1. Diplomat Apoorva Srivastava appointed Ambassador to Slovak Republic
Tags: Person in news International News
Apoorva Srivastava, a diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service, has been appointed to serve as India’s Ambassador to the Slovak Republic.
Important facts
Apoorva, a 2001 batch officer, is currently serving as the Consul General at the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Prior to this, she held various positions in the Ministry of External Affairs and was posted in Kathmandu and Paris, among other places.
India and Slovakia have signed agreements ranging from defence and air services to economic and cultural.
India and Slovakia regularly support each other's candidacy for top positions in multilateral organisations such as the International Court of Justice and the United Nations.
Slovak Republic
Slovak Republic or Slovakia is a landlocked country of central Europe.
It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, and Austria to the southwest.
Its former federal partner, the Czech Republic, lies to the west.
Prime Minister - Eduard Heger
Capital - Bratislava
President - Zuzana Caputova
Currency - Euro
Official Language - Slovak
2. Iraq’s Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement refuses to join new government
Tags: Person in news International News
Iraqi firebrand Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement announced its refusal to join a new government being formed by Prime Minister-designate Mohammad Shia al-Sudani. This is likely to prolong the political instability in the country. The Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement announcement came after the Iraqi Parliament elected Abdul Latif Rashid, a 78-year-old Iraqi Kurd, as Iraq’s new president on 13 October 2022.
The newly elected President named al-Sudani as prime minister in a bid to end a year of political gridlock in the country since the October 2021 elections.
Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, supported by Iran backed Coordination Framework coalition parties has one month, within which to form a government.
Political instability in Iraq
- The democratic institutions built in oil-rich Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Dictator Saddam Hussein remain fragile, and neighbouring Iran wields major influence in the Shia majority Iraq.
- After the toppling of Saddam Hussein there has been bitter sectarian conflict between the Iraqi populations divided into Kurdish, Sunni, and Shia groups.
- To tackle the sectarian problem a new power sharing system has been developed in Iraq .The President by convention is Kurdish, the Prime minister a Shiite Arab and the parliament speaker a Sunni Arab.
- Iraq has been without a new government since elections last October, when candidates loyal to Mr. Sadr won the single biggest bloc of seats and eclipsed rival Shiite political parties backed by Iran. His relationship with Iran is also not good.
- Moqtada al-Sadr, who has the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of his supporters with a single tweet, has repeatedly demanded early elections, while the Coordination Framework wants a new government in place before any polls are held.
- Tensions between the two rival Shia camps boiled over on August 29 when more than 30 al-Sadr supporters were killed in clashes with Iran-backed factions and the army.
Republic of Iraq
In ancient times the region where modern Iraq is was known as Mesopotamia (Land between the rivers).
The modern state of Iraq was created in 1921 by Britain.
It gained its independence from Britain in 1932.
It is an Oil rich Arab country and it is the largest supplier of crude oil to India.
Capital: Baghdad
Currency: Iraqi Dinar
President: Abdul Latif Rashid
3. Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka wins Booker Prize 2022 for his novel ‘Seven Moons of Maali Almeida'
Tags: Awards Person in news
The “Seven Moons of Maali Almeida'' by Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka has won the Booker prize 2022. He is the second Sri Lankan to win the prestigious literature award .The Booker award was presented to Shehan Karunatilaka by Camilla, the United Kingdom’s Queen Consort on 17 October 2022.
The ‘Seven Moons of Maali Almeida; novel is about a photographer who wakes up within a week after death and asks his friends to find his photos and expose the brutality of the civil war.
The writer said he decided in 2009 to write "a ghost story where the dead could offer their perspective" after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, "when there was a raging debate over how many civilians died and whose fault it was during the civil war".
The winner gets £50,000(British Pound Sterling) as prize money while the other five shortlisted writers are awarded prize money of £2,500 each.
Booker Prize
- The Booker Prize which was earlier called Man Booker was established by a British multinational company Booker McConnell in 1968.
- The first prize was given in 1969. PH Newby was the first winner of the prize in 1969 for his wok “Something to Answer For”.
