Daily Current Affairs – 17-01-2025

Tamil Nadu

Indonesia joins

BRICS

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Indonesia has joined the BRICS group as its 10th member.

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The 16th BRICS Summit was held in Kazan, Russia in 2024.

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The 17th BRICS Summit will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in July 2025 .

UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh

®      The 16th session of the Conference of the Parties ( COP16 ) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia .

®      It was the first UNCCD COP

in the Middle East and North Africa region.

®      UNCCD COP17 will held in Mongolia in

2026 .

®      The conference theme was “Our Land. Our Future” .

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Nearly 200 countries participated, making it the largest UN land conference to date.

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Saudi Arabia announced five new projects worth $60 million to enhance its climate and environmental efforts under the Saudi Green Initiative.

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COP16 secured over $12 billion in pledges to combat drought and land degradation.

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Saudi Arabia pledged $150 million to the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership.

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The prototype of the International Drought Resilience Observatory (IDRO) was launched at COP16.

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It is an AI-driven platform to help countries assess and improve their drought coping abilities.

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Saudi Arabia launched the Young Researchers Award , offering $70,000 in prize money.

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An international sand and dust storm monitoring initiative was also launched by Saudi Arabia.

Interpol issues first Silver

Notice

®      Interpol has issued its first-ever Silver Notice to track assets laundered across borders.

®      This is part of a pilot project involving 52

member countries, including India .

®      The first notice was issued based on a request from Italy .

®      The request seeks information on the assets of a senior mafia member.

®      Each participating country can request up to 500 notices under the project.

China to build dam on

Brahmaputra

®      China has approved the construction of a hydropower project on the lower reaches of Yarlung Tsangbo River (also known as Brahmaputra River) in Tibet, near the Indian border.

®      The project is expected to cost over $137 billion .

®      It will be the world’s largest dam and infrastructure project .

®      The project was a part of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan ( 2021-2025 ) and National Economic and Social Development plan.