Introduction
The article Current Affairs One-Liners June 2019 includes One-Liners with an explanation, analysis, and issues of current events, including political or industrial controversy or public policy issues in the month of June.
June 2019
1. International News
- Sudan’s main opposition group says security forces raided its office and blocked a press conference on the eve of mass protests against military rule.
- Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Madrid on Saturday to oppose the newly elected conservative mayor’s decision to reverse car pollution restrictions.
- US President Donald Trump is visiting the heavily fortified zone dividing the two Koreas for a brief greeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
- A group of Sikh activists has launched an online petition asking Indian-American Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to apologise to the community for allegedly defending a discriminatory policy in 2011.
- Saudi Arabia increased India’s Haj quota by 30,000 which was the third hike in 3 years. It was increased from 1,70,000 to 200,000. With this, more Indians will get a chance to visit annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, a city in Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia.
- Jammu & Kashmir’s former head of State and senior Congress leader Karan Singh said many provisions in the Constitution were temporary in nature and even the reservation for Scheduled Castes was temporary and originally meant for the initial 10 years.
- Introducing the second edition of his radio programme Mann ki Baat on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the citizens to resort to conservation of water, saying that there is a pressing need to make water conservation a mass movement in the country akin to Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a combined strategy to crack down on fugitive economic offenders found resonance with leaders of G20 states, with a joint statement on Saturday reaffirming their commitment to deny safe haven to such individuals.
- The country’s national carrier Air India has lost Rs 720 crore in the four months through 27 February as Pakistan continues with the ban on its eastern airspace for Indian airlines.
- The Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) released a five-year vision plan named Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP) to transform higher education with the help of more than 50 initiatives.
- Union Minister Smriti Irani of Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry stated that based on the information received from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the Department of Food and Public Distribution, central Government approved the centrally sponsored pilot scheme on fortification of rice and its distribution through Public Distribution System (PDS).
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will put forward the proposal of National Mission on Natural Language Translation with an outlay Rs 450 crore for next 3 years before the Union Cabinet.
- Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in a national conference, exhibition and awards ceremony ‘Innovative Water Solutions’ in New Delhi announced that the flow of raw sewage into the Ganga river will be fully stopped by 2022.
- 2-day Meeting of Expert Working Group on Paris Pact Initiative on Illicit Financial Flows deriving from the trafficking of Opiates originating in Afghanistan was organized in New Delhi from June 27-28, 2019.
- The Union Government given its approval for the extension of President’s rule under article 356(4) of Indian Constitution In Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) for six more months beginning July 3, 2019.
- Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board will meet on July 7 to discuss a major restructuring that may result in as many as 20,000 job cuts, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
- The Government of India, Government of Rajasthan and the World Bank signed a $ 250 Million Loan Agreement for Phase II of Rajasthan State Highways Development Project.
- As per the data from the apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Foreign Exchange Reserves (Forex/ FX Reserves) of India reached a life-time high of $426.42 billion after it was increased by $4.215 billion in the week to June 21, 2019.
- “The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2017-18” by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) huge variations among the states in terms of the unemployment rate. The overall unemployment rate pegs at 6.1%.
- Table-toppers Australia handed New Zealand their second straight defeat in the 2019 World Cup after beating them by 86 runs on Saturday.
- India’s junior Boxing women’s team was won best team trophy in 5th Black Forest Cup held in Villingen, Schwenningen, Germany. The team won 7 medals, including 5 gold.
- An Indian engineer, Nitesh Kumar Jangir, from Bangalore has won the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Innovation for Sustainable Development Award 2019 in the “People” category in London, UK (United Kingdom)for the creation low-cost neonatal breathing device named “Saans” for saving the lives of newborn babies.
- Hemant Pandey, a senior scientist from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), developed ‘Lukoskin’, an herbal drug to treat leucoderma (also called ‘vitiligo’), a condition in which white patches develop on the skin.
- Former Navy Chief Admiral Sushil Kumar authored a book named as “A Prime Minister to Remember- Memories of a Military Chief” released. The book is published by Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd, New Delhi.
- Famous Telugu story writer, Abburi Chaya Devi passed away due to cardiac arrest. She was 86. She hails from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.
1. International News
- EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said it was the EU’s biggest deal to date and, at a time of trade tensions between the US and China, showed that “we stand for rules-based trade”.
- Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday justified his decision to hang drug offence convicts, terming it necessary to “protect the country and future generations”, despite domestic and international pressure to withdraw the decision.
- Group of 20 leaders have joined their host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in showcasing support for helping women close the gap with men in finance and other forms of economic empowerment.
- The highlight of Mr. Trump’s visit to Osaka was a meeting on Saturday with Mr. Xi that has raised hopes the world’s two largest economies might resume talks over their festering dispute over technology and China’s chronic trade surplus.
- The government has reduced the interest rates on small savings schemes such as the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, Public Provident Fund, Kisan Vikas Patra and the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, according to a notification issued on Friday.
- The Kargil conflict of 1999 was Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s “finest hour”, former Navy Chief Admiral Sushil Kumar said on Friday, as India commemorates 20 years of the conflict.
- G20 Summit Live Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the presidents of Indonesia and Brazil separately on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan Saturday, and discussed ways to boost bilateral ties and enhance cooperation in trade and investment.
- The ministry of railways has dropped plans to provide Wi-Fi facility on running trains, the Centre said on Friday.
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the bill to fine people with Rs 10,000 for blocking ambulances. The rule is the part of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill.
- Government formed an 18-member working group headed by Ramesh Chand, member of NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, to revise current series of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) with the base year 2011-12 and come up with a new Producer Price Index (PPI).
- A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed between the Ministry of Shipping and IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Kharagpur to set up Centre for Inland & Coastal Maritime Technology (CICMT) at IIT Kharagpur.
- “Go Tribal Campaign” by Tribes India was launched by Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Smt. Renuka Singh in the presence of Shri R.C. Meena, Chairman, Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), Shri Deepak Khandekar, Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED in New Delhi.
- An eight-day event of the 32nd edition of International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Congress has started in Hyderabad, Telangana.
- Syndicate Bank is focusing on improving its information technology infrastructure in areas such as Big Data and Analytics.
- The World Bank and the Government of India signed a loan agreement of $400 Million for the Program Towards Elimination of Tuberculosis(TB), which kills approximately half a million people in India every year. The program will cover nine States of India.
- The Reserve Bank of India set an average base rate of 9.18% for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to be charged from their customers. It will be charged for the quarter beginning July 1, 2019.
- India’s Largest cryptocurrency exchange, Koinex (Mumbai) terminating its digital asset trading services and other crypto-related operations citing regulatory uncertainty and disruption.
- In the final round of voting at the 134th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, Italy’s Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo won the right to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, defeating Sweden’s capital Stockholm.
- South Africa opener Hashim Amla and captain Faf du Plessis shared an unbeaten 175-run stand to help their team defeat Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the 2019 World Cup on Friday.
- To mark ‘India Day’ in the Houses of Parliament in London, United Kingdom (UK), Sajid Javid, Home Secretary of UK, released the ‘100 most Influential in UK-India Relations: Celebrating Women’ list.
- Narinder Batra, President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the IOC Session.
- Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) elected Sharad Kumar Saraf as its new President. He succeeded Ganesh Kumar Gupta.
- According to the Finance Ministry, Government of India, Canara Bank General Manager (GM)Sarada Kumar Hota has assumed charge as the National Housing Bank (NHB) Managing Director for a period of three years. He succeeds Sriram Kalyanaraman.
- NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) astronauts tested a prototype Lunar Evacuation System Assembly (LESA) designed by European Space Agency (ESA). It was tested as part of NASA’s NEEMO 23 (Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission to assist in astronaut rescue missions on the surface of Moon.
- India successfully test-fired indigenously developed nuclear-capable missile Prithvi-II, a surface-to-surface missile, from a test range off the Odisha coast.
- Noted freedom fighter, Mohammed Baji (Md Bazi) passed away Sunari Sahi in Nabarangpur district of Odisha. He was 103.
1. International News
- Chinese President Xi Jinping has met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a time of warming ties between the two nations.
- Democratic White House front-runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are offering starkly diverging visions for America in a TV debate.
- A day after the first wave of 10 Democrats debated, the second 10 faced each other and the nation for the first time in a prime-time confrontation that gave many voters their first peek inside the Democratic Party’s unruly 2020 presidential campaign.
- Speaking at the informal BRICS leaders’ meeting in Osaka, Mr. Modi said that there is a need to stop all the mediums of support to terrorism and racism.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to extend the ban on food imports like meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables from the European Union (EU) till December [latex]31^{st}[/latex], 2020.
- PM Modi, who is in Japan for the G20 Summit, met with the Saudi Prince on the margins of the summit after the informal BRICS leaders’ meeting.
- The prospect that Tehran could soon violate its nuclear commitments, a week after Trump called off air strikes on Iran at the last minute, has created additional diplomatic urgency to find a way out of the crisis.
- Once Boeing completes the update, the US Federal Aviation Administration must review the fix and the results of a certification test flight that will not be scheduled until at least September.
- The Bharatiya Janata Party has got an additional 2 acres of land for its national office on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in New Delhi.
- Congress high command has not made any efforts to approach DMK leadership to take the proposal forward.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, on the global economy, fugitive economic offenders and disaster management, and announced that President Ram Nath Kovind would participate in the coronation ceremony of Emperor Naruhito in October.
- The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 will be taken up for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha today.
- The rate of unemployment among Christian men in rural as well as urban areas is higher than those from other religions across the country, the Centre informed Parliament on Thursday.
- Electronics and Information Technology Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad announced that around 2.22 crore villagers were given Digital Education under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA). The government has enrolled 636 training partners.
- Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri announced that 81,03,196 houses were approved under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme. 47,57,987 houses are at stages of construction and 26,07,913 houses were completed or occupied.
- Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stated that a Standing Group of Secretaries (GoS) has been constituted for ensuring inter-ministerial coordination on resolving issues related to e-commerce.
- The 7th Foreign Office Consultations between India and Brunei Darussalam was held in New Delhi. The Indian side was led by Vijay Thakur Singh, Secretary(East) and Brunei side was led by Hajah Siti Norishan Haji Abdul Ghafoor, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brunei Government.
- A four-day event of 23rd Sindhu Darshan Festival 2019 celebrated at Sindhu Ghat Shey in Jammu and Kashmir’s Leh from [latex]24^{th}[/latex] to [latex]27^{th}[/latex] June 2019.
- India’s financial system remains stable against the backdrop of improving the resilience of the banking sector, even though the emerging trends in global economic as also geopolitical environment pose challenges, the Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a regulatory framework for setting up of financial benchmark administrator (FBA) for administering ‘significant benchmarks’ in the markets for financial instruments.
- India’s central banking institution, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised all Scheduled Commercial Banks to adopt Education Loan Scheme which is formulated by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
- MobiKwik, a mobile payments service provider, partnered with health insurer Max Bupa to launch “shampoo-sachet” concept in the insurance sector. It will offer mini medical insurance products with premiums as low as Rs 20.
- A multinational software firm based in the United States, Oracle has introduced a new tool that will help small & mid-sized banks to tackle fraud.
- India registered their biggest ever victory (by runs) against West Indies in World Cup history by defeating them by 125 runs in 2019 World Cup on Thursday.
- International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Olympic status from the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and took over the responsibilities of the qualifying and final tournaments for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
- Virat Kohli broke Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara’s record to become the fastest to score 20,000 international runs, a target he reached when he scored 37 runs in the World Cup 2019 match against the West Indies on Thursday.
- In the 6th Edition of TechGig Code Gladiators 2019, an annual coding competition, Ex-champion, Sameer Gulati won the title as ‘world’s best coder’ and took home prize money of Rs 3,00,000, a trophy and a certificate.
- As per the Personnel Ministry, Government of India, Samant Kumar Goel, a 1984 batch IPS(Indian Police Service) officer of Punjab cadre appointed as chief of Research and Analysis Wing(RAW) for a fixed two-year term. He is presently serving as Special Secretary in the RAW.
- According to the Personnel Ministry, Government of India, Arvind Kumar (59), a 1984 batch IPS (Indian Police Service) officer from Assam- Meghalaya cadre has been made the chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) for the tenure of two years. He is currently serving as a special director in the IB. He will succeed Rajiv Jain.
- Author Amish Tripathi was appointed as the Director of Nehru Centre in London, which comes under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He succeeds Srinivas Gotru.
- West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, aged 39, will retire from international cricket after the home Test series against India in August-September 2019. He was the captain of the team in the past and has won 2 T20 World Cup titles with the Windies.
- Justice Prasanta Kumar Saikia (Retired) was sworn in as the Chairperson of the Lokayukta in Arunachal Pradesh. The oath was administered by Governor Dr. B D Mishra at Durbar Hall in Raj Bhawan in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in the presence of Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, other ministers, and officials. He became the first Lokayukta of the state.
- Harvard has unveiled a new bee-like robot RoboBee X-Wing, which is only one-quarter the weight of a paper clip and is the first version to not require an electricity cable.
- NASA plans to send a drone to Saturn’s largest moon. It is the only celestial body besides our planet known to have liquid rivers, lakes and seas on its surface, though these contain hydrocarbons like methane and ethane, not water.
- Meenakshi Lekhi, a women politician(MP of Bharatiya Janata Party and spokesperson) has written her debut novel titled ‘The New Delhi Conspiracy’.
- Jharna Dhara Chowdhury, Eminent social activist and secretary of the Gandhi Ashram Trust in Jayag, Noakhali, Bangladesh passed away due to old age complications. She was 81.
1. International News
- Ten Democrats have clashed in the first TV debate of the race to oust President Donald Trump from the White House.
- Australia says it is “urgently” seeking to confirm reports an Australian man has been detained in North Korea.
- A German chemical wholesaler, Brenntag, has denied circumventing EU export rules on restricted chemicals, some of which were delivered to Syria in 2014.
- G20 host Japan hopes world leaders will endorse a deal on marine plastic waste and find common ground on climate change, but its own environmental record is under increasing scrutiny.
- The White House said Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi would hold a bilateral meeting on June 28. This would be the third engagement of Mr. Trump on Friday.
