1. Htin Kyaw elected as first civilian President of Myanmar
(i) In a historic election, Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a close ally of Aung San Suu Kyi was elected as the first civilian leader my Myanmar’s Parliament.
(ii) Myanmar witnessed 50 years of military rule and Htin Kyaw victory is looked upon as, “Aung San Suu Kyi’s victory”.
(iii) Htin Kyaw won with 360 of the total 652 votes cast in the two houses of parliament. The second highest votes were garnered by hardliner, Myint Swe nominated by the Myanmar military, he received a total 213 votes. Swe was closely followed by Henry Van Thio, an ethnic Chin candidate who won 97 votes. Myint Swe and Henry Van Thio are to serve as as first vice-president and second vice-president respectively.
(iv) Htin Kyaw, 70, is the son of writer and poet Min Thu Wun, who had won seat for the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1990. He’s always kept a low profile and is known to have played a senior role at the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation.
2. India emerges as second biggest investor in London
(i) India recently emerged as the second biggest investor in London following US, in terms of country’s tech firms investing in London.
(ii) The latest data, released by London & Partners, the official promotional company for London shows that Indian tech firms have been investing in London at an unprecedented rate.
(iii) As per the data since 2005 there has been 117 per cent increase in Indian companies of which 113 per cent increase in tech companies investing in London, which accounts for a whooping 46 % of all projects.
(iv) The figures have revealed that Indian companies are second biggest investors, ahead of even China and Japan. Major tech investments in London include Kayako,Cigniti Technologies and many others.
3. Royal Brunei Airlines all women flight crew makes first journey to Saudi Arabia
(i) In a milestone that coincided with the Brunei National Day, three pilots of the Royal Brunei Airlines made history by being the airlines first all female flight crew.
(ii) The three women flight crew made their first journey to Saudi Arabia where women are not allowed to drive even today.
(iii) The flight Captain was Sharifah Czarena, assisted by Senior First Officers Sariana Nordin and Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem. The captain of the flight, Czarena is trained in UK and became the first Royal Brunei pilot to fly out of London in its flagship Boeing 787 Dreamliner in December 2013.
(iv) On this occasion she said, “As a woman, a Bruneian woman, it is such a great achievement. It’s really showing the younger generation or the girls especially that whatever they dream of, they can achieve it.”
4. World’s first fully electric double decker bus launched in London
(i) In a recent development, the World’s first fully electric double decker bus was launched in London, UK. The bus services which was launched by London’s transport authority is expected to start service from April 2016 in London.
(ii)The buses have been made by China automaker BYD, and as per the Chinese manufacturing company it represents breakthrough in Public transportation.
(iii)On this occasion, Managing Director of BYD Auto Europe Isbrand Ho said, “This is actually the first double-decker, fully electric vehicle that can travel 190 miles (306km) in the world – bar none.”
(iv) The bus is expected to help in controlling London’s dire air pollution problem. It has the ability to carry 81 passengers for 306 km before it is re-charged, which requires four hours.
5. LSE Group in tie up with Deutsche Boerse
(i) In what is termed as an industry defining combination, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) agreed terms for a merger of equals with the Deutsche Boerse. The tie up is expected to create one of the world’s largest exchange companies with a combined value of about £21billion.
(ii) As per the agreement, LSE shareholders will own 45.6% of the new holding company, while Deutsche Boerse shareholders will own 54.4%. The LSE Group already owns Milan based Borsa Italiana.
(iii) The two exchanges said the, “combination of London, Frankfurt and Milan will provide a platform for financing and promoting economic growth of European companies and be an attractive offering to Asian and US companies looking to access investors and capital”.
6. 14 Indian origin investors in top 100 global venture capitalists
(i) As per the recent findings of CB Insights, a research firm which tracks Venture Capitalist and angel investments, fourteen Indian origin investors have made it to the top100 global venture capitalists.
(ii) Peter Fenton’s Benchmark capital tops the World’s top100 venture capitalist followed by Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures and Chris Sacca’s Lowercase Capital.
(iii) Sameer Gandhi of Accel Partners ranked 25, in addition to being the top- ranked Indian origin investors of the 14. The report evaluated investors on the basis of their investments since 2008.
7. ICICI Bank launches ‘iTap’
(i) India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank recently launched, iTap, mobile solution based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology which permits the customers to make their payments with their linked cards to the banks’ pockets, by just tapping the mobile phones.
(ii) Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said this was one a step ahead of the tap-and-pay solution the bank had been offering.
(iii) To avail the service, a customer need not carry a card at the time of payment as long as the card is linked to pockets. Pockets, is a digital banking service offered by ICICI Bank which has had about 3.3 million downloads so far.
8. March 15 observed as World Consumer Rights Day
(i) Every year March 15 is observed as the World Consumer Right Day, with the view to raise global awareness about consumer rights.
(ii) On March 15, 1962 John F Kennedy addressed the US Congress on the issue of consumer rights, following which Consumer Movement marked this day to promote the consumer rights and create global awareness about the same.
(iii) The 2016 theme on World Consumer Rights Day is “antibiotics off the menu” with consumer rights movement organising around the world for fast food companies to make a global commitment to stop the sale of meat raised with the routine use of antibiotics important to human medicine.
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