- It is awarded to the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland in the same year which is considered for the prize.
- The first Indian to win this prize was Arundhati Roy for her book: The God of Small Things, in 1997.
- Other Indian winners are; Kiran Desai for her book The Inheritance of Loss in 2006, and Aravind Adiga for his book The White Tiger in 2008.
International Booker Prize
- It is also given every year by the Booker foundation.
- But unlike the Booker prize it is given to a single book that is translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland in the same year which is considered for the prize.
- Geetanjali Shree became the first Indian author to win the International Booker Prize 2022. Her Hindi novel ‘Tomb of Sand’ (रेत समाधि)won the prize for her.
4. President appoints Justice D Y Chandrachud as the 50th Chief Justice of India
Tags: National Person in news
In a tweet on 17 October 2022, the Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju said that the President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Supreme Court Judge. Justice D Y Chandrachud as the 50th Chief Justice of India (CJI) with effect from 9th November 2022.
The incumbent Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, who took charge as CJI on 27 August 2022, will retire on November 8 this year.
Justice Chandrachud, who is set to be the 50th Chief Justice of India, would have a tenure of two years. He is due to retire on November 10, 2024.
Under article 124 clause 2 of the Indian constitution the President of India has the power to appoint the Chief Justice of India.
Supreme Court and its Chief Justice
The Supreme Court of India came into existence on 26 January 1950. The Federal Court which was set up under the Government of India act 1935 was converted into the Supreme Court of India.
Its first sitting was held on 28 January 1950.
The first Chief Justice of India was Harilal J.Kania.
The 16th Chief Justice of India, Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, is the longest-serving Chief Justice. He was Chief Justice of India for over 7 years (February 1978 – July 1985).
The 22nd Chief Justice of India, Kamal Narain Singh, is the shortest-serving Chief Justice. He was the Chief Justice of India for 17 days (25 November 1991 – 12 December 1991).
5. Nirmala Sitharaman returns to India after a six day visit to the United States
Tags: Economy/Finance Summits Person in news
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman returned to India after a successful 6 days (11-16 October 2022) visit to the United States of America. She was in America to attend the 46th Annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meeting held at Washington D.C. from 10-16 October 2022.
The minister also attended G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting. India will take over the chairmanship of the G-20 from Indonesia after a summit meeting in November 2022.
She also met the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and World Bank President David Malpass.
Annual Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group meeting
The Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG) normally meet once a year to discuss the work of their respective institutions. The Annual Meetings, which generally take place in September/October, have customarily been held in Washington for two consecutive years and in another member country in the third year.
The 2023 Annual meeting will be held in Marrakech, Morocco.
The Annual Meetings include meetings of the Development Committee, the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the Group of Ten, the Group of Twenty-Four, and various other constituencies.
The Inaugural Meeting of the Boards of Governors was held in Savannah, Georgia, USA in March 1946. The first Annual Meetings were held in Washington in 1946.
International Monetary Fund and World Bank
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank were set up in 1944 after an International conference held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States in 1944.
Both the international financial institutions are also called Bretton Woods twins or Bretton Woods’s sisters.
Both the institutions were set up to perform different functions.
The IMF was set up to provide loans to the member countries facing a balance of payment crisis.
The World Bank provides loans to the member countries for development purposes.
At present 189 countries are members of the IMF. Country which is a member of the IMF, automatically becomes a member of the World Bank.
Both the institutions headquarters are at Washington D.C, United States of America
World Bank Group
The World Bank was initially called the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). It was set up to provide loans to the countries for economic development purposes. Later on the World Bank created new institutions according to the emerging different needs of the member countries.
At present the World groups includes five institutions:
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD),
- International Financial Corporation(IFC),
- International Development Assistance (IDA),
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and
- International Center for Settlement of International Dispute (ICSID).
6. Harshada Garud sole Indian medal winner at the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2022
Tags: place in news Sports Person in news
Junior world champion Harshada Garud was India’s sole medallist among the 12-member Indian contingent at the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2022 tournament which concluded on 16 October 2022 at Manama, Bahrain.
