General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2018

Mar 2018

Nov 05, 2020

Biden Wins More Votes than Any Other Presidential Candidate in US History

As per reports, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has won more votes than any other presidential candidate in the US history, shattering a record set by former President Barack Obama.
As of November 4, 2020 Biden had got over 70.7 million votes, more than anyone who has ever run for President.
This count includes 300,000 more votes than what Obama got in 2008, which was the previous record. Biden surpassed the popular vote record of 69,498,516 set by Obama in 2008.
Biden, in a tight electoral vote fight to the White House against incumbent President Donald Trump, is 2.7 million votes ahead of the Republican leader in the popular vote. His lead is growing as counting picks pace in key battleground states.

US Formally Exits Paris Climate Deal

The US formally exited the Paris Climate Agreement amid election uncertainty, three years after Donald Trump announced his intent to remove the country from participating in the landmark global pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump has claimed that the deal could cost the country 2.5 million jobs by 2025. He has also said that it gives other major emitters, like China and India, a free pass.

Chinese President Opens up to more Trade Deals

According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, China will import more than $22tn (£17tn) worth of goods over the next decade.
He has also called for a more constructive approach to an open global economy, and hit out at "protectionism".
Mr Xi said that China would accelerate efforts to reopen its economy after largely bringing Covid-19 under control.
China is the only major economy to grow this year.
The Chinese economy is steadily picking up, as evidenced by the growth in the first three quarters.

Nov 04, 2020

Delaware Elects Country's First Transgender State Senator

Democrat Sarah McBride won a state Senate race in Delaware, and would become the first openly transgender state senator in the country when sworn in.
McBride defeated Republican Steve Washington to win the seat that became open following the retirement of the longest-serving legislator in Delaware history.
She won in a heavily Democratic district stretching from northern Wilmington to the Pennsylvania border, and joins several other transgender legislators around the country but is the first transgender state senator.

Indian-origin Krishnamoorthi Re-elected to the US House of Representatives

Indian-origin Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has been re-elected to the US House of Representatives for the third consecutive term.
Krishnamoorthi easily defeated Preston Nelson of the Libertarian Party. He accounted for nearly 71 per cent of the total votes counted.
Krishnamoorthi was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016.
Meanwhile, Congressman Ami Bera is seeking his fifth consecutive win from California and Ro Khanna his third term in the House of Representatives from California.
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is seeking her third consecutive term from Washington State.

World Wide Fund Water Risk Filter Report

As per the World Wide Fund Water Risk Filter Report, nearly 30 Indian cities are likely to face acute water risks. This includes Jaipur, Amritsar, Indore, Srinagar, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam and Kozhikode. Of these cities Jaipur topped the list. It was followed by Indore, Thane, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi.
The report defines water risk as battling between flooding and droughts.
The report estimates that hundreds of millions of people all over the world will face increased water risks. The number of cities affected with water risks will increase to 100 by 2050. The list includes Jakarta, Beijing, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro and Mecca. More than half of the cities to face the water risks are located in China. The other hotspots include middle east, South Asia, Africa and South America. These cities are home to 350 million people. Bottom-line, more than 51% of world population is to face high-water risk. Currently, the global population at the risk of high water risk is 17%.
One-third of 100 cities in the world are susceptible to water risk.

One Million Swedes' Data Shared with Facebook, Google

Folksam, Sweden's largest insurer accidentally leaked private data on around one million of its customers to a handful of the world's largest tech firms.
Folksam, which insures every second family home and every second person in Sweden, shared the data with tech giants such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn.
Folksam immediately stopped sharing this personal information and requested that it be deleted.
The data included social security numbers, widely used in Sweden for everyday activities including banking, and information on who had bought pregnancy insurance.

