1) President Released Coins Commemorating Nabakalebara Festival
•The coins had been slated for release during the mega festival, celebrated once every 12 to 19 years, but the Union finance ministry had rejected a design sent by the state government as it featured the deities' feet.
2) PM Modi Lays Foundation Stone Of Navi Mumbai Airport
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Navi Mumbai International Airport site in Panvel, nearly 21 years after it was mooted.
•The first phase the Rs 16,700-crore project is expected to be completed by 2019. This is the country’s largest greenfield airport. Navi Mumbai airport will have capacity of handling 60 million passengers.
3) Lok Sabha Passes Amendment To Stonewall Scrutiny Of Foreign Poll Funding
•The Lok Sabha has passed (without a debate) a bill that will exempt political parties from the scrutiny of funds they have received from abroad since 1976. The Lok Sabha passed amid chaotic protests by the opposition parties, 21 amendments to the Finance Bill 2018.
•One of them was an amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 that bans overseas corporations from funding political parties. This is only the third time since 2000 that Parliament has approved the budget without debate.
4) 1st India-Japan Workshop On Disaster Risk Reduction Inaugurated
•The Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Dr Rajiv Kumar inaugurated the First India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction in New Delhi. The two-day workshop is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Government of Japan.
•The workshop marks the beginning of the formal implementation of the initiatives agreed under the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the two countries on Disaster Risk Reduction in September 2017.
5) 7th Women's Science Congress Inaugurated In Manipur
•The Women Science Congress, 2018 was inaugurated in the backdrop of the ongoing 105th Indian Science Congress on its 3rd day being held at Manipur University, Imphal. Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal inaugurated the 7th Edition of Science Congress for women.
•Prof.Vijay Laxmi Saxena, Former General Secretary, India Science Congress Association (ISCA) and Mrs.Namita Gupta, Scientist, Dept.of Science & Technology graced the function as guests of honours.
6) Vladimir Putin Wins Historic 4th Term As Russian President
•Russian President Vladimir Putin stormed to victory in presidential election, giving him another six years in power. Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, won more than 75% of the vote according to preliminary results.
•He is well ahead of his nearest rival Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin at 13.2%. About 107 million Russians were eligible to cast ballots and turnout was 60% before polls closed in Moscow.
7) Worldwide Cost Of Living Report 2018- Singapore Most Expensive, Damascus Least
•Singapore remains the most expensive city in the world, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Worldwide Cost of Living report 2018. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published the Worldwide Cost of Living index 2018 for 133 cities across the world, based on a survey that compared more than 400 individual prices across over 150 products and services.
•The Top 5 Expensive cities on the list are-
1. Singapore.
2. Paris, France.
3. Zurich, Switzerland.
4. Hong Kong, China.
5. Oslo, Norway.
•Damascus, the capital of war-ravaged Syria, is the cheapest city for living in the world, followed by Venezuela’s capital Caracas.
8) Informal WTO Ministerial Meeting Held In New Delhi
•Representatives from 50 countries gathered in New Delhi for a two-day informal World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting.
•According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues.
