International Current Affairs

The Japanese government announced on February 22, 2021, a contribution of $3.7 million to support the UN refugee agency`s programs and activities for Afghan refugees and host communities in Pakistan. The three-year project will focus on education, livelihood assistance and community structures in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, benefitting over 240,000 individuals.

China celebrates its traditional Lantern festival, on the 15th day of the first Chinese lunar month. The festival also marks the final day of the Chinese New Year or the ‘Spring Festival’ period. This year, the country entered the ‘Year of the Ox’ on February 12, 2021. This Festival also falls the first full moon night in the Chinese calendar.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India has the highest number of new cases of leprosy in the world annually. India is followed by Brazil and Indonesia in the largest number of cases. In India, more new cases are reported from the rural belts of Bihar, Lakshadweep, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli. January 31 is observed as World Leprosy Day.

World Cancer Day is being observed on February 4 from 2000, when it was first established at the ‘World Cancer Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium’ in Paris.

Myanmar’s military assumed control of the country in a coup on Monday, February 1, 2021, ousting the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and arresting the Nobel laureate and several leaders of her party in early-morning raids. The move came after Myanmar’s generals complained of fraud in the Nov. 8 election—citing evidence that is, at best, disputed.

Saudi Arabia has taken over the presidency of the G20 nations, becoming the first Arab nation to head the top global forum.

The US Congress has recently passed the “Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Bill”. The bill makes it mandatory for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to award 50% of scholarships to Pakistani Women under a Pakistan-based higher education scholarship programme. The scholarships are to be awarded from 2020 to 2022.