- The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has appointed Dr Ian Fry as the world’s first independent expert on human rights and climate change. Dr Fry has been appointed for a term of three years. He holds dual citizenship of Tuvalu and Australia. He has negotiated on behalf of less developed countries, including at the 2015 Paris climate conference, where he helped ensure that human rights were part of the final package.
- The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, won his fourth consecutive term in office with a landslide victory in the country’s general elections for 2022. His right-wing Fides party secured 53.1% of the total 98% of the vote count. The 58-year-old is already the longest-serving head of government in the European Union since taking over the role of prime minister in May 2010.
- The world’s largest electric cruise ship has returned to port in Yichang, China’s central Hubei province, after traveling up and down the Yangtze River for its maiden voyage. The cruise ship is powered by a massive 7,500-kilowatt-hour marine battery. This battery is provided by Contemporary Amperex Technology, the No. 1 battery manufacturer for electric cars in the world. The ship’s developer, China Yangtze Power, plans to use this electric ship as a starting point for expanding the marine electric vehicle market in China.
- India and Australia signed an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement or IndAus ECTA, hailing it as a watershed moment and one of the largest economic doors in the world. It will provide zero-duty access to 96 percent of India’s exports to Australia, including shipments from key sectors such as engineering goods, gems, jewelry, textiles, apparel, and leather. The agreement will increase bilateral trade to $45-50 billion over five years and create more than one million jobs in India. Many labor-intensive Indian exports currently face tariff losses of 4-5 percent compared to competitors – those with FTAs with Australia – such as China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Officials claim that removing this hurdle will give a big boost to the movement of goods.
Read more: Where does India stand on the Russia-Ukraine crisis?
- More than 40 days of Russia-Ukraine war has been passed and the Russia is facing the heat from all sides. Lately, Russia was voted out of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in a vote held at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. During the voting, 93 votes were cast against Russia and 24 in favor. 58 countries including India stayed out of voting. After the Bucha attack, a meeting of the UN General Assembly was called. In this meeting, voting was done to get Russia out of UNHRC. Russia is the second country to get out of it. Earlier in 2011, Libya was ousted from the institution after it removed long-time incumbent Mohammad Gaddafi from power.
- In the midst of the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the political turmoil is so high. Sri Lanka’s largest opposition party Samagi Jana Balvegaya (SJB) says it will bring a no-trust motion against the government. With this, President Gotabaya is also ready to impeach Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka’s central bank, on the other hand, doubled its interest rates on Friday. Due to the economic crisis, inflation in the country has reached its record level. The country has very little money left to pay for imports. The Gotabaya government imposed emergency in the country on 1 April. Since then, there has been a lot of opposition to it. Rajapaksa’s entire cabinet resigned on the night of 3 April amid the Emergency. On 5 April, Sri Lanka temporarily closed its embassies in Norway, Iraq and Australia. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ended the Emergency at midnight on 5 April. Angry people started demonstrations against China across the country, which are continuing.
- Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has made another history-making flight in space. This is the first space tourism mission. The first fully private mission to the ISS left Florida on Friday. The four-member crew flew to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket for the space station. This included three customers and a former NASA astronaut. The cost of a seat for this 10-day tour is being said to be around Rs 417 crore. Space agency NASA, start-up company Axiom and SpaceX had made a three-way partnership for the tour in the Low Earth Orbit of space.
- The zero-COVID policy has proved to be a failure in China to avoid corona. The Sinovac vaccine manufactured in China is also proving to be ineffective in the fight against Corona. China’s economic capital Shanghai, with a population of 2.60 crore, has been under lockdown for the last two weeks due to the biggest corona explosion ever. On Thursday, 21,22 corona cases have been found in Shanghai, while on Sunday 9 thousand cases were registered. Strict restrictions have been implemented here regarding the Zero COVID policy. Due to this there has been a shortage of food and medicines here.
Read more: Will Smith slap At Oscar ceremony breaks Internet; Check the fights at Indian Award shows
- Hollywood actor Will Smith has been forced to slap comedian Chris Rock during the Oscar ceremony. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars) banned Will Smith on Friday. After this decision, Will will not be able to participate in any Oscar program for the next 10 years. Academy President David Rubin said the decision was taken because of Chris Rock slapping on stage during this year’s Oscars ceremony. The Board of Governors has also agreed to this decision. David said that after the incident, Will was allowed to sit at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood and was presented with an award, prompting criticism from the Academy.
- Pakistan has been in a political upheaval for the past few days. The no-confidence motion against the government is going on in Pakistan. Imran’s party did not participate in this. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker resigned before voting. The opposition elected Ayaz Sadiq of PMLN as the new speaker. Therefore, he rejected the no-confidence motion through the Deputy Speaker. Later, the Parliament was dissolved by sending a recommendation to the President. Even before this, he started holding rallies across the country. Imran Khan’s move, however, got failed with the Supreme Court’s decision on conducting no-confidence motion.