International News

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Tashkent to attend theAnnual Meeting of the Defence Ministers' of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States

SCO Summit in Tashkent: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is currently on his visit to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) to attend the Annual Meeting of the Defence Ministers' of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States. He is on a on a three-day visit to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Key Point ...

External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S. Jaishankar co-chairs the9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting

9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting: Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister (EAM) of India recently paid an official visit to Bangkok, Thailand. Key Highlights: He visited Bangkok from 16-18 August 2022 to co-chair the 9th Meeting of India-Thailand Joint Commission (JCM) with ...

William Ruto elected as Kenya’s President

President of Kenya: William Samoei Arap Ruto has been elected as the President of Kenya in the General Elections which was held on August 9, 2022. Key Highlights: William Ruto beat five-time contender Raila Odinga by a small margin to become the next President of the country. According to ...

Air Forces of India, Malaysia begin bilateral exercise Udarashakti

Udarashakti 2022:  Udarashakti is a bilateral exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). This is the first bilateral exercise that is being conducted between the two countries About Udarashakti 2022: Indian Air Force is taking part in air exer ...

Union Cabinet approves Audio Visual Co-Production Treaty b/w India & Australia to promote co-production of films

Indo-Australia Audio Visual C0-Production Treaty: The Union Cabinet recently approved the signing of an Audio Visual Co-production Treaty between India and Australia. Key Points: The Audio Visual Co-production Treaty between both countries is aimed at facilitating joint production of films ...

ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) celebrated its 55th anniversary.

55th Anniversary of ASEAN: ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) recently celebrated its 55th anniversary. Key Points: The 55th ASEAN day was celebrated amidst challenges from within the 10-member regional grouping and the tensions in the region emanating from the United States (U ...

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands in Taiwan, China warns of countermeasures

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan recently becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit the self-ruled island that is claimed by China in 25 years. Key Points: Marking the most high-level political engagement from the U.S. ...

India & Maldives launches the contract for Greater Male Connectivity Project

Greater Male Connectivity Projects: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih recently launched the contract for the mega Greater Male Connectivity project (GMCP). Key Highlights: The Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is on a three-day state v ...

Indian Antarctic Bill passed in Rajya Sabha before adjournment

Indian Antarctic Bill: The Rajya Sabha on has passed the Indian Antarctic Bill 2022 amid sloganeering by the opposition MPs which forced the adjournment of the House. Highlights: The Indian Antarctic Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh. The bil ...

3rd edition of Vietnam-India Bilateral Army exercise begins at Chandimandir

Ex VINBAX 2022: The 3rd Edition of Ex VINBAX 2022 began at Chandimandir on August 1. It will continue till August 20, 2022. Theme of Ex VINBAX – 2022: The theme of Ex VINBAX - 2022 is “employment and deployment of an Engineer Company and a Medical Team under United Nations Conti ...

UN lays down guidelines to protect children displaced by climate change

UN's Global Policy Framework for Displaced Children: United Nations-backed agencies recently issued guidelines to provide the first-ever global policy framework to protect children displaced due to climate change. Key Highlights: The land-mark guidelines were launched on July 25, 2022 w ...

Dinesh Gunawardena sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

Dinesh Gunawardena: Senior politician and staunch Rajapaksa loyalist Dinesh Gunawardena has been appointed as the new and 15th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Key Highlights: The 73-year-old was sworn in as the PM at the Prime Minister’s Office on Flower Road, Colombo on July 22, 2022, b ...

Global Gender Gap Index, 2022

2022 Global Gender Gap Index: The World Economic Forum(WEF) recently released the Global Gender Gap Index, 2022 (GGGI 2022). Key findings of the index: As per the index, it will now take 132 years to reach gender parity, with the gap reducing only by four years since 2021 and the gender gap ...

India and UK Sign Pact On Mutual Recognition Of Academic Qualification

India– UK MoU on Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualification: India and the United Kingdom (UK) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual recognition of academic qualifications to facilitate student mobility and collaboration between higher educational institutions of both ...

CII-EXIM Bank Conclave: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal calls on expanding India-Africa ties

CII-EXIM Bank Conclave: The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal recently attended the “Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Exim Bank Conclave on India-Africa Growth Partnership”. Key Points about the conclave: The conclave was held on July 19, 2022. Th ...

