General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2017

Feb 2017

Dec 17, 2022

Tokyo Makes Solar Panels Mandatory for New Homes Built after 2025

All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital's local assembly.
The mandate, the first of its kind for a Japanese municipality, requires about 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet) with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike noted that just 4% of buildings where solar panels could be installed in the city have them now. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2000 levels.
Japan, the world's fifth-largest carbon emitter, has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 but faces difficulty as it has relied heavily on coal-burning thermal power after most of its nuclear reactors were in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Dec 16, 2022

UK, France and UAE Support India's Bid for Permanent Membership at UNSC

The UK, France and UAE extended support for India's permanent membership at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Dame Barbara Woodward, the UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations said that the Security Council must as others have said become more representative of the world today and the UK has long called for its expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent categories.
The UN Security Council is the premier global body for maintaining International peace and security. The Security Council, the United Nations' principal crisis-management body, is empowered to impose binding obligations on the 193 UN member states to maintain peace.
The council's five permanent and ten elected members meet regularly to assess threats to international security, including civil wars, natural disasters, arms proliferation, and terrorism.
The UN Security Council is composed of 15 members, including five permanent member states - China, France, Russian Federation, the United States, and the United Kingdom - and 10 non-permanent member states, which are elected by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Dec 15, 2022

EAM Jaishankar Inaugurates India Global Forum 2022 in UAE

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar inaugurated the India Global Forum UAE 2022.
It was a five-day event that brought together leading political, business and cultural personalities from India, the UAE and across the world.
This was the first major international event following India's ascendency to the G20 Presidency, and was held in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from December 12 to 16.
Covering the breadth of bilateral relations between India and the UAE, climate finance, technology, and investments, the five-day event was also an opportunity to discuss India's global aspirations and its presidency of the G20 amid challenging geopolitical scenarios.
The forum also presented opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs of both countries to work together for regional and global impact.

France Hosts Conference "Standing with the Ukrainian People"

Some 70 countries and institutions worldwide pledged more than 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) in immediate aid to help Ukraine get through a harsh winter as Russian forces batter its energy grid and other critical civilian infrastructure.
France hosted the global meeting to discuss what could be offered between now and March to maintain water, food, energy, health and transport during Ukraine's typically frigid winter.
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said over 1 billion euros had been pledged with some 415 million devoted to Ukraine's energy sector, hammered by Russian air strikes, adding that the participation of non-Western countries such as Qatar and Cambodia showed a widening of support for Ukraine.
The rest of the funds will be channelled to Ukraine's health, food, water and transport sectors, with almost 500 million euros still to be allocated.

G-7 Approves 15.5 billion US Dollar Deal with Vietnam to Help Cutting Climate-damaging Pollution

A group of nine rich industrialized nations approved a deal to provide Vietnam with 15.5 billion US dollars to help the Southeast Asian nation move faster from coal power to renewable energy, cutting its climate-damaging pollution. The Group of Seven major economies, along with Norway and Denmark, said that the aim is to help Vietnam reduce its emissions to "net zero" by 2050. It is a goal which experts say needs to be met globally to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Just Energy Transition Partnership with Vietnam is among a series of agreements that developing and rich nations are negotiating. The first such deal was signed with South Africa last year, and a similar agreement was reached with Indonesia last month. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Vietnam is a dynamic, emerging economy at the heart of Southeast Asia. He said the investment they are making today means the country can cut its emissions while simultaneously creating new jobs and growth.

Dec 14, 2022

European Union Agrees to Give Bosnia Candidate Status

EU countries agreed to grant Bosnia "candidate status" to join the union, putting the volatile Balkan nation at the start of a long road to membership.
Russia's war on Ukraine has breathed fresh life into the European Union's willingness to consider letting in more of its eastern neighbours after years at a standstill.
The EU is concerned that other powers, such as Russia or China, might spread their influence into the Balkans if countries hopeful of joining the bloc are thwarted.
European affairs ministers meeting in Brussels gave the green light to Bosnia becoming a candidate after the bloc's executive arm in October recommended that they launch the membership process.
The move comes despite long-standing concerns over the political situation in Bosnia, a country of three million people burdened with ethnic divisions since its devastating war three decades ago.

