 Mongolia broke ground for the construction of country’s first oil refinery with the help of a USD 1 billion loan from India. Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the refinery at ‘Stantsiin Hooloi’ and described it as an important milestone in the bilateral ties. The Prime Minister of Mongolia, Ukhnaagin Khurelsukh and other dignitaries were present during the event. The home minister is on a three-day visit to Mongolia to further strengthen India’s relations with Mongolia and security cooperation. |
| Source- DD News |
 President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Cuba on the final leg of his three-nation tour to Greece, Suriname and Cuba. He is accompanied by a delegation including Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai. Mr Kovind was received in Santiago by Vice President of Cuba, Ms Beatriz Johnson. The President was escorted first to the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery where he witnessed Change of Guards ceremony. He then paid respects to Jose Marti Memorial. Jose Marti was Cuba’s legendary poet who led the 1895 Cuban revolution. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 India and Tajikistan have reaffirmed their commitment to promote bilateral relations and agreed to enhance economic cooperation, particularly in sustainable water development. Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport & Highways and Shipping held wide-ranging talks with Sirodjidin Muhridin, Foreign Minister of Tajikistan in Dushanbe. The two leaders underlined the need to give further impetus to the ongoing bilateral cooperation in various fields and agreed to enhance mutual cooperation in the area of sustainable water development. Mr Gadkari is in Dushanbe to represent India at the high-level global conference on “International Decade for Action: Water for Sustainable Development”. |
| Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB) |
 The Parliament of Canada has passed Cannabis Act (or Bill C-45), a landmark law that legalizes recreational use of marijuana (a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant intended for medical or recreational use) nationwide. It makes Canada the first G7 country to legalise the drug’s recreational use and the second to have a nationwide, legal marijuana market, after Uruguay (permitted in December 2013). |
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 The 15th annual Asia and Oceania Region Inter-Governmental Ministerial meeting on anti-doping was held in Colombo with representatives from 29 countries including India. The 15th such annual gathering is also being attended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to discuss important anti-doping issues that will help in the fight for clean sport. The two-day meeting will discuss how to make the most of government engagement, ensure compliance with the world anti-doping code, support capacity building and a range of other topics. |
| Source- DD News |
 Nikki Haley, the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations announced the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), accusing the council of bias against US ally Israel. Ms Haley also accused the council of maintaining a “disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel" that shows it is "motivated by political bias, not by human rights". The US withdrawal from the council marks the first time that a member has voluntarily left the UNHRC. A sitting member of the Council has never dropped out in its 12-year history, though Libya was thrown out after a vote from the General Assembly in 2011. |
| Source- The Guardian |
 US scientists have unveiled the world's most powerful and smartest scientific supercomputer named 'Summit' that can complete over 200,000 trillion calculations per second - providing unprecedented computing power for research in energy, advanced materials and artificial intelligence (AI). The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)supercomputer called Summit will be eight times more powerful than its previous top-ranked system, Titan. |
| Source- The Economic Times |
 According to updated count by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the number of nuclear warheads with nine nuclear countries has reduced from 14,935 at start of 2017 to 14,465 at start of 2018. These nine countries are United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. SIPRI is an independent think tank that uses open sources to compile such data since 1966. |
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 The World Sustainable Gastronomy Day is observed every year on June 18 across the world. The day acknowledges gastronomy as cultural expression related to natural and cultural diversity of the world. It also reaffirms that all cultures and civilizations are contributors and crucial enablers of sustainable development. |
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 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has left for a 4-nation tour to Italy, France, Luxembourg and Belgium. On her first leg of the tour, she will visit Italy. It will be the first major political exchange between India and Italy following the swearing- in of Mr Giuseppe Conte as Italy’s new Prime Minister. She will be in France on the second leg and will meet her counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris to review the bilateral relations. Mrs Swaraj will reach Luxembourg on the 3rd leg and she will be visiting Belgium on the last and 4th leg. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
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