Daily Current Affairs- 16 December

Today's Current Affairs16th December 2022

INTERNATIONAL

Vietnam reaches $15.5B energy deal with G7 to cut emissions

• A group of nine rich industrialized nations approved a deal to provide Vietnam with $15.5 billion to help the Southeast Asian nation move faster from coal power to renewable energy, cutting its climate-damaging pollution.
• The Group of Seven major economies, along with Norway and Denmark, said in a statement that the aim is to help Vietnam reduce its emissions to “net zero” by 2050, a goal which expert say needs to be met globally to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• The Just Energy Transition Partnership with Vietnam is among a series of agreements that developing and rich nations are negotiating. The first such deal was signed with South Africa last year, and a similar agreement was reached with Indonesia last month.
• Vietnam is a dynamic, emerging economy at the heart of Southeast Asia,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. “The investment we are making today means the country can cut its emissions while simultaneously creating new jobs and growth.

UN: Global Trade Surges to $32 Trillion Record in 2022

• The value of global trade is set to reach a new record this year, increasing by about 12 per cent to an estimated $32 trillion, according to a UN report that signaled a slowdown heading into 2023. “The substantial trade growth during the last year was largely due to increases in the value of the trade of energy products,” the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in the report.
• Trade in merchandise goods soared to $25 trillion, an increase of about 10 per cent versus the prior year. Trade in services grew 15 per cent year-over-year to nearly $7 trillion, according to the report.
• The UN body expects the inflation-adjusted value of global trade will diminish next year because of the combined impact of geopolitical frictions, lower economic growth, higher prices for goods and record levels of global debt.

New Zealand passes world's first law to ban smoking for future generation

• The New Zealand government has passed a law to completely end tobacco smoking by banning youth from buying cigarettes for life. The Smoke Free Environments and Regulated Products (Smoking Tobacco) Amendment Bill has been passed in New Zealand which aims to make New Zealand smoke free by 2025.
• The bill aims to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009, and reduce the number of cigarette retailers in the country. The bill has received bipartisan support in New Zealand’s parliament and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also plans to reduce the amount of nicotine allowed in smokeless tobacco products. Passage of the bill would reduce the number of tobacco retailers nationwide to about one-tenth of the current number of 6,000.
• This will lead to thousands of lives longer and an additional $5 billion less burden on the health system as there will be no need to treat diseases caused by smoking, such as many types of cancer, heart attacks, strokes, amputations. The legislation aims to prevent the high number of deaths caused by tobacco consumption in New Zealand which disproportionately affects the native Māori population.

 NATIONAL

Union Minister for Jal Shakti Inaugurates The 7th Edition of India Water Impact Summit

• Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has inaugurated the 7th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS 2022) on December 15, 2022 in the presence of Shri Bishweshwar Tudu, Minister of State for Jal Shakti.
• The summit is being organized from 15th to 17th December, 2022 at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Center for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga).
• The theme of the summit this year is Restoration and Conservation of Small Rivers in a Large Basin, with emphasis on the ‘Mapping and Convergence of 5Ps’ – People, Policy, Plan, Programme and Project.
• The three-day-long summit will aim to give an insight into the potential causes for divergence and formulate a strategy to achieve convergence.
• The 5 broad themes of the summit are Science and Policy, Finance and Economics, Technology and Innovation, International and Implementation Challenges.

India, Kazakhstan Begins Joint Military Drill In Meghalaya

• The 6th Edition of Indo – Kazakhstan joint training exercise “KAZIND-22” is conducted at Umroi (Meghalaya) from 15 to 28 December 2022. The scope of this exercise involves a Command Post Exercise (CPX) at the Battalion level and Company level Field Training Exercise (FTX) on sub-conventional operations. During the exercise, participants will engage in variety of missions ranging from joint planning, joint tactical drills, basics of special arms skills, HADR and raiding a hostile target.
• Joint annual training exercise with the Kazakhstan Army was instituted in 2016 as Exercise Prabal Dostyk, which was later upgraded to a company level exercise and renamed as Ex Kazind in 2018.

