March 29, 2024

International


Why in news? Worldwide Cost of Living Index 2021 has released the list of cheapest and the most expensive cities in the world. About Cost-of-Living Index 2021 A survey is conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU every year. This year it was conducted in September-October 2021. This Worldwide Cost of Living Index explores 173 cities of the world which are ranked based on "Impactful Global Events". It stated that prices for goods and services have risen by 3.5 per cent year-on-year, the highest inflation rate seen in the last five years. Key findings Tel Aviv is the world’s most....Read More

Why in news? Nearly 400 years after the country became a British colony, Barbados has become the world’s newet republic. The Caribbean Island nation removed Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the state in a ceremony attended by Prince Charles. About the formation of newest republic History of Barbados as a British colony and after Barbados, which is said to have been made a ‘slave society’ by the British, first became an English colony when a ship arrived at the Caribbean in 1625. On November 30, 1966, Barbados gained its independence. Who took over as the new head of....Read More

Why in news? India’s Minister for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh, who chaired the 9th BRICS Science & Technology Ministers meet held on November 26, 2021, has called for working towards rightful place for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in the Global Innovation Index and this, he said, can be achieved through further strengthening the cooperation in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). About BRICS Member countries: BRICS is an acronym for 5 emerging economies of the world viz. – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. Originally the first four were grouped as "BRIC"....Read More

Why in news? Recently, the 6th edition of the biennial India-France Army exercise ‘Ex Shakti-2021’ culminated after 12 days of intense joint military training, which the Army said proved to be “another remarkable milestone towards the pledge of terrorism-free world”. About ‘Ex Shakti-2021’ What is it? The 6th edition of the biennial India-France Army exercise Hosted by: This edition of the exercise hosted by France saw the two sides exhibiting their combat power and dominance over the extremist groups in simulated counter-insurgency, counterterrorism environment. Phases of exercise: The exercise was conducted in two phases involving combat conditioning and tactical training....Read More

WHY IN THE NEWS? Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered the keynote address at The Sydney Dialogue, via video conferencing. PM addressed the event on the theme ‘India’s technology evolution and revolution’. The Sydney Dialogue has been organised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The event will bring together political, business and government leaders to debate, generate new ideas and work towards common understandings of the opportunities and challenges posed by emerging and critical technologies. The Sydney Dialogue is an annual summit of cyber and critical technologies to discuss the fallout of the digital domain on the law and order situation in the world.Read More

Democracy Summit of the USA

WHY IN THE NEWS? India will participate in U.S.A’s “Summit for Democracy” to be held on 9th and 10th December. About: More than 100 democratic countries are invited to participate at the summit. The summit is expected to include “individual and collective commitments to defend democracy and human rights at the international level. Key themes: “Defending against authoritarianism”, “Addressing and fighting corruption”, and “Advancing respect for human rights”. An attempt was earlier made by the U.S. and the U.K. to expand the G-7 meeting into a “D-10” or group of 10 democracies that would represent 60% of the global population, including Australia, India....Read More

WHY IN THE NEWS? India was re-elected to the executive board of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for the term of 2021-2025. About: India was re-elected with 164 votes. Among Group IV Asian & Pacific States, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines, Cook Islands and China were also elected. UNESCO Executive Board UNESCO Executive Board is one among the three constitutional organs of the UN agency. It is elected by the General Conference. The board acts under the authority of General Conference. It examines the programme of work for organisation and corresponding budget estimates, which is submitted by Director-General. The board....Read More

WHY IN THE NEWS? The 21st Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Annual Council of Minister’s (COM) Meeting was held in Dhaka. About: India took part in the conference in virtual mode. India was led by Minister of State External Affairs (MoS), Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh. IORA COM was held in a hybrid format in Dhaka. At the end of this meeting, Dhaka Communique was adopted. India’s affirmation at the summit While addressing the summit, the MoS reaffirmed India’s strong commitment to strengthening IORA, which is the largest and pre-eminent organization in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). India also reaffirmed the commitment....Read More

WHY IN THE NEWS? Recently, Belarusian and Russian paratroopers staged joint drills near the Polish and Lithuanian borders. It is taking place during a standoff between Belarus and the European Union (EU) over migrants camped in freezing forests at the frontier. Background: In Belarus there were months of protests following the August 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. The opposition and the West rejected the result as a sham. Belarusian authorities responded to the demonstrations with a fierce crackdown that saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police. The EU and the US reacted by imposing sanctions on the Belarus government.....Read More

WHY IN THE NEWS? India and Sri Lanka have revived their “Parliamentary Friendship Association” for which Minister Chamal Rajapaksa has been selected as its president. About: This association was there in the past. It is being revived for the current Parliament which was elected in August 2020. At the revival event, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris noted the “close civilisational ties” between India & Sri Lanka. He observed that the greatest gift of India to Sri Lanka was Buddhism. This association will help in “reinvigorating” Parliamentary exchanges and strengthening bilateral ties between both countries. Background Sri Lanka formed India-Sri Lanka....Read More

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