train with carriages representing five member nations started test operations in ___________’s Xiamen city.
- Indian carriage depicts elephants and yoga.
- Chinese carriage is red and displays icons such as the Great Wall and Tian’anmen Square.
- Brazilian carriage is green and decorated with images of footballs and football stars.
- Russian carriage shows country’s ballet and matryoshka dolls.
- South African carriage displays pictures of diamonds.
- Sixth carriage combines cultural elements from all the five BRICS countries .
18. Bangkok Bank (___________) selected India based iGTB (Intellect Global Transaction Banking - a specialist firm of Intellect Design Arena Ltd) as tech partner to implement a cash management platform and corporate portal ?
19. Bangladesh and ________ Armies held Joint Pacific Resilience Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange (DREE) in Dhaka ?
20. __________ acquired Consumer Mobile Businesses (CMB) of Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices Maharastra Ltd (TTML) with over 4 crore TTSL customers joining It ?
21. Bharti Airtel received _____________’s National Communications Authority’s approval for merger between Bharti Airtel and Millicom (Tigo). Merger will result in 2nd largest mobile network operations in African Nation?
22. Brand Finance’s Nation Brands 2017 -
- India ranked _________ most valuable nation brand while USA retained its top position and China took second spot.
- In terms of valuation, India’s National Brand Value in 2017 is $2.04 trillion, down by 1% from last year’s $2.06 trillion. However, India’s brand rating has improved from ‘AA-‘ to ‘AA’.
23. Cabinet Approvals -
- MOU with ______________ for technical co-operation in Rail sector.
- Approval of Extradition Treaty wirth Lithuania, to provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals from and to Lithuania.
- MoU for upgradation of Women’s Police Training Centre at Yamethin (Myanmar).
- Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with Japan on Technical Intern Training Program (TITP). Under this, India will send 3-lakh youth to Japan for on-job training for 3-5 years.
- MOC with Japan on establishing a Liquid, Flexible and Global LNG Market.
- MoU between Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Financial Services Commission (Gibraltar) for mutual co-operation and technical assistance.
- MOU between Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Capital Markets Authority (Kuwait).
- MoU with Morocco on cooperation in water resources.
- Government approed updating status of International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) from Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to Inter-Governmental Organization (IGO). It will bring IALA at par with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) and will enable more safe, economic and efficient movement of vessels.
- Extradition Treaty with Lithuania to provide legal framework for seeking extradition of economic offenders, terrorists and other criminals from and to Lithuania.
24. __________ has been chosen as partner country for 23rd Technology Summit to be held in November 2017 in New Delhi, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) ?
25. Central American country ________ signed Paris Agreement on climate change, leaving USA and Syria as only 2 countries left to sign this global climate pact ?
26. China launched remote sensing VRSS-2 satellite for _____________ by Long March-2D carrier rocket. This is 3rd satellite of ____________ launched by China after Venesat -1 (2008) and VRSS – 1 (2012) ?
27. China opened a 409-km new expressway linking Tibet’s provincial capital Lhasa with Nyingchi, which is close to ______________ border. It has been built at a cost of nearly $5.8 billion ?
28. _________'s Shanghai will have first Tesla Electric Car factory outside USA. Tesla is headed by Noted Entrepreneur Elon Musk ?
29.___________ ’s Zhejiang Electric Power Company will construct world’s tallest power supply pylon in east Zhejiang Province, with 380-metre height. It will get past Dabaoshan pylon (370 m) ?
30. East African country _____________banned import of fruits and vegetables to preserve scarce foreign currencies.?
31. Economist Intelligence Unit’s Safe Cities Index 2017 -
- Japanese capital Tokyo topped the list of 60 cities. Singapore and ___________ city Osaka ranked second and third.
- Indian cities Delhi and Mumbai have been ranked 43rd and 45th respectively.
32. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will lead a ministerial delegation to the ASEAN-India ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas’ (PBD) to be held in 2018, in ________________. PBD 2018 will also mark 25 years of the ASEAN-India partnership ?
33. ____________ countries elected to UN Human Rights Council by UN General Assembly Including Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan. They will serve a three-year term from January 1, 2018 ?
