1. In a first, women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to vote

(i) For the first time women in Saudi Arabia will able to vote and run for office at the Municipal Elections that are to be held in December 2015. As per report, around 70 women are looking to run as candidates while around 80 have registered as campaign managers.

(ii) This change in rule was approved in 2011 by late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and is to be implemented in the 2015 election.

(iii) Amnesty International said, “We can only hope that this announcement on voting will be the first in a long line of reforms that guarantee Saudi women the rights that they have been demanding for so long.”

2. Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

(i) Following the results of the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the Prime Minister on August 21.

(ii) A day before, Sri Lankan President Maithiripala Sirisena initiated the process to strike a deal between his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) for forming a national government.

(iii)Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that he would not serve as a leader of opposition but that a senior party member would take up the position.

3. India-Pacific Islands Cooperation Summit to be held in Jaipur

(i) India hosted the second Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit in Jaipur on August 21. One of the issues high on agenda was – India’s bid for permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

(ii) President Pranab Mukherjee, while addressing the heads of the Pacific Island nations said, “UNSC reform and expansion will be discussed and concrete proposals are expected to be considered in the forthcoming UNGA session next month. An inter-governmental negotiating text is already on the table, for which India needs their support.”

(iii) So far, 12 of the 14 Pacific Island nations have voted at the United Nations and India asserts it has “firm stated commitment of support” from at least 10 of these. Of the two countries that are yet to support India’s claim, one supports the G4 resolution, which indirectly supports the Indian position, while the other is yet to announce its stand.

4. China to build $10 billion nuclear plant in Pakistan

(i) Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the construction work of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant II (Kanupp II), for which the estimated cost is $10 billion. The plant will be built with the assistance of China.

(ii) Sharif said that the project is an example of the healthy friendship between Pakistan and China and that he is thankful for continued support from the Chinese government.

(iii)This project has the capacity to produce 1,100 MW electricity.

5. Small finance bank licences to be announced in September

(i) After granting in principle approval to 11 entities to set up payments banks, the RBI is now set to announce small finance bank licences next month.

(ii) RBI Governor, Raghuram Rajan informed that the central bank had received 72 applications for small finance bank licences and 41 applications for payments bank. He asserted that these banks would not pose any competitive threat to the existing banks and would rather serve as ‘feeder’ for the universal banks.

(iii) Small finance banks will provide basic banking services like accepting deposits and lending to sections that fall outside the banking net including small farmers, micro business enterprises, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities.

6. Aditya Birla Group launches Bizlabs

(i) With the aim of collaborating with innovative start-ups and providing them an opportunity to scale up in the large operating business environment, the Aditya Birla Group has launched a new initiative – Bizlabs.

(ii) Start-ups offering innovative solutions in the areas of retail, financial services and mobility will be considered. The short-listed candidates will have an access to CEOs and other top leaders of the group. Bizlabs, a 20-day programme, will also give them the opportunity to network with reputed industry experts.

(iii) Dev Bhattacharya, Group Executive President, Aditya Birla Group said that the objective at Aditya Birla Bizlabs is to enable the combination of the technology and ingenuity of the start-up ecosystem with the power and reach of the group’s businesses to create a platform that will foster growth and rapidly scale up businesses.

7. Viral Jani to head TV partnerships at Twitter India

(i) To enhance audience engagement, Twitter India has appointed Viral Jani as head of TV partnerships who would work on establishing strategic collaborations with TV channels in India.

(ii) Jani has over 12 years’ experience in the media industry. He has previously worked at broadcasting group Times Television Network and played a critical role in building a strong social media presence for their channels – Times Now, Zoom and ET Now. Prior to that he has handled assignments for media houses in India like NDTV, Disney, Viacom and Mindshare.

8. Intel releases Stephen Hawking’s speech system to the public for free

(i) Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking developed a speech system known as the Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit (ACAT), which enables him to communicate by translating his facial movements into text. Hawking suffers from a condition called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that left him almost completely paralysed and he relies on this software to not only communicate but also browse the Internet.

(ii) Intel, has released this speech system to the public for free as an open source code.

(iii) This development is expected to help ALS sufferers or differently-abled people with very little movement use computers.

9. ‘Drinkable Book’ – an inexpensive way to sanitise water

(i) Brainchild of Theresa Dankovich, a student at the Carnegie Mellon University in US, the Drinkable Book is a simple and inexpensive way to sanitise water.

(ii) She developed ‘pAge drinking paper’, which is a sturdy sheet of paper loaded with silver and copper nanoparticles that can kill bacteria from water and each page can purify up to 100 litres of water.

(iii) During trials, the paper successfully removed more than 99% of bacteria from the water being tested.

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