General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2018

Nov 2018

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.

Dec 06, 2022

Nepal's Ruling Alliance Wins 90 Seats, All Set to form Govt.

The top leaders of Nepal's five-party ruling coalition met at Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's official residence to review the general elections and discuss the formation of a new government.
Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Nepal and Rastriya Janamorcha vice-chairperson Durga Paudel were among those who attended the meeting.
The five-party coalition has won 90 House of Representatives (HoR) seats out of 165 under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system.
The pro-India Nepali Congress has emerged as the single largest party with 57 seats votes under FPTP. Its allies CPN (Maoist Centre) has won 18 seats, CPN (Unified Socialist) 10, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP) 4 and Rastriya Janamorcha one.
The opposition Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN-UML) has bagged 44 seats, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) have won seven seats each. The Loktantrik Samajwadi Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party have won 4 and 3 seats, respectively.

Dec 05, 2022

Isaac Herzog Becomes First Israeli President to visit Bahrain

Israeli President Isaac Herzog held talks with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa during the first trip by an Israeli head of state to the small Gulf kingdom.
Herzog made the trip after the two countries normalised diplomatic relations in 2020.
The leaders discussed issues that included regional security and "ways to encourage communication between the representatives of the private sector in the two countries.

Iran Begins Construction of New Nuclear Power Plant in Khuzestan

Iran began the construction of a new nuclear power plant in its south-western province of Khuzestan.
Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and some local officials witnessed the start of construction of the 300-megawatt Karoon nuclear power plant, which will install a pressurised light water reactor that uses 4-per cent enriched uranium oxide as the fuel.

Pakistan Govt. Invites Imran Khan's Party for 'Unconditional Negotiations'

The Pakistan government invited Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party for holding unconditional talks, saying negotiations are part of the political process and complex problems are resolved when two sides hear each other out.
The development came after PTI chief Khan on Friday warned that he would dissolve the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces ruled by his party if the federal government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not sit down for talks and announce dates for the general elections.

India Ranks 8th among Countries at Highest Risk for Mass Killing

India was ranked eighth among the countries that are at the highest risk for mass killing in 2022 and 2023, according to a US-based research organisation. India saw a drop in rank from second position in the earlier year.
There is a 7.4% – or approximately one in 14 – chance of a new mass killing beginning in India in 2022-2023," the Early Warning Project, that identifies countries at risk of mass violence, said.
The Project is a joint initiative of the Simon-Skjodt Centre for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Dickey Centre for International Understanding at Dartmouth College.
While Pakistan topped the list this year (2022), Yemen ranked second, Myanmar third, Ethiopia fifth, Nigeria sixth and Afghanistan seventh, among all 162 countries, in the 2022-23 report.

India Jumps to 48th Place in ICAO Aviation Safety Ranking

India jumped to the 48th position in the global aviation safety ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), according to DGCA officials.
Four years ago, the country was ranked at the 102nd position.
In the ranking, Singapore was at the top, followed by the UAE and South Korea at the second and third positions, respectively.

Dec 04, 2022

India to Assume Chairmanship of Wassenaar Arrangement on January 1, 2023

India will assume chairmanship of the plenary of the Wassenaar Arrangement for a year on January 1, 2023, just five years after joining the 42-member voluntary export control regime that monitors transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use goods.
At the 26th annual plenary of the Wassenaar Arrangement held in Vienna, Ireland's ambassador Eoin O'Leary handed over the chairmanship to India's ambassador Jaideep Mazumdar, who is the permanent representative to the UN and international organisations in Vienna.
India joined the Wassenaar Arrangement in December 2017 as its 42nd participating state. The body is a multilateral export control regime that works to promote transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies through regular exchanges of information among its members.

QUAD Summit Goes to Sydney in Mid-2023

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese selected his home-town Sidney for hosting the QUAD summit mid-2023 even as Japan expressed serious concerns this week to China and Russia over joint air patrols over Sea of Japan and scrambled fighters in response.
While the dates of the QUAD summit are still to be worked out, US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will travel to Sydney to further cement cooperation and push back the Chinese belligerence in Indo-Pacific and aggressive behavior against all four democratic countries. But before that India will be hosting the QUAD foreign ministers' meet in New Delhi as dates are being worked out.

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