Nov 03, 2020

South Sudan Sacks Head of Central Bank

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has dismissed the governor of the Central Bank, Gamal Abdalla Wani, less than 10 months after he took office.
The news of his dismissal was announced by decree on the national broadcaster. No reasons were given for his sacking.
Mr. Wani was brought in when his predecessor, Dier Tong Ngor, was sacked. Now Mr. Mgor has been reinstated as Central Bank Governor.

Radhakrishnan NZ's First Minister of Indian Origin

Priyanca Radhakrishnan became New Zealand's first-ever Indian-origin minister, after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern brought five new ministers into her executive.
She was elected first as a Member of Parliament belonging to the Labour Party in September 2017.
In 2019, she was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Ethnic Communities. Her work in that area has helped her build the base for her new role of Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities.
In addition, she has become the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment. She has become New Zealand's first-ever Kiwi Indian Minister.

Portugal MP Duarte Pacheco New President of IPU

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla congratulated Pacheco on his election and hoped that his belief in the rule of law, consensus building and multilateralism would help build a stronger and more focused IPU.
As per reports, Sanjrani might have lost because of his inexperience while the Canadian candidate did not have the full backing of her government.
The election process to elect the new IPU president through remote electronic secret ballot began with a 24-hour window for casting votes.

Nov 02, 2020

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists

The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/68/163 at its 68th session in 2013 which proclaimed 2nd November as the 'International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists'.
The Resolution urged member states to implement definite measures countering the present culture of impunity. The date was chosen in commemoration of the assassination of two French journalists in Mali on 2nd November 2013.
This landmark resolution condemns all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers. It also urges Member States to do their utmost to prevent violence against journalists and media workers, to ensure accountability, bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against journalists and media workers, and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies.

IPU Begins Voting for New Chief

As many as 144 countries began voting online to elect the next President of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in which India is determined to keep out the Pakistani candidate Muhammad Sanjrani.
The indications are that India will network to provide a helping hand to the candidate from Portugal who is familiar with the corridors of the Geneva-based IPU.
The election will be completed in a window of 24 hour. Each country has three votes in the Presidency collegiums, provided one delegate is a woman.
The Indian delegation is led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and includes Poonamben Maadam (BJP, Lok Sabha) and Swapan Dasgupta (Nominated, Rajya Sabha).

Nov 01, 2020

Merkel's Party to Decide on Her Successor in January

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) will choose a new leader in mid-January, the party's general secretary said after a December 4 party congress was postponed due to the resurgent coronavirus pandemic.
The decision to postpone the choice of a new leader had stoked internal divisions in the party, with one candidate - Friedrich Merz - accusing some in the CDU establishment of opposing him for the job.
The party's three leadership candidates - Merz, Armin Laschet and Norbert Roettgen - have agreed to hold the congress in mid-January.

Migration and Development Brief Report of World Bank

The World Bank released the migration and development brief report. According to the report, the remittances of India will fall by 9% by the end of 2020. India's remittances will drop down to 76 billion USD due to covid-19 crisis and the Global economic recession.
As per the report, the top five countries that will receive lowest foreign remittances will be India, China, Mexico, Philippines and Egypt. The amount of money the migrant workers sending home is expected to reduce by 14% in 2021 as compared to that of 2019.
Remittance flows to the low income and middle income countries are predicted to fall by 7% in 2020. This will be around 508 billion USD. Further remittance is to decline by 7.5% in in 2021. This has been predicted as 470 billion USD.

Singapore Can be Centre for Research in Ayurvedic Medicines

According to health experts, Singapore with growing number of pharmaceutical multinationals, has the potential of becoming a centre for further research in Ayurvedic medicines for the benefits of diabetic patients globally including more than 100 million in India.
More Ayurveda medicine research can be done in Singapore to establish the phytochemical components of such herbs to enhance the efficacy in herbal production and storage.
Export-oriented Ayurvedic pharmaceutical companies from India can be a good source of higher-grade herbs for use in research work.
Treatment processes can be administered by prescribed ayurvedic practitioners approved by the health authorities in Singapore.

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