Jennifer Simons

♦ Suriname’s parliament elected Jennifer Simons as the South American country’s first woman president on 6 July 2025.

♦ Simons’ opposition National Democratic Party won 18 seats, and the current President Chan Santokhi’s Progressive Reform Party won 17 seats in the May 2025 parliamentary election.

♦ Smaller parties won the remaining 16 seats.

♦ Suriname’s president is elected indirectly. Following the general election, members of the National Assembly vote for the president and a candidate must secure a two-thirds majority to win the office.

Global technology giant Microsoft

♦ Global technology giant Microsoft has officially shut down its operations in Pakistan after 25 years, as part of its global restructuring plan.

♦ The company announced the move citing a shift to a cloud-based, partner-led model and broader workforce reductions about 9,100 jobs cut globally.

♦ Microsoft first opened in Pakistan on March 7, 2000, playing a key role in the country’s digital growth.

♦ Experts suggest that the company’s exit highlights broader concerns about Pakistan’s economic and political climate.

One Big Beautiful Bill

♦ U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’.

♦ The House approved the bill in a 218 to 214 vote, after the Senate narrowly approved the bill in a 51-50 vote that required Vice President JD Vance to break a tie. 

♦ The bill's passage amounts to a big win for Trump and his Republican allies, who have argued it will boost economic growth, while largely dismissing a nonpartisan analysis predicting it will add more than $3 trillion to the nation's $36.2 trillion debt. 

Paetongtarn Shinawatra

♦ Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on 1 July 2025.

♦ Paetongtarn has faced growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the dispute, which involved an armed confrontation on May 28, in which one Cambodian soldier was killed.

♦ In a call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, she attempted to defuse tensions — but instead set off a string of complaints and public protests by critics who accused her of being too fawning.

♦ Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit will take over in a caretaker capacity while the court decides the case against Paetongtarn, who has 15 days to respond and will remain in the cabinet as the new culture minister following a reshuffle.

♦ She is the third member of her family to hold the prime minister’s office — and the third to face the possibility of removal before her term ended.

♦ Thaksin was removed from office in a 2006 coup and driven into exile, while his sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawtra, was removed by a court order in 2014, followed shortly after by a coup.

Indo-French Joint Military Exercise

♦ The eighth edition of the Indo-French Joint Military Exercise ‘Shakti’ concluded on 1 July 2025.

♦ Held from June 18 to July 1 in France, the exercise was hosted by the 13th French Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade (13 DBLE) and involved more than 500 personnel from various units of the French Army, Foreign Legion, Navy, and the French Air and Space Force.

♦ India was represented by a 90-member contingent, including a Battalion from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and troops from other arms and services.

♦ The exercise was conducted in two phases with the first one, held from June 18 to 21 in Aveyron’s Monclar district, focused on joint training in weapon handling, combat drills, and command coordination.

♦ The second phase, from June 22 to 26 in Herault, saw the deployment of the Monclar Combined Arms Tactical Group (GTIA) in an open-field semi-urban combat exercise that tested troops during both day and night operations.

♦ The Indo-French Shakti exercise serves as a key platform for enhancing tactical, technical, and procedural synergy between the two nations.

♦ Alongside other bilateral defence exercises such as Garuda (Air Forces) and Varuna (Navies), Shakti reflects the evolving and robust strategic partnership between India and France.