New Zealand Passes World-first Tobacco Law to Ban Smoking for Next Generation

New Zealand introduced a steadily rising smoking age to stop those aged 14 and under from ever being able to legally buy cigarettes in world-first legislation to outlaw smoking for the next generation.
New Zealand is believed to be the first country in the world to implement the annually rising smoking age, ensuring tobacco cannot be sold to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
It will be accompanied by a slew of other measures to make smoking less affordable and accessible, including dramatically reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products and forcing them to be sold only through specialty tobacco stores, rather than corner stores and supermarkets.
The number of stores legally allowed to sell cigarettes will be reduced to a tenth of their existing levels – from 6,000 to just 600 nationwide. The law passed its final reading, and will come into force in 2023, as New Zealand attempts to reach its goal of making the country "smoke-free" by 2025.
The new laws, however, will not restrict vape sales. Data indicates that at least some New Zealanders haveswapped their nicotine habit from cigarettes to vapes.

WHO Picks Jeremy Farrar as Chief Scientist, Replacing Soumya Swaminathan

The World Health Organization said that Jeremy Farrar will become its new chief scientist as the agency prepares to cope with post-pandemic health challenges. Jeremy Farrar will join the WHO in the second quarter of 2023, replacing Soumya Swaminathan, who departed in November 2022.
Farrar's is the latest appointment as Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' second term as the leader of the UN health agency gets underway.
As chief scientist, Jeremy will accelerate our efforts to ensure WHO, its member states and our partners benefit from cutting-edge, life-saving science and innovations.
Jeremy Farrar is a clinical scientist who served as the director of the Wellcome Trust.

Dec 13, 2022

Karen Bass Becomes First Black Woman to be Elected Los Angeles Mayor

Karen Ruth Bass, a former physician assistant who shattered glass ceilings with her rise to a leadership post in the California legislature and later a prominent spot in Congress, took a ceremonial oath of office as mayor of Los Angeles.
A progressive Democrat, Bass became the first woman and second black person to hold the city's top job and assumed her duties amid multiple crises in the nation's second most populous city.
She was sworn in ceremonially by Vice President Kamala Harris, a longtime friend and former California attorney general. The formal oath was administered privately by the city clerk.

US Prints First Banknotes with Women's Signatures

The Treasury (United States of America's Finance Ministry) printed the first US banknotes (currency notes) with two women's signatures. The new currency notes of $1 and $5 value carry the signature of the Secretary of Treasury (American Finance Minister) Janet Yellen and Lynn Malerba. The United States currency notes are popularly called as Greenback.
Lynn Malerba is Native American and is the chief of the Mohegan Tribe, who holds the position of Treasurer of the United States within the Department of Treasury, United States government.
Janet Yellen is a former chairman of the United States Central Bank, Federal Reserve of New York. She was the first female head of the Federal Reserve.

Two Indian-Americans in Money Magazine's Top 50 Change Makers

Two Indian-Americans were among Money magazine's 50 influential figures from entertainment, media, business, investing, politics, etc, who are shaping Americans' finances.
Rohit Chopra, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Gaurav Sharma of New York-based fintech firm Capitalize, were recognised for offering "unique perspective on the gaps within the financial systems - and how they're working to improve the future for everyday consumers.
As the director of the government's CFPB, Chopra is tasked with protecting families from deceptive and abusive financial practices.
Appointed by US President Joe Biden in 2021, Chopra has already made an outsized impact on the wallets of Americans by helping overhaul how medical debt affects our credit, reduce 'junk fees' charged by banks, and more.
An Australian by birth, Gaurav Sharma is the CEO and Co-Founder of Capitalize -- a venture-backed fintech company in New York focused on the retirement savings market. Before founding Capitalize, Sharma worked for JP Morgan, UBS, Morgan Stanley, and Greenlight Capital.

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