General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2018

Nov 2018

Jun 13, 2022

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Becomes World's Second-longest Reigning Monarch

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II overtook Thailand's King to become the world's second-longest reigning monarch in history, after France's Louis XIV. The UK celebrated the 96-year-old Queen's Platinum Jubilee to mark 70 years of service to the nation with grand events. After four days of royal parades, street parties, pageantry and other events were held across the UK and the Commonwealth to mark the Platinum Jubilee milestone.
Crowned in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-serving British monarch in September 2015, surpassing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria. Now she overtook Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years and 126 days between 1927 and 2016, to set another record. Louis XIV of France remains the longest-reigning monarch, with a 72-year and 110-day reign from 1643 until 1715.

Five Countries Elected as Non-permanent Members of 15-nation U.N. Security Council

Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland were elected to the UN Security Council as non-permanent members for the 2023-2024 term and would replace India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway at the horse-shoe table from January 1 next year.
The 193-member UN General Assembly held elections to elect the five non-permanent members for the two-year term 2023-24.
For two seats in the Western Europe and other States category, Switzerland (187 votes) and Malta (185 votes) were elected, for two seats in African and Asia-Pacific States Mozambique (192 votes) and Japan (184 votes) were elected and for the one seat in the Latin American and Caribbean States category, Ecuador was elected with 190 votes.
Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland will join Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the UAE as well as the five permanent members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US as UNSC members for the year 2023.

India Abstains from Vote on Iran at IAEA, Despite Pressure

India was among the three countries that withstood western pressure and abstained from voting against Iran at the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The voting took place just before Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian embarked on his India visit. The IAEA's 35-nation board passed a resolution, condemning Iran for its failure to provide explanation on technically credible evidence about the detection of nuclear traces at three undisclosed locations.
India abstained from voting along with Pakistan and Libya while Russia and China voted against it. India had earlier voted against Iran during the UPA era in 2005, 2006 and 2009. In 2009, when India had voted against Iran, it was also joined by Russia and China.

Summit of the Americas 2022

The ninth Summit of the Americas 2022 was held from June 6 to June 10, 2022. It is an international conference and was held in Los Angeles, United States.
Summit of the Americas 2022 was held under the theme of "Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future".
In January 2022, the White House had announced that, Los Angeles would serve as the host city. United States selects the site of this summit as a host and its attendees. For this year's summit, United States did not invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela because these countries are accused of having undemocratically elected leaders.
Summit of the Americas 2022 was skipped by the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, also boycotted the summit.
Similarly, the President of Bolivia, President of Guatemala, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent did not attend the summit.

Bangladesh-India bus Services Resume after Two Years

After a two-year gap due to Covid-19 pandemic, the Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata 'Maitri' bus services resumed at Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP), a few kilometres away from the capital city. A total of 28 passengers including 22 Indian nationals and another six Bangladeshi nationals travelled in the 40-seated bus. The bus will provide services six days a week barring Friday.
The bus service was resumed following clearance from the home and external affairs ministries of India and Bangladesh. The journey between Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata bus route takes four hours to reach Dhaka and 19 hours to reach Kolkata while it takes 35 hours on the railway route through Guwahati.
Nearly 600 applications are submitted for visas every day to travel to the neighbouring country. The state shares 856 km-long international border with Bangladesh parts of which are yet to be fenced.

UN Mentions Hindi, other Sub-continental Languages for First Time

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted an India co-sponsored resolution on multilingualism that mentions three major languages of the subcontinent—Hindi, Urdu and Bengali—for the first time. The resolution passed encourages the UN to continue disseminating important communications and messages in official as well as in non-official languages, including in the three languages as well as in Portuguese, Kiswahili and Persian.
The UN has six official languages—English, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and French—the addition of Hindi, Bangla, and Urdu will instrumentalise and institutionalise their usage as mediums for disseminating UN information. India welcomed the first time mention of Hindi, Bangla, and Urdu as languages for communicating important information and messages of the UN.

Thailand First Asian Country to Legalise Growing, Consumption of Marijuana

Thailand legalised the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks, the first Asian country to do so, with the aim of boosting its agriculture and tourism sectors but smoking pot is still against the law. Shoppers queued up at outlets selling cannabis-infused drinks, sweets and other items as advocates of the plant welcomed the reform in a country that has long had a reputation for strict anti-drug laws.
Thailand, which has a tradition of using cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue, legalised medicinal marijuana in 2018. The government, banking on the plant as a cash crop, plans to give away a million plants to encourage farmers to take up its cultivation.

