Coursera's latest Global Skills Report (GSR) 2022 revealed India's overall skills proficiency slipped four places to be ranked at the 68th position globally. In Asia, India stood at the 19th position. The report findings further revealed an increase in India's technology proficiency levels from 38% to 46%, with the country strengthening its position by six spots. On the other hand, proficiency in data science dipped from 38% in 2021 to 26% in 2022, leading to a 12-rank drop.
For the second year in a row, Switzerland had the highest-skilled learners followed by Denmark, Indonesia, and Belgium.
Egypt Hosts Eighth Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Sharm El Sheikh
The Egyptian House of Representatives, in cooperation with Inter-Parliamentary Union, organised the eighth Forum of Young Parliamentarians in Sharm El-Sheikh.
The annual forum aimed to promote youth participation in politics and create a platform for them to present their opinions on international challenges and issues and suggest solutions.
Young parliamentarians from around 90 countries arrive, which is believed to be an achievement for Sahar Al-Bazzar, a member of the Egyptian House of Representatives, for the Young Parliamentarians Forum of the Inter-Parliamentary Union as the first female Egyptian parliamentarian to hold this international position, in an intellectual attempt to rally all international efforts at all organisational and legislative levels toward the need to find solutions to the climate change issues as the most distinguished global challenge.
Nagaland's first woman elected as Member of Parliament to Rajya Sabha S. Phangon Konyak represented India at the Conference. She, along with two other young Lok Sabha MPs from India, shared her thoughts on the 'Young MPs for Climate Actions'.
Jun 16, 2022
Biden Nominates Indian-American Security Expert Radha Iyengar to top Pentagon Position
US President Joe Biden nominated security expert Radha Iyengar Plumb to the post of Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment, the latest Indian-American to be named for a key position.
Plumb is currently serving as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defence.
Prior to her appointment as Chief of Staff, Plumb was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust and Safety at Google, leading their cross-functional teams on business analytics, data science and technical research.
She has also previously served as the Global Head of Policy Analysis at Facebook, where she focused on high-risk/high-harm safety and critical international security issues.
Denmark and Canada Strike Deal to End 50-year Row over Arctic Island
Denmark and Canada struck a deal to settle almost 50 years of good-natured squabbling over the ownership of a small, uninhabited Arctic island.
Since 1971, the countries were "fighting" the "Whisky Wars" to settle competing claims over Hans Island.
Successive expeditions from Ottawa and Copenhagen braved icy conditions to plant bottles of alcohol on the tiny 1.2 sq. km (0.75 sq-mile) rock.
But now officials have agreed to divide the outpost roughly in half.
The prank war began after the countries convened to settle boundary disputes in the Nares Strait, a channel 35 km (22 miles) wide of cold water separating Canada and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
In 1973 they struck a deal to create a border through the strait, but while they negotiated, competing claims emerged over the tiny island.
Jun 15, 2022
Mahatma Gandhi-Luther King Scholarly Exchange Initiative Launched in US
The US Department of State launched the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange initiative which explores the histories and legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The first-of-its-kind initiative brings together 20 emerging young civic leaders from India and the United States to advance civil rights, social justice, and inclusion on the local, national and international levels. This exchange was championed by late civil rights leader John Lewis.
In addition to classroom learning and discussion, participants will visit civil rights sites in Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia. In January 2023, the Indian and US participants will reconvene in India to visit important sites, communities and organisations that build upon their academic curriculum, which is centred around the academic themes of peace, non-violence, and conflict resolution, and build their leadership capacities.
FATF Set to Review Pakistan for Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing
Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog tasked with combatting money laundering and terrorist financing, is all set for its strategic review of Pakistan and decide whether the country will retain its place in the "Grey List" or exit. This meeting is especially crucial for Pakistan as the country continues to remain on the watchdog's "grey list" for failing to check terror financing.
