DAILY GK: 18 SEP 2021

 DAILY GK: 18 SEP 2021

1. ‘REFORMS IN URBAN PLANNING CAPACITY IN INDIA’

      A report titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’ was released by NITI  Aayog’s Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar.

      NITI Aayog and France’s software maker Dassault Systèmes have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) during a virtual event to support various current and future initiatives of AIM (Atal Innovation Mission) programs and AIM beneficiaries in India.

 

2. WORLD BANK DISCONTINUES “EASE OF DOING BUSINESS” REPORT

      World Bank group announced to discontinue its “Doing Business” reports after finding data irregularities in countries rankings in 2018 and 2020 reports.

      The law investigation agency, WilmerHale, has unveiled inconsistent with the Doing Business methodology in the 2018 report, which favoured China’s position.

      Note – The 1st edition of the ‘Doing Business’ report was published by the World Bank in 2003.

 

3.INDIA’S FIRST-EVER EURO GREEN BOND

      Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC), the leading Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) in the power sector, launched its first €300 million 7-year Euro Bond issuance on September 13 pricing 1.841%.

      It is the first ever Euro denominated Green bond issuance from India.

      It is the first ever Euro issuance by an Indian NBFC and the first Euro bond issuance from India since 2017.

 

4.WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021

      British author Susanna Clarke won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 for her 2nd book, a fantasy novel titled “Piranesi”, a mystery about a man living alone in a labyrinthine house.

      The book was published by Bloomsbury Publishing.

She published her debut novel “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell” in 2004.

 

5.NEW CHAIRPERSON OF ‘IN-SPACE’

      Pawan Kumar Goenka, the former MD of Mahindra & Mahindra, was appointed as the Chairperson of Indian National Space Promotion Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

      In 2020, the Central government established IN-SPACe under the Department of Space, as the nodal agency for regulating private companies in the Space sector.

 

6.YAHOO APPOINTS JIM LANZONE AS ITS NEW CEO

      Yahoo has appointed Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Tinder as its new Chief Executive Officer(CEO) with effect from 27th September 2021.

      Jim Lanzone will succeed Guru Gowrappan who was named Senior Advisor to Apollo’s private equity business.

      This follows the acquisition of Yahoo by Apollo Management Group for 5 billion USD.

 

7.1ST NATION TO SUCCESSFULLY TEST LAUNCH SLBM

      After North Korea, now South Korea successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) becoming the 7th country in the world to do so.

      It also became the first country without nuclear weapons to develop such a system.

      The SLBM was fired underwater from its newly commissioned 3,000 ton class Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine.

 

8.SPACEX LAUNCHES EARTH-CIRCLING PRIVATE TRIP

      For the first, A SpaceX launched Falcon 9 rocket, with all amateur and tourist crew, from Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Central Florida.

      The crew included 38-year-old billionaire Jared Isaacman, who sponsored the trip, Hayley Arceneux, 29, Sian Procotor, 51, and Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old who claimed his seat through an online raffle.

      Note: Arceneaux is the first youngest American in space and the first person with prosthesis, a titanium rod in her left leg

 

9.IOC BANS N KOREA TILL THE END OF 2022

      The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended North Korea until the end of 2022 as it failed to send a team to the Tokyo Games.