1. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Monday it has registered a case against pen maker Rotomac Global and officials of various banks in connection with an alleged Rs. 2,919 crore ($454.39 million) loan scam. "It was alleged in the complaint that in the Rotomac case, conspirators cheated a consortium of 7 banks by siphoning off bank loans to the tune of 29.19 billion rupees (principal amount)," an official with the CBI said. The complaint by Bank Of Baroda comes amid a $1.77 billion fraud at another state lender, Punjab National Bank. 

2. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family, who arrived in India on Saturday, are on their first state visit. Trudeau is in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state - Gujarat, on Monday.

However, Modi was markedly absent from receiving his Canadian counterpart unlike the visits of other world leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017 and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, 2018. Modi also held a grand roadshow in Gujarat, welcoming the leaders and accompanying them during their stay in his home state. 

3. Germany’s foreign minister has rejected China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, warning that it is not in the interests of democracy or freedom, and that the West needs to offer an alternative.

In a blunt speech Sigmar Gabriel also accused China – alongside Russia - of “constantly trying to test and undermine the unity of the European Union”, seeking to influence individual states with “sticks and carrots”. 

4. In what is being termed as a major security breach, incendiary videos featuring Shambhulal Regar, a Rajasthan man jailed after a horrific hate crime, have been recorded inside the Jodhpur Central Jail and circulated.

Regar, 36, has been in jail since December for hacking a Muslim labourer to death in Rajsamand and burning his body, all on camera. Extremely disturbing video clips filmed by his 15-year-old nephew were widely circulated before the police arrested him. 

5. As exponential technologies and digitalization expand their horizons and become indispensable for professions across the IT spectrum, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) launched a platform for skills development in 8 varied technologies – starting with AI. The other technologies in focus will be Virtual Reality, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, 3D Printing, Cloud Computing, Social and Mobile. This is aimed at up-skilling two million technology professions and skilling another two million potential employees and students over the next few years. The platform - FutureSkills was unveiled by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi who applauded the initiative and its focus on creating skills for future jobs in the country.