1) International Day Of Cooperatives: 7 July
•The 2018 theme of the Day is the ‘Sustainable societies through cooperation’. This year’s theme was aimed at creating the sustainable societies through cooperation.
2) 1st Meeting Of E-Commerce Task Force Held In New Delhi
•Commerce Secretary, Rita Teaotia, chaired the first meeting of the Task Force on e-commerce in New Delhi. The meeting deliberated upon the suggestions emerging from the sub-group meetings held in June 2018. The suggestions were on wide-ranging issues such as cross-border data flows, taxation, trade facilitation and logistics, consumer confidence, IPR and future tech, FDI and competition issues.
•It was decided to set up a Task Force in the first meeting of the Think Tank, on the framework for national policy on e-commerce, held in April 2018, under the chairmanship of Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation.
3) India To Operate 'World’s Emptiest Airport' In Sri Lanka
•The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) would be operated as a Sri Lanka-India joint venture. The $210 million facility, 241km south-east of Colombo, is dubbed the “world’s emptiest airport” due to a lack of flights.
•India would operate the airport as a Sri Lanka-India joint venture. The joint venture would see India gain a major stake of the airport. Currently, it is running a massive loss of Rs.20 billion.
4) AAI To Set Up Civil Aviation Research Organization In Hyderabad
•State-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) will set up a state-of-the-art Civil Aviation Research Organization (CARO) at Hyderabad’s Begumpet Airport to find indigenous solutions to meet the challenges posed by the growing air traffic and for enhancing safety, capacity and efficiency of aircraft operations in the country.
•AAI has earmarked Rs 1,200 crore for this project that will be spent over 12 years for research and development. CARO is expected to be built in three years. Union aviation minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone for CARO which will be spread over 27 acres and cater to air navigation services and airport/engineering research.
5) Nepal, India To Jointly Promote Tourism
•The 2nd meeting of the joint working group on tourism cooperation between India and Nepal concluded in Kathmandu, Nepal. Both sides agreed to jointly promote Buddhist and Ramayana circuits and Adventure tourism. The meeting also decided to set up an industry-led India Nepal Tourism Forum.
•The Indian delegation was led by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism Suman Billa, while Nepalese side was led by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ghanshyam Upadhyaya.
6) Mark Zuckerberg Becomes World’s 3rd-Richest Person
•Facebook Inc. co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has overtaken Warren Buffett as the world’s third-richest person. Zuckerberg, who trails only Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, eclipsed Buffett as Facebook shares climbed 2.4%, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
•It’s the first time that the three wealthiest people on the ranking made their fortunes from technology. Zuckerberg, 34, is now worth $81.6 billion, about $373 million more than Buffett, the 87-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
7) UN Member States Approve USD 6.69 Billion For 13 Peacekeeping Operations
•The UN member states have approved a 6.69 billion US Dollar budget for 13 peacekeeping operations for the year 2018-19. It is the second year in a row, the committee has made significant cuts to the overall peacekeeping budget.
•The Committee also approved significant management reforms including creation of two new departments focused on political and peacebuilding affairs and four stand-alone divisions for Africa. The United States is the biggest contributor to the United Nations.
8) Tbilisi Grand Prix, Georgia: Bajrang Punia Wins Gold, Deepak Bronze
•Bajrang Punia emerged champion at the Tbilisi Grand Prix in the 65kg category after outplaying Iranian wrestler Mehran Nasiri in the final in Georgia. The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist recorded a comfortable 9-3 win over the Iranian.
•Meanwhile, in the 86kg category, Deepak Punia clinched a bronze with a 5-3 win over Osman Gosen of Turkey.
