Endeavor Careers Choicest Blogs: Weekly Current Affairs: July 2022, Week 03

Welcome to the Endeavor Editors’ Weekly Current Affairs Choicest Blog series. Get a weekly roundup – of news from business, economy, markets, policy, and more. A quick capsule format news summary and update to keep you abreast with all the latest current affairs.

1) International News and Global Economy

Russia confirms it carried out Vinnytsia strike as fears grow in east Ukraine

Russia has confirmed it carried out a missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, the latest in a string of deadly attacks on civilian areas, as worries in Ukraine grow that Russia is preparing a new assault in the east. The Russian defence ministry claimed in a military briefing on Friday that Thursday’s cruise missile attack was directed at a building where top officials from Ukraine’s air forces were meeting foreign arms suppliers. Ukraine has rejected Russian claims that any military target was hit, saying the attack, which took place hundreds of kilometers from the frontlines, killed at least 23 people – including three children – and struck a cultural center used by retired veterans. In eastern Ukraine, Moscow’s “operational pause largely continued”, with small-scale offensives on Thursday centered on the Ukraine-controlled Donetsk cities of Slovyansk, Siversk, and Bakhmut, according to a report published by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. The ISW also assessed that Russia “will likely launch a larger-scale and more determined offensive along the Slovyansk-Siversk-Bakhmut line soon”.

For details visit here.

Ukraine War: Russia end ‘operational pause’

Watch video:

US House Votes for India Sanctions Waiver over Russian S-400 Missile Deal

The US House of Representatives has passed by voice vote a legislative amendment that approves a waiver to India against the punitive CAATSA sanctions for its purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia to help deter aggressors like China. The legislative amendment was passed on Thursday as part of an en bloc (all together as a single unit) amendment during floor consideration of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA). Authored and introduced by Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, the amendment urges the Biden administration to use its authority to provide India with a Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) waiver to help deter aggressors like China.

For details visit here.

The US amends the law, India moves closer to CAATSA sanctions waiver over Russian S-400 missiles & I2U2 summit

Watch video:

Israel strikes Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from Palestinian territory

Israel hit the Gaza Strip on Saturday in what it said was a retaliatory strike for rocket fire from the Palestinian territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas. The exchange of fire came hours after US President Joe Biden visited Israel and the occupied West Bank. “A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a military site in the central Gaza Strip belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization,” a statement from the Israel Defense Forces said. “The military site consists of an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets,” it said, describing the facility as “one of the most significant” of its kind in the territory. “The strike on this site will significantly impede and undermine Hamas’ force-building capabilities,” it said, adding that Israel was responding to “attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli territory”.

For details visit here.

Israel rains missiles on Gaza strip in response to rocket attack after Biden visit

Watch video:

Pakistan, IMF reach agreement on USD 6 bn extended fund facility loan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that it had reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the combined seventh and eighth reviews for a USD 6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan facility. “The immediate priority is to stabilize the economy through the steadfast implementation of the recently approved budget for FY23, continued adherence to a market-determined exchange rate, and a proactive and prudent monetary policy,” a statement issued by the IMF said. “It is important to expand social safety to protect the most vulnerable, and accelerate structural reforms including to improve the performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and governance,” it added.

For details visit here.

5 Remaining Contenders in UK PM race clash over tax in 1st TV Debate

The five remaining Conservative candidates to become Britain’s next prime minister clashed Friday night over tax and honesty in politics in their first TV debate, as they fight to make an eventual two-person run-off. The 90-minute debate — the first chance in the days-old contest for both the frontrunners and lesser-known contenders to pitch their credentials to a national television audience — saw relatively few direct confrontations between them. But when they did erupt, it came largely over taxation, with former finance minister Rishi Sunak, one of the frontrunners, forced to defend plans to keep rates at some of the highest levels in decades. Sunak, who has topped the first two rounds of voting by Tory MPs this week as the race narrows towards a final pair next week, is up against several contenders vowing to cut various taxes immediately.

For details visit here.

Sri Lanka’s political crisis continues as Ranil Wickremesinghe bids to be president

Sri Lanka’s political crisis looks likely to continue this week after the ruling party decided to nominate the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as its candidate to be the next president. On Friday, prime minister Wickremesinghe was appointed interim president until parliament meets next week to vote on who will take up the role officially. It was a role he had informally occupied since Wednesday when, before fleeing to the Maldives in the dead of night, Rajapaksa had appointed Wickremesinghe “acting president”. The announcement was greeted with anger and frustration on the streets of Colombo. Wickremesinghe, who has now been prime minister six times, stands accused of protecting and propping up the Rajapaksa family dynasty for years, shielding them from corruption charges and enabling their return to power.

