General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2016

Feb 2016

Feb 18, 2023

Bengaluru is World's 2nd Slowest Driving Place

Bengaluru is the second-slowest city to drive in, according to new research.
One can go 10 kilometres in the southern city in 29 minutes and 10 seconds, as per TomTom, a Dutch multinational developer of location technology.
The absolutely slowest city to drive in, in the word, is London, where people take 36 minutes and 20 seconds to go 10 kilometres – the longest time for a journey of that distance out of 389 cities in 56 countries surveyed in 2022.
In the third and fourth positions were Dublin, Ireland, at 28 minutes and 30 seconds, and Sapporo, Japan, at 27 minutes and 40 seconds.
A specialist in geolocation technologies, TomTom released the 12th edition of its annual traffic index.

India Ranks 47th in OECD's Services Trade Restrictiveness Index

Reflecting presence of huge market barriers in the country, India stood at 47th position in Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the year 2022.
The STRI indices take into consideration the government policies in several sectors that define the ease of trading in those sectors and industries. Based on these factors, STRI indices assign value to countries between zero and one. As per the index, zero shows least restriction and one shows no restriction. The database also records details based on a Most Favoured Nation basis.

Feb 17, 2023

Moldova's President Appoints Dorin Recean as New Prime Minister

Moldova's President Maia Sandu nominated her security advisor and secretary of the national Security Council, Dorin Recean, to head the government as the new Prime Minister.
Sandu made the appointment after Natalia Gavrilita announced her resignation after one and a half years in office. The change of Prime Minister came shortly after Ukrainian officials warned of a plot to destabilise Moldova. The replacement also addresses public disappointment about the slow progress of reforms in key areas such as justice and the deterioration in the standard of living amid high inflation.
Gavrilita announced her resignation following a meeting held by Sandu with members of the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), which holds a robust majority in parliament. The transition to the new government will most likely be smooth. Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said that most of the ministers will keep their seats.

Feb 16, 2023

Scottish Premier Sturgeon Resigns

Nicola Sturgeon resigned from her position as Scotland's First Minister, acknowledging that her previous commanding influence over both her party and the country is no longer an advantage in the push for Scottish independence.
After being in office since 2014, Nicola Sturgeon admitted that she had become excessively polarising and exhausted to bridge the political gap, and therefore wished to distance herself from the harsh realities of modern politics in order to concentrate on her personal life.
Her sudden resignation will have repercussions not only for her Scottish National Party (SNP), but also for the independence campaign, and it may impact the results of the upcoming national election if it facilitates the opposition Labour Party in reclaiming some of its former seats in Scotland.

World Bank Chief David Malpass to Step Down Early

World Bank chief David Malpass announced he would step down nearly a year early, ending a tenure at the head of the development lender that was clouded by questions over his climate stance.
The veteran of Republican administrations in the United States was appointed to the role in 2019 when Donald Trump was President and previously served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for international affairs.
His tenure at the World Bank saw the organization grapple with global crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and an international economic slowdown.

Feb 15, 2023

Nikki Haley Launches 2024 US Presidential Bid

Prominent Indian-American politician Nikki Haley launched her presidential campaign, becoming the first Republican to challenge former US President Donald Trump in his 2024 bid for the White House.
Haley is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to immigrant Punjabi Sikh parents, Haley is the third Indian-American to run for US presidency in three consecutive election cycles.
Bobby Jindal ran in 2016 and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020.
Haley is the second woman of colour to ever seek the Republican Party's nomination for the White House. The first was Angel Joy Chavis Rocker, a school counsellor from Florida, who entered the 2000 presidential race, becoming the first African-American to do so.

Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu is Bangladesh's 22nd President

Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu, a former judge and freedom fighter, was elected unopposed as Bangladesh's 22nd President. According to the country's Chief Election Commission, Chuppu will replace President Mohammad Abdul Hamid.
The development came after the Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal scrutinised nomination papers and declared Chuppu, a member of the Awami League Advisory Council and the party's nominee, the President-elect of Bangladesh, unopposed.
The tenure of incumbent Hamid, the longest-serving president of Bangladesh, will end on April 23, and according to the Constitution, he cannot hold a third term.

Feb 14, 2023

Pakistan Appoints First Hindu Female Civil Servant

A doctor, said to be Pakistan's first Hindu female civil servant, was appointed as an assistant commissioner and administrator in Punjab province's Hassanabdal city. Sana Ramchand Gulwani, who grew up in Shikarpur city of Sindh province, graduated to become a doctor at her parents' wishes, before enrolling for the Federal Public Service Commission.
She became the first woman from the Hindu community to join the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) after clearing the Central Superior Services (CSS) exam in 2020.

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