Pakistan has been on the Paris-based FATF's grey list for deficiencies in its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering regimes since June 2018. In June 2021, the country was given three months to fulfil the remaining conditions by October. However, Pakistan was retained on the FATF "grey list" for failing to effectively implement the global FATF standards and for its lack of progress in the investigation and prosecution of senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups.
US Holds First Summit of 'West Asia Quad' with India, Israel and UAE
US President Joe Biden hosted a virtual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his visit to West Asia from July 13 to 16. The new grouping is be called "I2U2" — "I" for India and Israel and "U" for the US and UAE.
In October 2021, a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the four countries took place when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Israel. At that time, it was called the 'International Forum for Economic Cooperation'. This time, the meeting will take place at the level of heads of government/state — an upgrade.
Jun 14, 2022
The 12th WTO Ministerial Conference at Geneva, Switzerland
The 12th World Trade Organization's (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12) opened at WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. During the four-day meeting, members of the trade organization held discussions on such issues as TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, pandemic response, fishery subsidies, agriculture, food security, as well as the WTO's reform and its future work priorities.
The Ministerial Conference, which is attended by trade ministers and other senior officials from the organisation's 164 members, is the WTO's highest decision-making body, and is generally held every two years. Kazakhstan was originally scheduled to host MC12 in June 2020, but the conference was postponed due to the pandemic.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima Appointed UN Under-Secretary-General
Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations was appointed as the Under Secretary General of the United Nations. Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Ambassador Fatima. She succeeded Courtenay Rattray of Jamaica who was appointed as the Chef de Cabinet.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima is the first woman diplomat from Bangladesh appointed to this post. With her appointment as Assistant Secretary General to the UN, Rabab Fatima became the highest ranking official of Bangladesh under the UN system.
The appointment of Rabab Fatima is testimony to Bangladesh's close engagement with the multilateral diplomatic system and a recognition of the professionalism of Bangladeshi diplomats. Ambassador Rabab Fatima is a career diplomat from Bangladesh. She had joined the Bangladesh Foreign Service in 1989.
India Ranks 101 in Global Hunger Index 2021
India's rank dropped to the 101st position among 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021. In 2020, India was placed at 94th spot, out of 107 countries. The 2021 GHI score of India is recorded at 27.5 out of 50, which comes under the serious category. Neighbouring countries like Nepal (76), Bangladesh (76), Myanmar (71) and Pakistan (92) are also in the 'alarming' hunger category but have fared better at feeding its citizens than India, according to the report. A total of 18 countries, including China, Kuwait and Brazil, shares the top rank. The GHI score of these 18 nations is less than 5. This means that these countries suffer very less from hunger and malnutrition.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) measures and tracks hunger at global, regional, and national levels. The index is published jointly by Welthungerhilfe (WHH) and Concern Worldwide. Based on current GHI projections, the index states that the world as a whole will not achieve a low level of hunger by 2030.
Jun 13, 2022
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Becomes World's Second-longest Reigning Monarch
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II overtook Thailand's King to become the world's second-longest reigning monarch in history, after France's Louis XIV. The UK celebrated the 96-year-old Queen's Platinum Jubilee to mark 70 years of service to the nation with grand events. After four days of royal parades, street parties, pageantry and other events were held across the UK and the Commonwealth to mark the Platinum Jubilee milestone.
Crowned in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-serving British monarch in September 2015, surpassing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria. Now she overtook Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years and 126 days between 1927 and 2016, to set another record. Louis XIV of France remains the longest-reigning monarch, with a 72-year and 110-day reign from 1643 until 1715.
Five Countries Elected as Non-permanent Members of 15-nation U.N. Security Council
Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland were elected to the UN Security Council as non-permanent members for the 2023-2024 term and would replace India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway at the horse-shoe table from January 1 next year.
The 193-member UN General Assembly held elections to elect the five non-permanent members for the two-year term 2023-24.
