NEWS 28-08-2019. NEWS FOR 30-AUG (FRIDAY) 1. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Group has placed Pakistan on its Blacklist of Asia Pacific Group for its failure in meeting the required global standards; and combating terrorism and money laundering. The listing will be finalised in October by FATF HQ after reviewing the regional reports. 2. The former finance minister, Mr P. Chidambaram has been arrested in the INX Media case, for allegedly accepting a bribe from Peter and Indrani Mukherjee to sanction their loan for their INX channel, now known as 9XM. 3. Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister passed away after days on life support. 4. Nirmala Sitharaman slashed off the surcharge that she had introduced in her maiden budget, to attract more FDI and also slashed the registration fees for automotive vehicles to promote growth. 5. PM Modi visited France, UAE and Bahrain before the G7 summit. a) He received the ‘Order of Zayed’ award from the Prince of UAE. Also, he launched the RuPay card in UAE like he did in Bhutan. b) He received the ‘Order-First Class’ (King Hamad order of Renaissance) from Bahrain’s King and signed various MOUs which included Bahrain receiving assistance from ISRO to make a satellite for them. 6. The G7: a) Member countries: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United States. b) Was held in Biarritz, France. c) India is not a part but had a special invitation from the French President as they were the host. d) There was a surprise visit from Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad on the invitation of the French President, Emmanuel Macron. e) Highlights of the summit : i. US President Donald Trump pressed the G7 group to reinstate Russia as a permanent member of the group. ii. Donald Trump said that he was open to meet Iran’s President under the right circumstances to end the confrontations over the 2015 nuclear deal. However, he didn’t express his views on the sanctions on Iran. iii. Trump agreed to end the trade war after receiving requests from the member countries. iv. Donald Trump skipped the climate change meeting and said that his economy is based on artificial energy exports and he is not going to give up on that. v. Modi made it clear to the world that the Indo-Pak issues will be resolved between the two nations and no third parties’ interventions is required. vi. The G7 leaders confirmed the existence and importance of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 on Hong Kong and called for violence to be avoided. vii. US President Donald Trump vowed to work out a very big trade deal, bigger than ever with the United Kingdom after Brexit. viii. US President Donald Trump announced locking of a new trade agreement with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to secure market access for several American agricultural goods and Japan has agreed to purchase large sums of corn from the US. 7. P.V. Sindhu won gold at the Badminton World Championship and is the first Indian to do so. 8. Amazon Rain Forest was faced with the biggest and the longest lasting forest fire in the history. The scientists said this fire has resulted in the loss of about 20% of the earth’s Oxygen. This issue was also discussed at the G7 and Brazil said that they will handle this issue on their own. < < Back