Todays in History (December 21^st, 1845)

• On this day, the Battle of Firoz Shah took place between the British and Sikh forces during the First Anglo-Sikh War. The British forces led by Governor-General Sir Henry Hardinge and Sir Hugh Gough emerged victorious.

Summary of Today’s News

Operation Prosperity Guardian:

• It’s a Multinational Security Initiative, led by USA.
• It involves joint patrolling in the Red Sea.
• The United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain, among others, have joined the operation.
• Combined Maritime Forces: • The Combined Maritime Forces, comprising 39 member countries, coordinate efforts to enhance maritime security.
• Operation Prosperity Guardian, led by Combined Task Force 153( CTF-153) focuses on improving security in the Red Sea, Bab elMandeb, and the Gulf of Aden. CTF-153 was set up in 2022 to improve maritime security in Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden.

Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF)

• KMGBF was adopted at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) in 2022.
• It replaced Aichi Biodiversity Targets (time period 2011-2020). It is legally non-binding in nature

About CBD

• It is an international legal instrument (ratified by 196 nations, including India).
• Adopted in 1992 at Rio Earth Summit (enforced in 1993).
• Key objective- Conservation and sustainable use of the biological diversity etc.

Main Protocols:

♦ Nagoya Protocol on Access to Generic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization.

♦ Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

JN.1 Variant

• First case of a person infected with JN.1 variant of Sars-CoV-2 was reported in India.
• Sars-CoV-2 virus was responsible for Covid-19 pandemic.

About JN.1 Variant: It is a sub-variant of Sublineage BA.2.86 (also known as Pirola), is an off-shoot of the widely circulating Omicron variant.