She won the bronze medals in the snatch section and the overall section of the women’s 45kg category. This was Harshada Garud’s first international medal at the senior level.
The Asian Weightlifting Championships was organized by the Asian Weightlifting Federation at Manama, Bahrain from 6 to 16 October 2022.
Asian Weightlifting Federation
It was set up in 1958 in Tokyo, Japan.
It governs the weightlifting sports in Asia.
45 countries of Asia are its member
Headquarters: Bangkok, Thailand
7. Avinash Sable wins the Indian Elite race at the Delhi Half Marathon 2022 in a photo finish
Tags: Sports Person in news
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games men’s 3000m steeplechase silver medal winner Avinash Sable, won the Indian elite race at the Delhi Half Marathon 2022 on 16 October 2022, beating Kartik Kumar by a margin of 0.04 seconds. Both Sable and Kartik clocked 1:04:00 seconds. Avinash Sable was eventually declared the winner by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) technical officials after reviewing the footage.
Avinash Sable also won the last Delhi half marathon held in 2020. The distance in the Delhi half marathon is 21.097 Kilometers, while in the normal marathon the distance is 42.195 Kilometers.
In the Indian women’s elite race, Sanjivani Jadhav bagged the crown with a timing of 1:17:53.
Ethiopia’s Chala Regasa and Kenya’s Irine Cheptai, won the international men’s and women’s elite races, respectively.
8. Esha Singh, Udhayveer Sidhu win gold medals at the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Championship 2022
Tags: Sports Person in news
Udhayveer Sidhu and Esha Singh won gold medals at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rifle/Pistol World Championship 2022 in Cairo, Egypt on 15 October 2022. Earlier Rudrankksh Patil won gold at the men's 10m air rifle event yesterday.
Medal winners.
Today India won three gold and one bronze medal.
Esha Singh won the gold in the junior women’s 25m pistol.
Udhayveer Sidhu won two gold medals on the day. He won a gold medal in the junior men’s 25m pistol and another one in the junior men’s 25m standard pistol titles.
Another medal was won for India by Tejaswini. She won the bronze medal in the junior women’s 25m standard pistol.
At the moment, India is at the second place on the medals table with seven medals - four gold and three bronze. China leads the tally with 16 medals.
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championships Rifle/Pistol is being held in Cairo, Egypt from 12 -25 October 2022.
9. Rudrankksh Patil bags gold medal at ISSF World Championship in Egypt, Qualify for Paris Olympic
Tags: Sports Person in news
18 year old Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil won the gold medal in men's 10m air rifle event at the ISSF World Championship on 14 October 2022.
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championships Rifle/Pistol is being held in Cairo, Egypt from 12 -25 October 2022.
In the gold medal match, he defeated Italy's Danilo Dennis Sollazzo 17-15 and also booked a place at the 2024 Paris summer Olympics.
He is only the second Indian to achieve the feat after Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, who had won the gold in this event in 2006 in Zagreb, Croatia.
International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF)
It is an international body which governs International shooting.
It was founded in 1907 as International Shooting Union and later renamed as ISSF in 1998.
Headquarters: Munich, Germany
President: Vladimir Lisin
10. British PM Liz Truss sacks Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng, Jeremy Hunt appointed new Treasury chief
Tags: Person in news International News
British Prime Minister Liz Truss sacked Finance Minister Quasi Quarteng on October 14, 2022, ahead of the announcement of the economic package.
Important facts
In his place, former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt has been appointed finance minister.
For the past several days, there was a demand to remove Quarteng from this post, he remained in this post for about a month.
Tax cuts were announced during his tenure, this caused a sharp drop in the pound's exchange rate.
Recently, the Mini Budget of the Liz Truss government was presented, which proved to be a failure in controlling inflation in the country.
After this, MPs gave an ultimatum to Truss that if Finance Minister Kwasi Quarteng is not removed, he may face a rebellion.
Quasi became the shortest-serving chancellor in Britain since 1970, a position he held for just 38 days.
