Current affairs 20 May 2023

G7 summit from kicks off in Hiroshima, Japan.

The annual Group of 7 (G7) summit officially kicks off on 19 May 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan.
The G7 aims to discuss and coordinate policies on global economic growth, security, and other pressing challenges.
The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal group of leading industrialised democracies with no permanent secretariat or legal status.
The G7 summit will also include countries invited for the gathering, such as Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Vietnam, who have significant roles in regional alliances amid the U.S.-China rift.
The summit will be held in Hiroshima, a city devastated by the atomic bomb during World War II.
The G7 was formed in 1975 with six countries, and Canada joined in 1976, expanding the membership to seven countries.

The World Bank has approved a USD 82 million loan towards the adoption of global best practices for animal health management and to prevent, detect, and respond to endemic zoonotic diseases in India.
The loan has a maturity of 11.5 years with a grace period of 4.5 years.
It will strengthen India’s One Health approach, which recognizes that people and animals are connected with their shared environment.
The $82 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) uses the Program-for-Results (PforR) financing instrument that links disbursement of funds directly to the achievement of specific program results.

The South Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship 2023 concluded on 17 May in Itanagar.
It was a three-day international event in which more than 100 athletes and officials from six countries Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal participated.
In Under-19 Boys Singles, Ankur Bhattacharjee won gold by defeating Payas Jain 4-2.
Meanwhile, in the Under-19 girls’ singles, Suhana Saini defeated Yashaswini Ghorpade 4-1 in what turned out to be a one-sided final.
In mixed doubles, Payas Jain and Yashaswini won gold after defeating their Maldivian rivals Akhyar Ahmed Khalid and Fathimath Dhema Ali.

HDFC Asset Management Company Ltd has announced the launch of the country's first mutual fund focused on defence sector, a move that will provide investors an opportunity to participate in the growth potential of this space.
The new fund offering (NFO) of HDFC Defence Fund, an open-ended equity scheme, would open on May 19 and close on June 2.
The fund will invest at least 80 per cent of its net assets in defence and allied sector companies.
Defence and allied sector stocks include stocks forming part of aerospace and defence; explosives, shipbuilding and allied services.

Arjun Ram Meghwal has replaced Kiren Rijiju as the Union Minister for Law and Justice.
Meghwal has been assigned the independent charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice, in addition to his existing portfolios, in place of Kiren Rijiju.
Kiren Rijiju has been assigned the portfolio of Ministry of Earth Sciences. Meghwal is the current Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs & Culture.
Rijiju was appointed as the Law Minister in July 2021 in the place of Ravi Shankar Prasad.
As the law minister, Rijiju had created headlines by his repeated comments against the collegium system for judicial appointments.