- The Group of Asia-Pacific at the United Nations unanimously endorsed India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
- Eric Trump was at a business dinner at the Aviary, a high-end bar on the West Side of Chicago, when a waitress spit in his face, a representative from the Trump Organization told the Chicago Tribune.
- The Amazon, laden with Canadian canola, has been traveling back and forth in the waters around Xiamen port for four weeks after leaving Vancouver on May 7, according to Bloomberg shipping data.
- India slapped higher tariffs on 28 U.S. products following Washington’s withdrawal this month of key trade privileges for New Delhi.
- Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that the government was negotiating with the U.S. the issue of withdrawing the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) status to Indian business houses.
- India’s tariffs are not that high compared to other developing countries, government sources told Reuters, reacting to the United States President Donald Trump’s call to withdraw what he said were very high tariffs.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday arrived in Japan for the G20 Summit during which he will attend important plurilateral meetings and meet with the world leaders including US President Donald Trump.
- The Union human resource development (HRD) ministry has asked the Delhi University (DU) to set a timeline for filling hundreds of vacancies in its ranks as well as those in its constituent colleges.
- The report on Food & Nutrition Security (FNS) Analysis of India developed by UN (United Nations) World Food Programme in partnership with Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) stated that 31.4% of Indian children under five years will still be stunted by 2022.
- Beekeeping Development Committee (BDC) under the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) headed by Professor Bibek Debroy submitted its report to the Prime Minister on June 26, 2019. It was framed with the objective to identify ways of advancing beekeeping in India.
- Central Government has formed a committee for coordination among the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas(MoPNG), the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC) and the state governments after a tug of war between the two ministries.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released the rankings of police stations for the year 2018. It covered 15,666 police stations.
- South Korean Ambassador to India Bong-kil Shin launched a collaborative initiative between South Korea and Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) named ‘Jaipur Foot Korea’.
- The Lok Sabha cleared the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Wednesday, replacing an ordinance on the same issue.
- The Reserve Bank has appealed to members of the public not to give credence to rumours regarding the genuineness of coins of 50 paise, ₹1, ₹2, ₹5 and ₹10 denomination of various sizes, theme and design.
- Kolkata-based UCO Bank is hopeful of recovering close to ₹8,000 crore from stressed assets in the current fiscal.
- The Government of India, the State Government of Uttarakhand and the World Bank signed a tripartite Loan Agreement of $31.58 million (about Rs 221 crore) for Uttarakhand Public Financial Management Strengthening Project.
- HDFC Bank, India’s biggest lender by market value, has picked Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley to manage an initial public offering of its non-bank finance unit, people with knowledge of the matter said.
- 22-year-old Girish A. Koushik of Mysore, Karnataka became India’s 63rd Grandmaster (GM) at the 37th Balaton International Chess Festival in Hungary.
- Sofia Kenin (20) of the United States won the Mallorca Open Title 2019 against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland with 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4 points in the finals.
- Pakistan defeated New Zealand by six wickets on Wednesday to hand them their first defeat in the 2019 World Cup.
- Academics Jennifer Doudna, Andrea Ghez, Shafi Goldwasser, Daniel Kahneman Simon Wessely, and Yo-Yo Ma (cellist), besides Poonawalla and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, were conferred with the degrees at a ceremony called ‘Encaenia’.
- Pakistan's Babar Azam has become the second-fastest batsman to reach 3,000 ODI runs, achieving the feat during his knock of 101*(127) against New Zealand in 2019 World Cup on Wednesday.
- In the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival, Director Bijukumar Damodaran has received the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award for the film, Veyil Marangal (Trees Under the Sun).
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Government of India has extended the tenure of Amitabh Kant, CEO(Chief Executive Officer) of Government’s think tank NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India), by two years, up to June 30, 2021.
- Amit Agarwal, Amazon India Senior Vice-President and Country Head, was named as the new Chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
- Krishnaswamy Natarajan, 1984 batch officer, has been appointed as new Director General (DG) of Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
- Vijaya Nirmala, an Indian film actress, producer and director known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema, passed away on Thursday, June 27 at the Continental Hospital in Gachibowli, Hyderabad.
1. Important Days
- The United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – 26th June is held annually on 26th June to speak out against the crime of torture and to honor and support victims and survivors throughout the world.
- San Francisco has become the first US city to ban e-cigarette sales until their health effects are clearer.
- Tory leadership rivals Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are at loggerheads over how the UK should leave the EU.
- More than 100 migrant children have been returned to a Texas border station just a day after being transferred, US border officials say.
- US President Donald Trump’s meeting with China’s Xi Jinping will be the most highly anticipated of those expected to take place at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, but the American leader will be “comfortable with any outcome” of the talks that are expected to break the ongoing trade impasse between the world’s two largest economies.
- A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Panama-Costa Rica border around midnight on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, with the potential to cause casualties and “significant damage”.
- Protesters in Hong Kong opposed to contentious extradition legislation are calling on leaders of the U.S., the European Union, and others to raise the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week’s G-20 summit in Japan.
- The elections are being held to fill vacancies that will arise from the retirement of six MPs – four from the AIADMK and one each from the DMK and the Communist Party of India (CPI) – on July 24th.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the debate in the Rajya Sabha on President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to Parliament.
- US secretary of state Mike Pompeo met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday as the S-400 surface-to-air missile systems deal with Russia, cooperation on trade security, energy and space are likely to figure in talks with Indian officials during his three-day visit.
- This internal survey focussed on facilities such as a women’s help desk, drinking water and child-friendly rooms.
- Bitcoin continued its torrid rally on Wednesday, surpassing the $12,000 level for the first time in almost a year and a half.
- After swinging over 200 points within the first 15 minutes of trade, the 30-share index pared opening losses to trade 111.08 points, or 0.28 per cent, higher at 39,546.02 at 0930 hours.
- The rupee opened weak at 69.40 at the interbank forex market and then fell further to 69.48, down 12 paise over its last close.
- The US and China have been locked in a bruising trade war since Trump imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items from China in March last year, a move that sparked fears of a global trade war.
- Australia defeated England by 64 runs at Lord’s Cricket Ground on Tuesday to become the first team to qualify for the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.
- Rachna Khaira of The Tribune News Service won the RedInk Award for ‘Journalist of the Year 2019’. The award was bestowed for her expose on the functioning of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and its Aadhaar data cache in 2018.
- World Archery appointed Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra as an independent person to sort out the ongoing trouble in the Archery Association of India (AAI).
- President Donald Trump on Tuesday named Stephanie Grisham — until now spokeswoman for his wife Melania — the chief White House press secretary, taking over an office that has seen sharply deteriorating relations with the media.
- PM Narendra Modi has appointed Samant Goel, who was part of planning the Balakot air strikes, as the next chief of India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
- Veteran Actor Anupam Kher, aged 64, has penned an Auto-Biography titled “Lessons Life Taught Me, Unknowingly”. It will be launched on August 5, 2019. It will look into the life and times of the actor.
- Veteran freedom fighter Mohan Ranade passed away in Pune, Maharashtra at the age of 90. He participated in the Goa Liberation Movement. He was born in 1929 at Sangli in Maharashtra.
1. International News
- Boris Johnson has admitted he would need EU co-operation to avoid a hard Irish border or crippling tariffs on trade in the event of no deal.
- US President Donald Trump has said he is imposing hard-hitting new sanctions on Iran, including on the office of the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
- The chairman of the U.S House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), Eliot Engel, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Monday, saying that there was a growing view that the Trump administration was coercing India on various fronts rather than negotiating with it
- There is “absolutely a possibility” that Pakistan could be on its blacklist after the international financial watchdog’s next meeting in October in Paris, the outgoing president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Marshall Billingslea, said on Friday.
- The United Arab Emirates’ Central Bank in Abu Dhabi announced that it’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) launched a new reporting platform ‘goAML’ (global operations Anti-Money Laundering).
- The Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi issued a notice stating that Nepalese nationals must have a visa if they are entering India from Pakistan, China, Hong Kong, and Macau. This was done to increase security in the country.
- The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear the Enforcement Directorate’s petition against the permission granted to Rajeev Saxena, an approver in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland helicopter scam, to travel abroad on medical grounds.
- Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply on the motion of thanks on President’s address on Tuesday.
- Terrorism, Afghanistan, the Indo-Pacific, Iran, trade issues, and growing bilateral defence ties will be the focus of discussions between the Indian government and visiting US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Wednesday
- The Supreme Court on Monday expressed “grave concern” over deaths caused by the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar and sought responses from the Central and state governments on a petition that alleged that negligence and inaction claimed the lives of at least 152 children in Muzaffarpur and other areas.
- Mr. Yury Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District along with his delegation visited India from 15 - 19 June 2019.
- In order to make India a $5 trillion economy, expert panel for macroeconomics and employment suggested ways to achieve the target during an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Health, and Family Welfare Minister stated that the Government has developed an ambitious National Strategic Plan to end Tuberculosis (TB) by 2025.
- The State Government of Odisha released a Flood Hazard Atlas for efficient management of flood in the state. It was released by the Odisha Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik.
- The Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which comes under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), constituted a seven-member core group chaired by Additional Director General (training & research) M K Sharma to prepare a roadmap for implementation of a five-year “vision document” (STVD) as directed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The Reserve Bank of India, on Monday, launched a ‘Complaint Management System (CMS)’, which will enable members of the public to lodge their complaints on its website against any of the regulated entities with a public interface such as commercial banks, urban co-operative banks, and non-banking financial companies, among others.
- Automobile manufacturer in India, Maruti Suzuki signed ‘Preferred Financier’ MoU(Memorandum of understanding) with public sector Bank, Bank of Baroda (BOB) to improve credit for dealership inventory financing.
- The fact is there is a slowdown of some nature. There are stresses everywhere. But what I think gets appreciated in situations like this is where the governance is stronger.
- Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan became the second cricketer after Yuvraj Singh (2011) to score a fifty and take five wickets in a World Cup match.
- Mattewada Ajay Kumar, a micro-artist from Warangal, has made it to the Limca Book of Records for creating world’s smallest functional violin, weighing less than a milligram.
- The electoral commission of Mauritania, a country in Northwest Africa, announced that the country’s ruling party candidate and a former general and defense minister, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani (aged 62) of Union for the Republic (UPR) party won the presidential election with 52% votes.
- The book, “Function of Data Sovereignty – The Pursuit of Supremacy” authored by Vinit Goenka, Author, Secretary, Centre for Knowledge Sovereignty (CKS) and Member Governing Council- CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems), Ministry of Railways, Government of India recently released in New Delhi.
1. International News
- Turkey’s ruling party has lost control of Istanbul after a re-run of the city’s mayoral election, latest results show.
- Mauritania’s ruling party candidate has won the first democratic transition of power since independence in 1960.
- President Donald Trump brushed aside the grisly killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, saying his death has already been investigated and a Saudi pledge to spend billions of dollars on U.S. military equipment “means something to me.”
- Gulf region may spread uncontrollably and threaten the lives of U.S. troops, a senior Iranian military commander said after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose further sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
- According to the report by World Health Organization (WHO), Four countries from Asia includes China, Iran, Malaysia and Timor-Leste and one country from Central America, El Salvador had malaria-free cases in 2018 and the report confirms that world is on a track to reach malaria elimination by 2020.
- Mexico became the first country to ratify the trade deal to replace 25 year old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
- Commemorating 20 years of the Kargil War, the IAF on Monday turned the Gwalior airbase virtually into a conflict theatre, with a dramatic reenactment of some of the milestones of the operation in 1999.
- Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden budget will set the stage for reforms over the next five years that could see structural policy changes in areas such as land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship to attract investment
- The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 are likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha today
- G. Kishan Reddy arranged when he checked into his office at the iconic North Block building on Raisina Hills was a miniature statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of Independent India.
- Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated the Central Command Centre for Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) at Vasant Kunj, New Delhi to ensure higher standards of safety.
- Viral Sudhirbhai Desai, a young entrepreneur from surat launched an initiative to change Udhana railway station in Gujarat into India’s first green and clean railway station like Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
- The Hindujas will pump another Rs 2,700 crore into IndusInd Bank through a warrant issue to ramp up the promoter holding after the merger of Bharat Financial, a senior official from the private sector lender has said.
- GDP and the limited fiscal space are some of the challenges that India is facing, and there is a need to take bold steps to reform the financial sector, the real and social infrastructure, remove bottlenecks in different segments and unleash the economy, according to Uday Kotak.
- At a meeting of the manufacturers and start-up Electric Vehicle (EV) makers called by National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, Government’s think tank, it planned for the transition to full Electric Vehicles (EVs) for three-wheelers by 2023.
- Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) signed 2 Memorandum of Agreements (MoAs) on ‘Railway Station Redevelopment’ for the renovation of 22 railway stations.
- In order to bring transparency in the road-freight marketplace, an Indian technology company based in Gurgaon, Rivigo which owns 3,000 trucks 5,000 drivers launched the National Freight Index (NFI) which will provide unrestricted access of live freight rates for different lanes and vehicles across the country.
- South Africa are now officially out of the 2019 World Cup semi-finals race after suffering a 49-run defeat against Pakistan on Sunday.
- India clinched the women’s FIH Series Finals hockey tournament by beating hosts Japan 3-1 in the summit clash in Hiroshima on Sunday.
- India’s ace cueist Pankaj Advani, clinched the 35th men’s Asian snooker championship in Doha, Qatar.He defeated Thai’s Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon.
- World number three Roger Federer defeated David Goffin 7-6(7-2), 6-1 in the final on Sunday to win the Halle Open for the 10th time.
- A well-known educationist, pediatrician and author, Dr Gaurav Nigam was conferred with the ‘Innovative Research Excellence Award 2019’ by Lyonpo Ugyen Dorji, Minister for Labour and Human Resources of Bhutan at the Asian Leadership Summit held at Thimphu, Bhutan.
- South Africa’s 40-year-old leg-spinner Imran Tahir has become the highest wicket-taker among South Africans in World Cup history.
- Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Viral Acharya has resigned from his position six months before the end of his term, according to sources in the central bank.