US successfully flight tests Raytheon hypersonic weapon

Raytheon Hypersonic Weapon: The United States has successfully tested a Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N). Key Highlights: This success marks the third successful test in a string of hypersonic weapons across different U.S. programs in development. The test took place as the United State ...

Iran And Belarus To Be The Newest SCO Members

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): Iran and Belarus are likely to be the two newest additions to the China and Russia-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping. Key Highlights: Iran will become a full member after completing the formalities while Shanghai Cooperation Org ...

Nepal’s Parliament passes first Citizenship Amendment Bill

First Citizenship Amendment Bill of Nepal: The Parliament of Nepal recently passed the first ever “Citizenship Amendment Bill”. Background: The bill has been under discussion in the House of Representatives since 2020 because it could not bring a consensus among political partie ...

Inaugural I2U2 meet focuses on food security crisis and clean energy

I2U2 Leaders’ Virtual Summit: The first India-Israel-UAE-USA (I2U2) Leader’s Summit was organised on July 14, 2022, in virtual mode. Key Facts: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was joined by United States President Joe Biden, Israeli PM Yair Lapid and UAE President Mohammed bin Zaye ...

Shinzo Abe to be honoured with Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum posthumously

Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum: The Government of Japan decided to honour former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, posthumously. Key Facts: Shinzo Abe was the longest-serving PM of Japan. He is the fourth former prime minister to get Japan’s ...

Sri Lanka Declares State Of Emergency As President Rajapaksa Flees

State of Emergency in Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka has declared an indefinite state of emergency as massive protests gripped Colombo after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa  fled the country. Key Highlights: Rajapaksa, 73 fled the country to the Maldives along with his wife on July 12, 2 ...

First I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA) Leaders’ Virtual Summit

Leaders' Summit of I2U2: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will be participating virtually in the first I2U2 Summit, along with Prime Minister of Israel Yair Lapid, President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President of the USA Joseph R. Biden. The meeting will be held on on ...

July 11: World Population Day

World Population Day: World Population Day is observed on the 11th of July every year. The main objective of the day is to increase the awareness of the people towards the worldwide population issues. Theme of World Population Day 2022: The World Population Day 2022 was celebrated u ...

Boris Johnson resigns as UK PM

UK Political Crisis: Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, recently announced his resignation. Key Highlights: He will remain in office until the Conservative Party selects his successor. Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister after more than 50 members of his Cabinet and lower-lev ...

Former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe assassinated at campaign event

Former PM of Japan Assassinated: Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in Nara on 8th July 2022 while campaigning for the upcoming election. Key facts: The 67-year-old world leader was shot dead while making a speech in the western city of Nara. The police arrested a sus ...

Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant is new G-20 Sherpa

Sherpa of G-20: Former CEO of Government’s think tank NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, has been selected to serve as India's new G-20 Sherpa. Key Points: He will be replacing Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as G-20 Sherpa. Shri Piyush Goyal was appointed as G-20 Sherpa in September 2021 ...

Yair Lapid Officially Becomes New Prime Minister Of Israel

Yair Lapid officially became the 14th Prime Minister of Israel at the stroke of midnight between 30th Thursday and 29th Friday. On 2 June 2021, a coalition agreement was signed between Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Yamina, the Labor Party, Yisrael Beiteinu, New Hope, Meretz, and the United Arab List ...

European Union grants candidate status to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia

European Union Candidate Status: The European Parliament recently approved the EU candidacy status for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in a convincing vote. Key Points: This was announced by European Council President Charles Michel after discussions among leaders of the EU's 27 member sta ...

India, UK launches joint Commonwealth Diplomatic Academy programme

Commonwealth Diplomatic Academy programme: India and UK recently announced the establishment of a joint Commonwealth Diplomatic Academy programme. Key Points: The meeting was held by both the Foreign Ministers of India S Jaishankar and of the UK Liz at Kigali, Rwanda, where the heads of the ...

The US state of New York passes world's first 'right to repair' law for digital electronics

Fair Repair Act: The U.S. state of New York recently passed the Fair Repair Act. Key Points: According to US’s Fair Repair Act, manufacturers must provide repair manuals, equipment, and supplies to independent repair shops and not just their own stores or partners. This provides con ...