34. Fifty Indian peacekeepers stationed in______________awarded with UN Medal for their professionalism and service in protecting civilians and building durable peace in conflict-ridden South Sudan ?
35. First Meeting of India-Australia Joint Steering Committee (JSC) held in __________ ?
36. First USA crude oil cargo of 1.6 million barrels bought by Indian Oil Corporation reached Paradip Port (___________). Indian Oil became placed order of 3.9 million barrel from USA ?
37. First ever Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - India Music Festival held at Purana Quila in ___________, to celebrate 25 year anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations ?
38. First metro train of Pakistan arrived from _______________ as a gift. It has been called Orange Line Metro Train serviceand will begin operations in December 2017. Also, Pakistan and Iran signed MoU to improve border security ?
39. ______________’s lower house of parliament approved new Anti-Terror Law. Now several controversial measures under state of emergency that has been in act for nearly two years have been made permanent ?
40. ___________ Based It Firm itelligence acquired Hyderabad-based SAP services provider named vCentric Technologies. ?
41. ___________ will assist Indian Railways to make country’s existing rail corridors semi high speed (max speed of 200 km per hour) on existing 643 km Chennai-Kazipet corridor of Indian Railways ?
42. Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017 report released by Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) -
- India ranked _________ position among 119 countries, slipping 3 positions as compared to 97th rank in 2016 GHI.
- Neighbours - Nepal (72), Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (84) and China (29), Pakistan (106).
- BRICS - Brazil (18), Russia (22), China (29), South Africa (55)
- Top 5 - Belarus (1), Bosnia & Herzegovina (2), Chile (3), Croatia (4), Cuba (4)
- Bottom 5 - Zambia (115), Madagascar (116), Sierra Leone (117), Chad (118), Central African Republic (119)
43. Global TB Report 2017, released by World Health Organisation (WHO) -
- _____________ tops list of seven nations, accounting for 64 % of the 10.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide in 2016. It is followed by Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and South Africa.
- Estimated 1.7 million people died from TB in 2016.
44. Gulf Nation __________ announced that it will introduce a minimum wage for workers, amid increasing global scrutiny over its alleged ill-treatment of migrant labourers ?
45. Hurricane Nate has hit Louisiana (___________) with maximum wind speed of 137 kilometres per hour. ?
46. India Stated to UN General Assembly that there is no possibility of India joining NPT (_________) as non-nuclear weapon state.
- As per NPT, those countries that have built and tested a nuclear explosive device before January 1, 1967 are nuclear-weapon states. Note that Pokhran I (Codenamed Smiling Buddha) was India's first successful nuclear test that was held on 18 May, 1974.
- India advocates maintaining a credible minimum deterrence based on a No-First Use policy. India also committed to not using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.
47. India will be guest of honour during 6th World Government Summit to be held in February 2018 in ______________. The summit is first global forum for governments, countries, organizations and private sector leaders interested in industry of the future ?
48. India's exposure to US government securities increased sharply to $135.7 billion, with China at top with $1.166 trillion, followed by Japan with exposure worth $1.113 trillion. India is ________ largest holder of US government securities ?
49. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind visited African Nations Dijibouti and ___________ as his first Foreign Visit. ?
50. Indian software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) signed a pact with National University in ________________to launch a comprehensive training programme aimed at enhancing the skills of university graduates for the job market.?
51. Global IT Firm ______________ launched Blockchain Tech Based first international payments network of its kind to Help financial institutions in cross-border payments ?
52. International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended its _______________ arm and Honorary Membership of head of Nation’s Olympic committee Carlos Nuzman, amid proven corruption allegations ?
53. Iran’s key strategic port of Chabahar became operational with First shipment of wheat from India to __________________, from Kandla port in Gujarat.
- Its a major push for India’s outreach as it completely bypasses Pakistan, under 2016 trilateral pact.
- Chabahar port is strategically located in Sistan-Balochistan province on energy-rich Iran’s southern coast and can be easily accessed from India’s western coast.