For details visit here.

What to know about Sri Lanka’s interim president amid ongoing protests

Watch video:

US inflation accelerates to 9.1%, the highest in 41 years

US inflation accelerated in June by more than forecast, underscoring relentless price pressures that will keep the Federal Reserve on track for another big interest-rate hike later this month. The consumer price index rose 9.1% from a year earlier in a broad-based advance, the largest gain since the end of 1981, Labor Department data showed Wednesday. The red-hot inflation figures reaffirm that price pressures are rampant and widespread throughout the economy and continue to sap purchasing power and confidence. That will keep Fed officials on an aggressive policy course to rein in demand, and adds pressure on President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats whose support has slumped ahead of midterm elections. While many economists have suggested this data will be the peak in the current inflationary cycle, several factors such as housing stand to keep price pressures elevated for longer. Geopolitical risks including Covid lockdowns in China and Russia’s war in Ukraine also pose risks to supply chains and the inflation outlook.

For details visit here.

China’s property crisis enters dangerous next phase

China’s property crisis is leaping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Homebuyers in 22 cities are refusing to make mortgage payments on unfinished homes, Citigroup reports. The rare protest extends the risk of defaults from offshore developer bonds read more to banks with $6 trillion of mortgages. The fat tail risk of President Xi Jinping’s efforts to deleverage the sector is emerging, and it puts Beijing in a tight spot. Beijing will have to react fast to prevent the situation from escalating, either by allowing homebuyers to delay mortgage payments or letting local governments buy off projects.

For details visit here.

Europe heatwave: Deadly wildfires spread in the Mediterranean

Thousands of firefighters are continuing to battle wildfires in Portugal, Spain and France, as a heatwave shows no sign of easing. Fires are ravaging areas of France’s south-western Gironde region, where over 12,000 people have been evacuated. Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to carbon emissions. The French weather service has forecast temperatures of up to 41 degrees in parts of the country’s south on Sunday and new heat records are predicted for Monday.

For details visit here.

Europe swelters under a summer heat wave

Watch video:

2) India

I2U2 Summit: India, Israel, US, and UAE aim to jointly invest in 6 important areas including food, transport

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday joined US President Joe Biden, Israeli PM Yair Lapid, and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the first virtual summit of the four-nation grouping ‘I2U2’. Speaking at the summit, PM Modi said, “from this very first summit, I2U2 has established a positive agenda. We have identified joint projects in various sectors and prepared a roadmap to go ahead.” “Under the I2U2 framework, we’ve agreed on increasing the joint investment in 6 important areas of water, energy, transport, space, health & food security. It is clear that the vision & agenda of I2U2 are progressive & practical,” PM Modi said. The leaders expressed their determination to leverage well-established markets to build more innovative, inclusive, and science-based solutions to enhance food security and sustainable food systems.

For details visit here.

The I2U2 Summit: India, Israel, US, UAE Held First Ever I2U2 Summit | The Global Eye | Business News

Watch video:

Assam, Arunachal CMs sign pact to resolve the border dispute

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu on Friday signed an agreement to end border issues between the two states and decided to “restrict” the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123. Chief ministers of the two North-eastern neighbors met at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh and signed the agreement. The two states share an 804.1 km-long border. The grievance of Arunachal Pradesh which was made a union territory in 1972 is that several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam. After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal. Assam contested this and the matter is in the Supreme Court.

For details visit here.

3) Economy

Wholesale price inflation eases to 15.18% in June but stays in double digits, 15 months on

India’s inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) declined to 15.18 percent in June, according to data released by the commerce ministry on July 14. The WPI inflation was 15.88 percent in May, the highest in at least three decades. In June 2021, it stood at 12.07 percent. Another month of double-digit wholesale price inflation in June means the wholesale prices have remained above the 10-percent mark for 15 months in a row. The latest data, however, shows signs of easing inflationary pressures, with the all-commodity index of the WPI staying unchanged in June from May’s 154.0. A lack of movement in the all-commodity index is indicative of no sequential momentum in prices.

For details visit here.

