News in Short

• World military expenditure reached an all-time high of USD 2.1 trillion in 2021, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The top three largest spenders were the United States, China and India.
• The five largest spenders in 2021 were the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia, together accounting for 62 per cent of expenditure.
• The US accounted for 38 per cent of the global military spending, and China for about 14 per cent even as the UK moved up two ranks, spending $68.4 billion in 2021.

• French President Emmanuel Macron won re-election, convincingly defeating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen.
• Centrist Macron was set to win around 58 percent of the vote in the second-round run-off compared with Le Pen on 42 percent.
• Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen’s result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France.

• Senior Congress leader and former Governor of various states K Sankaranarayanan passed away at his residence in Palakkad. He was 89.
• Sankaranarayanan was the Governor of Maharashtra, Nagaland and Jharkhand. He had also held additional charges of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Goa as Governor.
• The senior Congress leader was a four-time legislator and had held Finance, Excise and Agriculture portfolios in various ministries in Kerala.

• Palli village in Jammu’s Samba district has become the country’s first panchayat to become carbon neutral, fully powered by solar energy.
• Solar panels will provide clean electricity to 340 houses in the model panchayat under the central government’s ‘Gram UrjaSwaraj’ programme.
• The project was completed at a cost of Rs 2.75 crore. The electricity generated will be distributed to the village through the local power grid station.

• VishakhaMulye, an ICICI Bank veteran, has been appointed as the chief executive of Aditya Birla Capital.
• Mulye, who was the executive director of ICICI Bank in charge of the wholesale banking portfolio, will take over her role on June 1.
• She will be the first female to join Aditya Birla Management Corporation, the conglomerate’s top decision making body. Mulye replaces Ajay Srinivasan.