1) Brandt Line: Brandt Line (developed in 1980s) is a way of visualizing the world that highlights the disparities and inequalities between the wealthy North and the poorer Global South.
- Richer countries are almost all located in the Northern Hemisphere, except for Australia and New Zealand.
- Poorer countries are mostly located in tropical regions and in the Southern Hemisphere.
- It is based on the North-South: A Programme for Survival, a report addressing the problems of international inequality
2) United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL): India hosts inaugural UNCITRAL South Asia Conference.
- UNCITRAL (established in 1966) is a subsidiary body of General Assembly of UN with a mandate to further harmonization and unification of law of international trade.
- It is composed of 70 Member States elected by General Assembly.
- Members are elected for terms of six years (India is member till 2028).
- UNCITRAL is not a part of WTO.
- WTO deals with trade policy issues whereas UNCITRAL deals with laws applicable to private parties in international transactions and is not involved with “state-to-state issues”.
3) Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR):
- Established in 2018 in Gurugram.
- Objective: To enhance maritime domain awareness and share information on vessels of interest.
- Region covered: Indian Ocean Region and adjoining Seas.
- Significance: vital role in enhancing global efforts to combat maritime security threats including Piracy & Armed Robbery, Contraband Smuggling, Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) Fishing, etc
4) ‘Pralay’ Ballistic Missiles: Ministry of Defence granted approval for acquisition of a regiment of Pralay ballistic missiles.
- Type: Surface-to-Surface short-range ballistic missile that is capable of being launched from a mobile launcher.
- Developed by: DRDO
- Operational range: 150 to 500 kms
- Payload capability: 350 to 700 kgs of conventional warhead.
- Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles that exit the Earth’s atmosphere, short-range ballistic missiles stay within it.
- While it has a low trajectory and is largely ballistic, it can manoeuvre in flight.
Places in News:
1) Three Sahel nations: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have signed a defence pact to cooperate against threats of armed rebellion or external aggression.
- About Sahel Region
- It is a semi-arid region of western and north-central Africa that stretches from Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea along Sahara desert’s southern rim.
- Countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Guinea Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
- It forms a transitional zone between Sahara desert to the north and savannas to the south
