Ivan Duque wins election to become Colombia President

  • Ivan Duque, a conservative political newcomer, was elected as Colombia’s president on Sunday, in a divisive election campaign.
  • Duque says that he wants to unite the Andean country.
  • He also says he wants to see changes to the historic but controversial peace deal agreed with Farc rebels in 2016.
  • In the election, Duque beat left-wing rival, Gustavo Petro, by 12 percentage points, securing 53.9% of the votes. Petro managed to claim 41.8% of the votes.

ICICI Bank appoints Sandeep Bakhshi as COO

  • ICICI Bank announced the appointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as Chief Operating Officer (COO).
  • CEO Chanda Kochhar will be on leave till the internal enquiry against her in the Videocon loan matter is completed.
  • Bakhshi was previously MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

World Bank approves $700m to improve primary education in Bangladesh

  • The World Bank has approved $700 million to help Bangladesh achieve education for all by improving the primary education sector.
  • The Quality Learning for All Program (QLEAP) will cover more than 18 million children studying in pre-primary level to grade 5.
  • The World Bank aid will also finance implementation of the government’s Fourth Primary Education Development Program (PEDP4).
  • The project is expected to lead to the construction of about 95,000 classrooms, teachers’ rooms and multipurpose rooms, providing recruitment to about 100,000 teachers.

Govt. to expand BPO promotion scheme to one lakh seats

  • The Indian government plans to expand its BPO promotion scheme to one lakh seats, from the current 48,000 seats.
  • It will also set up India’s largest National data centre in Bhopal with a capacity of five lakh virtual servers.
  • The initiative has not only created new job opportunities, but also ensured that people in smaller towns find employment closer to home.
  • The aim is to make India a hub for the BPO movement.

WHO classifies video game addiction as mental health disorder

  • Gaming addiction is listed as a mental health condition for the first time by the World Health Organization (WHO).
  • The WHO’s 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) will include the condition “gaming disorder”.
  • The ICD will defines gaming disorder as a pattern of gaming behavior (“digital-gaming” or “video-gaming”) characterized by impaired control over gaming.
  • According to the WHO, it can also result if increased priority is given to gaming over other activities.
  • To be diagnosed with a gaming disorder, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.

Indian Government to team up with Google for flood forecasting

  • The Central Water Commission (CWC) has tied up with Google for flood forecasting.
  • The CWC will use Google’s tech advances in the in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and geo-spatial mapping.
  • This should help in managing water resources for flood forecasting and spreading flood related information to the masses.
  • The collaboration will also result in a cultural project to build online exhibitions on the Rivers of India.

EU extends Crimea sanctions for another year

  • The European Union (EU) rolled over for another year tough sanctions imposed over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
  • The measures prohibit certain exports and imports, and ban investment and tourism services by EU-based companies in Crimea.
  • The sanctions were imposed in the wake of Russia’s annexation of the strategic Black Sea peninsula in March 2014.
  • More than 10,000 people lost their lives since insurgency broke out in eastern Ukraine in April 2014 following the annexation.

US golfer Brooks Koepka wins 2nd US Open title in as many years

  • American golfer Brooks Koepka claimed his 2nd US Open title at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Course in New York.
  • He made history becoming the first player in 29 years to win back-to-back US Open titles.
  • Koepka, the Florida native, was victorious in the gold tournament by one shot over England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
  • World number one Dustin Johnson finished third at the 2018 US Open.

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