Who won the 'Vimala V Pai Vishwa' Konkani best book award for the year 2018 recently?

United States Cricket Team won their first one-day international status with a third straight victory at the World Cricket League Division Two event in Namibia. The Americans defeated Hong Kong by 84 runs. Xavier Marshall, former West Indies batsman scored a century as the Americans made 280-8 while Hong Kong scored 196-7 respectively. Oman has also secured their ODI status.

West Indies player John Campbell and Shai Hope created the history by making first-ever 350 plus run opening stand against Ireland. Both players shared 365 runs for the first wicket and also become the only opening pair to score 150 runs each in one inning of a 50-over match. The venue of the match was Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin, Ireland.Previously, the highest first wicket opening stand was 304 runs in ODI cricket by Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq against Zimbabwe in 2018.

The Japanese scientists have successfully created the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid 'Ryugu'. It's a step towards shedding light on how the solar system evolved. The announcement comes after the Hayabusa2 probe fired an explosive device at the Ryugu asteroid early this month to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material. The aim of blasting the crater on Ryugu is to throw up "fresh" material from under the asteroid's surface that could shed light on the early stages of the solar system. The asteroid is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water from some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was born. The Ryugu asteroid is around 340 million kilometers from Earth.

India and Bangladesh agreed to jointly produce the film based on the life and works of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and documentary of Bangladesh Liberation War 1971. The delegation from Bangladesh side led by Dr. Gowher Rizvi, Adviser to Prime Minister of Bangladesh met Amit Khare, Secretary of Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The co-production of film was earlier announced by the PM of both India and Bangladesh. The movie will be directed by Shyam Benegal and the scriptwriter of the movie will be Atul Tiwari and the director of the documentary will be from Bangladesh who would be assisted by a co-director from India.

Around 180 member countries, except the United States, amended the 1989 Basel Convention to include plastic waste, a decision that aims to protect environment and human health from the damaging effects of harmful chemicals and waste. The decision was taken during the 14th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam & Stockholm Conventions under the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Geneva, Switzerland. Around 1,400 representatives deliberated on this pressing environmental issue for 12 days before reaching to the conclusion. The meeting was held under the theme of "Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste".

Veteran actor Anupam Kher was honoured as a 'Distinguished Fellow' by IndiaGlobal - a leading US think-tank that works on issues concerning non-resident Indians. The actor was given a fellowship at the 3rd IndiaGlobal Summit. The event was held at the prestigious MIT Sloan School of Management in Boston, and was facilitated by MIT Sloan India Business Club.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2018 to William D. Nordhaus "for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis" and Paul M. Romer "for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis".

Rachana - Catholic Chamber of Commerce and Industry selected 6 eminent people for the Rachana Awards 2018. The award ceremony would take place in at Milagres Jubilee Hall on November 17, 2018 in Mangaluru. The 6 selected awardees are: Aloysius Richard Lobo for Rachana NRI of the Year award, Lawrence Pinto for Rachana Agriculturist of the Year award, Ronald Castelino for Rachana Entrepreneur of the Year award, Faye D'Souza from Mirror now for Rachana Professional of the Year award. Sr Maria Jyothi AC for Rachana Woman of the Year award.

Stanford University has been named the World's Most Innovative University for the fourth consecutive year in Reuters' ranking of World's Most Innovative Universities. This list ranks educational institutions based on new technologies they have invented and new markets and industries they have powered. Stanford University is followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania.

The Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar won the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award for being the best airport in size and region (2-5 million passengers in Asia-Pacific) for the year 2018. It has been chosen for the award by the Airports Council International. Chandigarh Airport, Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport in Indore, SM Badaruddin II Airport in Indonesia, SS Kasim II Airport in Indonesia and Yichang Sanxia Airport in China were also chosen for the award. The award is given on the basis of independent survey among passengers on the parameters of security, safety, experience, ambience, ease of availability and cleanliness.