- Tata Steel said it will seek shareholders’ nod for reappointment of TV Narendran as its CEO and MD effective September 2018, not liable to retire by rotation.
- Judge of Telangana High Court, Justice V Ramasubramanian sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. He succeeded Chief Justice Surya Kant.
- Fernando Torres, former Liverpool, Chelsea & Spain striker aged 35 retired from football. He hails from Fuenlabrada, Spain.
- NASA’s Curiosity rover detected high levels of methane in the Martian air, which could be a sign of microbes living on the planet, the NYT reported.
- Yoga guru Baba Ramdev will pen an Autobiography titled ‘My Life, My Mission’. He will unveil the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of his life and provide insights into his childhood in his autobiography.
1. Important Days
- Olympic Day was introduced in 1948 to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games on 23rd June 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. So first Olympic Day was celebrated on 23 June 1948 by 9 National Olympic Committees (NOC).
- The US launched a cyber-attack on Iranian weapons systems on Thursday as President Trump pulled out of air strikes on the country, US reports say.
- Istanbul residents are returning to the polls to elect a mayor after an opposition candidate’s surprise victory in March was annulled.
- Mexico is sending thousands of troops to the border with Guatemala as part of a deal with the US to stem the flow of undocumented migrants, mostly from Central America.
- The Trump administration unveiled a $50 billion Palestinian investment and infrastructure proposal intended to be the economic engine to power its much-anticipated but still unreleased “deal of the century” Middle East peace plan.
- The third Indo-French cyber dialogue 2019 was held in Paris,France. The meeting was co-chaired by Henri Verdier, French Ambassador for Digital Affairs, and Upender Singh Rawat, Joint Secretary in charge of e-Governance, Information Technology and Cyber Diplomacy at the Ministry of External Affairs.
- Country’s first iron ore mine was discovered at Isabpur village in Dinajpur of Bangladesh. The discovery was done by the Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB).
- Saudi Arabia became the first Arab country to get full membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). With this, the number of permanent members in the group accounted for 39.
- The Medical Council of India-Board of Governors (MCI-BoG) has notified amendments to the Establishment of Medical College Regulations, 1999, that will allow a consortium to apply for the establishment of new medical colleges.
- Four militants were killed in an operation by security forces in South Kashmir’s Shopian on June 23 morning.
- The government’s flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) — is now undergoing a price review of the over 1,000 medical packages being offered to patients.
- The 35th Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council Meeting was held in New Delhi. It was chaired by the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman and it was her first meeting after assuming the office.
- The first phase of the world’s largest multi-stage, multi-purpose scheme Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) worth Rs 80,000 crore was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Telangana Chandrashekar Rao at Medigadda in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district near the borders with Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh
- The Indian Air Force mission to bomb a terrorist hideout in Pakistan’s Balakot was codenamed ‘Operation Bandar’ (Monkey).
- Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha stated that under Adarsh Station Scheme (ASS), of the 1,253 stations which were identified for development, 1,103 railway stations were developed.
- State-owned Corporation Bank has donated Rs 3.38 crore towards relief and rehabilitation works for the people affected by cyclone Fani in Odisha.
- Kochi basedFederal Bank announced that it has raised Rs 300 crore through Basel-III compliant bonds for improving their risk management techniques and to address the growing risks.
- The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave its approval to Skylark Drones (Bangalore) to launch its “Patang”, India’s first drone compliant with the NP-NT (No permission – No take-off) protocol under the Digital Sky regulatory framework for drones.
- The National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), has got its international recognition for its accreditation programme for personnel certification bodies. It was held in Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) Annual Meetings 2019 in Singapore.
- Fast bowler Mohammad Shami took a last-over hat-trick as India defeated Afghanistan in a low-scoring match on Saturday to continue their unbeaten run in 2019 World Cup.
- New Zealand defeated West Indies by 5 runs on Saturday to go top of the 2019 World Cup points table with five victories from six matches.
- Indian Gymnast, Pranati Nayak aged 23 won bronze medal in vault event at the 8th edition of Senior Asian Artistic Championships in Buyant Ukhaa Sport Palace, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.She hails from West Bengal, India.
- Indian multinational information technology service, HCL Technologies (Hindustan Computers Limited, HCL) has signed a multi-year deal with Cricket Australia (CA), the administrative body of Australian Cricket, which is India’s third largest sports deal.
- Brazil forward Marta wants to use her record-breaking status to “push for more equality and women’s empowerment”.
- The Indian women’s rugby team claimed their first-ever international 15s victory on Saturday by defeating Singapore 21-19 in the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship Division 1.
- As per the order issued by personnel Ministry, Government of India, Shefali Juneja, a 1992 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre) was appointed as India’s representative in the Council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for a period of three years.
- Japanese researchers from Hiroshima University have developed a new type of cooling vest for sports athletes which helps them to compete safely in sweltering summer conditions.
- Thanjavoor Ramamoorthy, Veteran Mridangam exponent and former top grade staff artist of All India Radio(AIR) passed away in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. He was born in Trichy.
1. International News
- President Trump has said he does not want war but warned Iran it would face "obliteration" if conflict broke out.
- President Vladimir Putin has temporarily banned Russian airlines from flying to Georgia following a spate of violent unrest in the country.
- Mauritania is heading to the polls in what may result in the first democratic transition of power since the West African country achieved independence in 1960.
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s grim forecast of humanity suggests that a “population bomb” would lead to a worldwide collapse in humans in the coming decades and everybody would start to see the evident effects by 2050.
- Property consultants, Knight Frank in its “Active Capital” 2019 Report, assigned India with the 20th rank among the top capital importing countries, globally. In terms of outbound cross-border investments, it was ranked 30th.
- As per the Ericsson Mobility Report of June 2019 edition, India‘s data usage per smartphone was the highest in the world at 9.8 GigaByte (GB) per month up to December 31, 2018. It is set to double to 18 GB by 2024.
- India Navy launched “Operation Sankalp” in the Gulf of Oman. It is to recheck Indian flagged vessels operating through the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman following the maritime incidents in the region.
- Rejecting Journalist E Jean Carroll's sexual assault allegations against him as "fake news", US President Donald Trump said, "I've never met this person (Carroll) in my life." "Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves," Trump said, stating she has no evidence.
- As Pakistan has failed to complete its action plan on terror financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has warned the country to meet its commitment by October or face action. This could lead to Pakistan getting blacklisted and facing global sanctions.
- The U.S. wants to use Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s visit to New Delhi next week to capitalize on the early days of Modi 2.0 and accelerate its ties with India.
- The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet against 10 people who were arrested from Delhi and Amroha in Uttar Pradesh last year for allegedly propagating the Islamic State ideology.
- The management of Reliance Foundation-backed Jio Institute has told an expert panel headed by former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami that it may set up the proposed Institute of Eminence in Navi Mumbai and not in Karjat.
- The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) of Mumbai signed an agreement with the state Government of Telangana to offer a mode of payment options like UPI (Unified Payments Interface ) Collect Request, RuPay Debit and Credit Cards to the users of the ‘MeeSeva’ portal of the Telangana Government.
- India has opened its first specialized hydrotherapy treatment center for elephants suffering from arthritis, joint pain and foot ailments. It is situated in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
- The government of India has brought back the provision of ‘ration in kind’ to military officers in peace areas by approving proposal given by the Ministry of Defence. The decision is taken by the new Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
- The 20th meeting on Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was held in New Delhi. This was chaired under the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman.
- Bhoiwada police arrested a 32-year-old man from Mumbra for allegedly giving triple talaq to his wife in April after his in-laws failed to meet his demand for Rs 3-lakh dowry.
- Taxi unions and the consumer forum locked horns over the ‘happy hour scheme’ suggested by the state-appointed four-member Khatua panel at a meeting in Mantralaya.
- Max Life Insurance Company Limited, one of the country’s leading life insurance companies, launched customizable ‘Max Life Smart Term Plan’.
- Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) has signed a bancassurance agreement with Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd to provide Tata AIG’s suite of P&C (Property and Casualty (insurance) products to its customers.
- The most digitally focused banks became more profitable and markets have rewarded them with higher valuations, says Accenture report.
- E-commerce firm Flipkart has revamped its Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) seller financing programme ‘Growth Capital’ in order to empower MSMEs across the country.
- The National Housing Bank (NHB) has tightened the norms on leverage and capital adequacy ratio for Housing Finance Companies (HFCs). It mandated the HFCs to reduce their total borrowings in a phased manner to not more than 12 times( at present 16 times) of their Net-Owned Funds (NOF) as on March [latex]31^{st}[/latex], 2022.
- The United States (US) overtook China to become India’s largest goods trading partner in 2018-19. Trade surplus of India with the US declined to $16.8 billion from $21.2 billion for 2017-18.
- After putting up a total of 397/6 in their previous match against Afghanistan, England failed to chase down Sri Lanka’s 232 in 2019 World Cup on Friday.
- A non-governmental sports organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, IOC (International Olympic Committee) lifted its sanctions imposed on Indian Olympic Association (IOA) hosting international sports events.
- PM Narendra Modi was voted the 'World's Most Powerful Person 2019' in the reader's poll conducted by UK-based British Herald magazine. PM Modi received 30.9% of total votes to beat US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
- World famous handcrafted footwear, Kolhapuri chappal gets a Geographic Indication (GI) tag from The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Mark. The tag was given to the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, covering four districts each.
- A robot named Bumble became the first Astrobee robot to fly under its own power in space. Astrobee is a free-flying robot system that will help researchers test new technologies in zero gravity and perform routine work alongside astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
1. Important Days
- June [latex]21^{st}[/latex] marks the fifth International Yoga Day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lead the celebrations for the fifth International Yoga Day through a mega show in Ranchi.
- Hundreds of people in Hong Kong have surrounded police headquarters, calling for an extradition bill to be scrapped.
- A summit of 28 European Union leaders has ended without an agreement on who should take on the bloc’s top jobs. The talks, held in Brussels, continued until the early hours of Friday morning without candidates being finalized.
- U.S. President Donald Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for the downing of an unmanned $130-million surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching the attacks, the New York Times said.
- The U.S State Department said that the review is not targeted at a specific country and is separate from ongoing discussions with India.
- According to the recently released UNHCR’s (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) annual Global Trends report, almost 70.8 million people are forcibly displaced in 2018, the most since World War II and doubled the number of 20 years ago.
- The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, think tank of the government, has proposed that only Electric Vehicles (EVs) should be sold after 2030.
- Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) is set for inauguration by the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today.
- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit next week would give a boost to the engagement between the political leaderships of India and the U.S., the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
- India denies that Modi’s letter to Imran Khan has expressed a desire to hold talks with Islamabad
- Modi government will introduce a fresh bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
- Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) is expected to take a call on how to further divest stake in Gruh Finance to meet RBI directions after the merger of the housing finance company with Bandhan Bank
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are a vibrant and dynamic part of the Indian economy. They contribute significantly to the economic and social development of the country by fostering entrepreneurship and generating large-scale employment.
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed the stock exchanges with Commodity Derivative Segment (CDS) to introduce futures on commodity indices. This will facilitate mutual fund and institutional participation in commodity exchanges.
- Asian champion PU Chitra (Palakkeezhil Unnikrishnan Chithra) of India won a gold medal in women’s 1500m at Folksam Grand Prix 2019 held in Sollentuna, Sweden.
- Opener David Warner smashed 166 runs as Australia defeated Bangladesh by 48 runs in 2019 World Cup on Thursday.
- Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) on Thursday nominated the inclusion of women’s cricket in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
- Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project entered the Winners Book of World Records for getting completed in the shortest period.
- Football’s world governing body has confirmed that its secretary general Fatma Samoura has been appointed ‘Fifa General Delegate for Africa’ in a bid to improve governance on the continent.
- Former Mizoram minister and Mizo National Front (MNF) leader, Lalrinchhana, died at a hospital in Shillong on Tuesday, party sources said.
1. Important Days
- World Refugee Day, international observance observed June [latex]20^{th}[/latex] each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world.
- State media reported the military hit a drone, which they named as an RQ-4 Global Hawk, near Kuhmobarak in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province.
- New Zealand has launched a gun buy-back scheme in the wake of the deadly Christchurch mosque shootings. More than $208m New Zealand dollars (£108m, $136m), have been set aside to compensate owners of semi-automatic weapons that were banned following the attacks.
- The country accepted just over 28,000 refugees last year, with the United States coming in second with 22,900.
- The World Meteorological Organization announced that two recent temperature readings have been accepted among the hottest recorded on Earth.
- The study of history and other disciplines under Humanities are set to get a new impetus following the largest-ever single donation of £150 million by an American private equity billionaire to the University of Oxford, it was announced.
- The Idlib region, home to some three million people, is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal, but it has come under increased bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally since late April.
- Lawmakers voted to outlaw MSSAs, which allow the rapid fire of high-caliber bullets, by a margin of 119-1 in the wake of the worst massacre in modern New Zealand history.
- President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint sitting of both the houses of Parliament at the Central Hall today.
- Services on the Red Line from Shaheed Sthal towards Dilshad Garden were delayed for a few minutes, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said.
- The United States has told India it is considering caps on H-1B work visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, widening the two countries’ row over tariffs and trade.
- In a bid to build a consensus on holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened the meeting of presidents of all political parties for which 40 were invited.
- The Indian government has signed agreements with Bangladesh and South Korea, under which Doordarshan India will be available in those countries.
- Mizoram's Mizo National Front government has issued circular asking government employees to wear traditional dress to office voluntarily at least once a week.
- Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on Wednesday announced that it would be acquiring 51.2 per cent stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance and would be later merging it with its general insurance arm HDFC Ergo.
- The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested Arun Saha and Karunakaran Ramchand, former directors of IL&FS, in connection with alleged money laundering investigation at the group.
- YES Bank’s new Managing Director and CEO Ravneet Gill believes that many of the issues at the troubled private sector lender will be addressed by next quarter and that it would also finalise its capital-raising plans by then.
- New Zealand defeated South Africa by 4 wickets in the last over to continue their unbeaten run in 2019 World Cup.