Indian Diplomat Amandeep Singh Gill Appointed as UN Chief's Envoy on Technology

Amandeep Singh Gill of India was appointed as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' Envoy on Technology. A thought leader on digital technology, Gill is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) project, based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.
He brings to the position a deep knowledge of digital technologies coupled with a solid understanding of how to leverage the digital transformation responsibly and inclusively for progress on the sustainable development goals.
Amandeep Singh Gill was the Executive Director and Co-Lead of the United Nations Secretary-General`s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation from 2018 to 2019.

Jun 12, 2022

Virtual Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of BRICS Chaired by China

The BRICS nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa vowed to deepen financial cooperation and customs cooperation. BRICS countries agreed to strengthening coordination on macroeconomic policy at a virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the five-member bloc which was co-chaired by China's central bank governor Yi Gang and finance minister Liu Kun.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who participated virtually in the meeting, said that India's growth will be driven by fiscal spending. Ms. Sitharaman said BRICS should continue to serve as a platform to engage in dialogues and facilitate the exchange of experiences, concerns and ideas for rebuilding a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory.
China's bilateral trade with BRICS countries totaled 490.42 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 39.2 percent year on year, higher than the overall level of China's foreign trade in the same period.

Jun 11, 2022

Krishna Srinivasan Appoints as the Director of IMF's Asia-Pacific

International Monetary Fund, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced the appointment of Indian national Krishna Srinivasan as director of the Asia and Pacific Department (APD). Srinivasan will succeed Changyong Rhee.
Mr. Srinivasan has more than 27 years of Fund experience, starting in 1994 in the Economist Program. He is currently a Deputy Director in APD where he oversees the department's surveillance work on a number of large and systemically important countries such as China and Korea, and smaller states in the Pacific such as Fiji and Vanuatu.
Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Srinivasan was an Assistant Professor of Economics and International Finance at Indiana-Purdue University and a consultant at the World Bank in DC and the Center for Policy Research and Planning Commission in New Delhi.

Sri Lanka President's Brother, Basil Rajapaksa, Resigns from Parliament

The brother of Sri Lanka's President and the country's former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa resigned from parliament, the second from the influential family to step away from government amid a severe economic crisis.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned as Prime Minister last month after prolonged protests against the economic crisis turned deadly. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned as prime minister last month after prolonged protests against the economic crisis turned deadly. Mahinda remains a Member of Parliament.
The three Rajapaksa siblings have been key players in Sri Lankan politics for decades, but are blamed by protesters who have taken to the streets in their thousands for mishandling the island nation's economy.

Jun 10, 2022

European Parliament Votes to Ban Sale of New Petrol and Diesel Cars by 2035

Members of the European Parliament voted to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035. The move aims to step up the fight against climate change through the faster development of electric vehicles. The voting was held on an amendment that would have allowed some auto emissions from new vehicles after 2035, which was rejected by Members of Parliament.
The European Union assembly voted in Strasbourg, France to require automakers to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 100 percent by the middle of the next decade. The mandate would amount to a prohibition on the sale in the 27-nation EU of new cars powered by gasoline or diesel.
EU lawmakers also endorsed a 55 percent reduction in CO2 from automobiles in 2030 compared with 2021.

India, Iran Reaffirm Cooperation on Development of Chabahar Port

India and Iran reaffirmed their commitment to continue their cooperation on the development of the Chabahar Port as a transit hub for the region including Central Asia and said delegates from the two counties will meet soon to address operational aspects of the key port.
For India, the Chabahar Port is a much-needed project for sea-access to landlocked Afghanistan. The port has also emerged as a commercial transit hub for the region. It is a more economical and stable route for landlocked countries of the region to reach India and the global market.
This commitment to continuing cooperation on the Chabahar Port was made during Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian's visit to India. This is the first visit of Abdollahian since he assumed office in August 2021.
The Ministers also discussed international and regional issues, including Afghanistan and the sides reaffirmed the importance of providing immediate humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan and reiterated the need for a representative and inclusive political system in support of a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan.

Jun 09, 2022

Ramkrishna Mukkavilli First Indian Recognised by United Nations Global Compact as Global SDG Pioneer

For the first time in the world, an Indian was named a Global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Pioneer for Water Stewardship by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). The United Nations Global Compact named ten new SDG Pioneers, who are corporate leaders excelling in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by implementing the UN Global Compact Ten Principles on human rights, environment, labour, and anti-corruption.
Professionals working at any level in a firm engaging in the UN Worldwide Compact were targeted for the global search, with winners picked from every continent. Their work covers a wide range of topics, including climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as circular economy and digital transformation.

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