People were highly dissatisfied by the results as they considered it to be highly undemocratic to give her the highest position of the state without any vote for or against her.  As the election was reserved for Malays the other two contenders couldn’t fit in the eligibility list. HalimahYacob, daughter of a watchman who passed away when she was only 8 years old, had to go through a lot in her early life before she became a politician for People’s Action party which is the current ruling party of Singapore.

On the day of Oath taking Madam Yacob mentioned in her speech “We need every Singaporean to stand together shoulder to shoulder.” She laid emphasis on similarities rather than differences. Further, she talked about the racial differences that exist in Singapore and also added that she wants Singaporeans to elect their presidents naturally and regularly regardless of which race they belong to. “I am president for everyone. Although there’s no election, my commitment to serve you remains the same.” she said at the Oath ceremony.

However, as the President of Singapore her role is largely ceremonial, she has the president’s veto powers on key government appointments and other aspects related to the country’s financial reserves. Her appointment as the president of Singapore has brought in a lot of criticism even on social media by different leaders and social activists who have called her election to such a high post an undemocratic move. Many have criticized this electoral process as they feel the Singaporeans have been betrayed by having no say in who becomes the next head of their state.

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Who was the First Woman President of Singapore? appeared first on World Infi.

Foreign Degrees

Ratan Tata did his schooling from the Bishop Cotton School, Shimla and Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai. He then went on to get a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Cornell University, New York and further completed his Advanced Management Program from the very prestigious Harvard Business School.

Wealthier Than the Richest?

Ratan Tata is said to be richer than the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos but is never named in any “Richest persons of…” lists. This is because 65% of the group’s fortune is given away as charity to various charitable organizations and very little is added to Mr. Tata’s personal financial accounts.

Donation to His Alma Mater

In 2010, Ratan Tata through the Tata group donated $50 million (₹2.2 billion) to his alma mater, the Harvard Business School. The money was used to construct an academic block devoted to the Harvard Business School’s mid-career Executive Education programs. The amount received by the institution is the largest from an international donor.

Honorary Doctorates

Ratan Tata has double digit honorary doctorates from many prestigious universities from around the world like the Yale University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Also he has received citizen honors and awards for excellence from nations like the United Kingdom, France and Italy.

Passion for Cars

From driving owned cars himself to acquiring motor giants like Jaguar Land Rover, one can perceive the love Ratan Tata has for cars. He is seen driving his cars like his red Ferrari California and other luxurious cars he owns rather than sitting on the backseat. The acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover Automotive by the Tata Group came in the same year in which Ratan Tata’s dream car Nano was showcased in the Delhi Auto Expo. Nano was labelled by Mr. Tata as the “People’s car” because of its cheap price tag.

Keen Aviator

Apart from being a passionate car enthusiast, Ratan Tata is also a trained pilot. J.R.D. Tata, the chairman of Tata group before Ratan Tata was India’s first qualified pilot and his passion was passed on to Ratan Tata. He sealed a deal with AirAsia when he flew their chief executive officer in a private jet to Delhi.

He is really the “ratan” of India from controlling the tea industry to the steel industry, the man has done wonders for the Tata group’s business in every possible sphere and made the company a global brand. His personality and attitude can be summed up in his own words through his quote, “I don’t believe in taking right decisions… I take decisions and then make them right.”

Featured Image Source: Bloomberg

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Interesting facts about Ratan Tata appeared first on World Infi.

Rakesh Sharma was born on 13 January, 1949 in Punjab,India. He joined the Air Force in 1966 when he was 18 years old. Soon, in the same year, he was admitted to National Defence Academy as an Air Force cadet. After proving that he is one dedicated student, he was sent to the Indian Air Force to become a pilot in 1970.

He flew aircrafts like Mikoyan-Gurevich from 1971. It wasn’t until 1984 that he was chosen by the Indian Air Force as the Squadron Leader and pilot. He was soon selected in 1982 to become a cosmonaut and go to space in a program by ISRO and Soviet Intercosmos space program.

Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 was launched on April 1984 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The pilot of the rocket was Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to enter space. The crew of the ship included the Commander YuryMalyshev and Engineer Gennadi Strekalov. He spent around 7 days in the space station. He worked mainly on bio-medicine and remote sensing.