- “Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)” and “Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP)” rankings, Naomi Osaka (Japan) and Novak Djokovic( Serbia) continued as world number ones.
- United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) list of India’s top 10 states which have maximum number of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified green buildings, Maharashtra bagged the top slot with 334 LEED-certified green buildings.
- Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan appointed as chief justice of Telangana High Court and the orders have been passed in related to it by the Union ministry of law and justice joint secretary Rajinder Kumar Kashyap.
- Luis Enrique has stood down as coach of the Spanish national team due to a serious family problem, leaving his assistant Robert Moreno in charge until Euro 2020.
- Veteran athletics coach N. Lingappa passed away at the age of 95 in Bengaluru, Karnataka.He is a resident of Bengaluru.
1. International News
- The Li Ka-Shing Foundation said it will pay tuition for all undergraduates in the incoming class of 2019 for four to five years at Shantou University in Guangdong.
- Trump followed up the twitter announcement with another post in which he named Army secretary Mark Esper as the new acting defense secretary.
- At a packed rally at an arena in Orlando, Florida, Trump made clear he would run for re-election as an outsider, just as he did in 2016. Whether he can pull it off remains far from certain as Trump has been in office now for 2-1/2 years.
- A wave of one meter (three feet) is expected to hit the coast of the Sea of Japan, north of Tokyo, the nation’s meteorological agency said.
- Pakistan is seeking help from multiple lenders like the IMF, the World Bank, and the ADB to overcome a ballooning balance of payments crisis.
- Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday signaled the end of a controversial extradition bill that she promoted and then postponed after some of the most violent protests since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
- Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal announced that World Food India (WFI) 2019, a biennial event, will be held at Vigyan Bhawan and Rajpath Lawns in New Delhi from 1-4 November 2019.
- China declined to confirm that it had hosted Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy chief on political affairs, ahead of a crucial seventh round of talks between the Afghan militant group and the U.S.
- Local porters guided by a tribal hunter are set to help the Indian Air Force (IAF) retrieve the mortal remains of the 13 personnel on board its AN-32 transport aircraft that crashed on a remote mountainside in Arunachal Pradesh.
- To address the issues of land degradation and desertification, for the first time, India will host the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in September 2019.
- Of the over 2,000 murders reported in West Bengal in 2016, “political reasons” were cited as the motive in only one, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
- The second day of oath-taking by the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha saw heated exchanges and tit-for-tat slogan-shouting as some of the senior-most Opposition members, including Sonia Gandhi, Mulayam Singh, and Akhilesh Yadav took the oath, as MPs.
- The 10th edition of Regional Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) summit, 2019 was held in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari addressed this meeting.
- An Air India official confirmed the incident and said an investigation in this regard has already been launched. The airline has issued summons to the crew members for questioning.
- DMK president MK Stalin, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu are among others skipping the Wednesday meet.
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has suggested doubling collateral-free loans for these units. This should be applicable to Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (Mudra) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs), too, the committee said.
- The central bank cut rates to a record low of 1.25% at its meeting earlier this month, to support the slowing economy.
- IDBI Bank has entered a bancassurance corporate agency agreement with Tata AIG. This is to provide the general insurer’s products to the bank’s two crore customers through its 1,850-plus branches.
- England smashed the most sixes by a team (25) in an ODI, while their captain Eoin Morgan recorded most sixes by a batsman in an ODI (17).
- FIH (Federation Internationale de Hockey) Men’s Series Finals hockey tournament 2019, India thrashed South Africa with 5-1 in a summit clash at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
- England defeated Afghanistan by 150 runs today to go top of 2019 World Cup points table with four victories in five matches. The victory was England's third biggest in World Cup history, while Afghanistan have now lost each of their first five 2019 World Cup matches.
- Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will honour Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar with ‘Distinguished Alumni Award’. This was decided by the Executive Council of JNU.
- India’s leading two wheeler company, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, appointed Colombian professional footballer, Yerry Fernando Mina González(24) as its new brand ambassador.
- BJP MP from Kota, Om Birla, has been elected as the next Lok Sabha speaker. Birla is a two-time MP from Kota and a three-time MLA from the Kota South Assembly seat.
- NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that the April explosion of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, meant for human spaceflight, will "no doubt" change the schedule for NASA's flight program.
1. Important Days
- International Picnic Day is a made-up holiday that is celebrated annually on June [latex]18^{th}[/latex]. So, pack your picnic basket, hop into the car, or walk to a park or a picnic area and enjoy an outdoors meal by yourself or with your family and friends to celebrate this unofficial holiday.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea on Thursday for a two-day visit, state media report.
- Argentina is investigating what caused a massive power cut that hit nearly 50 million people. President Mauricio Macri called the outage “unprecedented”, promising a thorough inquiry.
- Women are forced to choose between “being an MP and being a mum” because of Parliament’s rules, a pregnant Labour MP has said.
- Venezuela’s U.S.-backed opposition on June [latex]17^{th}[/latex] came under increasing scrutiny for a case in which two activists allegedly misappropriated funds designated to help Venezuelan security forces who deserted and crossed into Colombia.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit 2019. Prime Minister Modi, Kyrgyzstan President Jeenbekov jointly inaugurated India-Kyrgyz Business Forum.
- Ram temple in Ayodhya, the proposed citizenship amendment bill, the scrapping of Article 35A and Article 370 pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir and cow protection are among the issues that are likely to come up at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s meeting in Hardwar.
- Gujarat Congress leader Pareshbhai Dhanani has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission’s decision to hold separate polls to two Rajya Sabha seats which fell vacant following the election of BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani to the Lok Sabha.
- Lok Sabha will elect its Speaker on Day 2 of Budget Session today. Leader of the House and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah were among those who took oath as Members of the 17th Lok Sabha .
- India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in the next eight years. As per a United Nations report, released, India is expected to add nearly 273 million people between 2019 and 2050.
- To review the existing marketing structure of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in India, the Central Government constituted a five-member committee headed by economist Kirit Parikh.
- India is hosting the Intersessional meeting of Kimberley Process (KP) from [latex]17^{th}[/latex] to [latex]21^{st}[/latex] June 2019 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
- The 2nd Meeting of India-Italy Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter Terrorism was held in New Delhi. It was co-chaired by Mr. Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism), Ministry of External Affairs and Mr. Diego Brasioli, Principal Director for Security, Disarmament, and non-Proliferation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy.
- Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) signed a Joint Record of Discussion at the 48th Director General (DG)-level talks which concluded in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das expects a reversal of the current weaknesses in some of the indicators in the economy following the end of political uncertainty associated with the election season and continuation of economic reforms.
- The loan was given by UCO Bank as part of a consortium including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and United Bank of India.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its report “Payment and Settlement: The Plumbing in the Architecture of India’s Financial System” stated that, the digital transactions till March 2019 witnessed tremendous growth and they will rise by four times from Rs 2,069 crore in December 2018 to Rs 8,707 crore in December 2021.
- All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan hit his ninth ODI hundred to lead Bangladesh to a 7-wicket win over West Indies in a thrilling game in Taunton and keep his team’s campaign alive in the World Cup 2019.
- Twenty-nine journalists from print and electronic media were honoured with 44th Matri Shree Media Awards for the year 2019 for their contribution towards journalism. The award ceremony was held in New Delhi.
- Inger Andersen, Denmark’s Economist and Environmentalist, took over as United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Executive Director, headquartered at Nairobi, Kenya, for 4 years.
- Debendranath Sarangi, an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of the 1977 batch was re-elected as president of Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) while Dronacharya awardee and national coach Cyrus Poncha was made secretary-general.
- Egypt’s former President Mohammed Morsi, ousted by the military in 2013 after one year in office, has collapsed in a courtroom and died, officials say.
1. International News
- Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has failed to win its first mayoral seat, after it lost a key election in the country’s east.
- Contenders to replace Theresa May as Conservative leader have clashed over delivering Brexit during a TV debate.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inaugurated a new settlement in the Golan Heights, named after the country’s “great friend” US President Donald Trump.
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has warned against “exploiting” the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi for political gains, in what appeared to be a veiled attack on Turkey.
- Two damaged tankers arrived safely to locations off the Emirati coast after they were rocked by explosions in Gulf waters, in an incident Saudi Arabia blamed on its regional arch-rival Iran.
- The Venezuelan government announced that it will issue new banknotes due to racketing hyperinflation which eroded the currency’s value.
- Myanmar Army captured and prosecuted at least 38 Indian insurgents, including those belonging to NSCN(K) in military operations last month, Naypyidaw and New Delhi have decided not to allow armed militant groups inimical to either country to operate along the shared boundary, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited heads of all parties in Parliament to a meeting on June 19 to discuss ‘one nation, one election’.
- The fifth meeting of the Governing Council of The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog was held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre, New Delhi.
- The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data published by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) reported that the female labor force declined in India in 2017-18. It is one among the world’s bottom 10. In 2011-12, India was placed at 12th from the bottom globally.
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formed a committee to work on modalities and methodology on the implementation of the next revision of pension to over 25 lakh ex-servicemen and widows under One Rank One Pension (OROP) Scheme.
- State-owned Punjab National Bank has put on sale six non-performing loans amounting to over ₹1,000 crore, including two accounts of Vandana Vidyut and Visa Steel.
- India defeated Pakistan by 89 runs (DLS method) in a rain-curtailed match at Manchester on Sunday to register their third victory in 2019 World Cup.
- Akshaya Patra, a non-profit organisation running one of the world’s largest school meals project in India, has been awarded the BBC World Service Global Champion Award for the programme.
- Indian squash player Joshna Chinappa won a record 17th national title after beating Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5.
- The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, announced the appointment of Ms. Padmaja as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Tuvalu with the residence in Suva.
- Pakistan appointed a hardliner general as new chief of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, replacing the agency’s current head, Lieutenant General Asim Munir, after only eight months on the job.
- SEOUL, South Korea – Lee Hee-ho, a South Korean feminist activist who fought for democracy against dictatorships alongside her husband and future President Kim Dae-jung, has died.
1. Important Days
- Father’s Day, which is observed across the world on the third Sunday in the month of June, falls on June 16th this year. On this special occasion, show some love and thank him for being supportive and helping you mould your life.
- Protesters in Hong Kong have vowed to push ahead with a rally, despite the government’s decision to suspend its controversial bill to allow extradition to mainland China.
- Eleven people were in the car when it hit the device in east Wajir county. The fate of the others is unclear.
- When Guatemalans head to the polling stations, two of the candidates who until recently had been tipped as favorites to win will not be on the ballot papers.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka. This may sound par for the course unless contextualized by the fact that it will be the first time a Chinese President has stepped on Japanese soil since 2010.
- According to the report on internet trends released by the venture capitalist Mary Meeker stated that India ranks second by witnessing 12% world internet users (close to 455 million). China leads the chart with 21% of global internet users while the U.S (United States) placed third with 8%.
- The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced to ban single-use plastics from 2021. The products which are expected to be banned are cotton swabs, cutlery, plates, straws, bags and drink stirrers.
- Central Government has permitted to set up e-Foreigner Tribunal (e-FT) in Assam. It is a quasi-judicial authority that assesses the question of the authenticity of a person’s citizenship. It should be set up by July [latex]31^{st}[/latex], 2019
- The Centre may soon come out with a national policy aimed at revising the existing toll rates for national highways and reclassifying vehicle types, according to officials with knowledge of the matter who said the charges for private cars may be increased.
- India announced a hike in customs duties on as many as 28 US products, including almond, pulses, and walnut, in response to higher tariffs imposed by Washington on Indian products like steel and aluminum.
- Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired a meeting of Chief Ministers of States ruled by the United Progressive Alliance to discuss key issues that the Congress would like to take up during the NITI Aayog meeting.
- Vacancies created by Shah, Irani’s election to Lok Sabha; 2 MPs elected to Odisha Assembly By-elections to six Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha, Gujarat, and Bihar will be held on July 5, the Election Commission (EC) announced.
- The two-day event of Maritime Information Sharing Workshop 2019(MISW 2019) hosted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR)held in Gurugram, Haryana on June 12, 2019.
- Directorate General of Training (DGT), under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), joined hands with Cisco and Accenture, private sector companies, to skill the youth for the digital economy through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). The implementation partner is Quest Alliance.
- Central bank of the country, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data revealed that 53,334 fraud cases worth Rs. 2.05 lakh crore hit the banks in India in the last 11 fiscal years i.e, between 2008-09 and 2018-19.
- Central bank of the country, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data revealed that 53,334 fraud cases worth Rs. 2.05 lakh crore hit the banks in India in the last 11 fiscal years i.e, between 2008-09 and 2018-19.
- The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) hiked the Third Party (TP) motor insurance premium for small and medium private cars by 12-12.5% for 2019-20. The rates are applicable from June 16, 2019.
- FundzBazar, an online mutual fund investment platform launched by Prudent, launched the ‘Selfiewala KYC’ feature for the first-time mutual fund investors. Through this platform, investors can complete their KYC (Know your Customer) process from their home or office using a mobile or laptop in just a few minutes.
- The South American Football Federation, CONMEBOL has invited the Australia and Qatar to take part in 2020 COPA America.
- Sahitya Akademi, which is announced annually, has selected the list of 22 writers for the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2019 and 23 writers for Yuva Puraskar 2019.
- Social activist Makarand Tilloo was conferred with the ‘Save Water Hero Award’. He received this award for his efforts to raise awareness about water conservation in the city. The award ceremony was held in Pune, Maharashtra.
- Nia Tony, an eight-year-old Indian girl was honored during the 22nd edition of the Emirates Recycling Awards in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for her role in keeping the environment clean by collecting paper wastes.
- National Geographic Society scientists and researchers announced that they installed the world’s highest operating automated weather stations on Mount Everest, including five other automated stations on other parts of the mountain.
- The Shiv Sena on Saturday appointed Member of Parliament from Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency, Vinayak Raut, as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha.
- The Florence native directed stars including Elizabeth Taylor in the 1967 film Taming of the Shrew and Dame Judi Dench on stage in Romeo and Juliet.
1. Important Days
- World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is being observed today. This day is observed on the 15th of June every year to voice opposition to the abuse and suffering inflicted on elderly people.
