UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

India and Argentina signed  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will pave the way for deeper collaboration in exploration and resource development of critical minerals. It was signed between  Mineral Exploration and Consultancy Limited (MECL), a PSU under the Ministry of Mines, and the Provincial Government of Catamarca, Argentina. Argentina, known for its vast lithium reserves as part of the 'Lithium Triangle,' is a crucial partner for India in securing essential minerals required for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy storage. The Lithium Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo del Litio) is a region of the Andes that is rich in lithium reserves, encompassed by the borders of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. The lithium in the triangle is concentrated in various salt pans that exist along the Atacama Desert and neighboring arid areas. The largest areas three main salt pans that define its vertices are the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, Salar de Atacama in Chile, and Salar de...

India is elected to the Vice Presidency of the International Organization of Aids to Marine Navigation (IALA) in Singapore. The first General Assembly of IALA also marks its transition from a non-governmental organization (NGO) to an inter-governmental organization (IGO), where India was elected to its Vice Presidency.  This underscores India’s strong leadership and contributions to maritime affairs, reaffirming its commitment to sustainable and secure marine navigation. IALA, established in 1957 as an NGO, transitioned to an IGO to enhance its role in shaping international standards and best practices for safe and efficient navigation. The new IGO status amplifies IALA’s mandate to harmonise global maritime navigation systems, promote maritime safety initiatives, and collaborate with member states, international organizations, and industry stakeholders to address emerging challenges in maritime safety and environmental protection. India is hosting the IALA Council meeting in Decem...

It was  Launched at the   AI Action Summit   in Paris in February 2025. It is a coalition of  Over 100 partners, including 37 tech companies, eleven countries and five international organizations. Its mission is twofold: to prevent AI from exacerbating environmental harm and to harness its transformative power to accelerate the decarbonization of economies, reduce pollution, and protect our biodiversity, ecosystems and oceans. About Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) UNEP News

  The President of the United States of America, The Honorable Donald J. Trump hosted the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi for an Official Working Visit in Washington, DC on February 13, 2025. They have announced following initiatives: Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA):  It was announced  to scale industry partnerships and production in the Indo-Pacific. A new partnership between Anduril Industries and Mahindra Group on advanced autonomous technologies announced to co-develop and co-produce state-of-the-art maritime systems and advanced AI-enabled counter Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to strengthen regional security, and between L3 Harris and Bharat Electronics for co-development of active towed array systems. "U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century” :  It was announced to  drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation. Under this initi...

India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein – have taken a significant step towards deeper economic collaboration with the inauguration of the India-EFTA Desk. This initiative follows the recently concluded India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), which positions EFTA as the first European bloc to formalize a trade pact with India. Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal hailed TEPA as a landmark agreement, emphasizing India’s growing role in global trade. “This desk will serve as the bridge between businesses on both sides, ensuring transparency, trust, and ease of doing business,” he stated. He underscored India’s ambition to surpass $100 billion in EFTA investments, highlighting the country’s commitment to fostering equitable and mutually beneficial trade relationships. The India-EFTA Desk will provide structured support to EFTA businesses looking to invest, expand, or establ...

India took part in the 63 rd  session of the Commission for Social Development (CSoCD), held from February 10 to 14, 2025 at New York ,USA .  The Commission for Social Development (CSocD) is one of the eight functional commissions established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1946 to advise and assist it in carrying its work. The Commission for Social Development consists of 46 members elected by ECOSOC. Since the convening of the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, the commission has been the key UN body in charge of the follow-up and implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action. As a result of the Summit, the mandate of the commission was reviewed and its membership expanded from 32 to 46 members in 1996. It meets once a year at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, usually in February for about two weeks. In 2020, the Commission celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Copenhagen Declara...