He was later awarded with the honour of “Hero of the Soviet Union.” By the Indian government, he was awarded the highest peacetime gallantry award, “Ashoka Chakra” along with the Soviet members in the program— Malyshev and Strekalov.

Rakesh Sharma later retired as the wing commander. In 1987, he joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and until 1992 served as the Chief Test Pilot in the HAL Nashik Division. Later, he was also associated with the Light Combat Aircraft “Tejas.”

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Who Was the First Indian to Go into Space? appeared first on World Infi.

Dan Middleton

According to the Forbes Magazine, DanTDM (TheDiamondMinecraft) a.k.a Dan Middleton is the richest YouTuber in 2017 for he made $16.5 million. The 26-year-old featured in the top ten last year for the first time. This year not only is he on the top of the list but he also went for his world tour where four of the shows were sold-out at the Sydney Opera House. He started by posting videos of himself while he played Minecraft and Pokemon.

Evan Fong

Evan Fong (or VanossGaming) is a 25-year-old Canadian who makes and posts comedy videos of himself while he plays video games. He compresses hours of gaming into one video containing all the funny moments. Evan is second on the list as he earned about $15.5 million this year.

Dude Perfect

A group of five friends from high school and a Panda is Dude Perfect from Texas taking the third position in the top richest YouTubers of the world, making $14 million. They are ex-high school basketball players and post videos of comedy and sports tricks.

Logan Paul

Former Vine Star and fourth richest YouTuber is Logan Paul who posts daily blogs on his personal channel. Logan Paul earned $12.5 million in the year 2017. He is a 22-year-old who not only blogs but also makes funny reaction videos.

Felix Kjelberg

PewDiePie a.k.a. Felix Arvid Ulf Kjelberg stands on the fifth position among the richest YouTubers in 2017 with $12 million. PewDiePie has the most subscribers on YouTube and in 2016, was on top of the list. The videos he posts are him playing video games and commentating as well. Earlier this year, Felix was criticised for giving out Anti-Semantic messages through his videos which forced Disney and YouTube to cut ties with him.

Jake Paul

Started by making videos on Vine with older brother, Logan Paul, Jake Paul is a YouTuber now who makes funny videos, vlogs and music. Jake is the sixth richest YouTuber of 2017 with $11.5 million. Even though Jake has become popular a lot lately, he is more of “a villain in pop culture.”

Smosh

Smosh is a comedy channel that was started by Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. It stands at the seventh position in the richest YouTubers for earning $11 million this year. The channel became a YouTube sensation real quick for the parodied videos games. Earlier this year, in June, Anthony Padilla left Smosh and started his personal YouTube channel.

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Top 7 Richest YouTubers in the World appeared first on World Infi.

Let us begin with what an ice bucket challenge actually means- It is an act of pouring ice water on the head and then nominating other people to do it. The simple rule is to either do the challenge within 24 hours or donate money to any ALS foundation. The main motive behind this was to spread awareness about the disease- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis a.k.a. ALS. It was done to encourage people to donate for its research.

This went viral sometime in July-August of 2014 when a golfer in Sarasota, Florida, named Chris Kennedy was first nominated by a friend who did the ice bucket challenge and nominated his wife’s cousin, Jeanette Senerchia, whose husband was suffering from ALS. The friend who nominated Kennedy selected a charity which worked for the young children with cancer in that area while Kennedy chose the ALS as one of his relatives was suffering from the same. This was the first time the Ice Bucket Challenge and ALS were linked together.

Senerchia lives in a small town of Pelham, NY. The campaign spread like wildfire and soon it was also all over the internet. This led them to meet Pat Quinn from Yonkers, NY, who also had ALS. The campaign became so viral that it led them to Pete Frats in Boston who had large number of supporters in the ALS community. Pete and Pat eventually became good friends.

The ALS Association saw some unexplainable increase in donation on July 29 and August 4 but realized that something big was about to happen. Soon the organization reported to have received about $15 million from more than 307,598 donors.

The campaign really took off and drew the attention of many celebrities like Oprah, LeBron James, Bill Gates, etc.

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Who started the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? appeared first on World Infi.

Jeff Bezos

With a net worth of $98.2 billion, Jeff Bezos has become the richest person in this world after he surpassed Bill Gates this June. He started Amazon as a simple website for books which went on to become the world’s biggest online shopping site. He also owns a private space company called the Blue Origin.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft and was the CEO of the same till 2000. With a net worth of $89.4 billion, Gates is now just a board member of the company. Along with her wife, Gates founded the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.” He is also a public figure as he founded “The Giving Pledge” along with Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg which tries to encourage other billionaires across the world to donate heavy amount from their wealth to charity.

