1. 2018 Golden Globe Race, a sailing race around world which started on 1 July 2018 from Les Sables-d'Olonne (______________________). It dates back to fifty years, featuring yachts similar to those used at that time, with no modern technology allowed.
2. A massive Earthquake of 7.5 Richter Scale along with Tsunami waves hit Palu City of _____________________, triggering over 1000 human casulaties.
3. According to The Annual World Airport Traffic Report 2018 by Airport Council International (ACI) -
- ________________'s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) is 16th busiest in world, by handling 63.4 million passengers in 2017.
- First place was held by Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson in US, handling 103.9 million passengers in 2017, followed by Beijing with 95.8 million passengers.
4. According to a study by Seattle-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation published in The Lancet -
- India ranks ___________________ in world for its investments in education and healthcare, among 195 Surveyed countries.
- Finland tops the list in two key sectors.
- USA ranked 27th, while China placed at 44th and Pakistan 164th.
5. According to a study named Economic Freedom in the World by Centre for Civil Society (CCS) along with Canada’s Fraser Institute -
- India stands at _________________ rank out of 162 countries in economic freedom.
- Hong Kong (1) and Singapore (2) are at top of list. New Zealand (3), Switzerland (4), Ireland (5) are others in Top 5.
- Among BRICS nations, Russia and South Africa are ahead of India at 87th and 94th place and China and Brazil are behind it at 108th and 144th positions.
- 10 lowest-ranked countries - Sudan, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Syria, Algeria, Argentina, Libya and last-place Venezuela.
6. According to recent report, Pakistan could become world’s ____________________ largest nuclear weapons state after Russia, United States, France and China in terms of possession of total nuclear warheads. Pakistan currently has 140 to 150 nuclear warheads and its stockpile is expected to increase to 220 to 250 by 2025 (surpassing United Kingdom).
- The current estimate of 140 to 150 nuclear weapons with Pakistan exceeds projection made by US Defense Intelligence Agency in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020.
7. According to review by Asia Pacific Policy Group on Money Laundering (APPG), Pakistan’s recent action against terror financing, particularly on legal front were found to be “unsatisfactory”. Note that Pakistan was placed on _______________________ (FATF) grey list in February 2018 for failing to curb terror funding. APPG examines cases of all countries on the grey and black lists and reports to FATF.
8. Agriculture and Environment ministries along with UN body Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched agriculture project that seeks to bring transformative change in farm sector through conservation of biodiversity and forest landscapes.
- It will be implemented in Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
- It is being funded with US _________________ million grant from Global Environment Facility (GEF).
- Existing unsustainable agricultural practices have resulted in depletion of water tables, biodiversity and habitat loss for wild species and land and soil degradation which have contributed to the environmental crisis in India. To overcome it, there is need for alternative paradigm to current extractive methods of agricultural production systems.
9. Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced its project report for development of Palaly airport in northern ________________, as first project undertaken by AAI in the country.
10. Amid economic crisis, Argentina central bank raised its benchmark interest by 15 percentage points to ____________________________________, highest in world. The Argentine peso is down 50% this year against the dollar and the country’s inflation is running at over 30%. Many south american nations are facing economic crisis, with neighbouring nation venezuela being under more more steep financial stress.
11. As per a UN report on ‘state of food security and nutrition in the world’ number of undernourished globally increased to 821 million in 2017. ___________________________ has highest prevalence of undernourishment, affecting almost 21 % of population (more than 25 crore people). Situation is also deteriorating in South America, where PoU increased from 4.7 % in 2014 to a 5 % in 2017.
12. __________________________________ released its 2018 Flagship Statistical Report for Asia and the Pacific. This year’s report is focusing on: Technological Innovation for Agricultural Statistics. As per the report -
- Asia and Pacific region continues to grow in GDP and labour force has been reduced and is shifting from agriculture towards employment in industry and services.
- Around 780 million people from the region moved out of extreme poverty from 2002 to 2013,
- The GDP has increased from 30.1%in 2000 to 42.6% in 2017 (at 2011 purchasing power parity),
- Use of satellite imagery and remote sensing technology has improved data accuracy.
13. ________________________ Govt. inaugurated Indo-Bhutan Border Centre at Darranga Baksa district, To strengthen bilateral trade with Bhutan.
14. At International Court of Justice, India supported ______________________ over its claim on Chagos Islands, which are under United Kingdom’s control in Indian Ocean.
15. ________________ Updates -
- Is planning bullet trains from Kolkata to Kunming City of China, expected to traverse through Myanmar and Bangladesh. The service is also expected to give a thrust to trade and commerce in the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor.
- BCIM project is projected to run through Mandalay in Myanmar, Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh, terminating in Kolkata.
- Pledged $60 billion of financial assistance to Africa, announced at 3rd Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing. FOCAC excludes Swaziland (recently renamed to Eswatini).
