Current Affairs in Short: 8 November 2021

PM Narendra Modi emerges as top global leader with over 70 per cent approval ratings

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stood at the top of the global leader approval ratings with a 70 per cent approval rating on the Morning Consult Political Intelligence. PM Modi received the maximum approval among adults across the world.

•Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador came 2^nd (66 per cent), Italian PM Mario Draghi at 3^rd (58 per cent), Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel came 4^th (54 per cent), Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison came 5^th (47 per cent).

•While US President Joe Biden stood at 6^th (44 per cent), Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came 7^th (43 per cent) while UK PM Boris Johnson stood 8^th (40 per cent), Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro stood 9^th (39 per cent) and South Korea President Moon Jae-in stood 10^th (38 per cent).

•The Morning Consult Political Intelligence tracks the approval rating of governmental leaders across India, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the UK, and the US.

Govt slashes basic duty on crude palm oil, crude sunflower oil, crude soyabean oil from 2.5 per cent to nil

•The Central government has cut down the basic duty on crude palm oil, crude sunflower oil, crude soyabean oil from 2.5 per cent to nil in an attempt to curb rising cooking oil prices in past one year.

•The Agri-cess on crude palm oil has been brought down to 7.5 per cent from 20 per cent earlier and 5 per cent for crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil.

•The basic duty on RBD palmolein oil, refined sunflower oil, and refined soyabean oil has also been cut down to 17.5 per cent from earlier 32.5 per cent. Prior reduction, the agricultural infrastructure cess on all these crude edible oils was 20 per cent.

•Post reduction, the effective basic duty on crude palm oil will be 8.25 per cent and 5.5 per cent for crude sunflower oil and crude soybean oil.

Australia’s tour of Pakistan in 2022 to include three Tests, three ODIs, one T20I

•Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on November 8, 2021, while announcing the details of Australia’s tour of Pakistan in March and April 2022 said that it will include three Tests, three ODIs, and one T20I.

•The three Tests will be held in Karachi (March 3-7), Rawalpindi (March 12-16), and Lahore (March 21-25) while Lahore will be the venue for three ODIs and one T20I.

•The Tests will be played as part of the ICC World Test Championship while the ODIs will be part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.

•Australia had last time toured Pakistan in 1998-99 wherein they were led by Mark Taylor to a 1-0 series victory. Pakistan has hosted Australia in 1964-65, 1979-80, 1982-83, 1988-89, and 1994-95.

Pakistan Cabinet approves removal of ban on Tehreek-e-Labbaik

•The Pakistan Cabinet led by PM Imran Khan on November 6, 2021, approved the removal of extremist group Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) from the list of banned outfits thereby ending the anti-government agitation. The government has released more than 2,000 activists of the TLP.

•The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was formed in 2015 and was declared as a proscribed (banned) organization in April 2021 following their violent protests forcing the government to expel the French ambassador over cartoons published in France.

Astronaut Wang Yaping becomes 1^st Chinese woman to walk in space

•Astronaut Wang Yaping has become the first Chinese woman to walk in space on November 7, 2021. Yaping is a crewmember of China’s Shenzhou-13 mission, a six-month mission launched on October 16, 2021, to the Tiangong space station module Tianhe.

•41-years-old Wang Yaping along with astronaut Zhai Zhigang carried out extravehicular operations in the ‘Flying’ extravehicular suit. Shenzhou-13 is Wang’s second space mission.

•Wang had joined the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in August 1997 and served as a Deputy Squadron Commander. In May 2010, Wang joined the second group of astronauts at the PLA Astronaut Division.