The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is observed every year on May 17 to mark the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention (ITC) and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The purpose of the day is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. The 2017 theme “Big Data for Big Impact” focuses on the power of Big Data for development and aims to explore how to turn imperfect, complex, often unstructured data into actionable information in a development context.

Indian teen Rifath Sharook from Tamil Nadu has designed the world’s lightest & smallest satellite named “KalamSat”. The satellite weighs only 64 grams and will be launched by NASA on June 21, 2017. With this, he will become the first Indian student to have his experiment launched by NASA. The main role of the satellite will be to demonstrate the performance of 3-D printed carbon fibre. The satellite has been designed in a way which will have a 240-minute mission in space and will operate for 12 minutes in a micro-gravity environment of space.

The 112-feet tall bust of ‘Adiyogi’ Lord Shiva at the Isha Yoga Foundation has been declared the world’s largest bust by the Guinness Book of World Records. The Guinness had announced this on its website. The bust at the Isha Yoga Foundation on the outskirts of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 February.

The GVK group-run Mumbai airport has become the world’s busiest amongst the single-runway facilities by handling 837 flights a day or one in 65 seconds on an average in fiscal 2017.

Apple briefly touched $800 billion market valuation, making it the world's first ever company to hit the milestone. At $800 billion, Apple's valuation was higher than the combined market cap of all the 30 Sensex companies, which stood at $784 billion. The world's most valuable company, Apple is followed by Google parent Alphabet, and Microsoft in market valuation.

The World Thalassaemia Day (WTD) is observed every year on May 8 to spread awareness about this deadly disease and the importance of blood donation and how it helps the millions of people suffering from Thalassemia worldwide. Thalassemia is genetic blood disorders characterised by reduction in the synthesis or absence of haemoglobin in the body. According to a WHO report, more than 90% patients with thalassaemia in western countries lead a normal life, whereas in India, roughly half of all patients die before reaching adulthood. Approx 3.9% of India’s population is a carrier for thalassemia. The 2017 theme ‘Together for Humanity’ highlights the need for unity and the efforts that are required to fight this fatal disease.