 The World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings kicked off on a somber note, with the IMF downgrading global growth in 2019 to 3%, the slowest since the global financial crisis. India’s growth projections have also been downgraded to 6.1% and 7.0% in 2019 and 2020 respectively, down by 1.2 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points relative to April projections, owing to weaker than expected domestic demand. India’s growth rate in the April-June quarter had hit 5%, the lowest in six years, as per government data. Consumption, investment and exports were down. The IMF projected the U.S. would grow at 2.4% and 2.1% in 2019 and 2020 respectively. For China, growth was projected to grow at 6.1% and 5.8% in 2019 and 2020. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 World University Rankings 2020, published by the United Kingdom (UK) based Times Higher Education (THE), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore were ranked number 1 among the 56 Indian institutes on the list of the best universities of the world. The ranking includes almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries. As per the World University Rankings 2020, the University of Oxford is the number one university in the world for the fourth time in a row. The California Institute of Technology stands at the second place and the University of Cambridge fell to the third rank this year. |
| Source: The India Today |
 According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) report, India has jumped 6 places to claim 34th spot on world Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2019. The WEF report shows, over 1.5 crore international tourists arrived in India while the share of travel and tourism industry was 3.6 per cent and that of industry employment was 5.1 per cent. Spain tops the ranking index followed by France and Germany. Other countries in the top 10 include Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Canada, and Switzerland. |
| Source: The Business Standard |
 India has surpassed the Netherlands to move into the list of top10 countries in terms of total gold reserves. According to the World Gold Council, India has gold reserves totalling 618.2 tonnes, which is marginally higher than the Netherlands’ reserves of 612.5 tonnes. According to the World Gold Council, the U.S. leads the country list with total gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes followed by Germany with 3,366.8 tonnes. In terms of individual countries, India actually ranks 9th since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) occupies the third position after the U.S. and Germany. |
| Source: The Hindu |
 Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index for 2019, released with both Delhi and Mumbai sliding down ranks. New Delhi dropped 6 places to 118, from 112 last year and Mumbai also fell in this year’s index, by two places to 119, from 117 last year. Vienna in Austria, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia make the top three cities. The survey ranks countries across indicators including stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure, culture and environment. |
| Source: The Hindustan Times |
 According to a report of Economist Intelligence Unit, Mumbai has been ranked as the 45th safest city on the Safe Cities Index (SCI) 2019, while Delhi stood at the 52nd position. Tokyo taking the top spot, While Singapore and Osaka came 2nd and 3rd in the list. The Safe Cities Index (SCI) 2019 ranks 60 countries worldwide across five continents and measures the multi-faceted nature of urban safety, with indicators categorised as digital, infrastructure, health and personal security. |
| Source: The Economics Times |
 According to a “Global Happiness Survey” by Ipsos, Indian has been ranked 9th on the happiness index among 28 global markets. For India, there has been a six per cent drop (from 83 per cent in 2018 to 77 per cent in 2019). Australia and Canada at the top spot (at 86 per cent) have emerged as the happiest nations of the world, While Russia (47 per cent) emerged at the bottom of the heap, among the 28 markets. |
| Source: The Economics Times |
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| The 597-ft tall ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat and Mumbai’s Soho House have been featured by the Time magazine in its second annual list of the 2019 World’s greatest places, in a compilation of 100 new and newly “noteworthy destinations. The ‘Statue of Unity’, the world’s tallest statue, is a tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s first home minister as well as deputy prime minister. Soho House Mumbai is Asia’s first Soho House that puts a local spin on the “formula that has allowed Nick Jones’ members-only clubs to blossom across the US and Europe”. |
| Source: The Livemint |
 For the second consecutive year, Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson has topped the Forbes’ list of highest-paid female actors in the world. Spurred by the success of her summer Marvel film Avengers: Endgame, the 34-year-old actor’s earning reached USD 56 million. |
Here’s the list of the World’s Highest-Paid Actresses Of 2019 listed by Forbes:
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| Source- BBC News |
 Bollywood Actor Akshay Kumar has made it to the 4th position on the Forbes magazine’s Worlds Highest-Paid Actors Of 2019 list. Akshay has raked in $65 million. Hollywood star Dwayne ‘Rock’ Johnson tops the Forbes list of the 10 highest-paid actors. |
Here’s the list of the World’s Highest-Paid Actors Of 2019 listed by Forbes:
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| Source: The Hindu |
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