  Shaped like a megaphone, the upcoming mission will map the entire sky in infrared light to answer big questions about the universe. Expected to launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory will provide astronomers with a big-picture view of the cosmos like none before. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will map the entire celestial sky in 102 infrared colors, illuminating the origins of our universe, galaxies within it, and life’s key ingredients in our own galaxy. Here are six things to know about the mission. 1. The SPHEREx space telescope will shed light on a cosmic phenomenon called inflation. In the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang, the universe increased in size by a trillion-trillionfold. Called inflation, this nearly instantaneous event took place almost 14 billion years ago...

  In a major development, the Framework Agreement on establishment of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) has officially come into force. From 23 rd  January, 2025, the IBCA and its Secretariat have become a full-fledged treaty based inter-governmental international organization  and international legal entity. To this effect, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (the Depository of the Framework Agreement) has confirmed that five countries - Republic of Nicaragua, Kingdom of Eswatini, Republic of India, Federal Republic of Somalia and Republic of Liberia - have deposited the instruments of ratification/acceptance/approval, under the Article VIII (1) of the Framework Agreement. As of now, 27 countries including India have consented to join IBCA and several international/national organisations working in the field of wildlife conservation have also partnered with IBCA. The five countries mentioned above have signed the Framework Agreement to for...

Recently  United States of America &  Argentina announced their  withdrawal from the WHO. The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948. United States sighted following reasons for its decission for withdrawal from WHO: The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.  In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.  China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO.   The White House , WHO , ANI News

It was established to  oversees the implementation of and conformance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM). Founding Organizations:International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Based in South Africa, the GTMI will drive the responsible management of tailings facilities throughout their lifecycle.  UN News , GTMI

CROPS stands for Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies which is an unmanned experimental module designed to develop ISRO’s capabilities for growing and sustaining plants in space. CROPS first mission (CROPS – 1) is designed to demonstrate germination of a seed and growth of plant up to two leaves stage in space. It is an airtight container of diameter 300mm and height 450mm simulating earth like environment in space except gravity. CROPS – 1 was flown in PSLV C60 mission in POEM 4 payload to demonstrate germination of a seed and sustenance up to two leaves stage in space for 5 to 7 days. Cowpea (Scientific name: Vigna Unguiculata) was chosen based on ground trials on a variety of seeds due to its shorter germination time.  On the fourth day, seeds sprouting out from the enclosed tissue strips was observed. On the fifth day, two leaves were visible on spouted seeds indicating successful accomplishment of the objectives. ISRO News

  SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of in-space docking using two small spacecraft launched by PSLV. This technology is essential for India's space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), etc. In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives. Through this mission, India is marching towards becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology. Objectives: The primary objective of the SpaDeX mission is to develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft (SDX01, which is the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target, nominally) in a low-Earth circular orbit. Secondary objectives include: Demonstration of the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, which is essential for future application...

  The   2024 Global Heath Expenditure Report   by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the average per capita government spending on health in all country income groups fell in 2022 from 2021 after a surge in the early pandemic years. The report entitled, “Global spending on health Emerging from the pandemic” has been published in alignment with the   Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day   campaign marked annually on 12 December. The campaign’s focus for 2024 is on improving financial protection for people everywhere to access health services they need. Government spending on health is crucial to delivering UHC. Its deprioritization can have dire consequences in a context where 4.5 billion people worldwide lack access to basic health services and 2 billion people face financial hardship due to health costs. “While access to health services has been improving globally, using those services is driving more and more people into financial hardship or povert...

  India’s  4 th  Biennial Update Report (BUR-4)   to the United Nations  Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was submitted on 30 th  December, 2024. The BUR-4 updates the Third National Communication (TNC) and contains the National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory for the year 2020.  In 2020, India’s total GHG emissions decreased by 7.93 per cent with respect to 2019. The emissions, excluding Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), were 2,959 million tonnes of CO 2 e and net emissions of 2,437 million tonnes of CO 2 e with the inclusion of LULUCF. The energy sector contributed the most to overall emissions (75.66 percent), followed by the agriculture (13.72 percent), Industrial Processes and Product Use (8.06 percent), and Waste (2.56 percent). In 2020, India's forest and tree cover, along with other land use, sequestered approximately 522 million tonnes of CO 2 , equivalent to reducing 22% of the country's total carbon dioxide emiss...