54. _____________ Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launched Michibiki-4 satellite (QZSS-4) as 4th satellite in Michibiki series i.e. Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), which is a satellite-based high-precision global positioning system similar to US operated GPS. ?
55._____________’s parliament approved country’s first budget in 12 years, ro reform fragile economy and prevent rising debt.
- Political crisis gripped Nation since assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005, thereby preventing successive government from passing the budget.
56. Middle Eastern Mainstream airline Qatar Airways acquired 49 % stake in ________ Airline AQA Holdings. ?
57. Myanmar will launch its own satellite system _____________ in June in 2019, with 6 C-band and 6 Ku-band transponders.
58. National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) signed MoU with _____________'s Fortum Oyj for developing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in upcoming development projects in India ?
59. ___________ and India will conduct joint head tigers count in protected areas along border in November 2017, using a similar camera tapping method ?
60. ONGC Videsh Ltd (overseas arm of ONGC) acquired 30 % interest in _______________ Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 37, from UK’s Tullow Oil ?
61. Gulf Nation _______________ revised tourist visa for people from India, China and Russia in order to attract more tourists from these countries. It granted non-sponsored tourist visafor the citizens of India, China and Russia ?
62. Palestinian political parties Hamas and Fatah signed reconciliation deal to end a decade-long rift, brokered by ____________. This was signed to implement a unity agreement that was signed in 2011 but was not put to action ?
63. Passport Index developed by advisory firm Arton Capital -
- Singapore’s passport become most powerful in world with Visa-Free Score of 159.
- India secured _________ rank in index with Visa-Free Score of 51.
- Afghanistan stayed at bottom position (94th) while Pakistan sexcond worst (93rd).
64. _________ Government authorized medicinal and therapeutic use of cannabis (marijuana) in country, becoming sixth Latin American country to legalise cannabis ?
65. __________ will quit a precautionary Flexible Credit Line (FCL) from International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth $9.2 billion, after Its economy gaining strength recently ?
66. Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asia University Rankings 2018 -
- Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) emerged as top-ranked Indian institute in List with rank 34th. Note that IIT Bombay was ranked 179th in QS World University Rankings. Other top 4 Indian Institutes in List are IIT Delhi (41st rank), IIT Madras (48th rank), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore (51st rank).
- ________________’s Nanyang Technology University has topped QS Asia University Rankings 2018.
67. Report by analyst firm Canalys -
- India overtook _____________ to become world’s second-largest smartphone market, trailing only China.
- In the second quarter of 2017, India’s smartphone market recovered quickly with shipments growing 23% year-on-year in third quarter to reach over 40 million units.
68. Report by professional Network LinkedIn -
- India is second largest market for global pharmaceuticals and biotechnology workforce industry, with _________ contribution.
69. _____________ used its veto power to block a UN Security Council resolution to extend work of International inspectors to determine who was behind deadly chemical weapons attacks in Syria that took place on 4 April 2017 in Syria ?
70. SAP launched Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region’s first SAP Leonardo Center in ___________________ (India) and fourth SAP Leonardo Center globally. Its a go-to place for SAP’s ecosystem for digital inspiration and co-innovation ?
71. SS Athenia, first British ship to be sunk during Second World War has been found in Ireland.SS Athenia was sunk by German submarine during World War II in 1939.
- Also, Britain-based shipwreck hunter found maritime astrolabe, a navigation tool that guided _________________ explorers on perilous voyage to India in 16th century. It has been confirmed as world’s oldest astrolabe.
72. _______________ became first country to give citizenship to a robot, after it named a robot Sophia as its Citizen during a business event named Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. It also recently allowed women to attend sports events in stadiums starting from 2018 ?
73. Saudi Arabian Oil Firm Saudi Aramcos (Known as Aramco) Opened Its India Office named ARAMCO ASIA INDIA in Gurugram (_______________).
- In 2016 Saudi Aramco established its formal business in India through its subsidiary ARAMCO Asia India (AAI). It will focus on crude oil and LPG marketing, engineering & technical services, and other business development activities ?
74. Scientists developed new military watch for _____________________ army kit, which is capable of resisting high impact and can even survive a nuclear explosion. ?
