 President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Cuba on the final leg of his three-nation tour to Greece, Suriname and Cuba. He is accompanied by a delegation including Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai. Mr Kovind was received in Santiago by Vice President of Cuba, Ms Beatriz Johnson. The President was escorted first to the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery where he witnessed Change of Guards ceremony. He then paid respects to Jose Marti Memorial. Jose Marti was Cuba’s legendary poet who led the 1895 Cuban revolution. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 State Bank of India's (SBI) Managing Director B Sriram was appointed as the IDBI Bank's CEO and Managing Director for a temporary period of three months. He has been appointed in place of incumbent Mahesh Kumar Jain who was recently named Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Sriram has been working as the MD (Corporate and Global Banking) in SBI since July 2014. He had been Managing Director of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. |
| Source- NDTV News |
 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. |
| Source- ANI News |
 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. |
| Source- IANS |
 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) launches the findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2018, which assesses the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security. |
|
Key findings include the following:
|
| At the start of 2018 nine states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) - possessed approximately 14,465 nuclear weapons. This marked a decrease from the approximately 14 935 nuclear weapons that SIPRI estimated these states possessed at the beginning of 2017. The decrease in the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world is due mainly to Russia and the USA—which together still account for nearly 92% of all nuclear weapons—further reducing their strategic nuclear forces pursuant to the implementation of the 2010 Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. |
| Source- sipri.org |
 United States political commentator and Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Krauthammer passed away at the age of 68. The columnist died of cancer of the small intestine. Krauthammer’s column has been published in The Washington Post since 1984, and he regularly appeared as political analyst on Fox News. |
| Source- Scroll.in |
 The Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) of India, Arvind Subramanian had resigned from the post and will return to the US because of "pressing family commitments". The announcement was made by Mr Arun Jaitley. Subramanian was appointed as CEA to the finance ministry in October 2014, for the period of three years. In 2017 his term was extended for a year. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 Vishwas Mandalik from Nasik and the Yoga Institute in Mumbai have been selected as recipients of the Prime Minister’s award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of yoga for the year 2018. The selection was done from among 186 nominations received under different categories. Vishwas Mandalik acquired knowledge of Patanjali and Hatha Yoga, Bhagwad Gita and Upanishad by study and research of ancient scriptures. In 1978, he set up the first branch of Yoga Vidya Dham. The Yoga Institute,established in 1918 by Yogendraji, completed its 100 years serving the society. The winners would be felicitated with a trophy, certificate and a cash award of 25 lakh rupees each. |
| Source- The Indian Express |
 Under ‘India Smart Cities Award' 2018, Surat has been awarded for showcasing "great momentum" in the implementation of projects under the Smart Cities Mission, according to the Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry. Bhopal and Ahmedabad were selected in the ‘Innovative Idea' category for their "transformative approach towards sustainable integrated development". Joint winners in ‘Innovative Idea' category were Bhopal for its Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) and Ahmedabad for Safe and Secure Ahmedabad (SASA) Project. |
| Source- The Moneycontrol |
 Microsoft has acquired Flipgrid, an education start-up with an app that lets students record and share videos on specific topics with their classmates. Microsoft is making Flipgrid free of charge. Schools that already have subscriptions will receive prorated refunds. The acquisition comes one and a half years after Microsoft announced a partnership with Flipgrid. |
| Source- The Guardian |
You need to login to perform this action.
You will be redirected in
3 sec