- Thousands of Venezuelans have rushed to cross into Peru in a bid to beat the introduction of tougher migration laws.
- A “root and branch” review of hospital food has been ordered by the health secretary after two more patient deaths were linked to an outbreak of listeria.
- The Hong Kong government is set to delay a highly controversial plan to allow extraditions to mainland China, local media report.
- The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said it had no announcement of a trade action at the moment but continued to raise market access concerns with India, reacting to media reports last week that the U.S. was considering launching a 301 probe against India.
- U.S. President Donald Trump has said Iran was behind the attack on two ships on the Gulf of Oman, while the Central Command (CENTCOM) released a video purportedly showing an Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from the hull of Japanese owned chemical tanker Kokuka Courageous.
- Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has suspended indefinitely government's efforts to pass an extradition law following mass protests and violence. Lam said she had "done her utmost" but admitted that the bill had "caused a lot of division" in society.
- Odisha’s Nagada village, which had shot into the limelight after the death of 19 malnourished children three years ago, has not changed for better despite the State government claims to have spent close to ₹24 crore in different development interventions, activists alleged.
- Union Cabinet prepares to introduce a fresh Bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq, Bihar’s ruling party and BJP’s alliance partner Janata Dal (United) has reiterated that it will not support the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
- The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the ill-fated AN-32 transport aircraft have been recovered from the crash site in Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang district, the Indian Air Force said on.
- Ahead of the NITI Aayog meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held separate meetings with Chief Ministers and Governors of different states.
- Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has joined the list of chief ministers giving a miss to NITI Aayog’s fifth governing council meeting today.
- The rupee opened weak at 69.55 at the interbank forex market and then fell further to 69.61, down 11 paise over its last close.
- The company, which researches and produces drugs for six major therapeutic areas, reported 1.9 billion yuan in profit in 2018, an 18% increase from a year earlier.
- The global chief economist as Swiss bank UBS has been put on leave as backlash grew over comments he made about sick Chinese pigs.
- Corporation Bank said it has reduced marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) for one-year tenor loan by five basis points to 8.85 per cent.
- Joe Root has become the first England batsman to smash three hundreds in World Cup history, achieving the feat against West Indies today. The 28-year-old scored 100*(94) including 11 fours to help England beat West Indies by 8 wickets.
- According to the report “Brand Trust Report, 2019”, by Trust Research Advisory (TRA), Dell tops the list as the most trusted brand for 2019 in India. It is followed by automobile brand Jeep and LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India).
- Thousands of Australians have honoured the nation’s third-longest serving leader, Bob Hawke, in a state memorial service at the Sydney Opera House.
- According to the Personnel ministry, Government of India Bhola Nath Shukla has been appointed as Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd for a period up to October 31st, 2020.
- ISRO scientist Ritu Karidhal and electronics system engineer Muthayya Vanitha, both in their 40s, will be leading the Moon Mission’s main components- project oversight as well as crucial final phase of the landing.
- NASA spacecraft OSIRIS-REx broke a space exploration record after entering into the closest-ever orbit around an extraterrestrial body, about six months after previously breaking it.
- Sylvia Miles, American actress who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress twice passed away at the age of 94 in Manhattan, New York, U.S.
1. Important Days
- The host country for World Blood Donor Day 2019 is Rwanda. Find out more about blood donation in Rwanda in this feature story.
- Iran says it “categorically rejects” the US claims that it is behind attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
- The charges are related to laws on “suspected illicit wealth and emergency orders”, the public prosecutor’s office said, without giving more details.
- Women across Switzerland are preparing for a nationwide strike in protest against what they say is the country’s unacceptably slow pace to equality.
- Tory leadership candidate Matt Hancock is understood to be considering pulling out of the race, as the remaining candidates consider how best to challenge front runner Boris Johnson.
- The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador has recognized forests as living entities on the World Environment Day (5th June 2019). Its citizens will now be required to preserve forests and respect them as more than just property.
- India has been designated as the guest country in the 33rd Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara (Guadalajara International Book Fair), in Mexico.
- French President, Emmanuel Macron has invited Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, to attend the 45th session of the G7 Summit in Biarritz in France as a special invitee. The summit of the G7 group of countries scheduled to take place from August 24 to August 26.
- The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved to set up the Defence Space Research Agency (DSRA), a new agency which will develop sophisticated weapon systems and technologies. It will enhance the capabilities of the armed forces to fight wars in space.
- Central India got its First Sikh Museum in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The museum Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Sikh Museum is located at Gurudwara Gurusingh Sabha in Guru Nanak Nagar.
- The Government of Japan has decided to invest an amount of 205.784 billion Yen, nearly Rs 13,000 crore in several ongoing as well as new infrastructure projects in the North-East Region.
- Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda launched “E-governance initiatives for ST Welfare schemes” at a function organized by Ministry of Tribal Affairs in presence of Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta.
- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee on Friday declared the JEE Advanced 2019 results. Maharashtra's Kartikeya Gupta has bagged All India Rank 1 with 346 out of 372 marks.
- YES Bank founder Rana Kapoor, said he does not want to come back on the board, and expressed full confidence in the new Managing Director and CEO Ravneet Gill.
- State Bank of India (SBI), it appears, has not given effect to some provisions in the Finance Bill 2019 related to deduction of tax at source.
- The game has been called off! One point for each team here. Both teams might well be happy with it, India were strong favorites heading into the game but New Zealand would have backed themselves seeing the conditions.
- Jemimah Rodrigues has become the third Indian woman cricket player to feature in Kia Super League (KSL) after Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. She will play in the fourth and final edition of the KSL.
- Indian billiards player Sourav Kothari won the 2019 Pacific International Snooker Championship, held in the Reventon Classic, in Melbourne, Australia. He defeated Tyson Crinis of Australia to win the title.
- Noted English Fiction writer Amitav Ghosh (63) received the country’s highest literary honour 54th Jnanpith Award in New Delhi.
- A 22-year-old civil engineer, Zonel Sougaijam from Imphal east of Manipur was recognized by the social media giant “Facebook” for discovering and reporting a WhatsApp bug that violated the privacy of a user.
- Seven Indian-origin Australians have been honoured for their outstanding contributions in the field of medicine, music, education and finance in Australia. The winners included three women and four men.
- Star Cricketer Virat Kholi remains the only Indian in the Forbes list of World’s highest-paid athletes 2019 with the annual earnings of $25millon(mn). He has slipped 17 spots (ranked 83rd on 2018) to be on 100th in the list.
- Japanese electronics firm Casio India announced that it has appointed Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff as the brand Ambassador for its popular range of G-Shock watches across different touch points including television, media, digital and social.
- A recent order issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Government of India notified that V Ravi Anshuman has been designated as a part-time member in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for the period of three years or until the age of 70.
- Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, AVSM (Ati Vishisht Seva Medal), NM assumed charge as the 7th Commandant of Indian Naval Academy (INA).
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian and the former Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) Bank B Sriram as part-time members of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).
- After Malaysian badminton legend Lee Chong Wei announced his retirement, Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal took to Twitter to wish him.
- Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the yellow color visible on portions of the surface of Europa, the second Galilean satellite outward from Jupiter, is actually sodium chloride (table salt).
- On the event of Student Visa Day (June 12, 2019), an event that celebrates higher education ties between India and the United States, the American Embassy has launched an app named “Education USA” to help Indian students who wish to study in the US (United States) Universities.
- Researchers at Ohio State University have created high-resolution maps of points around the globe where groundwater meets the oceans. It gives important data points to communities and conservationists to help protect drinking water and the seas.
- Veteran journalist and former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Rajanath Singh ‘Surya’ passed away at his Gomtinagar residence in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh after a brief illness.
1. Important Days
- International Albinism Awareness Day (IAAD) is celebrated annually on June 13th to celebrate the human rights of persons with albinism worldwide.
- The original oak tree given to Donald Trump, was the tree came from a northern French forest where 2,000 US Marines died during World War I.
- Authorities have shut some government offices in Hong Kong’s financial district after the worst violence the city has seen in decades.
- The US will deploy 1,000 more troops to Poland, President Donald Trump has said during a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
- Australia has given the final approval for construction to begin on a controversial coal mine to be built by Indian company Adani.
- Donald Trump has said he would accept damaging information on his opponent during the 2020 election campaign, even if it came from a foreign government.
- President Donald Trump and his aides have been talking about a “secret deal”, which has been denied by the Mexican government.
- Trump’s comments come despite the years-long federal investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russian agents to coordinate the release of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee.
- David William McBride was charged in relation to the leaking of classified documents about Australian Special Air Service involvement in Afghanistan to Australian Broadcasting Corp. journalists.
- Trump said he expects to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping very shortly, most probably on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Japan.
- Before leaving for Bishkek to participate in SCO Summit 2019, PM Narendra Modi said that the global security situation as well as economic cooperation will be on the agenda at summit.
- Gujarat Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama endorsed the decision of the Shiva temple authorities to keep the shrine open despite the alert.
- A reply document that has been uploaded on the Legislative Assembly website shows that cases have been registered against 12 state government/semi-governmental employees and one central government employee.
- New Delhi is expected to raise the economic losses due to US sanctions when secretary of state Mike Pompeo visits India on June [latex]24^{th}[/latex], the officials said.
- New Delhi later this month, and meeting Modi, and his new counterpart, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Pompeo listed out some of the “big ideas and big opportunities” that can take the bilateral relationship to a new level.
- The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 will be introduced in the ensuing session of Parliament, beginning June.
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences, AIIMS New Delhi yesterday night declared the AIIMS MBBS 2019 Entrance Test results.
- President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir would be extended for six more months, beginning July 3th and the Union Cabinet gave its nod for this, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
- The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested the alleged mastermind of so-called Islamic State (IS)’s Tamil Nadu module, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
- The ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC Bank reported highest number of cases, according to an RBI data.
- Private sector banks that have been hoping to get an extension for their chiefs after the age of 70. may be in for disappointment as the Reserve Bank of India is understood to be not amenable to the idea.
- Alex Morgan scored five times as US opened their women's World Cup defence with a 13-0 victory over Thailand. It is the biggest victory in women's World Cup history, eclipsing Germany's 11-0 win over Argentina in 2007.
- Australia defeated Pakistan by 41 runs to register their third victory in four 2019 World Cup matches and rise to second place on the points table.
- France's 20-year-old forward Kylian Mbappé scored his 100th career (club and international) goal as France beat Andorra 4-0 to go top of their Euro 2020 qualifiers group. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were both 22 when they scored their respective 100th career goals.
- Unicef will honour Indian actress Priyanka Chopra with the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award at the Unicef Snowflake Ball in December.
- Mohammad Amir registered the second-best bowling figures by a Pakistan pacer in World Cup, taking five wickets for 30 runs against Australia in 2019 World Cup today.
- Kochi A row has erupted in Kerala over a state-run akademi honouring a cartoon depicting Bishop Franco Mullakal as a rooster and alluding to the charge of rape against him with a furious Church condemning it as vulgar and saying it amounted to humiliating Christian symbols.
- China has appointed its former envoy to Pakistan, Sun Weidong, as the new Ambassador to India. Sun is currently the Director General of the Policy Planning Department at China’s Foreign Ministry.
- BJP Parliamentary Party Executive Committee has been constituted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed as the leader of the party in Lok Sabha.
- India’s second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, is scheduled to lift off at 2:51 am on July 15 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
- The Modi government has approved a proposal to set up a new agency that will develop sophisticated weapon systems and technologies to enhance the capabilities of the armed forces to fight wars in space.
1. Important Days
- The World Day Against Child Labour will be observed (Wednesday, 12th June) to raise awareness about the plight of child labourers worldwide.
- Police have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters in Hong Kong where anger at a new extradition bill has spilled over into violence.
- Protest and military leaders in Sudan have agreed to resume talks soon, an Ethiopian mediator says.
- Greenhouse gas emissions in the UK will be cut to almost zero by 2050, under the terms of a new government plan to tackle climate change.
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is heading to Iran with a keen eye on international sanctions and domestic politics.
- Greenhouse gas emissions in the UK will be cut to almost zero by 2050, under the terms of a new government plan to tackle climate change.
- Thousands of protesters and police in Hong Kong are engaged in a standoff as anger grows over a bill which would allow extradition to mainland China.
- US President Donald Trump has inadvertently revealed some details of his immigration deal with Mexico.
- International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) released India’s first Type Approval Certificate (TAC) for Bharat Stage – VI (BS – VI) norms for the two wheeler segment in New Delhi.
- A terrorist has been killed in an overnight gunfight with security forces in Sopore area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, a police official said.
- The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against a Coimbatore man, suspected to be inspired by terror outfit Islamic State.
- The Karnataka government ordered the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe an alleged fraud involving IMA Jewels, an Islamic investment firm.
- The decision comes after Islamabad announced that it had decided, in principle, to let PM Modi fly over Pakistani airspace.
- PM Narendra Modi's radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' will resume on June 30 after it was discontinued during the Lok Sabha elections in which he was a candidate.
- The department of personnel ordered cancellation of the appointment of those who joined duty after the model code of conduct came into force on March [latex]10^{th}[/latex].
- The wreckage of a missing military transport plane carrying 13 people was spotted on Tuesday, eight days after it disappeared from radar screens.
- The Reserve Bank of India said it will waive all charges on fund transfer through popular RTGS and NEFT systems from July [latex]1^{st}[/latex] and asked banks to pass on the benefits to customers from the same day.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted a six-member committee to review the ATM interchange fee structure. An interchange fee is paid by one bank when its customer transacts at the ATM of another bank.
- Uber has said Australia will become the first international market for its flying taxi service Uber Air. The firm has selected Melbourne as the third pilot city for its air taxi programme, joining Dallas and Los Angeles.
- Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, won 2019 Canadian Grand Prix officially named as the Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix du Canada 2019.
- The ICC has refused to change 'zing' bails, which sometimes fail to come off even when ball hits the stumps, citing "statistical anomaly". "We wouldn't change anything mid-event as it'd compromise the event's integrity...the equipment is same for all teams across all 48 games," the ICC said.