Amancio Ortega

A Spanish billionaire known to be the founder of Inditex fashion group (including Zara) is Amancio Ortega with a net worth of $83.2 billion. Ortega’s “fast fashion” became a big hit as it aims to refresh the collection twice a week in the Zara stores. Ortega is one person whose photographs were published for the first time in 1999 as he tried to stay out of the public eye.

Warren Buffet

CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet is one investment genius who started buying stocks at the age of 11 and filed tax at the age of 13. He is known as the “Oracle of Omaha” and owns about 60 companies till date. He, therefore, stands fourth on the list with a net worth of $74.3 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook is one platform everyone is fully aware of. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire at the age of 33. With a net worth of $72.2 billion, Zuckerberg ranks fifth on the list.

Carlos Slim Helu

A business tycoon and the richest person in Mexico, Carlos Slim Helú owns about 200 companies starting from banking to telecommunication. Slim’s father was a retailer and owned the company known as “Business Insider.” This was inherited by Slim after his father died. He, now, has a net worth of $69.7 billion.

Larry Ellison

A 72-year-old billionaire with a net worth of $62.1 billion is Larry Ellison who ranks seventh on the list. Ellison is the founder of the software company Oracle, for which he is also the chairman and former CEO. Ellison was the highest paid executive in American before he left his position of the CEO of the company in 2014.

Michael Bloomberg

Holding many positions is Michael Bloomberg as CEO, politicians and philanthropist. Bloomberg founded the Bloomberg L.P. which is an information and media company. As a politician, Bloomberg has served as the mayor of New York City from year 2002 to 2013. And as a philanthropist, he donated about $5 billion for certain causes. Now he ranks eighth in the list with a net worth of $53.3 billion.

Bernard Arnault

On the ninth position on the list is Bernard Arnault with a net worth of $53 billion. After starting as a civil engineer and gaining control of the family business, Arnault bought the brand Christian Dior that helped it avoid bankruptcy. He is the CEO of LVMH and is also responsible for brands like Bulgari, Sephora, Louis Vuitton and many others.

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Top 9 Richest People in the World in 2017 appeared first on World Infi.

Alice Walton

After the death of Liliane Bettencourt, Alice Walton became the world’s richest female with a net worth of $33.8 billion. She is the only daughter of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart. Even though she has not taken over the family business, she is the richest women in United States. She is the chairperson of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Jacqueline Mars

Jacqueline Mars, 26 on the Forbes’ list and 2 on the women’s list, is a 77-year-old lady who owns a third of the largest confectioners in the world. Mars’ net worth now is $27 billion. She was in the company’s board till 2016. Now she can be seen in the boards for the Washington National Opera and the National Archives and many others. She is also described as a philanthropist.

Maria Franca Fissolo

With a net worth of $25.2 million, Maria Franca Fissolo is the first European women on the list. She is the widow of Michele Ferrero from the Ferrero Roche fame. The company is now run by son and it also makes other well- known items like Nutella, Kinder, Tic- Tacs and many more.

Susanne Klatten

The 55-year-old German, Susanne Klatten, is the owner of mixture of cars and pharmaceuticals that has made her net worth $20.4 billion. When her parents died, she inherited about 50% of the chemical company and along with her brother she also owns 50% of BMW.

Laurene Powell Jobs

The widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is Laurene Powell Jobs who started the Emerson Collective that works for social reform and environmental issues. She also co-founded the College Track which works in order to help disadvantaged students to get education. Her net worth is $20 billion as she also has 0.7% share in Apple and owns about 4% of Disney.

Kirsty Bertarelli

With the net worth of £11.5 billion, Kirsty Bertarelli is a singer and songwriter and also co-wrote “All Saints hit Black Coffee.” Along with her husband Ernesto who earns through pharmaceuticals, she ranks sixth according to Sunday Times Rich List for 2017.

Denise Coates

Becoming the highest earning business woman in UK is Denise Coates with a net worth of £117.5 million. On the Sunday Times listshe ranks 22 with father, Peter and brother, John.

