1) Foreign direct product rule: Recently, US officials applied the foreign direct product rule to China’s advanced computing and supercomputer industry to stop it from obtaining advanced computing chips. It was introduced in 1959 by the US government to control the trading of the US technologies.
- It essentially says that if a product was made using American technology, the US government has the power to stop it from being sold – including products made in a foreign country.
- It mandates country-based licensing requirements and list-based restrictions apart from imposing traditional export controls. The rule is currently applied in Russia and Belarus
2) light pollution: Light pollution, or artificial light at night, is the excessive or poor use of artificial outdoor light, which can have serious environmental consequences for humans, wildlife, and our climate.
- Impact on birds: Induce Migration mistiming, change migration pattern, Change seasonal behaviours, and disrupt biological clocks.
- Components of light pollution include: Glare: visual sensation caused by excessive and uncontrolled brightness, Skyglow: Brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas, Light trespass: it occurs when spill light is cast where it is not wanted, Clutter: Bright, confusing and excessive groupings of light sources.
3) JATE Manesar Anti-terror 2022: it is an annual counter-terrorist exercise held within the framework of the SCO RATS. Pakistan has been invited to the closing ceremony
- The National Security Guard (NSG) is hosting the multinational JATE “Manesar Anti-Terror 2022”, under the framework of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).
- The present one is stage 2 of the exercise. Stage 1 of the Exercise was by the National Counterterrorist Forces of SCO Member Countries in their respective territories.
- The exercise is aimed at exchanging expertise, best practices and building synergy between the Counterterrorism Forces of the SCO RATS member countries
4) Belligerent occupation: it means that the occupying power exercises provisional and temporary control over foreign territory. Under international law, Russia’s control over the four Ukrainian regions, before the so-called referendums, is known as ‘belligerent occupation’.
- Rules on belligerent occupation are explained under the Hague Convention of 1899 — the first treaty that laid down the laws of war.
- Article 43 of the Convention states that if “the authority of the legitimate power over territory” has “passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all steps in his power to re-establish and ensure public order and safety”. Russia’s unilateral action of merging the four Ukrainian territories with it is a flagrant violation of Article 43.
- The Article clearly states that Russia, being the occupier, only has ‘authority’ and not ‘sovereignty’ over these regions.
5) Chandrayann-2 gauges sodium content on Moon’s surface: Scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have mapped out the global distribution of sodium on the Moon’s surface. They used the CLASS instrument (Chandrayaan-2 large area soft X-ray spectrometer)
Sodium is the only element apart from potassium that can be observed through telescopes in the lunar atmosphere (its exosphere). This new map of sodium would enable an understanding of the surface-exosphere connection. It can also be used as a tracer of the volatile history of the moon.
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