Current Affairs - June 22, 2018 Current Affairs

Syrian child activist Bana Alabed who live-tweeted her experiences in war-torn Syria will be honoured for "defending freedom". Alabed also featured on the TIME magazine's list of 25 Most Influential People on the Internet in 2017.

India and Australia held the 10th Meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism at New Delhi. It was led by Shri Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism) while the Australian delegation was led by Mr. Paul Foley, Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism. They discussed terrorist threats in their respective regions including the problem of cross-border terrorism in the Af-Pak region. They agreed on cooperation through regular exchange of information, capacity building efforts, mutual legal assistance, sharing of best practices on countering violent extremism and cooperating in multilateral fora such as the United Nations and the FATF.

Jeff Bezos officially became the richest person in the world in early 2018. Amazon has become the second most valuable company in the world after Apple. Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, is the second-richest man in the world with a net wealth of $92.9 billion. Warren Buffet, who is one of the most successful investors in the world, has secured third place with a net wealth of $82.2 billion.

The Commonwealth Games 2018 gold-medal winning shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, was adjudged as the "Sportsperson of the Year for 2017" by the Sports Illustrated India magazine. In 2017, the Kidambi Srikanth won 4 Superseries titles - Indonesia, Australia, Denmark and France and finished the season as World No. 2. In April, he became the only male Indian badminton player to rise to the No. 1 in badminton rankings.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Mumbai. In the past, AIIB annual meetings have been held in Beijing, China, in 2016 and in Jeju, South Korea, in 2017. The theme for this year's meeting is "Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration" that will see leaders from varied organizations and levels of government to share ideas and experiences for creating a sustainable future through sound infrastructure investment.

In the 4th edition of International Yoga Day (IYD-2018), the Guinness World Record (GWR) for largest number of people performing yoga at one place at the same time has been set up in Kota, Rajasthan. At the State level yoga function in Kota, around one lakh 60 thousand people performed yoga at one place at a same time on 21st June. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev led the people at RAC Ground, where 30 lakh squre feet area was prepared for performing yoga.

The International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is observed every year on June 19 to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world and to pay tribute to all those who have courageously devoted their lives to and lost their lives in standing up for the eradication of these crimes.

The Gujarat government announced wind-solar hybrid power policy - 2018, aiming to make optimum utilisation of the land and grid. The policy, which will have a coverage period of five years, provides encouragement to renewable power producers supplying to the grid as well as to those having captive use. The policy provides 50% concession for cross-subsidy surcharge and additional surcharge when the generated energy is sold to a third party. Gujarat currently generates over 5,500 MW of wind power and 1,600 MW of solar power.

The Uttarakhand high court has banned paragliding, and white water rafting and other water sports until the government frames a policy to regulate them. It also expressed concern over environmental damages, remarking that the state is not maintaining the sanctity of river Ganga.

Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) had announced that its subsidiary Nikiret has signed an agreement with Indian engineering services firm Core Energy Systems Pvt Ltd for the promotion of its technical security equipment in India. The partnership will explore opportunities in the Indian government's Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) project.

The Kerala Governement launhed an ambitious micro-finance programme in the co-operative sector to help ordinary people who are being exploited by private financiers charging exorbitant interest rates for loans. It is a joint initiative of cooperative banks and Kudumbashree (women neighbourhood network). They have launched the proposed scheme, titled 'Muttathe Mulla'. Under the initiative, Cooperative banks would give away micro-finance loans to 'Kudumbashree' at an interest rate of 7 per cent, which members of the neighbourhood network can avail at an interest rate of 12 per cent instead of 37-72% interest for mico loans that the private lenders are giving.

Emaar India has appointed Prashant Gupta as CEO. Emaar India is a part of realty enterprise group Emaar Properties, which is based in Dubai. Prashant Gupta was working with Aditya Birla group since 2011. He has been appointed as CEO of Emaar India. He also served as President and CEO of online retail business ABOF.com. In April 2018, Emaar Properties appointed Hadi Badri as managing director of India business.

The Centre of Excellence in Maritime & Shipbuilding (CEMS), a well-funded start-up in skill development for maritime and shipbuilding sector, has announced setting up of 24 labs -6 in Mumbai and 18 in Vizag campus. The announcement was made in the first seminar on Competencies, Employability, Methodology and Skills organized by CEMS in Mumbai. CEMS aims to build competency in the field of maritime & shipbuilding sector through skill development in the latest manufacturing technologies for shipbuilding/ repair and ancillary sectors.

T. Armstrong Changsan was appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Iceland. T. Armstrong Changsan is an Indian Foreign Service Officer (IFS) of the 1997 batch. At present, he is Consul General, Consulate General of India, Osaka-Kobe. He has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Iceland. He will take up this assignment soon.

The 7th edition of India Minerals and Metals forum was inaugurated in New Delhi on June 21, 2018. The forum seeks to come up with solutions to leverage in the sector with the changing global scenario. The deliberations took cognizance on the need to consolidate small players for strengthening of overall health of the industry. The government officials emphasized on utilizing low grade minerals to reduce burden on high end minerals.