Lady Charlotte Wellesley

Daughter of Duke of Wellington is Lady Charlotte Wellesley, has a royal lineage as a descent of Queen Victoria. She entered the list after marrying Colombian-American billionaire, Alejandro Santo Domingo. Therefore, her net worth is £3.8 billion.

Lady Christina Green

With a net worth of £2.8 billion, Lady Christina Green stand on the ninth rank as she owns the family shares in the Taveta Investments which has Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton.

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Top 9 Richest Women in the World 2017 appeared first on World Infi.

Malala Yousafzai is a name heard by many yet not all know her story. On October 9, 2012, Malala, a teenage from Pakistan, was 17 years old when she was shot at from point blank range while she was in her school bus. She was shot by a Taliban gunman as a punishment for writing and broadcasting a diary on BBC which she wrote about her life under the Taliban rule and how the Talibans tried to take away her and others girls’ right to education.

Two of Malala’s friends, KainatRiaz and ShaziaRamzan, were also injured in the shooting but they were stable enough to provide the reporters with the details of the incident. After the incident, Malala was airlifted to the hospital in Peshawar the same day for the treatment. On 15 October 2012, she went to United Kingdom for further treatment.

After recovering from her injuries, Malala started her campaign as an education activist and spoke in front of United Nations, Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace, Harvard University and many other places. Later, she also met with the then president of United States, Mr. Barack Obama and his family.

On July 12, 2013, Malala gave her first speech, and turned 16th the same day. This day was then called as “Malala Day” by the United Nations. Malala has been fighting against the oppression of children and everyone’s right to education. On 10 October 2014, Malala Yousafzai was awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize and hence, became the youngest Nobel Prize winner.

Since then, Yousafzai has been given many awards and she has been included in the list—“150 of the most influential female leaders in the UK.”

Featured Image Credit: nobleprize.org

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Who is the Youngest Nobel Prize Winner? appeared first on World Infi.

Academy awards are presented to films from Hollywood and international cinema as well. Even though not many Indians have won the award, there are few who walked away with it.

Bhanu Athaiya is the first Indian to have won the Oscar. The costume designer won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design as she worked in the film Gandhi (1982) with John Mollo.

Bhanu Athaiya is an Indian costume designer who has worked in more than 100 films. She has worked with great Indian directors like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Ashutosh Gowariker, Yash Chopra and internationally with Conrad Rooks and Richard Attenborough.

She started her career as a costume designer for films in C.I.D. in 1956. Since then she has got huge success in Bollywood as well as in Hollywood. She has also won two National Film Awards in 1991 and 2002. She was so great at what she did that a tribute was made to her work at the opening ceremony of the South Asian International Film Festival,New York.

It was in March of 2010 when Athaiya released her book called the “The Art of Costume Design” which was published by Harper Collins.

It has been reported that BhanuAthaiya wished that her Oscar could be returned as according to her, the family would not able to take enough care of the trophy after she dies. Late on December 15 2012, it was reported that the award was returned to The Academy.

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Who was the First Indian to Win an Oscar? appeared first on World Infi.

Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national is an ex-naval officer who retired in 2001. He was arrested in Balochistan, Pakistan for terrorism and spying over Pakistan. It has been claimed by Pakistan that Jadhav was spying for RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).

Pakistan, on March 26th 2016, released a statement for starting a protest on “the illegal entry into Pakistan by a RAW officer and his involvement in subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi.” It was then that India responded by saying that he was just a retired Navy officer and has no link with the government.

Soon, Pakistan released a statement video of Jadhav’s confession in which he agreed that he was a RAW agent and was serving as an Indian Navy officer. The Indian government with full surety stated that the Pakistani authorities used third degree on Jadhav to get the false statement.

On 6th December, 2016 Pakistan’s prime minister’s advisor for foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, admitted that there were not enough evidences against Jadhav. Later that month, Pakistan agreed to hand over the evidence on Jadhav to the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.

Soon after, Pakistani’s military court found Jadhav guilty of “espionage and sabotage” and announced death sentence for him and that he would be hanged. India reacted quickly and pleaded to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to not let Pakistan act upon it.

Judge Ronny Abraham, after hearing cases from both the sides said, “Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to ensure KulbhushanJadhav is not executed pending final decision by the court.”

WI Editorial Staff

Team at World Infi

The post Who is Kulbhushan Jadhav? appeared first on World Infi.