For two seats in the Western Europe and other States category, Switzerland (187 votes) and Malta (185 votes) were elected, for two seats in African and Asia-Pacific States Mozambique (192 votes) and Japan (184 votes) were elected and for the one seat in the Latin American and Caribbean States category, Ecuador was elected with 190 votes.
Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland will join Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the UAE as well as the five permanent members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US as UNSC members for the year 2023.
India Abstains from Vote on Iran at IAEA, Despite Pressure
India was among the three countries that withstood western pressure and abstained from voting against Iran at the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The voting took place just before Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian embarked on his India visit. The IAEA's 35-nation board passed a resolution, condemning Iran for its failure to provide explanation on technically credible evidence about the detection of nuclear traces at three undisclosed locations.
India abstained from voting along with Pakistan and Libya while Russia and China voted against it. India had earlier voted against Iran during the UPA era in 2005, 2006 and 2009. In 2009, when India had voted against Iran, it was also joined by Russia and China.
Summit of the Americas 2022
The ninth Summit of the Americas 2022 was held from June 6 to June 10, 2022. It is an international conference and was held in Los Angeles, United States.
Summit of the Americas 2022 was held under the theme of "Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future".
In January 2022, the White House had announced that, Los Angeles would serve as the host city. United States selects the site of this summit as a host and its attendees. For this year's summit, United States did not invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela because these countries are accused of having undemocratically elected leaders.
Summit of the Americas 2022 was skipped by the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, also boycotted the summit.
Similarly, the President of Bolivia, President of Guatemala, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent did not attend the summit.
Bangladesh-India bus Services Resume after Two Years
After a two-year gap due to Covid-19 pandemic, the Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata 'Maitri' bus services resumed at Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP), a few kilometres away from the capital city. A total of 28 passengers including 22 Indian nationals and another six Bangladeshi nationals travelled in the 40-seated bus. The bus will provide services six days a week barring Friday.
The bus service was resumed following clearance from the home and external affairs ministries of India and Bangladesh. The journey between Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata bus route takes four hours to reach Dhaka and 19 hours to reach Kolkata while it takes 35 hours on the railway route through Guwahati.
Nearly 600 applications are submitted for visas every day to travel to the neighbouring country. The state shares 856 km-long international border with Bangladesh parts of which are yet to be fenced.
UN Mentions Hindi, other Sub-continental Languages for First Time
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted an India co-sponsored resolution on multilingualism that mentions three major languages of the subcontinent—Hindi, Urdu and Bengali—for the first time. The resolution passed encourages the UN to continue disseminating important communications and messages in official as well as in non-official languages, including in the three languages as well as in Portuguese, Kiswahili and Persian.
The UN has six official languages—English, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and French—the addition of Hindi, Bangla, and Urdu will instrumentalise and institutionalise their usage as mediums for disseminating UN information. India welcomed the first time mention of Hindi, Bangla, and Urdu as languages for communicating important information and messages of the UN.
Thailand First Asian Country to Legalise Growing, Consumption of Marijuana
Thailand legalised the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks, the first Asian country to do so, with the aim of boosting its agriculture and tourism sectors but smoking pot is still against the law. Shoppers queued up at outlets selling cannabis-infused drinks, sweets and other items as advocates of the plant welcomed the reform in a country that has long had a reputation for strict anti-drug laws.
Thailand, which has a tradition of using cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue, legalised medicinal marijuana in 2018. The government, banking on the plant as a cash crop, plans to give away a million plants to encourage farmers to take up its cultivation.
Indian Diplomat Amandeep Singh Gill Appointed as UN Chief's Envoy on Technology
Amandeep Singh Gill of India was appointed as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' Envoy on Technology. A thought leader on digital technology, Gill is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) project, based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.
He brings to the position a deep knowledge of digital technologies coupled with a solid understanding of how to leverage the digital transformation responsibly and inclusively for progress on the sustainable development goals.
Amandeep Singh Gill was the Executive Director and Co-Lead of the United Nations Secretary-General`s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation from 2018 to 2019.
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