The Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh won the right to host the Expo 2030 world fair, in another diplomatic victory for a Gulf country after the soccer World Cup. South Korea’s port city of Busan and Rome in Italy were also in the running to host the five-yearly event that attracts millions of visitors and billions of dollars in investment.
The head of the United Nations children’s agency condemned in December acts of sexual violence committed against women during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel — a condemnation that Israel deemed insufficient. Anger over the accusations of rape and other sexual violence has grown in recent days, and US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on governments and international organisations to “forcefully condemn the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists without equivocation”.
India has been re-electe to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council for the 2024-25 biennium with the highest tally. This re-election underscores India’s influential role in the international maritime arena and reflects the global community’s recognition of the country’s contributions to seaborne trade.
The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP28, is the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, being held from 30 November until 12 December 2023 at Expo City, Dubai. The conference has been held annually since the first UN climate agreement in 1992. The COP conferences are intended for governments to agree on policies to limit global temperature rises and adapt to impacts associated with climate change.
A host of dignitaries were in attendance as the two-day World Climate Action summit opened on December 1, 2023, as
part of COP28 where governments, development banks, and companies announced initiatives to mobilize billions in climate cash, while the UAE unveiled $30 billion for a new climate investment venture. Named ALTRRA, it will aim to mobilize $250 billion in investment by the end of the decade, in what COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber described as a defining moment for climate finance.
India recently launch the world’s first portable disaster hospital that can be deployed in mass casualty incidents to quickly and efficiently treat as many people as possible. The hospital consists of 72 aid cubes.
Indonesia inaugurated a $100 million floating solar farm on Thursday, the largest in Southeast Asia, as it seeks more opportunities to transition to green, renewable energy. The Cirata floating solar farm, which is expected to generate enough electricity to power 50,000 households, is built on a 200-hectare (500-acre) reservoir in West Java, about 130 kilometers from the capital, Jakarta.
Kazakhstan, the world`s top uranium producer, announced on Thursday a long-term deal to supply the radioactive metal to China, as the resource-rich Central Asian country step up cooperation with Beijing. The deal was struck between the national atomic company, Kazatomprom, and China National Uranium Corporation Limit to deliver an unspecified amount of natural uranium concentrate, which is used in the nuclear fuel cycle
Russia on 7 November 2023 formally withdrew from a landmark security treaty that limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the United States for undermining post-Cold War security with the enlargement of the NATO military alliance.
The 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, placed verifiable limits on categories of conventional military equipment that NATO and the then-Warsaw Pact could deploy.
Nicaragua’s Sheynnis Palacios has been crown Miss Universe for the year 2023, marking her country’s first win at the international beauty pageant. The 72nd edition of the Miss Universe pageant was held on 19 November 2023 at the Jose Adolfo Pineda Arena in San Salvador, El Salvador.
the 2024 Asia Pacific Human Development Report recently in November 2023, released by UNDP. to reinvigorate human development amidst a turbulent landscape, the 2024 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report proposes new directions. Building on the region’s past successes, Making Our Future sets out practical pathways and advocates a three-pillar approach: mainstreaming human development, recalibrating growth strategy, and making change happen.
Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president on 19 November 2023, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty. Milei, who rode a wave of voter anger with the political mainstream, won by a wider-than-expected margin. He landed some 56% of the vote versus just over 44% for his rival, Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa, who conceded.
Russia has officially pulled out of an international security pact that restricts the use of conventional weapons, saying NATO’s expansion has made such cooperation impossible. After announcing its intention to exit the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) earlier this year, Russia formally withdrew from the landmark pact at midnight on Tuesday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ixchiq, the first chikungunya vaccine. Ixchiq is approved for individuals 18 years of age and older who are at increased risk of exposure to chikungunya virus. The chikungunya virus is primarily transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. Chikungunya is an emerging global health threat with at least 5 million cases of chikungunya virus infection reported during the past 15 years.
The Thailand government has approved a temporary visa-free entry scheme for tourists from India and Taiwan, from 10 November 2023 to May 10, 2024. The move is aimed at reviving the country’s tourism sector which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic
