By: D.K Chaudhary
1. Cabinet Approves Signing of MoU Amongst BRICS Nations On RAPC
i. The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of MoU amongst BRICS Nations on the Regional Aviation Partnership Cooperation (RAPC). The objective is that BRICS countries will benefit from the establishment of an institutional framework to cooperate in the field of civil aviation.
ii. The MoU signifies an important landmark in the civil aviation relations between India and other BRICS Member States and has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges amongst the BRICS Nations.
- BRICS is made up of China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.
- In December 2010, China, as the Chair, invited South Africa to join BRIC and attend the Summit in Sanya, China.
- The 1st BRIC Summit was held in June 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
2. 10th Edition of Delhi Dialogue Begins in New Delhi
i. The 10th edition of the Delhi Dialogue begins in New Delhi. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj delivered the keynote address of the two-day event. The theme of this event is ‘Strengthening India-ASEAN Maritime Co-operation’.
ii. Political leadership, policymakers, officials, diplomats, business leaders, think-tanks and academicians from India and ASEAN Member States will participate in the discussions. This is the first major event to be organised after the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit that was held in New Delhi.
- ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
3. RBI To Issue New Design Rs100 Denomination Banknote
i. The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue Rs100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
ii. The new denomination has Motif of “RANI KI VAV” on the reverse, depicting the country’s cultural heritage. The base colour of the note is Lavender. The dimension of the banknote will be 66 mm × 142 mm. All the banknotes in the denomination of Rs100/- issued by the Reserve Bank in the earlier series will continue to be legal tender.
4. Amazon, 2nd Company To Hit $900 billion Valuation After Apple
i. E-commerce giant Amazon briefly crossed $900-billion market cap for the first time in its history becoming only the second company after Apple to achieve this milestone.
ii. This comes after Amazon announced it sold over 100 million products during its Prime Day sale. Apple is currently the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of $935 billion.
- Amazon is a US based company which was Founded by Jeff Bezos.
- It was founded in 1994.
5. Google Fined $5 Billion By EU In Android Antitrust Case
i. The European Union regulators have slapped Alphabet-owned Google with a record 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine for abusing the dominance of its Android mobile operating system.
ii. According to the EU, Google’s parent company has unfairly favoured its own services by forcing smartphone makers to pre-install Google apps Chrome and Search in a bundle with its app store, Play.
- Google CEO- Sundar Pichai, Parent organization- Alphabet Inc., Headquarters- the USA.