4) Markets, Banking, and Finance

RBI OKs international trade settlement in Indian rupees, to make INR more tradable globally

The Reserve Bank on Monday asked banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in Indian rupees in view of the increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency. Before putting in place this mechanism, banks will require prior approval from the Foreign Exchange Department of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank said in a circular. “In order to promote the growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of the global trading community in INR, it has been decided to put in place an additional arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/imports in INR,” it said.

For details visit here.

RBI Allows International Trade Settlement Via Rupees | India Business Hour | Business News

Watch video:

Pine Labs, Razorpay, and Stripe become the first to bag RBI’s payment aggregator licenses

After a long wait, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started handing out the payment aggregator (PA) licenses to eligible players. Pine Labs, Razorpay, and American payments player Stripe have become the first players to receive the in-principle approval for the license. In a new set of guidelines issued in March 2020, RBI mandated that all PAs shall be authorized by RBI. For this, the regulator instructed non-bank companies offering PA services to apply for authorization by June 30, 2021, which was later pushed to September 30, 2021. For e-commerce and other players, in the absence of the license, they will either have a tie-up with a bank that can aggregate payments on their behalf, driving up costs for payment collections services. Or, they will have to depend on a PA, leading to more business for these licensed entities.

For details visit here.

5) Business

Uber Files: Massive leak reveals how top politicians secretly helped Uber

Thousands of leaked files have exposed how Uber courted top politicians, and how far it went to avoid justice. They detail the extensive help Uber got from leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and ex-EU commissioner Neelie Kroes. They also show how the taxi firm’s former boss personally ordered the use of a “kill switch” to prevent raiding police from accessing computers. Uber says its “past behavior wasn’t in line with present values” and it is a “different company” today. The Uber Files are a trove of more than 124,000 records, including 83,000 emails and 1,000 other files involving conversations, spanning 2013 to 2017.

For details visit here.

What are the Uber Files? | The Indian Express Investigation

Watch video:

3 international airlines make emergency landings in India in the last 48 hours

As many as three aircraft of global airlines have made emergency landings at various airports in India in a span of 48 hours, making it a day of technical emergencies for various airlines. The emergency landings happened as a result of several technical issues. A senior official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that these landings were made in Calicut, Chennai, and Kolkata on Friday and Saturday. The official said, “We had two emergency landings of foreign operators on Saturday. Air Arabia at Cochin due to hydraulic issues and Ethiopian at Kolkata due to pressurization issue.” The DGCA has ordered a detailed investigation into all of these incidents.

For details visit here.

6) Technology

GoM suggests no change in GST rate on online gaming, sticks to 28% recommendation

GoM on Tuesday concluded a meeting concerning online gaming, horse racing, and casino which suggested no change in the suggested GST rate of 28%, ET Now reported citing sources. However, the group of ministers will meet once again before submitting the final report to the GST Council. The final report on the issue is likely to come out on August 10, 2022. The 47th GST Council meeting, chaired by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, had last month decided to constitute a GoM to address various concerns raised by the states in relation to the constitution of the GSTAT.

For details visit here.

ONDC Explained: India’s bid to disrupt Ecommerce Monopolies

Unified Payments Interface, commonly known as UPI, has been one of the most fascinating use cases of nationwide digital transformation. Unifying platforms and connecting the entire value chain digitally is a big leap toward empowering India and establishing it as a leader. While ONDC appears to be an incredible opportunity for connecting a vast range of buyers and sellers digitally, it also probes intriguing questions that leaders and consumers alike would need answers to.

For details visit here.

7) Politics

Chhattisgarh minister Singh Deo resigns as Panchayat & Rural Development minister, to retain other portfolios

Chhattisgarh minister TS Singh Deo, locked in a turf war with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, on Saturday resigned from the Panchayat and Rural development department, hinting that he was sidelined in the government though he will continue to hold the other four portfolios. The development comes over a year ahead of the Assembly elections in the Congress-ruled state. Singh Deo will, however, remain the minister for Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Twenty Point Implementation, and Commercial Tax (GST) departments. The sudden development is seen as the fallout of an old political rivalry between Baghel and Singh Deo, who had tried to project him as the chief minister in the past.

For details visit here.

Laxmikant Bajpai appointed BJP’s new chief whip in Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha member Laxmikant Bajpai was Friday appointed as the BJP’s new chief whip in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Friday. Bajpai, a former Uttar Pradesh BJP president, succeeds Shiv Pratap Shukla who retired from the house recently. Meanwhile, the BJP has again appointed Piyush Goyal as its leader in the Upper House. The party is yet to take a call on its deputy leader in the House after the retirement of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

For details visit here.

