DAILY GK 24 AUG 2019
1. FIRST
WORLD YOUTH CONFERENCE ON KINDNESS INAUGURATED BY INDIAN PRESIDENT
✔The
President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the first World Youth
Conference on kindness at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The president addressed
the event celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on the
theme ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for
the Contemporary World’.
✔Its
aim is to impart empathy, compassion, mindfulness and critical enquiry to
inspire, empower and enable youth to transform building a long-lasting peace in
their communities and finding pathways to achieve Sustainable Development
Goals.
✔10th
edition of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and
Sustainable Development flagship programme ‘the
Blue Dot’. It focuses on MGIEP social and emotional learning.
2.
INDIA AND THE UNITED STATES HELD A BILATERAL 2+2 INTERSESSIONAL MEETING IN
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
✔India
and the United States held a round of bilateral 2+2 Intersessional meeting in
Monterey, California, US.
✔They
reviewed the progress and development of bilateral relations in cross-cutting
defence, security, and foreign policy areas since the inaugural 2+2 Ministerial
meeting of September 2018.
✔They
explored further possibilities of cooperation in these fields based on common
interest. They discussed on regional developments, and agreed to pursue their
quest for a free, open, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
3. SAUDI ARABIA PERMITS WOMEN TO TRAVEL ABROAD
WITHOUT MALE GUARDIAN’S PERMISSION
✔The
Government of Saudi Arabia made a reform for allowing women over the age of 21
to receive passports and travel abroad without permission from a male
‘guardian’.
✔The
law to get permission from male guardian was removed as many women made
high-profile attempts to escape alleged guardianship abuse despite various
reforms made by crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
4. BHARTI
AXA LIFE PARTNERS WITH AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION TO SUPPORT AND CONTRIBUTE TO
THE MID-DAY MEAL PROGRAMME
✔A
renowned life Insurance company, Bharti AXA Life Insurance on its 13th
Foundation Day, has partnered with a non-profit organization in India, Akshaya
Patra Foundation to support and contribute to the mid-day meal drive for
government-run school children across India.
✔Bharti
AXA Life has urged its over 5,500 employees to donate a day’s salary to Akshaya
Patra to counter classroom hunger and aid in the education of children from
underprivileged sections of the society.
✔This
partnership will help Akshaya Patra to take a few steps towards a target of
reaching 5 million children by 2025.
5.
SEBI EASES NORMS FOR FPIs
✔The
Securities and Exchange Board of India has announced a new mechanism to reward insider trading informants to
uncover insider trading cases. The reward would be 10 per cent of the money
collected, subject to a maximum amount of Rs 1 crore. These benefits would only
be available to individuals and corporates. This is not applicable for
professionals like auditors who are duty-bound to report any wrongdoing.
✔The
above announcement is a part of the detailed set of rules for the new ‘Informant Mechanism’ under Prohibition
of Insider Trading Regulations that has been approved by the SEBI board.
✔SEBI
will also establish an Office of Informant Protection, which will be
responsible for the receipt, registration and processing of the disclosure form
and also for ascertaining its authenticity.
6. TIME
MAGAZINE FEATURES STATUE OF UNITY, MUMBAI’S SOHO HOUSE AMONG ITS 100 GREATEST
PLACES IN THE WORLD
✔The
Time magazine published its second annual list of the “World’s Greatest Places” with total of 100 places in the list. India’s Statue of Unity in Gujarat and ‘Soho House’ in Mumbai featured in this
year’s list. The list is a compilation of 100 new and “newly noteworthy
destinations to experience right now”.
✔The
Time magazine listed the places based on categories like museums, parks,
restaurants, and hotels under which quality, originality, sustainability,
innovation and influence were considered for evaluation.
7.
FORBES RANKS AKSHAY KUMAR IN THE 4TH SPOT IN 2019 HIGHEST PAID ACTORS LIST
✔Bollywood
Actor Akshay Kumar has made it to the 4th position on the Forbes magazine’s World’s
Highest-Paid Actors Of 2019 list. Akshay has raked in $65 million. Hollywood
star Dwayne ‘Rock’ Johnson tops the Forbes list of the 10 highest-paid actors.
✔Here’s
the list of the World’s Highest-Paid Actors Of 2019 listed by Forbes:
- Dwayne
Johnson ($89.4 million)
- Chris
Hemsworth ($76.4 million)
- Robert
Downey Jr. ($66 million)
- Akshay
Kumar ($65 million)
- Jackie
Chan ($58 million)
- Bradley
Cooper ($57 million)
- Adam
Sandler ($57 million)
- Chris
Evans ($43.5 million)
- Paul
Rudd ($41 million)
- Will
Smith ($35 million)
8. ABDALLA
HAMDOK BECOMES THE NEW PRIME MINISTER OF SUDAN
✔Economist
Abdalla Hamdok took charge as the new prime minister of Sudan embarking three
year transition to civilian rule after military authoritarian Omar al-Bashir
was forced to step down from president post by rage protests.
✔Previously
Hamdok served as Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa.
9.
AJAY KUMAR BHALLA APPOINTED AS THE NEW HOME SECRETARY
✔Ajay
Kumar Bhalla was appointed as the new Union Home Secretary. He is currently
serving as an officer on special duty in the home ministry. He replaces Rajiv
Gauba, who was appointed as the new cabinet secretary.
✔The
Appointments Committee of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
approved Bhalla’s appointment as the new home secretary.
10.
RUSSIA SUCCESSFULLY SENT ITS FIRST HUMANOID ROBOT ‘FEDOR’ INTO SPACE
✔Russia
launched an unmanned rocket carrying a life-size humanoid robot named Fedor,
(Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research). It is a silvery
anthropomorphic robot stands 1.80 metres (5 foot 11 inches) tall and weighs 160
kilogrammes (353 pounds).
✔Fedor
will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space
Station. It blasted off in a Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft from Russia’s Baikonur
cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
11.
PAYTM TO CONTINUE AS BCCI TITLE SPONSOR TILL 2023 FOR RS 326.8 CRORE
✔The
Chief Executive Officer of BCCI, Rahul Johri announced that Paytm will continue
as the title sponsor of the Indian cricket board’s domestic and international
matches for the next five years i.e till 2023.
12.
VIKRAM RATHOUR IS INDIA’S NEW BATTING COACH
✔Former
Indian opener Vikram Rathour appointed as team India’s new batting coach. He
will replace Sanjay Bangar. While Bharath Arun and R. Sridhar were retained as
bowling and fielding coaches.
✔The
50-year-old Rathour has played 6 Tests and 7 ODIs in 1996. He was a senior
national selector under Sandeep Patil’s chairmanship.
13.
AUGUST 23: INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS
ABOLITION
✔The
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
is observed every year on August 23.
✔This
day is observed as a remembrance of people involved in the tragedy of the
transatlantic slave trade.
✔The
theme for the year 2019 is “Remember
Slavery: The Power of the Arts for Justice“.