- Out of $60 billion offered, It will disburse $15 billion as aid, interest-free loans and concessional loans, $20 billion as credit line, channel $10 billion into special fund for China-Africa development and $5 billion special fund will be set up only for African imports.
- Successfully launched a new marine satellite called HY-1C aboard a Long March-2C rocket. It will aim at better monitor its maritime waters and study impact of climate change.
- _____________-Maldives Friendship Bridge opened for traffic, as first cross-sea bridge to be built in Maldives.
- It is 2.2 km long bridge and has four vehicle lanes and two pedestrian lanes. It connects Maldives capital city Male and neighbouring Hulhule island where island country’s main international airport is located.
- The bridge was built with Chinese grant of $116 million, along with $72 million as an additional loan.
16. Delhi government signed MOU with Seoul Metropolitan Government (_________________________) to work closely in the fields of environment, tourism, waste / solid waste management, infrastructure and public health.
17. ______________________ will stop twice-yearly changing of clocks from October 2019, implemented during the two World Wars and the 1970s oil crisis to save energy. Its Member countries are required to move forward by an hour on the last Sunday of March and back by an hour on the last Sunday of October.
18. Facebook will invest over $1 billion to build its first Asian data centre in ______________________________, expected to open in 2022. Like other data centres, it will be fully powered by renewable energy.
19. For the first time, bus services between _____________________ and Nepal have started. With 4 buses between Bodhgaya and Kathmandu and 4 buses between Patna to Janakpur.
20. __________________ insurer Allianz Group signed up as a global Olympic sponsor for a 4-Games period of 10 years between 2021 and 2028, as IOC’s 14th top sponsor.
21. India and Agence Française de Développement (____________________) signed an implementation agreement on “MOBILISE YOUR CITY (MYC). MYC is part of an international initiative which is supported by French and German Governments and was launched at 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) meeting in December 2015.
- European Union has agreed to provide funds of Euro 3.5 million through the AFD to contribute to specific investments and technical assistance components within the Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme in India.
- MYC aims at supporting three pilot cities - Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad,to reduce their Green House Gas (GHG) emissions related to urban transport.
22. India and Bangladesh jointly launched construction of India-Bangladesh Friendship Product Pipeline Project, as first such pipeline through which refined diesel will be supplied to Bangladesh from India.
- It involves construction of 130-kilometre long pipeline that will connect Siliguri in ____________________________ and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. 6 KM stretch will be in India side and remaining 124 kilometres will in Bangladesh.
- Pipeline has capacity of 1 million metric tons per annum. Initially, it will supply Bangladesh 2.5 lakh tonnes of diesel every year and gradually it will be increased to 4 lakh tonnes. It will replace existing practice of sending diesel by rail covering distance of 510 kilometers.
- Also, Bangladesh approved allowing India to use its Chittagong and Mongla ports to transport cargo to and from its northeastern states. Indian goods can be transported through four entry points from states Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam. India will have to follow General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and Bangladeshi regulations, pay customs duties and buy tax equivalent bonds to transport freight.
23. India and ___________________ signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on skill development, which will provide dual vocational education and training to Indian youth. Under it, students who complete specific training courses in India will get certificate that is recognised in both countries.
24. India and ______________________ signed an MoU for deepening cooperation between MSME sectors of the two countries in Rabat.
25. India and _____________________ signed an MoU for construction of a 5000-metric ton temperature controlled warehouse in Dambulla, with Indian grant assistance of 30 crore rupees.
26. India contributed ____________________ to United Nations (UN) Headquarters’ Solar Project, under which solar panels will be installed on roof of UN headquarters at New York (US).
27. India is Partner Country in 87th Izmir International tradeshow in __________________________. India also launched its mega business pavilion ‘Source India’ hosting 75 Indian companies. Izmir is 3rd most populous city in ___________, after Istanbul and Ankara.
28. India ranks third globally in terms of number of family-owned businesses with 111 companies having a total market capitalisation of $839 billion, according to a Credit Suisse report. India followed _______________________ (159 companies) and US (121 companies).
29. India signed 2 agreements with _____________________’s Rakhine State Government to facilitate capacity building and economic development in province.
30. India stands ____________________________ in ‘Theft Ranking’ for countries with weapons-usable nuclear materials, according to the Nuclear Security Index. The index was released by the US-based Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
- Neighboring Pakistan ranks 20th in List.
- Australia shared top spot with Switzerland.
31. India will buy 18 Bullet Trains from __________________, Each train with 10 coaches and would be able to attain speed of 350 km per hour. The 508-km high speed train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad at an estimated cost of Rs 1,10,000 crore is expected to be operational by 2022.
32. India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting joined SDG Media Compact aimed at advancing awareness of _________________ (SDGs).
