What's Happening Around The World : August 24 - August 30

• Arun Jaitley has made a tall claim that the government now has the mapping of 99% of the total money in the market to its owners. How? Well, RBI and government issued a statement that 99% of the demonetized money is back into the system.
• The dream of connecting rural India to the elusive world of internet is now a step closer to reality. The telecom ministry, under its new scheme, provided internet connections to 31,680 gram panchayats till August 28. How will each villager leverage this scheme still remains unanswered.
• In a baffling move, the Chinese state media has lauded India for its success in containing the radical Islam which otherwise seems to plague almost all the South Asian countries.

• Let’s go global:
• USA is still reeling under the ill effects of Hurricane Harvey. The cowboy-fabled state of Texas has been hit the most. Thousands are stranded wherever they were just before the storm touched down. Luckier are those who are trapped in their own homes.
• The Japanese were recently petrified by a war missile taking trajectory right above their heads. The fact that the missile had its source as North Korea terrified both the Japanese government and the denizens even more.
• The Spanish retail magnum, co-founder of Zara – Amancio Ortega had a feathery touch on the numero uno spot in the list of the richest persons of the world after which Bill Gates climbed back to the no. 1 position. A few months ago, Jeff Bezos too had his moment at the top of the same hill but then Bill Gates is Bill Gates!

• From the world of marketing:
• The fledgeling automobile brand Skoda India made an evident competitive move to the launch of Hyundai’s New Verna and Maruti Suzuki’s latest launch of Ciaz S in the form of a super sporty mid-sized sedan Monte Carlo (Yes! The name has all that thrill in it).
• Amazon Prime seems to have pipped its competitors in the SVoD (Subscription Video on Demand) space by signing a deal with Salman Khan to be the exclusive broadcaster of all his future movies right after their theatrical releases giving themselves a window of at least 2 months to be the sole broadcaster of his movies even before that happens on TV.

• A peek into the Politics:
• Theresa May has been outstandingly vocal in her condemnation of North Korea’s act of launching a missile that flew over a Japanese island. She’s vouched for greater sanctions on North Korea. She, who abstains from being orally overt on even key British matters, certainly has some future dividends in mind when she spoke out on the matter.
• The tension in Turkey was on the rise in the past week amid the civic protests on a huge scale to oust the incumbent president. Istanbul, which has maintained a safe distance from the tides of the Arab springs till recently, seems to have arrived right at the edge of the quagmire that almost each of the Middle-Eastern state is into.

This is it for this week. Happy Reading!