Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission approves modern animal-free testing for drugs

  • The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) has approved modern, animal-free tests for drug manufacturers.
  • Indian Pharmacopoeia provides guidelines on tests for drugs manufactured and marketed in India.
  • In the 2018 edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia, the IPC has replaced the Pyrogen Test carried out on rabbits, and the Abnormal Toxicity Test carried out on guinea pigs and mice, with tests that can be done in test tubes.
  • The Pyrogen Test is done to see the side effects of a drug or medication.
  • The Abnormal Toxicity Test is done to see whether vaccines are contaminated.
  • The guidelines in the edition will come into effect from July 1.

Madhya Pradesh launches India’s first Integrated Control and Command Centre for its smart cities

  • The Madhya Pradesh government has launched the country’s first cloud-based Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) for all seven of its smart cities.
  • The seven smart cities in Madhya Pradesh under this scheme are Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Satna, and Sagar.
  • This project will enable the authorities to monitor the status of various smart civic amenities in real-time.
  • Overall, 99 cities across the country have been selected under the centre’s smart city mission (SCM).

Google picks Nitin Bawankule for head of India cloud business

  • Google has appointed Nitin Bawankule as the country head for its cloud business in India.
  • Bawankule has been with Google for more than six years. His previous posts with the company include head of sales for the company’s ecommerce, retail and classifieds and education business.

PM Modi 9th on Forbes’ list of most powerful people in the world

  • Narendra Modi was slated among the top 10 most powerful people in the world, according to Forbes, placing 9th on their Most Powerful people list.
  • Number one on the list is Chinese President Xi Jinping. He replaced Russian President Vladimir Putin as the most influential person on the planet.
  • Interestingly, PM Modi is ahead of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (ranked 13), United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May (14), Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (15) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (24).
  • Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani, who has a net worth of $41.2 billion, is the only other Indian on the list, coming in at 32nd spot.
  • Microsoft’s India-born CEO Satya Nadella is 40th.

Facebook appoints product executive Chris Daniels to take over WhatsApp

  • Facebook has changed it structure a little after it came under fire for data privacy, and recently WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum announced his departure.
  • Chris Daniels will be put in charge of WhatsApp.
  • He was previously the VP of Facebook’s Internet.org, which was a free or an affordable version of Facebook on the internet aimed at bringing more people online.
  • In Feb 2014 Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion.

NASA, Uber team up for flying cars

  • Uber and NASA have tied up to make flying cars a reality.
  • The two companies will join forces to simulate flying taxis in urban areas.
  • In 2016, Uber unveiled plans to develop electric flying cars to help improve transportation in cities. A year later, NASA joined the programme and started developing an air traffic management system.
  • Uber and NASA are aiming for commercial trips to be available in 2023.

Walmart acquires Flipkart for $16 bn in world’s largest e-commerce deal

  • American retail giant Walmart Inc. has acquired a 77% stake in domestic online retailer Flipkart for $16 billion (Rs 1.12 lakh crore).
  • This is the world’s largest e-commerce deal.
  • Walmart has valued Flipkart at about $21 billion (Rs 1.47 lakh crore).
  • The deal will include $2 billion of fresh investment from Walmart, to combat rival Amazon.
  • The Walmart-Flipkart deal is ahead of the $14.6-billion Bharti-Indus Towers merger and the $12.9-billion Essar Oil-Rosneft transaction. (Only the Vodafone-Idea merger was valued higher - at $23 billion.)