- Ashleigh Barty has risen to the number two position from number eight in the latest Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings after winning the French Open title.
- 2019 Tony Awards was the 73rd edition of Tony Awards held on June 9th, 2019, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2018–19 season.
- Tapan Ray, former Secretary of Corporate Affairs was appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift City), India’s first international financial services centre.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the appointment of V.S. Kaumudias the Director General (ADG level) of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) by temporarily downgrading the post to the level of Additional Director General (Level-15 of Pay Matrix).
- Yes Bank’s Former interim Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive (CEO) Ajai Kumar resigned from his position.
- E Gopinath , the eldest journalist of Tamil Nadu passed away at 88 in Chennai. He was also a Chief of news agency ‘ANI’,Tamilnadu.
1. International News
- U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that he would visit New Delhi at the end of the month as he previewed comments that he is expected to make at an India Ideas U.S.
- The move is likely to prove unpopular. The broadcaster has a central presence in British cultural life, with its TV, radio and online content reaching 92 % of the population each week.
- Kim Jong-nam, the slain half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was an informant for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who met on several occasions with agency operatives, Efe news quoted an informed source as saying here.
- US President Donald Trump has said India has reduced its import tariff on Harley-Davidson motorcycles from 100% to 50%, adding that it is still too high and not acceptable to him.
- US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China again if President Xi Jinping does not meet with him at the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Japan.</li
- Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pitched for Odisha to be granted special category status in the aftermath of Cyclone Fani.
- Jaishankar said the pilgrimage is an important step towards promoting people-to-people exchanges and strengthening friendship and understanding between the two countries.
- Chinese banker and current vice president Xiangmin Liu is expected to take over from Marshal Billingslea of the US as the president of the multilateral financial watchdog for a year.
- The usually taciturn head of government took to the social media to disclose details of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit.
- The ministry of Ayush is the nodal ministry for observation of IDY across the country. Each year, the day sees millions of people practicing common yoga protocol globally.
- The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which will start work on the project within a month, said that the market will be redeveloped so it resembles an “open-air mall”.
- The plan is based on BMC’s disaster management (DM) department’s disaster response and evacuation plan for residents living along the banks of the four rivers – Dahisar, Mithi, Oshiwara, and Poisar – which was finalised earlier this year.
- The RBI has relaxed the norms for no-frills accounts, directing banks to provide cheque books and other facilities to basic account holders. The banks cannot ask account holders to maintain any minimum balance for such facilities.
- Jana Small Finance Bank is looking to grow its loan book by 25-30 per cent this fiscal, on the back of growth in affordable housing, MSME, and gold loans.
- It’s a case of once bitten, twice shy for a large number of insurers and fund managers who no longer choose to blindly invest in AAA-rated corporate paper, but delve beyond the numbers into the management profile of the companies they invest in.
- South Africa got their first point of the World Cup after their game against the West Indies was abandoned due to persistent rain here.
- Valencia winger Gonçalo Guedes scored the final’s only goal in 60th minute, assisted by Manchester City playmaker Bernardo Silva.
- Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg (16), has won the Amnesty International’s, “Ambassador of conscience” for fighting against the peril of global warming.
- Facebook has honoured a Manipuri man for discovering a WhatsApp bug that violated the privacy of a user. Zonel Sougaijam, a 22-year-old civil engineer, said that the social media giant awarded $5000 to him and also included him in the ‘Facebook Hall of Fame 2019.
- Ex-President of United States of America (USA), Jimmy Carter (94) has won the inaugural George H. W. Bush Award.
- Delhi based Merchant service and UPI payments app, BharatPe has recently appointed Abhishek Singh as its Chief Marketing officer.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the extension in service to Shri Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS)officer of Uttar Pradesh, as Cabinet Secretary for a further period of three months beyond 12.06.2019 or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
- Tamil screenwriter, comedian, and playwright, Crazy Mohan passed away in Chennai aged 66. He suffered a heart attack on Monday afternoon and was taken to Kauvery Hospital in Chennai, where efforts to revive him failed.
1. International News
- Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said she will not scrap a controversial plan to allow extradition to mainland China, despite mass protests.
- Moldova's pro-Russian President Igor Dodon has been stripped of his duties, escalating a political crisis stemming from inconclusive general elections.
- Ferrari have appealed against the five-second penalty that cost Sebastian Vettel victory in the Canadian Grand Prix.
- It is highly likely that a Japanese F-35 stealth fighter jet that crashed into the Pacific Ocean did so because the pilot lost "spatial awareness", officials said.
- Sidhu had made attempts to meet Rahul Gandhi last week after he was divested of the local government and tourism and cultural affairs departments in a cabinet rejig.
- Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines, Tunisia, and Vietnam are elected to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as Non-permanent Members for a 2-year term beginning January [latex]1^{st}[/latex], 2020.
- In a first, identical twins Abhinav Pathak and Parinav Pathak graduated together from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun, along with 457 other cadets, Abhinav will join Army Air Defence Corps while Parinav will join Army Aviation Corps.
- Sri Lanka’s state-run Srilankan Airlines has been named the world’s most punctual airline by flight data analysis company Flightstats.com.
- The move intends to promote renewable energy and reduce carbon footprint by the CPWD, the prime construction agency of the central government.
- PM Modi and Xi Jinping will meet on the sidelines of the SCO summit on June 12-14 and are expected to discuss the state of bilateral ties besides regional and international issues.
- French minister of state for foreign affairs Jean Baptiste Lemoyne will make an official visit to India to deepen the bilateral strategic partnership in order to build a more stable world order.
- India’s mountaineering foundation has launched a ground expedition on a notoriously dangerous Himalayan mountain to retrieve the bodies of five climbers believed to be from a missing team of international climbers.
- Thirty-six new four-bedroom duplex flats, each complete with a modular kitchen and an office area, are waiting for newly elected MPs in North Avenue in Lutyens’ Delhi.
- Global sportswear giant Adidas aims at eliminating the use of virgin plastics in its products by 2024 — with a little help from a Maharashtra-based firm — the only one of its kind in the country to produce yarn out of discarded PET bottles.
- TMC leader alleged that as the MHA and the saffron party are being headed by the same person,and that whatever the BJP desires, the MHA is implementing it with closed eyes.
- Ajay Bahadur Singh, a 46-year-old man runs a coaching ‘Zindagi’ in Odisha for underprivileged children and prepares them for NEET for free. This year, all his 14 students cracked NEET 2019. Read his journey from a tea seller to a teacher.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced to set up a foreign exchange trading platform for retail participants.
- Tata Mutual Fund launched the side-pocketing (segregated portfolio) option to set aside its troubled investment in Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL).
- According to a new report “Benchmarking India’s Payment Systems”, released by Reserve Bank of India(RBI) stated that the share of e-Money in India’s payment systems raise to 21.5 percent in 2017 from 0.8 percent in 2012.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed the Leverage Ratio (LR) for banks to 3.5%. This is done to help them in order to expand their lending activities. The LR is reduced to 4% for Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs).
- Moody’s Investors Service said the Reserve Bank’s new prudential framework for stressed asset resolution is ‘credit positive’, but flagged the slower-than-expected progress of resolution under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code as a key hurdle.
- The RBI has issued a discussion paper on proposed guidelines for compensation in private banks which also specifies minimum variable pay component and clawback arrangements, among others.
- India defeated Australia by 36 runs at The Oval in London to register their second straight victory in the 2019 World Cup and end Australia’s 10-ODI winning streak.
- World number two Rafael Nadal defeated world number four Dominic Thiem in the men's singles final to clinch his record-extending 12th French Open title in 15 years.
- Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan added yet another feather on his cap as he became only the third Indian batsman to notch up at least three ICC World Cup centuries after former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
- Indian opener and centurion from their last game, Rohit Sharma has completed 2000 ODI runs against Australia during the league match of World Cup 2019 between the 2 teams at The Oval.
- The oldest learned society in the United States, American Philosophical Society (APS) has elected Eminent historian and writer Romila Thapar as an international member at its Annual Spring Meeting. Her APS citation regarded her as the “greatest living historian of India”.
- The present Additional secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Indian Ambassador-designate to Mexico, has been concurrently authorized as the next High commissioner of India to Belize with the house in Mexico City.
- The government of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has removed Parvez Ahmed as chairman cum managing director of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank. The government also appointed executive president R K Chibber as interim chief.
- India’s World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh has decided to call time on his international and first-class career. The legendary cricketer who gave his everything to win the World Cup for his country in 2011 was not part of the Indian team since June 2017.
- Former Puducherry Chief Minister and DMK leader RV Janakiraman passed away at the age of 79. He died at a private hospital where he was undergoing treatment for age-related illness.
- Veteran actor and playwright Girish Karnad passed away in Bengaluru on Monday at the age of 81, after suffering from prolonged illness. A Jnanpith Award winner, Karnad was also a recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.
1. International News
- A senior State Department official said that in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack, the US has seen Pakistan taking some initial actions against designated terrorist organisations and more steps to enhance counter terrorism financing measures.
- Pompeo will deliver the keynote address on “The US and India: An Economic Foundation for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific” at the US-India Business Council’s India Ideas Summit.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that US tactics such as a campaign against China's Huawei will lead to trade wars and possibly real wars. The US is attempting to "impose its jurisdiction across the entire world," Putin added.
- A Delhi court has directed the authorities concerned to withdraw the lookout circular against Rajiv Kochhar, brother-in-law of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, in an alleged bank loan fraud and money laundering case. He was allowed to return to Singapore, where he is currently based.
- Bhutan's lower house of parliament has voted to scrap laws that criminalise homosexual relations. However, the upper house of Bhutan's parliament still needs to repeal the penal code for homosexuality to be decriminalised in the country.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Maldives on his first overseas visit after assuming the office for a second term. He will hold talks with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
- The UK home office and the Westminster Court had last year ordered his extradition to India over charges of money laundering, fraud and conspiracy after he failed to convince authorities there that he has been made a victim of political intrigue.
- After the incident, about 40 passengers were offloaded along with their luggage as per standard operating procedure.
- PM Narendra Modi arrived in Sri Lanka, becoming first foreign leader to visit the country after the blasts that killed over 250 people. "Cowardly acts of terror cannot defeat the spirit of Sri Lanka," PM Modi said while paying tribute to victims.
- After registering a massive victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah called on a meeting of core groups of Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand to strategise for the assembly polls scheduled to take place in the said states later this year.
- Kargil War veteran Mohammed Sanaullah returned home on Saturday from a detention centre for foreigners at Goalpara in western Assam 24 hours after the Gauhati High Court granted him bail.
- “India has shown that it is ready to help us with intelligence, with defence as well as with counter terrorism cooperation.”
- The much-awaited revised version of the contentious February 2018 circular, is a less stringent framework to deal with stressed assets.
- The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) is meant for large-value instantaneous fund transfers while the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System is used for fund transfers up to Rs 2 lakh.
- ICICI Bank launched a centre in Bengaluru to provide business solutions exclusively to start-ups and MSME sector.
- ICICI Bank services offered include working capital loans upto ₹20 crore, business loans (based on GST returns) upto ₹1 crore, instant overdraft facility of ₹15 lakh, extensive trade solutions and cash management services, among others.
- Australian Ashleigh Barty has beaten Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in the French Open final to win her first Grand Slam singles title and complete a fairytale return to the sport
- India will be thrilled with this start, they have withstood the early storm and are now commanding proceedings at the Oval.
- Pringles India entered Guinness World Records on June 7 for creating the 'largest sentence made with packaged food'. The message read #GetItBackIndia and the structure was created with a life size installation made out of 10,005 cans of Pringles, measuring 60 feet x 40 feet.
- India opener Rohit Sharma has become the fastest batsman to score 2,000 runs against a particular team in ODIs, achieving the feat against Australia during his 57-run knock in their World Cup match today.
- Thailand Parliament, elected Prayuth Chan-ocha of Palang Pracharat party as Prime Minister for a second term.
- An international team of researchers demonstrated that a form of iron oxide, hematite, can retain its magnetic properties deep down in Earth’s mantle, up to a temperature of around 925°C.
- Laldingliana Sailo (76), the former Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) news editor, has passed away in Aizawl at the age of 76. He hails from Aizawl.
1. Important Day
- World Brain Tumor Day is observed on 8th June, every year. German Brain Tumour Association (Deutsche Hirntumorhilfe e.V.), a nonprofit organisation, first marked this day in the year 2000 to spread the awareness about the brain tumour among the general public.
- World Oceans Day takes place every 8th June. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development and the Ocean Institute of Canada at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Mexico has agreed to take “unprecedented steps” to help stem the flow of migrants to the US in order to avoid trade tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump.
- A Bangladeshi immigrant, who allegedly heaped praise on the Islamic State group and Osama bin Laden, has been charged after he was accused of plotting a grenade attack on the bustling tourist-clogged Times Square in the U.S., authorities said.
- U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will deliver the keynote address on ‘The U.S. and India An Economic Foundation for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ next in Washington D.C. Mr. Pompeo’s remarks will be delivered at the India Ideas summit.
- Japan, US, China, France and the UK wanted digital giants such as Amazon, Google and Facebook to be taxed based on their revenue and number of users in every market where they operate.
- President Donald Trump says he has suspended plans to impose tariffs on Mexico, tweeting that the country “has agreed to take strong measures” to stem the flow of Central American migrants into the United States.
- Ashiqul Alam, 22, sought to buy guns stripped of their serial numbers and ammunition from undercover investigators and surveilled the popular Manhattan district to identify the best place for an attack, according to the charges.
- The visit is reflective of the new momentum in high-level exchanges between India and the Maldives, the External Affairs Ministry said. The PM will address the People’s Majlis, the Maldives’ parliament.
- While Mohammad Sanaullah is expected to reunite with his wife, son and two daughters later evening, the cloud hanging over his nationality has not lifted yet.
- In a post at Medium, Claire Stapleton said her decision to resign was based on her expecting another child but also because she was marked for retaliation by department heads after the walkout late last year.