 SPORTS

Chahat Arora sets national record in women's 100-metre breaststroke

• In Swimming, Indian swimmer Chahat Arora set a national record in the women’s 100-metre breaststroke at the FINA World Swimming Championships 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. FINA is the International Swimming Federation. Chahat Arora completed the 100-metre breaststroke race in 1 minute, 13.13 seconds.
• Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, topped the overall heats in 1 minute, 3.81 seconds, which was 9.32 seconds quicker than Chahat Arora.
• The 19-year-old Lara Van Niekerk of South Africa came second in 1 minute 3.93 seconds.
• Lilly King of the USA came third in 1 minute 3.94 seconds. Chahat will participate in the women’s 50m breaststroke event. Siva Sridhar will compete in the 100-metre individual medley.

 SUMMIT'S & MOU's

Airbnb signs MoU with Department of Tourism, Government of Goa to promote Inclusive Tourism

• Airbnb signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Tourism, Government of Goa, to jointly promote Goa as one of the most sought-after high potential tourism destinations in India and around the world.
• This partnership is aimed at encouraging travel to unique destinations that are lesser-known and enabling economically regenerative community-led tourism in the state. On the sidelines of the official launch of ‘Rediscover Goa’, a week-long celebration of Goa’s vast cultural diversity beyond its beaches and dazzling nightlife, Airbnb and Goa Tourism Department have joined hands to scale homestay capacity across the state, and provide support to Goan homestay Hosts in delivering quality tourism experiences to guests, both domestic and international.
• The announcement reflects the commitment of both parties to support the development of a sustainable tourism ecosystem in Goa, while highlighting current and upcoming tourism destinations in the state. By hosting knowledge sharing and training workshops for homestay Hosts, the partnership will also enhance the potential of tourism to create jobs and sustainable livelihood opportunities for the local communities. There will be a spotlight on unique properties that enable more domestic and international travelers to explore Goa like never before and uncover some hidden gems.

 AWARDS & RECOGNITION

After Golden Globes and Critics Choice, SS Rajamouli's RRR bags 4 nominations at HCA Film Awards

• SS Rajamouli-directed period movie ‘RRR’ has been nominated in two categories at the Golden Globe Awards to be held in January 2023. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has nominated ‘RRR’ in the Best Picture: Non-English language and Best Original Song Naatu Naatu.
• ‘RRR’ follows a pre-Independence story woven around two real-life Indian revolutionaries: Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, in the 1920s. Starring Ram Charan and Jr NTR in the lead, the film released worldwide in March in five languages. RRR is the only Indian film to make the final five out of a clutch of other entries from India, among them Gangubai Kathiawadi, Kantara and Chhello Show.

 RANKING

UN Ranks Namami Gange Among Top 10 World Restoration Flagship Programmes

• The United Nations has recognised the Namami Gange initiative to rejuvenate India’s sacred River Ganga as one of the top 10 World Restoration Flagships to revive the natural world. The award was received by G Ashok Kumar, Director General, Namami Gange, at the 15th Conference of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada.
• Namami Gange was selected from over 150 such initiatives from 70 countries across the globe. They were selected under the banner of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global movement coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• It is designed to prevent and reverse the degradation of natural spaces across the planet. The recognized initiatives, including Namami Gange, will now be eligible to receive UN support, funding or technical expertise.

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

HDFC Bank Launches Parivartan SmartUp Grants with Startup India

• HDFC Bank announced the launch of its sixth annual grants program for social startups in partnership with the Government of India’s flagship initiative ‘Startup India’. Known as Parivartan SmartUp Grants, the program aims to identify startups working in the social impact space and support them through monetary grants to their incubators.
• The grants have been offered under the aegis of Parivartan, the umbrella name for the bank’s social initiatives. So far, the bank has disbursed over INR 30 crore to more than 45 incubators which supported over 165 startups working in areas like environment, agri-business, ed-tech, waste management, healthcare, and skill development sectors.
• This year the bank will also focus on building capacities of incubators and startups working in tier-II & III cities. Through selected incubator partners, the bank will fund social impact startups developing solutions in environmental conservation, affordable healthcare, sustainable rural economy, technologies for better governance, economic growth of SMEs, gender diversity and inclusion space.