Category: International Current Affairs

A Grants of $4.3 bn approved by IMF to South Africa

July 29, 2020

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved USD 4.3 billion to South Africa in emergency funding, the largest amount given to any country yet to fight the coronavirus pandemic. South Africa is the worst-hit country in the continent with over 4,50,000 cases.

Somalia’s Deputy PM Mahdi Mohammed Gulaid appointed as the interim Prime Minister

July 29, 2020

• Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohammed Gulaid has announced his appointment as the interim prime minister. He will be appointed within a month.

Hichem Mechichi designated as new Prime minister Tunisia

July 28, 2020

• Tunisian president Kais Saied designated Hichem Mechichi as the country’s new prime minister. 
• Mechihi succeeds Elyes Fakhfakh, who resigned last week. 
• Mechichi is an independent in the parliament and served as interior minister under Fakhfakh. He has also served as legal advisor to the president.

CCI will boost cotton exports to Vietnam

July 28, 2020

• Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is holding surplus stocks of cotton with an aim to boost exports of cotton to Bangladesh and Vietnam.
• A memorandum of understanding is being worked out to export 1.5-2 million bales (of 170 kilogrammes each) of cotton to Bangladesh while the state-run CCI will also set up its own warehouse in Vietnam to boost cotton exports.

Government of India (GoI) has helped North Korea with $1 million of medical assistance

July 27, 2020

• As per the request of the World Health Organization (WHO), Government of India (GoI) has helped North Korea with an amount of $1 million for anti-tuberculosis medicine.

Ultra-rapid testing kit for COVID-19 jointly developed by India and Israel

July 25, 2020

• An ultra-rapid testing kit for COVID-19 jointly developed by India and Israel.
• This rapid testing kit can generate preliminary COVID results within 30 seconds.

Ravi Shankar Prasad portrayed India in the G20 Digital Economy Ministers Virtual Meeting

July 24, 2020

• Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad epitomized India in the virtual meeting of the G20 Digital Economy Minister under the hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Nicaragua to be 87th country to sign International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement

July 24, 2020

• Nicaragua has come up as the 87th country to link the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement, an initiative headed by India to spread sustainable energy.
• The agreement on behalf of the Central American country Nicaragua was inked by the Permanent Representative to the United Nations Jaime Hermida Castillo at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York on 22, July 2020.

Turkmenistan receives observer status in the World Trade Organization

July 24, 2020

• Turkmenistan has been given observer status (25th country) by the World Trade Organization (WTO ) General Council. Turkmenistan has become the last former Soviet republic to make formal ties with the trade body.
• The Central Asian country submitted a request for observer status in May and expressed willingness to trigger the talks on accession to the WTO within five years.

SpaceX launches South Korea’s 1st military satellite

July 23, 2020

• SpaceX successfully launched South Korea’s first military satellite and aced a rocket landing, too, to mark its 12th launch of the year.
• The satellite named “ANASIS-II” was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) by a Falcon 9 rocket. It was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the US of Florida.