- The matter came to the fore when a schoolgirl captured the entire incident in her phone, wherein accused Kanta Devi can be seen grabbing her mother-in-law Chand Bai, a widow, by her hair.
- Dissenting views will not be part of the final orders issued by the poll panel, the Election Commission has said in a formal order issued on June 4th.
- Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy occupied his office in the State Secretariat in Amaravati.
- Following a demand by family members of those who died in political violence, the BJP-IPFT government in Tripura has appointed a three-member committee to examine all cases of casualties is such violence.
- Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) were locked in the upper circuit of 5 percent at Rs 73.80 per share in an otherwise subdued market after Indiabulls Group attributed the stake sale in its realty arm, Indiabulls Real Estate (IBREL), to fastrack the merger of the bank with Indiabulls Housing Finance.
- Till 11:32 am, a combined 1.25 million shares changed hands on Lakshmi Vilas Bank counter. There were pending ‘buy’ orders for 6,87,783 shares on the NSE and BSE, data showed.
- The liquidity crisis at Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) has dented the fortunes of ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who increased his stake in the troubled company in the March 2019 quarter (Q4FY19).
- Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty, who played as a cricketer in the women's Big Bash League in 2015 and 2016, has reached the final of the French Open.
- Skipper Manpreet Singh led from the front with a brace, guiding India to a hard-fought 3-1 win over Poland in the FIH Series Finals hockey tournament.
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and partners announced the winners of the10th Equator Prize 2019.
- Singer Rihanna of age 31 is named as the world’s richest female according to the Forbes magazine with an estimated fortune of $600 million. She overtook Madonna and Beyonce who topped the list previously. She is from Barbados.
- The founder of Wipro, Azim Premji, aged 74, will retire as Executive Chairman of Wipro on July 30th, 2019.
- Indian-American Pramila Jayapal of age 53, a Democrat from Washington DC set a record by becoming first South Asian American woman to preside over the US House of Representatives as a temporary speaker.
- Army launched an online platform, Retired Officers Digital Records Archive (RODRA), with an aim to have a better connection with armed forces veteran officers and family pensioners.
1. International News
- The African Union has suspended Sudan’s membership “with immediate effect”, amid an upsurge of violence in the capital that has seen dozens killed.
- Australian authorities say they have seized the nation’s largest-ever haul of methamphetamine, an illicit drug known locally as ice.
- “Today, I feel that my country has embraced my Sikh heritage, and I will be forever grateful for this opportunity,” Mr. Bajwa said.
- The UAE did not say who it thought was behind the attacks, which also targeted vessels from Saudi Arabia and Norway.
- A Biman Bangladesh Airlines pilot, who was en route to bring PM Sheikh Hasina from Finland, was caught without a passport in Qatar. Biman sent the passport of the pilot on another flight to Qatar later.
- The recent study “Traffic Index 2018”, analysis of the current status of traffic mobility was conducted by location technology specialist TomTom.
- Under the Transaction of Business Rules, the Central Government has reconstituted eight key Cabinet Committees.
- At a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, “The MTNL could lose its licence to offer mobile services as the government is yet to pay ₹11,000 crore to renew its licence.”
- Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar will visit Bhutan from June 7th to June 8th, his first visit abroad as a minister, the MEA said.
- Ravindra Kumar, an IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre who first conquered Mount Everest in 2013, scaled the world’s highest peak again on May 23rd this year.
- Bilateral trade between India and China is set to cross USD 100 billion this year, India’s Ambassador to Beijing said as he inaugurated an Indian oleoresin extraction firm’s 3rd manufacturing facility in the country to expand its business in the Chinese food market.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced its second Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Rates for 2019-20 in Mumbai on June [latex]6^{th}[/latex], 2019.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a report on “Benchmarking India’s Payment Systems”. It provides a comparative position of the payment system ecosystem in India.
- The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has removed the charges levied on Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) transactions to boost digital payments.
- Ashok Leyland, Hinduja Group flagship firm, partnered with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to provide vehicle loans.
- Governments have uncovered trillions of dollars in offshore funds since they began sharing in bulk bank account details last September, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation said.
- The RBI delivered on expected lines and cut its policy repo rate by 25 bps. While the central bank changing its stance from neutral to accommodative essentially implying that rate hikes are out of the way has further buoyed sentiments, the bigger question is whether banks will be more nimble in cutting lending rates now.
- Australia defeated West Indies by 15 runs in last over on Thursday to register their second successive victory in 2019 World Cup. Fast bowler Mitchell Starc took 2019 World Cup's first five-wicket haul, registering figures of 10-1-46-5.
- US' 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova reached the first Grand Slam semi-final of her career after defeating defending champion Simon Halep in the French Open 2019 quarter-final.
- World number one Novak Djokovic defeated world number five Alexander Zverev on Thursday to reach the French Open semi-finals for the ninth time. Djokovic won the match with a scoreline of 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours and nine minutes.
- Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Jal Shakti stressed on the need for a people’s movement for protection of environment in general and conservation of water in particular.
- Swiss–Italian football administrator Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as President of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), a global governing body of football till 2023.
- International Astronomical Union (IAU), the governing body that manages names of astronomical objects, has invited every country in the world to name a planet outside the Solar System and its star.
- NASA has asked people to suggest songs to add to the playlist of astronauts of its planned 2024 Moon mission.
- Dr John – Grammy-winning musician dies at 77. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer combined the genres of blues, pop, jazz, boogie woogie and rock and roll.
1. International News
- According to a new immigration rule in US, the visa applicants are now required to provide social media details dated back to five years from the application date, to enhance the screening process of the applicants and ensure national security.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping has described Russia's Vladimir Putin as his "best friend" during a three-day visit to Moscow focusing on trade and relations between the two countries.
- A Sudanese official has denied that at least 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.
- Australian authorities say they have not decided whether they will prosecute journalists at the centre of controversial police raids.
- Huawei has signed a deal with Russian telecoms firm MTS to develop 5G technology in Russia. The companies will develop next-generation 5G networks in Russia over the next year, reports said.
- US President Donald Trump has said “not nearly enough” progress is being made in negotiations with Mexico to avert his threatened tariffs.
- Denmark’s Liberal Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has conceded victory in the country’s general election, paving the way for Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen to take power.
- Case relates to purchase of 43 Airbus aircraft and sharing of Air India’s profitable routes with international airlines.
- The government announced constitution of various Cabinet committees, including the one on economic affairs.
- Nalin Khandelwal of Rajasthan is all-India topper; national qualifying percentage is 56.5% After fighting tooth and nail against the introduction of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
- Dr. Kasturirangan submitted draft national education policy 2019 to Union Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and Minister of State for HRD, Shri Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre in New Delhi to rename Minister of Human Resource Development to Minister of education.
- A week-long exercise ([latex]27^{th}[/latex] May 2019 to [latex]4^{th}[/latex] June 2019) between the Indian army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) – Kharga Prahar concluded in Punjab. The exercise was undertaken by various units and formation of Kharga Corps.
- India-China Bilateral Dialogue on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation was held in New Delhi. The Indian delegation was led by Shri Indra Mani Pandey, Additional Secretary (Disarmament & International Security Affairs) and the Chinese delegation was led by Ambassador Fu Cong, Director General, Department of Arms Control of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- The Government of India, Tamil Nadu, and the World Bank signed a $287 million loan agreement for the state’s Health System Reform Programme in New Delhi.
- The Reserve bank of India(RBI) formed panel led by Nandan Nilekani has recommended to rope in local retailers and business correspondents to act as cash points in semi-urban centers.
- A non-banking financial institution L&T Finance Services Ltd. (Larsen & Toubro Financial Services) recently launched “Digital Sakhi”, an educational program aimed at financial inclusion of rural women in Villupuram District, Tamilnadu.
- Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) launched a dedicated center in Bengaluru to provide hazel free services to small business owners and startups.
- The ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India announced that fee for SC/ST candidates who join vocational training under Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS) have been waived off.
- Private player ICICI Lombard General Insurance is planing to roll out small-ticket insurance products and is working with e-commerce players, wallet companies, payments and small finance banks for the same.
- With retail inflation contained within the 4 per cent target, the Reserve Bank of India cut the policy repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.75 per cent.
- South Africa won the toss and asked India to bowl first in an International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2019 clash at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
- New Zealand defeated Bangladesh by two wickets to win their second consecutive match in 2019 World Cup. New Zealand also maintained their 100% win record against the Asian side by registering their fifth victory in five matches across World Cups.
- Opener Rohit Sharma smashed a hundred off 128 balls against South Africa at Rose Bowl stadium in Southampton in India's first match at the 2019 World Cup.
- The award would be conferred upon Sundar Pichai, and Friedman during the next week’s ‘India Ideas Summit’.
- Ajeya Kalama, Retired IAS officer and Former Andra Pradesh Chief Secretary, was appointed as Principal Advisor to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
- Cyclone warning specialist Mrutyunjay Mohapatra was appointed as the chief of India Meteorological Department (IMD), according to a Personnel Ministry order.
- The Defence Ministry, Government of India appointed Lt Gen PJS Pannu as Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence staff (operations) after Air Marshal Rajeev Sachdeva with effect from June [latex]1^{st}[/latex].
- Lennart Johansson who introduced Champions League during a 17-year reign as president of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) died at the age of 89 after a brief illness.
- Actor and Padma Shri awardee(2019) Dinyar Contractor passed away aged 79 in Mumbai, Maharashtra due to age-related illnesses. He was best known for his comic roles. He hailed from Mumbai. He was awarded the Padma Shri in January 2019.
1. Important Days
- World Environment Day is celebrated on the [latex]5^{th}[/latex] of June every year, and is the United Nation’s principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment.
- The comments come amid heightened tension between the two countries, after Trump blamed the Islamic Republic for recent violence in the Middle East.
- The trip to Moscow highlights Beijing’s efforts to drum up support both at home and abroad as the President Donald Trump’s administration pushes China to do more to redress a huge perennial trade surplus.
- The bill would grant permanent protection to “Dreamers” help to gain outright citizenship, together with individuals covered by Temporary Protected Status.
- Officers arrived at the public broadcaster with search warrants naming two reporters and the news director. The ABC has protested over the raid.
- The number of people killed in a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the Sudanese capital Khartoum has risen to 60, an opposition group says.
- A man alleged to have killed four people and injured another in the Australian city of Darwin used an illegal pump-action shotgun, police say.
- China warned its companies operating in the United States that they could face harassment from U.S. law enforcement agencies, as it also rebuffed U.S. criticism of a trade white paper as “singing the same old tune”.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the two-day meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors in Japan on June 8 and 9, according to a government official.
- State assembly elections barely four months away, the council of ministers in Haryana relaxed the recruitment conditions in Group B, C and D jobs by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission.
- A local court rejected CBI’s plea to extend the custody of Sanatan Sanstha members advocate Sanjiv Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave in the murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. The duo was instead remanded to judicial custody till June[latex] 17^{th}[/latex].
- The National Testing Agency (NTA) is preparing itself to announce the NEET Result 2019. The NEET Medical Result 2019 has been declared.
- Speculations were rife in Vijayawada that Nani is contemplating joining the BJP. On May 28, the MP went all the way to Nagpur to meet Union minister Nitin Gadkari “to take his blessings.”
- DMK chief MK Stalin, who is also leader of the opposition in the state assembly, claimed the Centre was trying to impose Hindi under the three-language formula and it withdrew its decision following opposition from Tamils.
- Nifty PSU Bank index gaining 2 percent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), as bond yields fell ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI’s) monetary policy decision.
- Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda were up 2 percent to 4 percent.
- The bank is also pursuing reforms agenda Enhanced Access and Service Excellence prescribed by the finance ministry for turnaround of the bank.
- While we expect a 25 basis point rate cut from the RBI’s June 2019 policy meeting, we will be looking forward to the central bank’s commentary on GDP for FY20.
- World No 5 Sindhu, a silver medallist at Rio Olympics and 2017 and 2018 World championship, defeated Indonesia’s Choirunnisa 21-14 21-9 in a lop-sided contest in women’s singles.
- Veteran actress Sheela was conferred with Kerala’s highest J C Daniel award for her contribution to Malayalam cinema at the kerala state lm award function at Nisagandhi auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram.
- Senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer Arun Kumar Sahu appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
- José Antonio Reyes former Arsenal and Spain player died in a car accident at the age of 35. He was former Spain midelder and won five Europa League titles and was part of Arsenal’s unbeaten “Invincibles” squad.
1. Important Days
- The International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is a United Nations observance each [latex]4^{th}[/latex] June. It was established on [latex]19^{th}[/latex] August 1982.
- Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang called Pompeo statement as an attack on China’s political system and human rights.
- The country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism cited recent “frequent” shootings, robbery and theft in America as the reason for its alert, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
- Women in Switzerland on average still make 20 percent less than men and thus unions and rights groups are calling on Swiss women to join a fresh strike to demand “more time, more money, more respect”.
- Prosecutors say Niels Hoegel, a second-generation caregiver, was drunk on power over his ailing patients, whom he picked off at random out of “boredom”.
- Kim Yo Jong is a senior official of North Korea’s ruling party and is believed to be her brother’s closest confidant. But speculations about her status grew after she was left out from a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- The ruling by the Uppsala District Court is a setback for prosecutors who were hoping to issue a European Arrest Warrant for Assange and request his extradition from the United Kingdom to Sweden.
- India last year announced higher tariffs on a clutch of items in retaliation to US imposing higher levies on some products shipped from the South Asian nation, mirroring steps taken by China and the European Union.
- A widely circulated video showed Pakistan PM Imran Khan walking towards the Saudi king but he appeared to be speaking directly to the royal’s translator rather than addressing him directly.
- Singh posted the taunting comment along a picture of Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan andBihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
- Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has said the government has decided to make metro and bus travel free for women "keeping in mind the safety of women". "The move aims that the maximum number of women can use public transport.
- The suspended pilot has stated that he had get a blood test and urine test conducted in a private lab immediately after the BA test and it showed no alcohol in his system.
- The Soviet-origin Antonov-32 plane carrying 13 people, including an eight-man crew, took off from Jorhat in Assam at 12.27pm and was on its way to an advanced landing ground at Mechuka in West Siang district.
