Defending champion Brooks Koepka has won the US Open golf championship at the Shinnecock Hills course in New York, carding a final round 68 to finish at 1-over-par, one shot ahead of Tommy Fleetwood.
American Koepka staved off a brilliant charge by Englishman Fleetwood, who matched the lowest final-round score in tournament history, a 7-under-par 63.
He becomes the seventh player to go back-to-back and the first since Curtis Strange in 1988 and 1989.
Anil Kumar clinches gold at 18th KSS Memorial Shooting Championship 2018
Anil Kumar has clinched the gold in the 10m Air Rifle event at the 18th KSS Memorial Shooting Championship 2018 in the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi.
He scored 246.7 to finish on top while Air Force’s Manoj Dalal scored 245.2 to take silver and his teammate Deepak Kumar finished with bronze with a score of 224.6.
In the 10M Air Rifle Youth Men category, Sahu Mane clinched gold with a 251.1 score, while Aishwarya Tomar scored 249.9 to clinch silver. Rajasthan’s Yashwardan settled for bronze with a 229.9.
June 17: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (WDCDD) is observed every year on Jun 17 across the world to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification with the theme “Land has true value – invest in it”.
It aims to remind everyone that land degradation neutrality is achievable through problem-solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels.
It urges to move away from unsustainable land use and make a difference by investing in the future of land.
The global observance of WDCD2018 was hosted by Govt of Ecuador.
India’s growth for 2018-19 forecasted to 7.4%
As per the latest report of ‘Global Economic Outlook’, Fitch Ratings has raised India’s growth forecast for 2018-19 to 7.4% from 7.3%, but cited higher financing costs and rising oil prices as risks to growth.
The rupee has been among the worst performers vis-a-vis Asian currencies this year.
For FY20, it has been estimated the country to grow at 7.5%.
BBB recommends 22 GMs for elevation as ED at PSU banks
Banks Board Bureau (BBB) recommended 22 general managers to be elevated as executive directors at the various public sector banks (PSBs).
This is the first major exercise undertaken by reconstituted BBB, headed by newly appointed Chairman BP Sharma, former Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training.
These recommendations were based on interactions held by BBB with eligible candidates from PSBs towards appointment against vacancies in PSBs for the period 2018-19.
Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister will now take the final decision in this regard.
BBB is super authority (autonomous and self-governing body) of Central Govt comprising eminent professionals and officials to improve governance of PSBs.
BBB, based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, was announced by Union Govt in Aug 2015 as part of seven point Indradhanush Mission to revamp PSBs.
It was set up in Feb 2016 under chairmanship of former CAG Vinod Rai based on recommendations of RBI-appointed Nayak Committee.
SAARC Development Fund to launch SEDP
SAARC Development Fund (SDF) will launch the social enterprise development programme (SEDP) as part of its social window.
SEDP will be implemented in all SAARC member states with an objective of identifying and building social enterprises by using mix of grants and concessional returnable capital.
It intends to fund around 80 enterprises across the 8 SAARC member states (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) annually.
SDF was established by heads of all eight SAARC member states during 16th SAARC summit at Thimphu, Bhutan in Apr 2010.
Its Governing Council comprises finance ministers of these eight countries.
It is successor of South Asian Development Fund (SADF), which was launched in 1996 by merging two existing facilities called SAARC Fund for Regional Projects (SFRP) and SAARC Regional Fund.
Conference on implementation of NPS held in New Delhi
The conference on implementation of National Pension System (NPS) by the Central Autonomous Bodies (CABs) held in New Delhi.
It was organized by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
It is aimed to provide a forum to all the CABs, where the progress in the implementation of NPS with respect to compliance of timelines in various NPS related activities could be brought to the fore and a way forward could be provided.
India ranks 177 in the 2018 Global Environment Performance Index
India has been ranked at 177 among the 180 nations at the 2018 Global Environment Performance Index (EPI) rankings.
Switzerland topped the green rankings followed by France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden.
As per State of India’s Environment (SoE) 2018 in figures, India scored 5.75 out of 100 in air quality.
The SoE in figures is an annual compendium of environmental statistics put together by Down To Earth magazine, which Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) helps publish.
The 2018 EPI provides a quantitative basis for comparing, analyzing, and understanding environmental performance for 180 countries.
Muthoot Fincorp, NSDC to train 10,000 youth under PMKVY
Muthoot Fincorp Limited has announced its partnership with National Skill Development Corporation to train over 10,000 youth over the next three years and make them job ready.
With this partnership, Muthoot Fincorp claims to have become the first major private sector player to partner with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to launch the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY.2) programme.
Under the scheme, Muthoot Fincorp targets to train over 10,000 people over the next three years and make them job ready.
