Recently, a formation of China Coast Guard ships passed through the waters around the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands.

• Japan and China have long-running disputes over these islands.

About Senkaku Island 

• Located in the East China Sea
• They are part of Okinawa Prefecture.
• Also known as Diaoyu in Chinese.

Integrated Forum on Climate Change and Trade (IFCCT) launched at COP30

About the Integrated Forum on Climate Change and Trade (IFCCT)

• Aim: To create a permanent, politically supported space where countries can address the increasingly contentious intersection between trade policies and climate action.
• It will be institutionally independent of both the WTO and the UNFCCC
• The Forum will be co-chaired by Brazil and a developed country partner, and is open to all parties to the UNFCCC. 
• Forum will not Negotiate binding outcomes or interpret existing agreements or adjudicate disputes or evaluate specific national measures.

NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft launched aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket. 

About ESCAPADE Mission

• Objective: To investigate how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape.
  • Mars' magnetosphere is made up of leftover magnetic fields from an ancient core and a weaker magnetic field in its upper atmosphere.
• The spacecraft launched into a “loiter” orbit that loops around Earth’s Lagrange point 2. 
  • At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. 
  • These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.

The progress of the India–Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Free Trade Agreement negotiations has been reviewed.

About EAEU

• Overview: It is an international organization for regional economic integration. 
• Genesis: Established by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (signed in 2014).
• Members: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
• Feature: Enables free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, supported by coordinated, harmonised and unified policies.

Systematic Observation Impact Bond, World’s first impact bond on weather and climate data recently opened for contributions.

About Systematic Observation Impact Bond

• To be announced as part of COP30 (UNFCCC) Action Agenda.  
• Aim: Finance instrument to strengthen resilience and early warnings worldwide 
  • Seeks initial capitalization of USD 200 million by end of 2026. 
• Pioneered by: Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF), a United Nations fund created by UN Environment Programme (UNEP), World Meteorological Organization, and UN Development Programme (UNDP).
• Significance: Help 30 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) meet Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) standards.

FWB was launched at COP30 in Belem as a 2030 Climate Solution under Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action. 

Key Highlights

• About: Unites governments, cities, and civil society to act on an issue striking at the heart of global hunger and climate change.
• Target: Halving global food waste and Up to 7% reduction in methane emissions by 2030. 
• Funding Support: Global Environment Facility commits US$3 million. 
• Participation: Country champions include Brazil, Japan and the United Kingdom, along with multiple global cities and private-sector partners.

Recently, Ambaji Marble received the GI Tag. 

About Ambaji Marble

• Production: Banaskantha district, Gujarat.
• Key Feature:Milky white colour, natural beauty and durability, used widely in temples, memorials and grand buildings.

About GI Tag

• Meaning: Certification given to products that originate from a specific region and have inherent qualities, reputation, and characteristics contributing to their origin. 
• Granted Under: Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. 
• Validity: 10 years. 
• Nodal Department: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 

Himachal Pradesh’s Raulane Festival preserves its ancient faith and tradition. 

About Raulane Festival

• Overview: Ancient 5,000-year-old festival of Kinnaur, HP that honours mystical celestial fairies known as Saunis.
• Key Ritual: Two men act as a symbolic groom and bride (Raula and Raulane), fully covered in Kinnauri woollens, representing a link to the divine.
• Procession: The pair walks to the Nagin Narayan Temple and performs a slow devotional dance.

Fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage as a part of USA’s Operation Southern Spear against Narco Terrorism in the Caribbean.

About Anegada Passage

• Location: Channel in the West Indies, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Caribbean Sea. 
• It is 65 km wide and separates the British Virgin Islands (west) from the Leeward Islands (southeast). 
• It is one of the two passages through which subsurface water enters the Caribbean (other being the Windward Passage).