- SDG Media Compact is initiative of United Nations, in collaboration with UN Foundation. It is alliance of news and entertainment media and it is committing to work with United Nations to foster public discourse and spur action on SGDs.
- It seeks to inspire media companies around world to leverage their resources to advance SDGs adopted by all world leaders at UN in 2015.
- SDGs are 17 global non-binding goals featuring 169 targets to be implemented from 2015 to 2030.
33. Indian PM Narendra Modi, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and CMs of West Bengal (Mamta Baannerjee) and Tripura (Biplab Kumar Deb), jointly inaugurated three projects in Bangladesh, via video conference. Projects are -
- 500 MW additional power supply from India to Bangladesh, through existing Bheramara (Bangladesh) - Baharampur (India) interconnection.
- Akhaura – Agartala (______________________) Rail Link
- Rehabilitation of Kulaura-Shahbazpur section of Bangladesh Railways.
34. Indra Jatra festival hed in Kathmandu (___________________________), as an eight day long annual festival observed to worship Indra, the lord of rain and good harvest.
35. International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a loan agreement with Economically troubled South American Nation ____________________, on a 36-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) totaling to US$57.1 billion. It is largest ever loan given by IMF.
36. International Whaling Commission (IWC) defeated a proposal to create a whale sanctuary in South Atlantic, first introduced by _______________ in 2001.
37. _________________ became world’s first country to land 2 robotic rovers in asteroid Ryugu, also being first man made robot to have landed in an asteroid. Name of the rover that landed is MINERVA-II1, consisting of 2 rovers.
38. Jeff Bezos led e-commerce major Amazon became 2nd US company to hit $1 trillion in market capitalisation after Apple. Also, _______________ became 2nd Indian Company to hit 8 Lakh crores INR (Approx $120 Billion USD), after Relienace achieved it recently.
39. Macedonia held a referendum on whether to change its name to the ‘Republic of North Macedonia’.
- ______________ and Macedonia had signed a deal in this regard in June. Greece argued that the name ‘Macedonia’ implied a territorial claim on its own province of the same name and has thus vetoed Macedonia’s entry into NATO and European Union.
40. Manila (_____________________________) based Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched its first Trade Finance Scorecard, a new tool to address market and boost trade finance. It aims to prevent money-laundering and terrorism. It will use a 2 level assessing, First level will consist of score out of 10 on seven criteria on the macro level and Second level will consist of five working-level issues on the micro level.
41. Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD decided to participate in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) after gap of nine years, by sending team of officers to Paris to negotiate India’s terms of participation in PISA ___________________.
- Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is assessment test for 15-year-olds, organised every three years by Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD), Paris (France).
- PISA measures student performance in mathematics, reading, and science and even innovative subjects like collaborative problem-solving and money literacy.
- PISA test results give insight into education systems around the world. The results are shown as a national mean score and not shown individually. Its objective is not to rank countries, but to see how education system can be improved.
42. NITI Aayog and United Nations signed _______________________ (UNSDF) for 2018-2022.
- It outlines work of UN agencies in India, with 19 UN agencies signing UNSDF 2018-2022.
- 7 priority areas outlined in the UNSDF are - Poverty and Urbanization; Health, Water, and Sanitation; Education and Employability; Nutrition and Food Security; Climate Change, Clean Energy, and Disaster Resilience; Skilling, Entrepreneurship, and Job Creation; Gender Equality and Youth Development.
43. ________________ become first country to double its tiger population in a decade as part of World Wildlife Foundation’s (WWF) ‘Tx2’ programme, that aims to double number of tigers in all over world by 2022.
- There are now estimated 235 wild tigers in Nepal, compared to 121 back in 2009.
- Tx2 programmeIt was launched by World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) at the 2010 St Petersburg Tiger Summit held in Russia. Under it, 13 tiger range countries had agreed to double the world tiger population by 2022, which is the year of tiger in Chinese calendar.
44. Pakistan invited ____________________ to join $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as 3rd strategic partner. Saudi Arabia is first country that Pakistan has invited to become partner in CPEC.
- ___________ has long history of financially bailing out Pakistan during economic crisis. It loaned Pakistan $1.5 billion in 2014 to strengthen its rupee currency, six months after Pakistan obtained its last IMF bailout.
45. ______________ become first Gulf nation to offer permanent residency to expatriates, allowing maximum 100 expatriates to gain permanent residency each year.
46.______________ founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne acquired Time magazine from Meredith Corp. for $190 million in cash. TIME magazine publisher Time Inc was sold to Meredith for $1.8 billion in January 2018.
47. _________________ inaugurated a high-speed rail line connecting the holy islamic cities of Mecca and Medina, to take down travel time to 2 hours.
48. Search engine Google launched ___________________, a new search engine for scientific community that will help them make sense of millions of datasets present online. It will work like Google Scholar, company’s popular search engine for academic studies and reports.