NSDC has approved a target of 3,000 candidates in the first year and 3,500 each in the subsequent two years.
The programme will equip these candidates with job-ready skills to access steady income opportunity in the NBFC space in India.
PMKVY is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
The objective of this Skill Certification Scheme is to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood.
The BFSI sector is likely to become the fifth largest in the world by the year 2020 and third largest by the year 2025.
US to discuss key military agreement with India
The team of specialists from US has held meeting with their counterparts on Indian side in New Delhi to negotiate text of Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), a foundational military communications agreement.
This meeting was held as part of preparations for 2+2 dialogue between foreign and defence ministers of India and US scheduled to be held in Washington in Jul 2018.
India was not keen on signing two other foundational agreements — COMCASA and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA) after it had signed military logistics agreement with US in 2016.
COMCASA is one of the three foundational agreements that guide US high technology cooperation in defence sector with other countries.
It was earlier called Communication and Information on Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) before name was changed to reflect its India-specific nature.
Other two agreements are Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and BECA.
Dhanush artillery gun clears third and final trials
The indigenously upgraded artillery gun, Dhanush has successfully completed final user trials and is now ready for induction into Indian Army.
During third and final phase of user exploitation firings conducted from May 31 to June 7, 2018 at Pokhran field firing range, six Dhanush guns were fired in battery formation with 301 rounds each.
Dhanush artillery gun has been tested in all terrains.
Dhanush is upgraded version of Swedish 155-mm Bofors howitzers, which India procured in the mid-1980s, based on its original designs.
It is also called desi Bofors.
It has been developed by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Kolkata based on requirements of Indian Army and manufactured by Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory (GCF).
Russia launches Glonass-M satellite
Russia successfully launched Glonass-M positioning satellite on board of Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk space centre in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast.
The satellite is part of GLONASS network GLONASS (Russian acronym for Global Navigation Satellite System) which provides real-time positioning data for surface, sea and airborne objects around globe, at accuracy reportedly at par with US Global Positioning System (GPS).
There are now total 26 Glonass satellites in orbit.
Glonass-M satellite was built by Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems (formerly NPO-PM).
Glonass is Russian Satellite Navigation System considered as counterpart to GPS of US, Galileo of European Union (EU) and Beidou of China.
“The Ivory Throne : Chronicles of the House of Travancore” Book launched
The book “The Ivory Throne : Chronicles of the House of Travancore” authored by Manu S. Pillai has been launched.
The book is a critically acclaimed 700-page history of Kerala focused on the last woman Maharajah of Travancore.
It won him the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2017.
Meghana Shanbough becomes sixth female fighter pilot
Flying Officer Meghana Shanbough MR has become the sixth female fighter pilot to join the ranks of Indian Air Force (IAF).
She is the first from Karnataka and South India.
She graduates from the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Dundigal.
The other fighter pilots: Avani Chaturvedi from Madhya Pradesh, Bhawana Kanth from Bihar and Mohana Singh from Rajasthan have already scripted history by becoming the first-ever women to undergo fighter pilot training in IAF at Hakimpet Air Force station in Hyderabad.
Dhivya Suryadevara named CFO of General Motors
An Indian-American woman, Dhivya Suryadevara has been named the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of the US’ largest automaker, General Motors (GM).
She will become the first woman CFO in the auto industry.
S Sundari Nanda posted as first woman DGP of Puducherry
S Sundari Nanda has been posted as the first woman Director General of Police (DGP) of Union Territory of Puducherry.
DGP Sunil Kumar Gautam has been transferred from Puducherry to the Govt of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) in place of Ms. Nanda.
Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer of the country, is the Lt Governor of the Union Territory.
Omar al-Razzaz sworn-in as new PM of Jordan
The former World Bank Economist, Omar al-Razzaz has been sworn-in as the new Prime Minister of Jordan after King Abdullah issued a decree approving the new govt.
He succeeded Hani al-Mulki, who resigned following mass protests over price hikes and other government economic policies.
Adiraju Venkateswara Rao passes away
The veteran journalist and author, Adiraju Venkateswara Rao has passed away in Hyderabad, Telangana aged 80.
He was popularly known as Adiraju, Venkateswara Rao and was born in 1938 at Panditapuram village in Khammam district.
Shujaat Bukhari passes away
The veteran journalist and editor of Srinagar based Rising Kashmir newspaper, Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside his office in the Press Enclave area of Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on June 14, 2018 at the age of 50.
Apart from Bukhari, his two personal security officers (PSOs) Hamid Chaudhary and Mumtaz Awan were also killed outside the newspaper’s office.
Bukhari was instrumental in organising several conferences for peace in the Kashmir Valley.
He was also part of the Track II process with Pakistan.