75. ____________ Colony Catalonia declared independence, following a parliamentary referendum. After this declaration, ____________ government dismissed Catalan President, allowing spain to directly administer the region ?
76. __________________ signed MoU with India to build 1,200 houses in strategically located southern port city of Hambantota. 600 will be constructed in Southern Province while remaining will be built with one model village in each of country’s 25 districts.
- Hambantota port is located right in middle of vital energy supply lines in Indian Ocean, connecting Middle East and East Asia. Hambantota gained significance recently after Sri Lanka decided to build deep-sea port and airport with huge Chinese loans.
- India also provided equipment and vehicles worth USD 585,000 to University of Jaffna.
77._____________ Coast Guard commissioned its first Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) SURAKSHA gifted by India ?
78. Travel guide company Lonely Planet ranked ____________ as Most worth visiting country in 2018, followed by South Korea and Portugal. Seville of Spain was ranked as number one city in most visit worthy cities. ?
79. ___________ opened its largest military base in Africa, in Mogadishu (capital of Somalia) to train Somali Soldiers ?
80. ________________ begun collecting new sin taxes on tobacco products, energy drinks and soft drinks, with tobacco and energy drinks taxed at 100 % and soft drinks at 50 %.
- All six members of Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to begin collecting so-called VAT taxes. GCC includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.
81. UN announced end of 13 year old military peacekeeping mission in ______________, that helped maintain order through 13 years of political turmoil and disaster ?
82. ___________ and Israel withdrew from UNESCO, accusing UNESCO of “anti-Israel bias”. ?
83. _____________ approved sale of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile defence system to Saudi Arabia at an estimated cost of $15 billion (Rs. 98,000 crore). It includes 44 THAAD launchers and 360 missiles along with fire control stations and radars. ?
84. ________ initiated placing antidumping duty investigations against import of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin from India and China. ?
85. _________________ lifted economic and trade sanctions against Sudan that were put in 1997, in response to Sudanese Govt’s efforts to end hostilities in conflict areas, improve humanitarian access and maintain cooperation in regional conflicts to tackle terrorism. ?
86. ____________ (South Pacific island nation) became first nation to accept bitcoin in exchange for citizenship. Citizenship program costs $200,000 USD, meaning that at current prices the residency program costs less than 42 bitcoins. ?
87. World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business index’ 2017 (190 Nations) -
- India - India Improved 30 positions to rank __________ amongst 190 countries, Rankng India among top 10 improvers in 2017.
- Top 5 - New Zealand (1), Singapore (2), Denmark (3), South Korea (4), Hong Kong (5)
- Bottom 5 - Somalia (190th), Eritrea (189th), Venezuela (188th), South Sudan (187th), Yemen (186th)
- Neighbours - Bangladesh (177), Nepal (105), Pakistan (147), Sri Lanka (111)
- BRICS - Brazil (125), Russia (35), China (78), South Africa (82)
88. World Payments Report 2017 by Capgemini and BNP Paribas -
- China is ahead of India in digital payments space with 38 Billion Transactions in 2015, as compared to 4.5 Billion Digital Transactions in India in 2015. India had 25 billion non-cash transactions for 2017-18..
- China will have growth of 36 % in digital transactions during 2016-20 while India will grow at average ______________ during the period.
- Globally, Debit cards account for 46 percent of non-cash transactions followed by credit cards with 19.5 percent in 2015.
89. World skills competition 2017 held in Abu Dhabi (_____________________) -
- Indian team consisting of 28 competitors won 2 medals and 9 Medallions of Excellence in key skills. Mohit Dudeja won a silver for Patisserie and Confectionery and Kiran won a bronze for Prototype Modelling.
90. World’s deepest lake - Lake Baikal (________________) is reportedly undergoing its gravest crisis in recent history.
- It Holds 23 % of world’s unfrozen fresh water. It is as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and includes over 3,600 plant and animal species.
- Since past few years, it has been crippled by a series of damaging phenomena such as disappearance of the omul fish, rapid growth of putrid algae and death of endemic species of sponges across its vast 3.2 million-hectare area.
