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Anshula Kant, Managing Director of State Bank of India (SBI), has been appointed as MD and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the World Bank (WB). She will be responsible for financial and risk management of the organisation. Her work will include oversight of financial reporting, risk management, and working closely with the World Bank CEO on the mobilization of the International Development Association (IDA) and other financial resources. IDA is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries.

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In Tennis, Serbian Novak Djokovic won his fifth Wimbledon title after defeating Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 in a match that lasted for more than 4 hours. The match had to be decided in the fifth set, as both Federer and Djokovic won two sets each in the longest ever final to be played so far. This is Djokovic’s 16th Grand Slam and 5th Wimbledon title. He is now level with Bjorn Borg as a five-time Wimbledon winner.

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The L&T Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (LTIF) has become the first Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) to get $100 million loan from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for on-lending to wind and solar power infrastructure projects in India. LTIF is a subsidiary of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd and a leading non-bank financier of renewable energy in India. The loan mobilises private capital from sponsors, other financiers and LTIF’s own sources. India is committed to reducing its carbon intensity by 30-35% of the 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris agreement.

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The Union Environment Ministry has selected 12 beaches in India to vie for a ‘Blue Flag’ certification. These beaches are at Shivrajpur (Gujarat), Bhogave (Maharashtra), Ghoghla (Diu), Miramar (Goa), Kasarkod and Padubidri (Karnataka), Kappad (Kerala), Eden (Puducherry), Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu), Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh), Golden (Odisha), and Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands). The Blue Flag certification is an international recognition conferred on beaches that meet certain criteria of cleanliness and environmental propriety. The Blue Flag Programme for beaches and marinas is run by a Denmark-based organization – Federation of Environment Education (FEE).There are nearly 33 criteria that must be met to qualify for a Blue Flag certification, such as the water meeting certain quality standards, having waste disposal facilities, being disabled- friendly, have first aid equipment, and no access to pets in the main areas of the beach. Some criteria are voluntary and some compulsory.

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The Sangeet Natak Akademi has named four eminent personalities in the field of performing arts – tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, dancer Sonal Mansingh, dancer and choreographer Jatin Goswami and Bharatnatyam exponent K. Kalyanasundaram Pillai – for the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellow or Akademi Ratna awards. The Fellowship of the Akademi is the most prestigious and a rare honour, which is restricted to 40 numbers at any given time. The General Council meeting of the Sangeet Natak Akademi also selected 44 artistes from the field of music, dance, theatre, traditional / folk / tribal music/ dance/ theatre, puppetry and overall contribution / scholarship in the performing arts for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2018. The artistes include, Mani Prasad in Hindustani Vocal, Tarun Bhattacharya for Hindustani Instrumental – Santoor, Radha Sridhar for Bharatanatyam, Akham Lakshmi Devi for Manipuri, Rajiv Naik for Playwriting and Malini Awasthi in Folk Music. The 44 artistes include three joint awards.

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The Delhi government has recently launched “Happiness Utsav” in its schools to celebrate completion of a year of introduction of its happiness curriculum. During the festival, the first 50 minutes of each day, all children studying in Delhi govt schools will take part in various activities. Activities like plays, poems, exhibitions will be part of the 15-day festival which will culminate in a grand ceremony. During the fest, the morning assembly session and the first period will be combined to conduct activities.

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The Maharashtra government has recently increased financial aid to families of jawans martyred in war or war-like situations or conflict related to national security from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Personnel wounded in conflict will get monetary compensation ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 60 lakh each, depending on the severity of their injury. The rule will be applicable retrospectively from January 1, 2019.

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SIDBI has introduced web-based application system for contribution from Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS). The applications for contribution from various Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) will now be accepted online and the status of the same shall be accessible to applicants, thereby increasing the transparency in the system. The provision of submission of online application will be on the home page of SIDBI. To begin with the application process, the AIF should create an account, fill in the details and submit the application form online along with the required supporting documents. SIDBI is the implementing agency for FFS with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore on behalf of the Government of India (GoI).

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The outbreak in DR Congo has killed more than 1,600 people. The outbreak, the second largest in history, started in August 2018 and is affecting two provinces in DR Congo – North Kivu and Ituri. This is the fifth such declaration in history. Previous emergencies were declared for the devastating 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, the emergence of Zika in the Americas, the swine flu pandemic and polio. Ebola is a virus that initially causes sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and a sore throat. It progresses to vomiting, diarrhoea and both internal and external bleeding. People are infected when they have direct contact through broken skin, or the mouth and nose, with the blood, vomit, faeces or bodily fluids of someone with Ebola. Patients tend to die from dehydration and multiple organ failure.

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The Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP) has been granted the status of a Full Member of the BCCI by the Committee of Administrators (CoA). CAP will now become a voting member of the BCCI. It was given Associate Member status in October 2018 and went on to take part in the Ranji Trophy and other age-group tournaments of the Board.