DAILY GK 17-18 JUNE 2025
1. PAKISTAN APPOINTED CHAIR OF THE 1988
TSC
·
Pakistan has been appointed as
Chair of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions
Committee (TSC); Vice-Chair of
1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)
as part of its 2025-26 term as non-permanent member of United Nations
Security Council (UNSC).
·
Pakistan has been appointed co-chair of the Informal Working Groups on
Documentation and on the General UNSC Sanctions Issues.
·
Asim Aftikhar Ahmad (Pakistan)
has been appointed as chair of TSC for
the period ending on December 31, 2025.
·
Russia
and Guyana have been appointed
as two Vice-Chairs of TSC for 2025.
·
Algeria has been appointed
as Chair of 1373 CTC, while France,
Pakistan and Russia have been appointed as its Vice-Chairs.
·
Denmark
has been appointed as Chair of 1267 ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UNSC; while
Russia and Sierra Leone have appointed as its Vice-Chairs.
2. UNGA Elects Ukraine & Netherlands
to UNCITRAL
·
The UNGA elected Ukraine,
representing the Eastern European Group, and the Netherlands as
new members of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
·
UNCITRAL
is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA), mandated to facilitate international trade and investment by
promoting the harmonisation and unification of global trade laws.
·
Headquarters – Vienna, Austria
3. FIVE GLOBAL HUNGER HOTSPOTS
·
Rome (Italy) based Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) of United Nations (UN) and World
Food Programme (WFP) issued the ‘Hunger
Hotspots: FAO-WEP early warning on acute food insecurity-June to October 2025
Outlook’ Report.
·
The report warns that hunger is likely to get much worse in 13
countries and regions, which are among the world’s most serious hunger-affected
areas in the coming months.
·
The countries, Sudan,
Palestine, South Sudan, Haiti and Mali remain
at the highest concern level,
necessitating the most urgent attention.
·
Yemen,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Nigeria
are classified as hotspots of very high
concern and require urgent attention to save lives and livelihoods and for
preventing further deteriorations.
·
Other hotspots are Burkina
Faso, Chad, Somalia, and the Syrian Arab Republic.
4. KNIGHTHOOD ON DAVID BECKHAM
·
British football icon David
Robert Joseph Beckham was formally awarded a Knighthood by
King Charles III
·
Actor Gary Oldman and
musician Roger Daltrey are among the most
high-profile names to receive knighthoods in King Charles III’s Birthday
Honours list this year.
·
The honours, awarded twice annually,
recognise exceptional contributions to public life, with the latest list
celebrating achievements in sport, the arts and charity.
5. SKYTRAX’S 2025 WORLD AIRLINE AWARDS
·
Doha (Qatar) based Qatar
Airways has retained the World’s Best Airline for
2025, winning the title for the 9th time at
the Skytrax’s World Airline Awards 2025 .
·
Qatar Airways won awards in various other
categories, including Best Airline in
the Middle East, World’s Best
Business Class, and World’s Best Inflight
Entertainment.
·
Singapore Airlines secured
the 2nd position, followed by Cathay
Pacific Airways from Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), China in 3rd place, while Dubai based Emirates and Japan-based ANA – All Nippon Airways were ranked 4th
and 5th, respectively.
·
IndiGo, India’s largest
airline by market cap has been named as the
Best Airline as well as Best Low-Cost Airline in South Asia for 2025 and it also secured the 3rd position among low-cost airlines.
·
These awards are widely known as the ‘Oscars
of the aviation industry’ .
6. WORLD BANK REPORT: GLOBAL GHG
EMISSIONS
·
·
As per the WB’s report, countries are
increasingly adopting carbon pricing, which now covers nearly 28% of
global Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for almost 2/3rd (66.66%) of global Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
·
The report further revealed that the number of operational carbon pricing
instruments has increased significantly, from 5 (in 2005) to
80 (in 2025), with India, Brazil, and Türkiye actively developing
them.
·
The report has identified a total of 43
carbon taxes and 37 ETSs that are currently in operation.
7. SIPRI REPORT 2025
·
Solna (Sweden) based Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released
its latest Yearbook for 2025: Armaments, Disarmament and International
Security.
·
The report highlighted that India continues to maintain an edge over
Pakistan in nuclear capabilities.
·
India has expanded its nuclear arsenal
from 172 warheads (in 2024) to an estimated 180 (in 2025), as
of January 2025.
·
India’s new ‘canisterised’ missiles,
which allow warheads to be pre-mounted
and transported more safely, could potentially carry nuclear warheads even
during ‘peacetime’.
·
SIPRI highlighted that all 9 nuclear-armed
countries, namely the United States of America (USA), Russia, the United
Kingdom (UK), France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel,
continued to invest significantly in modernizing their nuclear forces in 2024.
·
The report revealed that the arms revenues
of the 100 largest arms-producing and military services companies reached USD
632 billion in 2023.
8. EIU GLOBAL LIVEABILITY INDEX 2025:
·
The Economist Intelligence
Unit (EIU) released the Global Liveability Index 2025,
ranking Copenhagen (Denmark) as the most
liveable city in the world, ending the three-year reign
of Vienna (Austria).
·
Austria’s Vienna dropped
to 2nd position, while Switzerland’s Zurich retained
its 3rd position in the 2025 list.
·
Damascus (Syria) remains the least liveable city in the world.
·
No Indian city is ranked on the 2025 list
of the top 10 liveable cities in the world.
About EIU’s Global Liveability Index:
·
The EIU Index ranks 173 cities
across the world by assessing which location offers the best and worst living
conditions.
·
The annual index ranks cities based on 30 qualitative and quantitative
indicators, which are broadly classified into 5 categories:
·
Stability:
Evaluating crime rates, terrorism, and policies.
·
Healthcare:
Access to health systems, hospitals, and medications.
·
Culture
and environment: Air quality, cultural activities, etc.
·
Education:
Quality and access to education.
·
Infrastructure:
Transport systems, housing, utilities, telecommunications.
9. US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 2025
GLOBAL RANKINGS
·
The United States (U.S) News &
World Report, an American media company, has released its 11th Best
Global Universities Rankings.
·
Indian Institute of Science (IISc),
Bangalore(Karnataka) secured the 633rd position
globally and placed 181st in Asia,
emerging as the highest-ranked Indian
institution.
·
Harvard University (USA)
retained its 1st position globally
followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in
the USA at 2nd and Stanford University in the USA) at 3rd .
·
University of Oxford (UK) and the University
of Cambridge (UK) secured 4th and
5th position, respectively.
·
China leads the list with 397 universities,
followed by the USA with 280 universities, India (118),
Japan (104), and the United Kingdom (UK) (93).
·
India holds 5.2% (118)
of all ranked institutions.
10. WEF’S ENERGY TRANSITION INDEX 2025
·
Geneva (Switzerland) based World Economic
Forum (WEF)released its annual report
titled ‘Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2025’.
·
As per the report, India has
been ranked 71 (63rd rank in 2024 ) with a score of
53.3 on the Global Energy Transition Index (ETI) 2025.
·
Sweden maintained its top
spot with a score of 77.5, followed by Finland in second place and Denmark
closely behind in third .
·
Democratic Republic of the Congo was
ranked at the bottom with the lowest score of 42.4.
·
China
achieved
its highest-ever rank at 12th place with a score of
67.5 and Pakistan ranked 101st.