New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin, named after NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth.[8] New Glenn is a two-stage rocket with a diameter of 7 m (23 ft). Its first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines that are also designed and manufactured by Blue Origin. It is intended to launch from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36 (and eventually Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 9),[9] with the first stage landing on a barge called Landing Platform Vessel 1. The inaugural vehicle was unveiled on the launch pad in February 2024. Development of the New Glenn rocket started before 2013 and was formally announced in 2016. The first launch is expected to take place no earlier than 6 January 2025, carrying a prototype Blue Ring spacecraft. This launch will also serve as a National Security Space Launch demonstration mission. Like the New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle used for space tourism activities, the New Glenn's first stage has...

The Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT, is a European research infrastructure located at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. It hosts the next-generation neutrino telescope with water Cherenkov detectors. When completed, KM3NeT will have a total instrumented volume of several cubic kilometres distributed over three locations in the Mediterranean: KM3NeT-Fr (offshore Toulon, France), KM3NeT-It (offshore Portopalo di Capo Passero, Sicily, Italy) and KM3NeT-Gr (offshore Pylos, Peloponnese, Greece). The KM3NeT project continues the work done for the neutrino telescope ANTARES operated offshore the coast of France between 2008 and 2022. Using KM3NeT, scientists search for neutrinos from distant astrophysical sources like supernova remnants, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae or colliding stars. The telescope is a powerful tool in the search for dark matter in the universe. Arrays of thousands of optical sensor modules detect the faint Cherenkov light in the deep sea from charged parti...

Taking note of the outcomes of the second High-level International Conference on the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018–2028, held in Dushanbe from 6 to 9 June 2022, which support the initiative of Tajikistan on declaring an international year of glaciers’ preservation in 2025, and noting with appreciation the intention to strengthen an international mechanism to facilitate access to accurate and timely information on the cryosphere, UN Decides to declare 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and to proclaim 21 March of each year the World Day for Glaciers, to be observed starting in 2025; Profile of Glaciers: A glacier is a large, perennial accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock, sediment, and often liquid water that originates on land and moves down slope under the influence of its own weight and gravity. Typically, glaciers exist and may even form in areas where: mean annual temperatures are close to the freezing point ...

The General Assembly on Tuesday adopted the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime. Treaty  aimed at strengthening international cooperation to combat cybercrime and protecting societies from digital threats. It is a Legally binding treaty. It will enter into force 90 days after being ratified by the 40th signatory. Extracts from the treaty text: The purposes of this Convention are to: (a) Promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat cybercrime more efficiently and effectively;  (b) Promote, facilitate and strengthen international cooperation in preventing and combating cybercrime; and  (c) Promote, facilitate and support technical assistance and capacity-building to prevent and combat cybercrime, in particular for the benefit of developing countries. Scope of application: (a) The prevention, investigation and prosecution of the criminal offences established in accordance with this Convention, including the freezing, seizure, confiscation and return of the ...

Relevance:  Frito-Lay today issued a recall of a limited number of 13 oz. bags of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips that may contain undeclared milk, after being alerted through a consumer contact. Those with an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume the recalled product. The product included in this recall was distributed to certain retail stores and e-commerce distributors in Oregon and Washington. Consumers would have been able to purchase these chips as early as November 3, 2024. Reason for Recall: Presence of Potential or Undeclared Allergen namely Milk Unreported Allergens: The consumption of meat and poultry products containing ingredients of public health concern, such as Undeclared Allergens, may result in adverse health outcomes for certain individuals. The most common undeclared allergens -- wheat, shellfish, eggs, fish, peanuts, milk, tree nuts, and soybeans -- account for 90 percent of all food all...