General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2017

Mar 2017

Mar 25, 2023

Egypt Becomes BRICS Bank as New Member

After President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi visited India as a chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations, Egypt become a member of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).
The African-Arab nation intends to enhance its infrastructure, and NDB funding can make a significant contribution toward achieving this goal.
Following President El-Sisi's visit to India for the Republic Day celebrations, the Egyptian Parliament approved the agreement that permitted Egypt to join the NDB. The lawmakers welcomed the move, recognizing it as a means of reducing the need for US dollars.
NDB is a multilateral development bank jointly founded by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2014.
It was formed to support infrastructure and sustainable development efforts in BRICS and other underserved, emerging economies for faster development through innovation and cutting-edge technology.
It is headquartered at Shanghai, China.
In 2018, the NDB received observer status in the United Nations General Assembly, establishing a firm basis for active and fruitful cooperation with the UN.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Exits

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressed lawmakers for the last time as Scottish leader, expressing pride in her government's achievements to lessen poverty and inequality – but frustrated in her quest to make Scotland an independent country.
Sturgeon had announced her resignation in February 20233 after more than eight years as First Minister in Scotland's semi-autonomous government and leader of the governing Scottish National Party.
Sturgeon's resignation unleashed a battle for the direction of the SNP, which currently holds 64 of the 129 seats in the Scottish parliament and governs in coalition with the much smaller Greens.

Mar 24, 2023

Israeli Parl Passes Law to 'Protect' PM Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition approved legislation that would protect the Israeli leader from being deemed unfit to rule over his corruption trial and claims of a conflict of interest surrounding his involvement in the legal changes.
The law to protect the PM passed 61-47 in Israel's 120-seat Knesset, or Parliament. It stipulates that a PM can only be deemed unfit to rule for health or mental reasons and that only he or his government can make that decision.
It came after the country's attorney general has faced growing calls by Netanyahu opponents to declare him unfit to rule.

India Stands Third in World in Terms of Fish Production

India stands third in the world in terms of fish production, said the union minister of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, Parshottam Rupala in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
Rupala said that the government is working on the development of fisheries to attract farmers towards fisheries along with agriculture to increase their income through its various schemes.
He also mentioned about the centrally sponsored schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) with effect from the financial year 2020-21 to 2024-25 in all states and union territories.
Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) with a total fund size of Rs. 7522.48 crore implemented for a period of 5 years from 2018-19 to 2023-24 for providing concessional finance.
Under PMMSY, during 2020-21 & 2021-22 and the current financial year 2022-23, the department has accorded approval to the fisheries developmental proposal of States/UTs amounting to Rs. 11010.00 crore with a central share of Rs. 3,864.99 crore.

Mar 23, 2023

India Participates in the US-led IPEF Negotiating Round in Bali

India participated in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) negotiations in Bali.
Apart from India, negotiators from 13 other countries, including the US, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam also participated in the Bali negotiating round. The first round of negotiations took place in Australia in December 2022. Thereafter, India hosted a special round in February 2023.
During negotiations issues related to trade, supply chain, clean economy, fair economy, and supply chains were taken up. India participated in the discussions pertaining to only three pillars, as it decided to be an observer in the trade pillar.

Japanese PM Kishida Invites PM Modi to G7 Hiroshima Summit

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida formally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 Summit 2023 after both had a delegation-level talk in Delhi. Japan is the host country for the G7 summit 2023. The host country for 2022 was Germany.
The 49th G7 summit will be held from May 19 to 21, 2023 in Hiroshima, Chūgoku, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.
The 2023 summit will be the first summit for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The international Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member".
It was founded in 1973.

Mar 22, 2023

India Ranks Second in Asia-Pacific and Japan Region for Ransomware Attacks in 2022

According to a new report, India was the second most targeted country by ransomware in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region in 2022, up from spot 3 in 2021.
In 2022, Maharashtra was the most-targeted state with 36 per cent of ransomware attacks, while New Delhi was at second, according to the Palo Alto Networks 2023 Unit 42 Ransomware and Extortion report.
As per the report, manufacturing, construction, and professional & legal services were the most targeted industries.
The most active ransomware groups include Lockbit 2.0, BianLian, and Stormous.

Mar 21, 2023

Finland Tops World Happiness Report

Finland was named the happiest country in the world in the annual World Happiness Report. This is the sixth consecutive year that Finland won the coveted prize due to high scores in factors the report uses to measure happiness: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and low corruption. The report was released on International Day of Happiness. India was ranked 125 based on the various parametres of happiness.
The World Happiness Report is a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and is based on global survey data from people in more than 150 countries.
This year's (2023) list is similar to past rankings with many of the Nordic countries in top spots. While Denmark is at number 2, Iceland is ranked number 3.
India, one of the fast growing economies, ranked below Nepal, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Thailand PM Dissolves Parliament

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha dissolved the country's parliament, setting up a general election in May as the former coup leader seeks to extend army-backed rule.
The former army chief Prayut came to power in a 2014.
The main opposition Pheu Thai group, fronted by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is polling strongly but Thailand's junta-scripted 2017 constitution will make it hard for the party to secure the top job.
The election is the second since the 2014 coup and the first since the country was rocked by massive youth-led pro-democracy protests in Bangkok in 2020.

Emmanuel Macron Survives No-confidence Vote

The government of French President Emmanuel Macron narrowly survived a no-confidence vote, as furious opposition lawmakers contested his decision to force changes to the pension system through parliament without a poll.
Two no-confidence motions had been filed — one by a coalition of centrist and left-wing parties, and a second by the far-right National Rally. The latter now has no chance of going through.
The first no-confidence motion, put forward by Charles de Courson, France's longest-serving MP and a member of the small opposition centrist grouping Liot, was narrowly defeated – it fell short of the required absolute majority by only nine votes. A total of 278 MPs voted in favour.
A second no-confidence motion tabled by Le Pen's party, National Rally, was rejected. After the government won both votes, Macron's proposed changes to the pension system are likely to swiftly become law.
Under Macron's changes, the minimum general retirement age will rise from 62 to 64, some public sector workers will lose privileges and there will be an accelerated increase in the number of years of work required to qualify for a full pension.

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