Top 5 Current Affairs of the Day: 25 April 2022

Indian javelin star and Tokyo Olympics Gold medalist Neeraj Chopra missed out on winning the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award, as the award went British Tennis sensation Emma Raducanu, who became the first qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam.  The 2021 Formula One World champion Max Verstappen was voted as the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year 2022, while Jamaican athlete Elaine Thompson-Herah was named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year 2022.

India becomes 2nd country to launch Trade and Technology Council with EU

India will soon set up its first Trade and Technology Council with the European Union to strengthen their strategic partnership. With this, India has become the second country to launch Trade and Technology Council with the European Union. The European Union has set up only one such Trade and Technology Council before and that is with the United States.

The top 5 largest military spenders in the world in 2021 were the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia, which together accounted for almost 62 percent of the world military expenditure, as per  Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).  The world military expenditure also touched all-time high of USD 2.1 trillion in the last year. 

Emmanuel Macron won a second term as French President on April 24, 2022 with 58.8 percent votes, defeating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen. The centrist leader has become the first sitting French President to be re-elected in 20 years. However, Le Pen’s result of 42 percent marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honoured with the first Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award on April 24th, becoming the first-ever recipient of the prestigious award. The award has been instituted by the family and Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan charitable trust in the memory of Legendary Singer Lata Mangeshkar, who passed away in February at the age of 92 following multiple organ failure.