- The rumours of a possible merger of the NCP with Congress spread after Congress president Rahul Gandhi visited Pawar at the latter’s Delhi residence.
- The Pimpri-Chinchwad police booked at least 250 Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) members, mostly women, who wielded air rifles and swords during a celebratory procession held.
- About $6.5 billion was spent ‘during the US presidential and congressional races in 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks money in American politics.
- The Union health ministry has also dispatched a team of experts from NIV for conducting tests on bats that are known to be the carriers of the virus in and around Ernakulam district.
- A plan to build 111 naval utility helicopters in India under the ‘strategic partnership’ model to replace the navy’s outdated fleet of French-designed Chetak choppers moved forward, with the opening of the technical bids of the foreign firms competing for the project.
- RBI statements have averaged 3,084 words in the post-inflation targeting regime, still pretty high if compared to the Federal Reserve’s average of 500 words, the paper’s authors, Aakriti Mathur and Rajeswari Sengupta, say.
- The BSE 30-share index zoomed 553.42 points or 1.39 per cent to close at 40,267.62. During the trade, it advanced 594.7 points to 40,308.90, its lifetime peak.
- Japan's SoftBank has faced a lukewarm response while raising $100 billion for its second Vision Fund, the Wall Street Journal reported. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are reportedly among those that “plan to make limited or no contributions”.
- Reserve Bank of India’s benchmark interest rate highly likely this week, but analysts say policy makers should also find ways to boost banks’ liquidity to ensure they drop their lending rates too.
- Fitch Ratings has downgraded the ratings of ICICI Bank and Axis Bank due to ‘challenges’ faced by them and lowering of India’s operating environment.
- World number one Novak Djokovic has become the first ever male tennis player to reach 10 consecutive French Open quarter-finals.
- Pakistan defeated hosts England by 14 runs at Nottingham's Trent Bridge to register their first victory in 2019 World Cup and end their 11-ODI losing streak.
- Former Indian President of India Pratibha Patil has been conferred the “Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca” (Order of the Aztec Eagle) – the highest civilian award of Mexico given to foreigners.
- The government reappointed retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ajit Doval as National Security Adviser, according him a Cabinet rank.
- Puducherry Deputy Speaker and Lawspet legislator VP Sivakolundhu was elected as the new Speaker of the Union Territory Assembly.
- Comptroller and Auditor General of India Rajiv Mehrishi has been elected as external auditor of the World Health Organization (WHO) for four years from 2020 to 2023, an official statement said.
- BJP leader Nitin Gadkari took charge of Road Transport and Highways, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministries. Gadkari said that with the creation of infrastructure under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, "it's our priority to increase the country's growth rate and employment through small scale industries".
- Google parent Alphabet's shares fell up to 6.7% to their lowest since January, after a report said the US Department of Justice is preparing an antitrust probe against the search giant.
- Google on its Cloud Status Dashboard said it has resolved a "network congestion issue" in eastern US, affecting Google Cloud, G Suite and YouTube. "We will conduct an internal investigation of this issue and make appropriate improvements to our systems to help prevent or minimise future recurrence," the company said.
- Veteran actress Ruma Guha Thakurta passed away morning at her Ballygunge Place residence at the age of 84. Only a few days ago the popular actress returned to Kolkata.
1. Important Days
- June [latex]3^{rd}[/latex] people across the globe will celebrate World Bicycle Day. This will be the second year when it will be celebrated after the UN General Assembly declared.
- A community cinema in Karachi is using streaming and the internet to screen Indian films, though desi films are barred there now.
- The president used the adjective while discussing Meghan in a recent interview with Britain’s The Sun newspaper in the run-up to his state visit to the UK.
- The American aviation giant, which has been rocked by an unprecedented crisis after its entire 737 MAX 8 fleet was grounded, said a subcontractor informed it of problems with a batch of a part involved in deploying the wings’ leading edge.
- Donald Trump’s comments came after Syrian NGOs decried international inaction in the face of mounting violence in the northwestern region.
- Britain’s flagship carrier stopped flying to Pakistan after the Marriott hotel in the capital, Islamabad, was bombed in 2008, killing more than 50 people.
- A North Korean official who was reported to be in a labour camp attended a weekend concert alongside Kim Jong-un, state media said.
- Singapore’s air force sent two fighter jets to escort an incoming passenger plane over of a bomb threat which turned out to be a hoax, say officials.
- Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on Mexico over immigration as a top aide warned that the US president is “deadly serious” about imposing tariffs on imports from the southern neighbor.
- The gunfight erupted when militants ambused a patrol party of the Army at Moolu Chitragam area early in the morning.
- The Pakistan High Commission’s Iftar event in Delhi also saw Indian guests complaining about harassment by personnel belonging to Indian agencies.
- Udantashtari, Mahatma, Bullet Bharat, Vidyut, Ashwamedha, Pawan Putra, Chetak, and Vayu Putra —these are among the names suggested by social media users for India’s first bullet train.
- A severe heatwave continued to sweep India’s northern plains as 10 places in the region figured on the list of 15 hottest places in the world.
- Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has announced women can travel free of cost on all DTC buses, cluster buses and metro trains. "Women who can afford these modes of transport can purchase tickets, they need not take subsidy," he added.
- National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has been given cabinet rank by the government in recognition of his contribution in the national security domain, news agency ANI reported.
- Srinagar mayor and deputy mayor have blamed officials in the civil secretariat of scuttling their proposals for the development of the city.
- The incident which took place on Sunday near Thawani’s office in Naroda was caught on camera by people present at the spot.
- Talking to mediapersons, Hooda attributed his loss to the Modi wave, but maintained that it will not work for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Vidhan Sabha elections.
- Asian shares wobbled after U.S. and Chinese officials traded jibes in their widening clash over trade and technology.
- The Sensex and Nifty rose despite weak gross domestic product (GDP) data, as investors pinned hopes on a possible rate cut to bolster the economy at the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policy meeting later this week.
- Yes Bank may look relatively better off with a 30% correction but this conceals the fact that the stock has bounced sharply from lower levels. On a point-to-point basis, it was a lot worse.
- Bangladesh opened their 2019 World Cup campaign with a 21-run victory against South Africa at London's Kennington Oval. South Africa, who will next face India on Wednesday, have lost their first two matches at the 2019 World Cup.
- Johanna Konta defeated Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-4 to become the British woman to reach quarter-finals of French Open in 36 years. The last British woman to reach the quarters at French Open was Jo Durie in 1983.
- World number two Rafael Nadal defeated Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes to reach the French Open quarter-final for the 13th time.
- The World Health Organization has selected the Rajasthan government’s Medical & Health Department for its award this year in recognition of its achievements in the field of tobacco control.
- SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh was elected to the board of the IATA, less than 3 months after the airline joined the global grouping.
- Popular consumer brand, Veeba Foods has forayed into child nutrition segment with its new brand, V-Nourish, a scientifically designed wholesome nutritional supplement for kids above 5 years.
1. Important Days
- Telangana Formation Day is celebrated on the formation of Telangana State on [latex]2^{nd}[/latex] June every year since 2014.
- China squarely blamed the US for the escalating trade war between the two countries, chiding Washington for creating setbacks in the ongoing talks to resolve the differences that threaten to derail ties between the top two economies in the world.
- Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, who found himself in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump in the past on the issue of terrorism, hit out at the red carpet being rolled out for the latter’s visit from Monday, calling it ‘so un-British’.
- Mr Trump also said the UK should include Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage in talks with the EU, describing him as “a very smart person”.
- In truth, what happened in Tiananmen Square is marked faithfully each year by a massive, national act of what might more properly be called “forgettance”.
- Lord of the Seven Kingdoms would be, or an entire country that joined in the celebrations accompanying the coronation of King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, it was apparent for many that the ‘throne’ was back as the centrepiece of a good part of the world.
- China will fight anyone who tries to interfere in its “reunification” with Taiwan, Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said in a combative speech peppered with threats against the United States over its military presence in Asia.
- The Delhi High Court against the inclusion of a member of institution’s Supreme Council in the interview panel for selection of Christian students.
- The 17th Lok Sabha, which convenes for the first time in a fortnight? A search is underway to find the ideal candidate among Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs, 303 of whom will enter the House after the April-May general election.
- ECI website, is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers. Therefore, it is an incorrect inference to find ghost voters when there are none,” the poll panel said.
- The Punjab and Haryana High Court has accorded the status of “legal person or entity” to animals in Haryana, granting them the “corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person”.
- Even after slowdown in industrial activity, the Government managed to collect more than ₹1 lakh crore plus in May.
- The market cap of HDFC climbed Rs 9,538.27 crore to Rs 3,75,774.07 crore and that of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) advanced Rs 7,799.37 crore to Rs 3,86,449.46 crore. Kotak Mahindra Bank’s valuation rose by Rs 1,116.72 crore to Rs 2,90,098.18 crore.
- The Reserve Bank of India would inaugurate its ‘financial literacy week’ programme in Kerala on June 3rd.
- Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) infused a net sum of Rs 7,919.73 crore into equities and Rs 1,111.42 crore in the debt market during May 2-31, taking the cumulative net investment to Rs 9,031.15 crore.
- Mohamed Salah, such a disconsolate figure when he was injured early in that loss to Real Madrid, who set Liverpool on their way with a penalty after two minutes when Moussa Sissoko was contentiously punished for handball.
- Opener Dimuth Karunaratne achieved the rare feat of carrying his bat through a Cricket World Cup innings, but his teammates offered little resistance as New Zealand dismissed Sri Lanka for 136 in 29.2 overs.
- The sixth seed led by two sets overnight, with the match suspended at 5-5 in the third due to darkness at 9:52 p.m. local time, and saw Serbia’s Krajinovic launch a comeback.
- Satish Chandra Verma as the new advocate general, his predecessor Kanak Tiwari alleged that he had been unceremoniously removed from the post because of his opposition to the functioning of the government, “which was not working as per law and constitution”.
- Damodar Gautam Sawang, a 1986-batch IPS officer, took charge as new Director General of Andhra Pradesh Police.
- NASA has chosen Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and Orbit Beyond to send equipment to the Moon.
- Veteran industrialist and Williamson Magor Group (WMG) patriarch Brij Mohan Khaitan died morning at his residence in Kolkata due to old age. He was 92 years old.
1. Important Days
- World Milk Day is a day established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to recognize the importance of milk as a global food.
- Donald Trump has said Boris Johnson would be an “excellent” choice for the Conservative Party leadership.
- At least 12 people were killed and several injured in a mass shooting at a government building in the US state of Virginia.
- Five people were hurt when a house collapsed, one local media outlet reported, while Albanian authorities said they were monitoring the situation after the quake and aftershocks.
- Duterte pointed to the third woman, who went on stage after she was called. After the kiss, they took a photo together, with Duterte holding her hand, the report said.
- Posing as Khalid Bin Al-Saud, he lived in a condo on Miami’s posh Fisher Island, drove a Ferrari with a forged diplomatic license plate and eagerly courted investors and gift-givers.
- Washington and Beijing have been vying for influence in the region, which hosts potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait.
- India is the biggest beneficiary of the GSP, which allows preferential duty-free imports of up to $5.6 billion from the South Asian nation.
- Narendra Modi held meetings with the visiting foreign leaders who attended the swearing-in ceremony on May [latex]30^{th}[/latex]. At the meetings, he urged for a closer multilateral and bilateral cooperation.
- The first time after an over-50% cut in the number of Indian students coming to the UK since visa curbs were introduced in 2012, immigration officials have noted a 40 per cent rise in their number in the year ending March 2019, new figures show.
- Union minister Smriti Irani had defeated Gandhi with a margin of 55,120 votes, following which Amethi Congress Committee president Yogendra Mishra had tendered his resignation.
- Owaisi said that Muslims were equal citizens of this country and they cannot be denied the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution of India.
- After taking charge, the former home minister held a meeting with Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and newly appointed Navy chief Karambir Singh.
- The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government unveiled pensions for small traders and farmers, and expanded PM Kisan, the minimum assured income scheme announced in its first term, to include all eligible farmers.
- SpiceJet, which operates narrowbody and turboprop planes, does not have firm plans to become a widebody operator with longer-range flights in the wake of Jet’s collapse in April, SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh said.
- Beijing’s move hits $60 billion worth of US goods with new punitive tariffs ranging from five to 25 percent, and comes in retaliation for Washington raising punitive tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent.
- India’s economic growth suffered a third straight quarterly fall in the first three months of 2019 to 5.8 percent, according to government figures.
- The CII-IBA Financial Conditions Index for Q1 (April-June) FY20 has recorded yet another rise to the above-50-mark for the third time in a row, owing to expectation of improvement in the overall condition of the economy.
- With economic growth likely to slow down in the March-quarter 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) in the upcoming monetary policy review, analysts say.
- Pakistan’s seven-wicket pasting to the West Indies – lasting all of 35.2 overs – came in Nottingham, at a Trent Bridge surface that has been a graveyard for bowlers in recent times.
- The Spanish capital is being taken over by a sea of English supporters on a searingly hot weekend before the Premier League sides clash at the Metropolitano Stadium at 9pm (1900GMT).
- Indian veteran Leander Paes says he feels “blessed” to have had such a long career, as he closes in on his fourth decade as a professional, having accumulated 18 Grand Slam doubles titles and an impressive racquet collection.
- Six Indian-origin students are among the eight participants who won the prestigious Scripts National Spelling Bee, taking home more than USD 50,000 in cash and prizes, after defeating over 550 other contestants in an unprecedented competition in the US.
- Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh has become the first woman fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on Hawk advanced jet aircraft, an official statement said.
- Sonia Gandhi has been once again elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) at a meeting of party lawmakers at the Central Hall of Parliament.
- Amit Shah took over the charge as Union Home Minister from Rajnath Singh and tweeted, "I express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for believing in me".
- NASA has released an X-ray image mapping the entire night sky over a 22-month period. The image was recorded by NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) payload on the International Space Station.
- Carmine Caridi, best known for his role as Carmine Rosato in The Godfather: Part II, has died at age 85. TMZ first reported the news.