- It will have twin benefits of creating data sharing ecosystem that will encourage data publishers to follow best practices for data storage and publication and give scientists way to show impact of their work through citation of datasets that they have produced.
- Google also launched a new app ‘Blog Compass’ to help Indian bloggers manage their site and find topics to write about. The India exclusive app works as an analytics and recommendation platform. .
49. __________________ entered recession for first time since 2009, after Its economy contracted by 0.7% in 2nd quarter of current Fiscal.
50. Super Typhoon Mangkhut, world’s strongest storm in 2018, hit northern coast of ____________________ with winds up to 200 kmph and heavy rains.
51. __________________ PM Stefan Löfven became country’s first leader to be ousted in a no-confidence vote.
52. Times Higher Education’s (THE) world university rankings 2019 -
- No Indian institution figures in the top 250 Universities. Althuogh number of Indian institutions in rankings increased from 42 last year to 49, making India 5th best-represented nation.
- Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru retained its position as best In India (ranked 251 - 300 globally), followed by IIT Indore (351-400).
- Top 5 Globally -
- University of Oxford (________________)
- University of Cambridge (UK)
- Stanford University (USA)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)
- California Institute of Technology (USA)
53. To highlight Kashmir issue, __________________ released 20 “commemorative” postage stamps, one of which portrays slain terrorist Burhan Wani as a ‘freedom icon’.
54. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared __________________ as Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace, during Nelson Mandela peace summit honouring South African leader at UN.
55. UN Security Council (UNSC) held its first-ever meeting on corruption and its linkages to global conflicts. Citing the World Economic Forum’s estimates, UN Secretary - General António Guterres (____________________) said that corruption costs at least $2.6 trillion or 5% of global GDP.
56. ______________ Updates -
- President Donald Trump signed a new executive order imposing sanctions on any country or foreign individual found trying to interfere in US elections. It calls for sanctions against any entity that authorises, directs or sponsors meddling operations in the American elections.
- _____________ Based Internet Society and Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) signed MoU to make Internet safe and secure in India by securing routers which is vital for healthy internet infrastructure. It will also promote Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) which is global initiative to implement crucial fixes needed to reduce most common threats to internet’s routing system.
- _____________ Based aircraft maker Boeing will set up an electronics manufacturing and avionics assembly facility in Bengaluru at an investment of INR 1,152 crores, as company's second-largest such facility after one in Seattle (Washington).
- _____________ and Morocco launched GCTF Terrorist Travel Initiative under Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), to emnable sharing expertise on implementing effective counterterrorism watchlisting and screening tools. It will strengthen UNSC Resolution 2396 aiming to stop terrorist travel altogether.
- Announced closure of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) mission in Washington DC, after PLO leaders failed to engage with US efforts to bring about peace with Israel and attempted to prompt an investigation of Israel by International Criminal Court.
- ___________________'s Central Bank Federal Reserve raised interest rates for a third time this year (by 25 basis points to 2.25 %), also reaffirming outlook for further hikes well into 2019. It reflects an upbeat assessment of economy.
57. __________________ launched annual joint military exercise named Rapid Trident with United States and other NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member countries, to be held in village of Starychi till September 15, 2018.
58. United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index 2018 -
- India ranked ____________ among 189 countries.
- Neighbours - Bangladesh (136), Pakistan (150), Nepal (149), Sri Lanka (76)
- Top 5 - Norway (1), Switzerland (2), Australia (3), Ireland (4) and Germany (5)
- Bottom 5 - Niger (189), Central African Republic (188), South Sudan (187), Chad (186), Burundi (185).
59. United Nations will hold a Climate Summit in September _______________, with focus on sectors that create most emissions and areas where building resilience could make great difference.
60. Vatican reached a landmark deal with ______________on appointment of bishops in Nation, with Pope Francis recognizing 7 state-appointed Chinese bishops as part of the deal.
61. World Health Organisation (WHO) released 2018 Global TB Report, calling for commitments to end Tuberculosis (TB) by __________________. As per report, global efforts have prevented approx 5.4 crore TB deaths since 2000, but TB remains world’s deadliest infectious disease.
62. _______________________ SAFER initiative to support governments in taking practical steps to accelerate progress on health, beat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). SAFER provides five high-impact strategic actions prioritized for implementation to promote health and development -
- Strengthening restrictions on alcohol availability.
- Advance and enforcing drink driving countermeasures.
- Facilitating access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment.
- Enforcing bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion.
- Raising prices on alcohol through excise taxes and pricing policies.
63. World’s first self-driving tram, fitted with multiple radar, LiDAR, and camera sensors, has been successfully tested in Potsdam (__________________). The tram operated on a 6-km test route in real traffic with a safety driver for emergency purposes.
