Social media giant Facebook apparently formed a new financial tech firm, Libra Networks LLC, in Geneva, Switzerland. Libra Networks was registered in Geneva by Facebook Global Holdings II LLC. Facebook registered the trademark “Libra” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office back in June, which was reportedly part of its secretive in-house crypto project.
Ride-hailing company Ola has launched Ola Money SBI Credit Card in partnership with SBI Card, one of India’s largest credit card issuers. Powered by Visa, the Bangalore-based company aims to provide a flexible and convenient payment system alongside several benefits to its customers. Ola is targeting 10 million Ola Money SBI Credit Cards by 2022.
Oman Author Jokha Al Harthi won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for “Celestial Bodies”, the story of three sisters of a desert country confronting its slave-owning past and a complex modern world. Jokha Alharthi, the first Arabic-language writer to take the prize, will split the 50,000 pounds or 64,000 US dollar purse with her UK-based translator, Marilyn Booth.
Saray Khumalo became the first black African women to conquer Mt. Everest in her fourth attempt. She climbed the 8,848 meter mountain after three previous attempts. She was born in Zambia and now is a Johannesburg resident. She has also conquered Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Aconcagua in Argentina and Mount Elbrus in Russia.
Taiwan Expo 2019 began in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre Tien Chung-Kwang and Chairman of Taiwan External Trade Development Council, TAITRA James CF Huang inaugurated the three-day event in the presence of Joint Secretary Praveen Bonigala and ITPO Chairman LC Goyal. There are 10 theme pavilions at the expo focusing on green products, health care, agriculture, tourism, biotechnology and electrical equipment.
The World Bank and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) have teamed up to enable recording of secondary market bond trading using blockchain tech. The institutions announced that their successful recording of a secondary transaction for bond-i, a blockchain-operated debt instrument, on a distributed ledger shows the “vast potential” of the technology, and marks the first bond to have both issuance and trading recorded on a blockchain platform.
IT major, Tech Mahindra has signed a defence contract worth Rs.300 crore with Indian Navy. This contract is its biggest agreement to date. The IT major will implement RFID-based access control system across all naval bases and ships as part of ‘Armed Forces Secure Access Card (AFSAC)’ Project. AFSAC will replace the existing paper-based identity card for all Navy personnel, including dependents and ex-servicemen. As part of the AFSAC Project, Tech Mahindra will implement RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based access control system across all naval bases and ships.
The UN General Assembly proclaimed 22 May, the date of the adoption of its text, as the International Day for Biological Diversity on 20 December 2000. The theme for International Day for Biological Diversity 2019 is ‘Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health’.
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