General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2017

Mar 2017

Dec 11, 2022

Pakistani Passport Ranks 4th Lowest in World

Pakistan was ranked 94th, sharing the slot with Somalia, in terms of passport strength while the UAE topped the list of the world's most powerful ones.
According to the list issued by Arton Capital, a Pakistani passport mandates travel to only 44 countries without a visa.
Below Pakistan were Iraq (ranked 95th), Syria (96th) and Afghanistan (97th).
In comparison, the passports of Yemen (93rd), Bangladesh (92nd), North Korea, Libya and Palestine (91st) and Iran (90th) were declared more powerful than that of Pakistan.
However, the passport of the UAE has been declared the most powerful across the world.
UAE nationals can travel to 180 countries without a visa.
Citizens of countries, including the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and others do not require a visa to visit 173 countries.
Pakistan was the lowest ranked country among South Asian countries.

Dec 10, 2022

Nirmala Sitharaman, 5 other Indians among World's 100 Most Powerful Women

Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women is a list collated by assessing the contributions and reach of women from around the world. The list featured six Indian women this year (2022), including the Finance Minister of the country.
The Indian women noted by Forbes include Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, HCLTech Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Securities and Exchange Board Of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar, and Steel Authority Of India Chairperson Soma Mondal.
Ranked at the 36th position, Sitharaman made it to the list for the fourth time after marking her spot consistently since 2019. She was appointed as India's Finance Minister in May 2019, and in the same year, she was ranked as one of the world's most powerful women. Before stepping into the ministerial shoes, she was known to have handled important roles at the UK-based Agricultural Engineers Association, BBC World Service, and the National Commission for Women.

Sushmita Shukla, Indian-origin First Vice President of New York Fed

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York appointed Indian-origin Sushmita Shukla as its First Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer (COO), making the insurance industry veteran its highest-ranked official after President and CEO, John C Williams.
She has served in leadership roles in the insurance industry. In a career spanning more than twenty years, she has primarily led operations, technology, and enterprise-wide transformation efforts.
Since January 2018, she has been working with Chubb, which is based in New York, and is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. She is its Senior Vice President, and Chief Operations Officer (International Accident and Health).

Dec 09, 2022

Peru Gets its First Female President after Pedro Castillo is Impeached

The South American country, Peru, saw a significant political upheaval. Pedro Castillo was impeached and arrested and Dina Boluarte, became the country's first female President. For the markets, the crisis in Peru may be important because it makes for nearly 15% of the world's copper exports as per 2020 data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The latest political crisis in Peru is a continuation of a series of events that have led to four Presidents since 2020. Castillo, a left-wing former school teacher, was elected in June 2021 and since then, he's mired in charges of corruption. He has survived two impeachment proceedings in the last 18 months and a third one was due when he decided to make a dramatic move.
Earlier this month Castillo declared a state of emergency in Peru, and that the Congress, which is controlled by his rivals, will be dissolved. Many of his own ministers resigned in protest. The sequence of events that followed ended in Castillo's ouster and Boluarte taking over as the country's President.

Dec 08, 2022

Volodymyr Zelenskyy TIME's Person of the Year

Time magazine named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "Person of the Year 2022", saying that he inspired Ukrainians and won global accolades for his courage in resisting Russia's devastating invasion.
Refusing to leave Ukraine's capital of Kyiv at the outbreak of the war as Russian bombs rained down, the former comedian rallied his compatriots in broadcasts from the capital and travelled across his war-torn nation, the publication noted in bestowing its annual title.

Three Indian Billionaires on Forbes Asia Heroes of Philanthropy List

Gautam Adani emerged as one of the three Indian billionaires who featured in Forbes' philanthropy list 2022.
Shiv Nadar, and Ashok Soota, as well as Malaysian-Indian businessman Brahmal Vasudevan and his lawyer wife Shanthi Kandiah, joined Adani in the 16th edition of Forbes Asia's Heroes of Philanthropy list released in December.
According to Forbes, the unranked list "highlights leading altruists in the Asia-Pacific region who demonstrated a strong personal commitment to philanthropic causes."

Israel's Netanyahu Needs One more Party for Coalition, May Seek more Time

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu was still one partner short of a coalition to secure a parliamentary majority after an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party signed up, with the deadline for forming a government looming.
The deal with United Torah Judaism (UTJ) promised Netanyahu control of 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats with his conservative Likud party. That left Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party with 11 seats, as Likud's last likely ally.

Dec 07, 2022

Finland must End Arms Embargo to Join NATO: Turkish Foreign Minister

Finland must publicly declare that it's lifting an arms embargo on Turkey to win Ankara's approval for its membership to NATO, the Turkish Foreign Minister said.
Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comments ahead of visit by Finland's Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen, who would be discussing his nation's bid to join the military alliance with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar.
Sweden and Finland abandoned their longstanding policies of military nonalignment and applied for membership in the alliance after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, amid concerns that Russia might target them next.
But NATO-member Turkey has been holding up Sweden and Finland's bids to join the military alliance, accusing the two Nordic countries of ignoring threats to Turkey from Kurdish militants and other groups it considers as terrorists and pressing them to crackdown on these groups. Ankara has also been pressuring the two countries to lift a de-facto ban on weapons sales to Turkey.

Four Indians on BBC's 100 Women' List of Influential Figures of 2022

Actress-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas, aeronautical engineer Sirisha Bandla, Booker-winning author Geetanjali Shree and social worker Sneha Jawale were the four Indians on the BBC's 100 Women' list of influential figures of the year (2022).
The annual list celebrates the achievements of women internationally, from grassroots volunteers to global leaders, and is used by the broadcaster to focus on women's experiences around the world through a dedicated series of interviews, documentaries and features.
For the first time this year, the BBC asked some of the previous 100 Women' to nominate women they feel deserve a place on the 2022 list.
From the world of politics, Ursula von der Leyen the first female President of the European Commission, Mia Mottley the first female Prime Minister of Barbados and Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska, also make the list.

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