General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - July 2017

Jul 2017

Jun 20, 2022

Sara Duterte Sworn in as Vice-president

The eldest daughter of outgoing Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn in as vice-president.
Sara Duterte vowed to unite the Philippines at a ceremony in Davao.
She took the oath beside her running mate, Ferdinand Marcos Junior, who will soon replace her father as President.
As candidates in May's elections the pair shored up historic landslide victories by forging a powerful alliance and running on a message of unity that helped many of their allies win power elsewhere in government too.
In the Philippines, the President and vice-president are elected separately.

Emmanuel Macron Alliance Projected to Lose Parliamentary Majority

President Emmanuel Macron is on course to lose his absolute majority in the National Assembly and control of his reform agenda after the first projections. Macron's centrist Ensemble! alliance was set to end up with the most seats, the polls show, followed by the left-wing Nupes bloc headed by hard left veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Forecasts by pollsters Ifop, OpinionWay, Elabe and Ipsos showed Ensemble! winning 200-260 seats and Nupes securing 149-200. The threshold for an absolute majority is 289 seats in the lower House.
A hung parliament would open up a period of political uncertainty that would require a degree of power-sharing among parties, or else result in political paralysis and even repeat elections.

FATF (Financial Action Task Force) Keeps Pakistan on Grey List

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept Pakistan on the grey list but said a visit to verify progress on countering financing of terrorism and money laundering could lead to its removal from countries under increased monitoring.
The financial crime watchdog, set up by the Group of Seven industrial powers to protect the global financial system, said Islamabad had substantially completed its two action plans, covering 34 items, as it seeks to get off the list where it has been since 2018.

Gustavo Petro: Leftist Ex-rebel Wins Colombia's Presidential Election

Gustavo Petro, the leftist former mayor of Bogota and ex-rebel fighter, was declared the winner of Colombia's presidential election.
Mr. Petro, a current senator, defeated right-wing construction magnate Rodolfo Hernández in the run-off election.
Figures showed he took 50.5% of votes, defeating his rival by more than 700,000 ballots to become Colombia's first left-wing leader.
His running mate Francia Marquez, a single mother and former housekeeper, will become the country's first black woman vice-president.

Jun 19, 2022

Arati Prabhakar to be Appointed as Science Adviser to the President of US

US President Joe Biden is expected to name Arati Prabhakar as the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She will succeed Eric Lander who left the role nine months after his appointment after he admitted to bullying his staff and creating a hostile work environment during his tenure.
Once the Senate approves the 63-year-old's appointment, Arati would be the first woman and the first person of color to serve as science adviser to the President of the United States. Her role will require advising Biden on how to compete with China, bring forth rules which will protect US-funded academic research from theft and aim to reduce inequality within the research community.
Arati also served in top roles during the presidential tenures of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The Clinton administration picked her to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Obama administration picked her to lead the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

EU Leaders Back Immediate Candidate Status for Kyiv

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania have backed Ukraine's bid to join the EU, saying it should be given "immediate" candidate status.
"Ukraine belongs to the European family," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a joint briefing in Kyiv.
But he added that Ukraine still had to meet the accession criteria in full.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the 27-member EU would stand by Ukraine until its victory against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Russia's continuing aggression as a war "against the united Europe", adding that the "most effective weapon" was unity.

Jun 18, 2022

Somali President Appoints New Prime Minister

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud appointed Hamza Abdi Barre as the country's new Prime Minister to replace Mohamed Roble who has been in office since September 2020.
Barre, a Member of Parliament from the Lower House of Parliament is a close ally of President Mohamud and member of the President's political party.

For the First Time in a Decade, WTO Members Reach Historic Deal

For the first time in a decade, the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a 164-nation body, finalised a historic deal at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12).
The four-day MC12 was extended by a day as trade ministers negotiated.
India has agreed to the proposal of no export restrictions on the World Food Programme. But internal food security concerns will take precedence. There is no work programme on agriculture, which could be considered as a good outcome for India as our agri subsidy will not face any further scrutiny.

Federal Reserve of the US Raises Interest Rates for the First Time Since 1994

The US Federal Reserve increased its main interest rate by three-quarters of a per cent, the largest increase in almost three decades, and signalled that more large rate increases are on the way, boosting the likelihood of another recession. The Fed's decision, announced following its most recent policy meeting, would boost its benchmark short-term rate to a range of 1.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent, affecting many consumer and commercial loans.
In reaction to the Fed's actions, borrowing costs have already increased dramatically throughout most of the US economy, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate surpassing 6%, its highest level since before the 2008 financial crisis, up from just 3% at the start of the year. The yield on the 2-year Treasury note, which is used as a benchmark for corporate borrowing, has risen to 3.3 percent, the highest since 2007.

Jun 17, 2022

Coursera Global Skills Report 2022

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.

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