8) Sports

Singapore Open: PV Sindhu wins first Super 500 title, here’s why it’s important

PV Sindhu won the first Super 500 title of her career when she defeated reigning Asian champion Wang Zhi Yi of China 21-9, 11-21, 21-15 in the final of the Singapore Open on Sunday. The first two games were lop-sided given the drift and the third was a battle of grit which she won on her endurance. A first Super 500 title can feel odd for a player who is a former world champion, has two Olympic medals, has won the BWF World Tour finals, and has multiple medals across world and Asian championships, Commonwealth and Asian Games. The title also came in a weakened field, with Tai Tzu Ying and Ratchanok Intanon pulling out, which means she didn’t face a single seeded player. But none of this can take away from the fact that this is a significant title for Sindhu. Not because of its ranking points, but because of its timing. It comes after a rough stretch on the Asian leg with back-to-back losses to her nemesis Tai Tzu. This is her first 500 or better since the world championship win in 2019. This is her first 500 or better final in 2022. This is an important marker for the world No 7 while the rankings are still frozen.

For details visit here.

9) Opinion

Gotabaya resigns | What’s next for Sri Lanka? | Worldview with Suhasini Haidar

In the past week, protests in Sri Lanka grew louder and more violent. Despite much of the cabinet having stepped down as they demanded, crowds stormed the Presidential palace and burned down PM Ranil Wickremsinghe’s private home. The visuals were unprecedented for a country with high security and very heavy-handed security forces. In this episode of Worldview, let us tell you all that has happened. Is the crisis over or is there more to come?

Watch video:

Rupee edges closer to 80: How will it impact the Indian economy & businesses

The Rupee hit an all-time low of 79.90, just Rs. 0.10 away from the psychological level of 80, and has already depreciated by 5% this fiscal year. With the elevated crude prices resulting in deterioration of trade deficit, widening interest rates differential between India and the US due to aggressive monetary tightening by Fed and unrelenting outflows by FPIs, the Rupee is expected to remain under pressure for some more time. until the global macro conditions stabilize, Rupee is expected to depreciate against the dollar. However, RBI will continue to cushion the Rupee fall by intervening in forex markets to limit its effects on the economy.

For details visit here.

Falling rupee and a balance of payments flux — What can be done?

Two of the four components of the current account — merchandise trade, and income transfer — recorded deficits of $190 billion and $37 billion respectively in 2021-22. The other two — services, and transfer of savings, primarily remittances — raked-in surpluses of $108 billion and $80 billion respectively. On a net basis, the current account had a deficit of $39 billion. A current account deficit in excess of $100 billion, a very serious possibility, will require the RBI to find $100 billion for meeting the net demand. India’s forex reserves reached a peak of $640 billion by October 2021 increasing by $60 billion in six months. The forex reserves got reduced to $606 billion by the end of March 2022, losing about $35 billion in the second half. However, there should not be any panic. Even if India records a negative BOP of $100-125 billion in 2022-23, it would be fine. The forex reserves will come down to only $500 billion or so, which is very large for India’s needs from any standpoint.

For details visit here.

10) Weekly special

Bridging The Gap: How Banks are collaborating with Fintechs to redefine India’s Financial Sector

Fintechs, as it currently stands, cannot survive without traditional banks. And as time goes on, fintech-bank collaborations are only going to get stronger. It’s safe to bet that the next few years will see a host of new collaborations, financial products, and improved banking experiences. Will that mean a fresh set of regulations, or a new kind of banking license altogether?

For details visit here.

11) Did you know?

What is Shrinkflation?

Shrinkflation – whether you’ve heard about this or not, this is a phenomenon that’s leaving you with fewer chips in your packet, lesser cola drinks in your bottle, and smaller chocolate bars. Some of you may be wondering how, surprisingly, despite rising costs (inflation) across the globe, the price of some daily consumables remains the same. What you may not have noticed is that while the price is the same, the size of several of these commodities has in fact declined. This means that you’re paying the same, but you’re getting a lesser quantity. This is shrinkflation, a method used mainly by FMCG companies to fight inflation – while ensuring that you, the consumer, continue to buy their product.

For details visit here.

With that, we come to an end of our Weekly Current Affairs July 2022 -Week 3. We hope you have liked it. Write your feedback in the comments below and let us know if there is anything else you would like us to cover.

Here’s a faster and easier way to stay updated –

Follow us on Telegram
Subscribe to our Youtube
Follow us on Instagram
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter