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• The International Migrants Day 2018 observed on 18th December across the world. In accordance with the Resolution 55/93 of the United Nations General Assembly(UNGA), the International Migrants Day is observed every year on 18 December. The Resolution 55/93 was adopted by UN on 4th December 2000.


• The theme of International Migrants Day 2018 is “Migration with Dignity”. The United Nations have given a call for migration that is safe, regular and dignified for everyone.

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• Pakistan has released 33-year-old Indian national, Hamid Ansari, after he spent three years in jail on charges of possessing false documents.


• An engineer by profession, Ansari was arrested in 2012 after he allegedly illegally entered Pakistan to meet a woman he befriended online.


• In 2015, a military court gave him a three-year jail sentence, which he completed on December 15.

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• The year 2018 has been the worst for violence and abuse against journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).


• A total of 80 journalists were killed, 348 others were jailed and 60 others were held hostage this year, the report claimed.


• Afghanistan was named the deadliest country for journalists, while China remains the biggest jailer of journalists.

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• Pakistan has organised peace talks between the US and Afghan Taliban with an aim to end the Afghan war. Representatives from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the UAE are also attending the three-day talks in Abu Dhabi.


• The Pakistan-facilitated talks come after US President Donald Trump called upon Pakistan PM Imran Khan to help end the war in Afghanistan.

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• Russia has said that it has built new barracks on a disputed chain of islands near Japan.


• Russia plans to move troops next week into housing complexes on two of the four islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and as the Kuril Islands in Russia.


• Soviet forces had seized the islands at the end of World War II.

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• The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Jhajjar, Haryana, which is also India’s largest cancer hospital, opened for public service with the formal inauguration to be held in January.


• The NCI, which is a project under Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be headed by Dr G.K. Rath who is also the chief of Institute Rotary Cancer hospital at AIIMS.


• The doctors have already started the OPDs, the proper functioning of all departments at the NCI will start from January 2019.

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• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced financial aid of Rs 10 crore for establishment of Odiya Cultural Centre in Gujarat’s Surat for their social celebrations.


• Speaking at Odisha Mahotsav organised by Odiya Pravasi Samaj residing in Surat, Patnaik said the Odisha government will request the Centre to start a direct flight between Surat and Odisha.


• Patnaik also requested Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani to allot a land for the establishment of a community centre in Surat to meet the requirements of Odia community for their social celebrations.

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• Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih said World’s largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Ltd are discussing joint investment in petrochemicals and oil refinery projects.


• Reliance operates two refineries at Jamnagar with a total capacity of 68.2 million tonnes per annum.

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• Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) next housing scheme is likely to be launched in two phases. In the first lot, about 10,000 flats will be offered in.


• Addressing a press conference, DDA vice chairman Tarun Kapoor said several flats are under construction and by the “next six months, about 25,000 flats would be ready”.

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• Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal is in talks with Walmart over cash payouts after he resigned from Flipkart as chairman and group CEO last month.


• After his abrupt exit from Flipkart, Bansal might receive a smaller payment of about $100 million.


• Walmart acquired about 77 percent of Flipkart in May, for nearly $16 billion in what was the US retail giant's largest-ever deal and a move to take on arch rival Amazon in a key growth market.

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• New generation private sector IDFC Bank and non-banking financial company Capital First announced completion of their merger on December 18, creating a combined loan asset book of Rs 1.03 lakh crore for the merged entity IDFC First Bank.


• The merged entity to be called IDFC First Bank, subject to shareholders' approval," the firms said in a joint statement.

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• Changes to monetary policy have a stronger impact on yields of short-term bonds than on longer-dated securities. That long-held view received an emphatic backing from researchers in the Reserve Bank of India.


• An empirical study covering moves from April 2004 to March 2018 showed the impact of policy rate on yields weakens as the tenure of the bonds increases.


• An increase of 100 basis points in the policy rate, increases the yield on 15-91 days maturity treasury bills by around 85 basis points.

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• The 2019 Indian Premier League auction belonged to uncapped Indians, with several players striking it rich. The likes of Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh and Akshdeep Nath have suddenly come into the big league, after teams splashed fat cheques for their services.


• Here are five of the most expensive Indians to be sold.


• The most expensive Indians are Varun Chakravarthy (Kings XI Punjab), Rs 8.4 crore, Jaydev Unadkat (Rajasthan Royals), Rs 8.4 crore, Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals), Rs 5 crore, Shivam Dube (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Rs 5 crore, Mohit Sharma (Chennai Super Kings), Rs 5 crore.

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• Apoorva Chaudhary, the 28-year old ultra runner from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, created a national record by completing 176.8 km in the women’s 24-hour event at the NEB 24 Hour Stadium Run held at New Delhi under the aegis of Athletics Federation of India.


• The previous record of 175.4 km was set by Meenal Kotak. Apoorva became the fourth Indian woman to run more than 100 miles (160 km) in 24 hours after Meenal, Hema Saini (172.3 km) and Aparna Choudhary (169.2 km).


• In the men’s 24-hour run held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at New Delhi, Pranaya Mohanty from Bengaluru completed 206.8, becoming the third Indian to have crossed the 200 km distance and the first to have achieved it in a stadium race held in India.

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• The '2018 Top 10 Stars of Indian Cinema' list, based on global film and TV website Internet Movie Database’s (IMDb) 'StarMeter' stats and page views, was released.


• Shah Rukh Khan was second on the list, followed by Aamir Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

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• Actress Sonam Kapoor has been named India’s Person of the Year for 2018, by animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for her animal advocacy efforts.


• Kapoor was named PETA India's Hottest Vegetarian Celebrity in 2016. Past recipients of PETA India's Person of the Year Award include Anushka Sharma, Sunny Leone, Shashi Tharoor, Kapil Sharma, Hema Malini, R. Madhavan and Jacqueline Fernandez.

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• CBI's Joint Director M Nageswara Rao, who is currently the interim CBI Director, was promoted to the rank of Additional Director by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.


• The 1986-batch IPS officer from the Odisha cadre had joined the CBI in 2016 and was not considered for the promotion during the review of his batch in April 2018.

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• Senior bureaucrat Pranab Kumar Das has been appointed as Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the apex policy-making body for indirect taxes.


• Das, Special Secretary and Member (Customs) at CBIC, will succeed S. Ramesh, who superannuates on December 31. Das, a 1983-batch IRS Officer of Customs and Central Excise Cadre was appointed as Member in the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in 2017.

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• The Central government appointed advocate Madhavi Divan the Additional Solicitor General (ASG). Divan will represent the government in the Supreme Court and will hold office till June 30, 2020. She is the third woman who has been appointed ASG in the apex court.


• Divan has represented the governments of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in the top court. Senior advocate Indira Jaising was the first woman to be appointed as the ASG, while the second one was Pinky Anand, who still holds the post.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a book “Timeless Laxman”, based on the life and times of legendary cartoonist, the late R.K. Laxman. The book has been penned by cartoonist’s daughter-in-law Usha Srinivas Laxman.


• Laxman, through the eyes of The Common Man, chronicled Indian social-political history and regaled millions of readers daily in The Times of India and other publications where he worked for nearly seven decades. He passed away in January 2015 in Pune aged 93.


• Modi who arrived in Mumbai addressed a Republic TV summit, and laid the foundation stones for the Thane and Pune Metros, besides a mega-housing project in Thane.

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• Former Nepalese Prime Minister Tulsi Giri passed away in Kathmandu. He was 92. The veteran politician breathed his last in his residence at Budhanilkantha after suffering from liver cancer.


• Giri was politically active from 1960 to 2005.