- JK Rowling named ‘Companion of Honour’ by UK royals
Harry Potter author JK Rowling brought a touch of magic to Buckingham Palace as she was made a Companion of Honour.
Rowling, who is also marking two decades since the publication of the first book in her best-selling series, has been honoured for services to literature and philanthropy.
- Priyanka Chopra honoured with Mother Teresa Memorial Award
Actor Priyanka Chopra has been honoured with this year’s Mother Teresa Memorial award for social justice.
Priyanka received the award for her contribution towards lending her support to social causes, such as her recent visit to Syria, where she met and interacted with refugee children.
The actor is also UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador and is known for supporting various philanthropic activities.
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Mother Teresa Memorial Award |
| The Mother Teresa Awards are awards to honour individuals and organizations that promote peace, equality and social justice, and aim to encourage the cause of justice and peaceful coexistence, while providing a impetus for society to imbibe these values. The award is given in honour of Mother Teresa |
- Nakul Chopra is new BARC India chairman
Nakul Chopra, currently serving as the president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and senior advisor at Publicis Communications, has been elected as the next chairman of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India.
Chopra succeeds Viacom18 Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats.Chopra will be the third chairman of BARC India.
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Broadcast Audience Research Council |
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| Broadcast Audience Research Council India is a joint-industry not-for-profit body that publishes weekly TV viewership data for India. | |
| BARC India CEO | Partho Dasgupta |
- Kerala to host petrochemical meet on December 18
The Kerala Government is organising a Petrochemical Investor Meet 18 at Crowne Plaza to highlight the opportunities being opened up by the new Petrochemical Park.
The objective of setting up the park is to assist downstream units that can utilize the niche petrochemical products from BPCL Kochi Refinery for manufacturing number of products like adhesives, plasticisers, water based chemicals, sealants etc
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Kerala |
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| Capital | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Chief Minister | Pinarayi Vijayan |
| Governor | P.Sathasivam |
- J&K government launches SAUBHAGYA
The Jammu and Kashmir government has launched SAUBHAGYA (Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna) with an aim to provide free electricity connections to poor people in the state.
SAUBHAGYA, an initiative taken by the prime minister, seeks to provide electricity to 4 crore families across the country by December 2018.
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J&K |
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| Capital | Srinagar (Summer), Jammu (Winter) |
| Chief Minister | Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed |
| Governor | Narinder Nath Vohra |
- Telangana develops app to provide jobs to technicians, workers
The Telangana government has developed a mobile application that will help citizens in urban areas across the state find trained and certified technicians and workers, who will provide household services at the press of a button.
Officials at Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) said Android-based Urban Genie will be available in 73 municipal towns and cities, barring Hyderabad.
Users can avail the services of electricians, plumbers, fitters, carpenters, painters, interior decorators, cleaners, drivers, cooks and even domestic helps through the app.
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Telangana |
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| Capital | Hyderabad |
| Chief Minister | K. Chandrashekar Rao |
| Governor | E. S. L. Narasimhan |
- Nitish embarks on ‘Vikas Samiksha Yatra’ in Bihar
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has embarked on a statewide “Vikas Samiksha Yatra” to take stock of the developmental schemes of his government on the ground.
The chief minister is scheduled to review the development of eight districts during the first phase of his “yatra” over the next five days.
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Bihar |
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| Capital | Patna |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Governor | Satya Pal Malik |
| Koshi River Sorrow if Bihar | |
- India’s economy to grow at 7.2 percent in 2018;7.4 in 2019: UN
India’s economy is projected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2018 and 7.4 per cent in 2019, despite a slowdown observed this year and the lingering effects from the demonetisation, the UN.
“GDP growth for India is projected to accelerate from 6.7 per cent in 2017 to 7.2 per cent in 2018 and 7.4 per cent in 2019,” the UN said in its report ‘World Economic Situation Prospects’ (WESP 2018), released at the UN headquarters in New York.
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WESP 2018 |
| The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018 demonstrates that current macroeconomic conditions offer policy-makers greater scope to address some of the deep-rooted issues that continue to hamper progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals |
- India to Host 3rd Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of AIIB
India will host the 3rd annual meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at Mumbai on June 25-26 next year.
The theme of the meeting will be ‘Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration.
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AIIB |
| Headquartered in Beijing, China, AIIB is a multilateral development bank and it commenced operations in January 2016.
India is founding members of AIIB and is also the 2nd largest shareholder in AIIB. |
- AIIB approves 335-mln-USD loan for Bangalore metro
China-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has approved a USD 335 million loan for an electric metro project in Bangalore.
The investment in the Bangalore Metro Rail Project-Reach 6 (R6) is the AIIB’s first metro project and its first joint financing partnership with the European Investment Bank, which is the project’s lead financier with 500 million euros in funding.
- World Bank to stop funding oil, gas projects after 2019
The World Bank will no longer finance upstream oil and gas projects after 2019, apart from certain gas projects in the poorest countries in exceptional circumstances.
Stephen Kretzmann, of the Oil Change International advocacy group, said it was time for all of the institutions, countries, investors and individuals who are still in the Paris Agreement to stop funding fossil fuels.
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World Bank |
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| President | Jim Yong Kim |
| CEO | Kristalina Georgieva |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., United States |
- Russia to build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant
Moscow and Cairo have signed an agreement to construct Egypt’s first nuclear plant. The project will cost $21 billion and is due to be finished by 2028-2029.
The preliminary agreement between the countries was signed in 2015. A loan from Russia would cover 85 percent of the construction costs, and Russia’s Rosatom would service the plant’s four reactors for 60 years
| Russia | Egypt | |
| Capital | Moscow | Cairo |
| Currency | Russian ruble | Egyptian pound |
| President | Vladimir Putin | Abdel Fattah el-Sisi |
| Prime Minister | Dmitry Medvedev | ─ |
- Britain gets new tallest peak in British Antarctic Territory
A new mountain has claimed the title of highest peak on UK territory after satellite data revealed land surveys by polar explorers were nearly 400 metres (1,300 ft) out.
Mount Hope in the British Antarctic Territory was recently remeasured and found to be 377 metres (1,237 ft) taller than thought.
This means it overtakes Britain’s previous record holder Mount Jackson – also found on the UK’s section of the Antarctic – by 55 metres (180 ft).
- India to host 2023 Cricket World Cup, 2021 Champions Trophy
India is all set to host the 2023 World Cup, the global cricketing event’s 13th edition, after the BCCI confirmed the host nation in its SGM, held on December 11. India will also host the upcoming Champions Trophy in 2021.
The allotment of the same was done back in June 2013 itself, with India receiving the hosting rights for the World T20 in 2016, the Champions Trophy in four years time from now, and the World Cup that will follow four years after the next event in England and Wales in 2019.
This will be the first time that the event will be held entirely in India: the nation has, on three occasions previously, hosted the World Cup partially (1987, 1996 and 2011).
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