World Current Affairs MCQs November 2023

China is owed more than a trillion dollars through its Belt and Road project, making it the biggest debt collector in the world, a report said this week, with an estimated 80 per cent of the loans supporting countries in financial distress. Beijing says upwards of 150 countries stretching from Uruguay to Sri Lanka have signed up to the BRI, a vast global infrastructure push unveiled by President Xi Jinping a decade ago

Iceland declare a state of emergency on Friday after a series of powerful earthquakes rocked the country’s southwestern Reykjanes peninsula, in what could be a precursor to a volcanic eruption.

Mira Murati is the new interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OpenAI after the ChatGPT maker’s board said on 17 November 2023 that it had fired CEO and co-founder Sam Altman. In a statement, the company said that Murati is uniquely qualified for the role and it “anticipates a seamless transition while it conducts a formal search for a permanent CEO

Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua was crown the 2023 Miss Universe at the culmination of the annual beauty pageant, which took place on Saturday night in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. Anntonia Porsild of Thailand place as first runner-up. Palacios’ win marks the first-ever time a Nicaraguan woman has won Miss Universe. She had previously represented Nicaragua in the 2017 Teen Miss Universe pageant, placing in the top 10, and in the 2021 Miss World pageant.

Pakistan-base cleantech startup She-Guard secured the top position at the ‘ClimateLaunchpad Asia-Pacific’ finals, presenting their innovative biodegradable and plastic-free sanitary product. The startup’s mission revolves around converting banana crop waste into affordable and eco-friendly sanitary napkins, effectively addressing the interconnected challenges of climate change, public health, and solid waste management in Pakistan

Dominica is planning to establish the world first sperm whale reserve, which will entail setting aside approximately 800-square-kilometer area off its western coast. In this designated zone, large ships and commercial fishing activities will be restricted, allowing visitors to swim alongside these gentle marine giants. This initiative aims not only to enhance tourism revenue but also to contribute to carbon sequestration in the deep sea, an often overlook advantage of whale conservation.

Between 2001 and 2023, the US allocate $677 billion in aid to 213 nations, with Afghanistan, Israel, and Iraq topping the list of recipients in the last two decades. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States emerges as the foremost aid provider in 2022

In the wake of a series of approximately 800 earthquakes within a span of 14 hours, Iceland is on high alert, bracing for a potential volcanic eruption. The concerns have escalate with the recent discovery of a sinkhole beneath the evacuated town of Grindavík, intensifying fears of a massive volcanic event.

The People’s Bank of China and the Saudi Central Bank recently signed a local currency swap agreement worth 50 billion yuan ($6.93 billion) or 26 billion Saudi riyals, both banks said on Monday, as bilateral relations continued to gather momentum. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, and China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, have worked to take relations beyond hydrocarbon ties in recent years, expanding collaboration into areas such as security and technology.

Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged 95 percent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop, according to a UN report published on 5 November 2023. Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have vowed to end illegal drug production in Afghanistan and in April 2022 banned the cultivation of the poppy plant, from which opium and heroin are made.

A temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip took effect from 24 November 2023 to 30 November 2023, during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The initial agreement, mediated by Qatar, stipulated a four-day break in fighting during which 50 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel were to be released and more humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter Gaza, with the ceasefire subject to extension providing additional hostages are released.

Fifteen years after the tragic attacks in Mumbai, while war against Hamas in Gaza rages, Israel has officially designated Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as a terrorist organisation. Active in Kashmir, the Pakistan-base Islamist group was behind the attacks of 26 November 2008 that target 12 different locations in the heart of the Indian metropolis, including a Jewish centre, the local Chabad House. About 166 people died in the attacks, including two Israelis and four other Jews.

“Panda diplomacy” is a phrase commonly used in international relations to describe China’s strategy of loaning giant pandas to zoos in other countries as a gesture of goodwill and to strengthen diplomatic ties. Recently, three giant pandas that resided at the National Zoo in Washington DC have been sent back to China after a 23-year stay.

World Heritage Week is celebrate every year from the November 19 to November 25 with an aim to create awareness on the importance of our historical ethnicity and to uplift and preserve our cultural heritage and monuments.