(1) Karnataka budget tabled in legislature
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented his 16th budget in the State legislature on Friday (March 7, 2025) with a record outlay of ₹4.09 crore rupees. Of this, around ₹71,000 crores was marked for capital expenditure. The fiscal deficit target for 2025-26 was set at 2.95%. When it comes to allocations for government departments, the Education department was allocated ₹45,286 crores, followed by Women and Child Development and Energy. Most of the budget was financed by the state’s own tax revenue (52%), borrowings (27%) and Karnataka’s share of central taxes (13%).
(2) China imposes tariffs on key U.S. farm products
China announced a tariff hike of additional 15% on several key U.S. agricultural products on Tuesday (March 4, 2025) in response to U.S. President Donald Trump increasing tariffs for all Chinese products to 20% from the earlier 10% rate. These tariffs would take effect from March 10.
Commodities facing extra 15% tariffs include U.S. grown chicken, wheat, corn and cotton. At the same time, an extra 10% tariffs will be slapped on imports of sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafoods, fruit, vegetables and dairy products
Around 14% of U.S. agricultural exports go to China. China’s role in the U.S. agricultural trade dipped slightly during the first trade war, but it has increased in the past few years.
Soybean was exported the most to China in 2024, making up close to half of all agricultural exports to China. This shows the importance of soybean with respect to trade with China.
At the same time, 52% of all Soybean exports went to China, showing how China is a crucial export market for the U.S. soybean exporters. In the graph below,
(3) U.S. halts military aid to Ukraine
The U.S. announced on Tuesday (March 4 2025) that it will halt its aid to Ukraine as the war with Russia crossed the three-year milestone. The announcement followed a public disagreement between the President Trump and Ukriane’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when they met to finalise a mineral deal.
U.S. aid to Ukraine has been substantial through the war. For context, the U.S. provided aid of 114 billion euros in 2024, close to half of the 267 billion euros Ukraine received overall. This has raised the question of whether Europe can significantly increase its contributions to make up for lost American aid.
We can take a look at how Europe has been doing on NATO defence spending targets as an indicator. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has set 2% of GDP as the benchmark to decide membership contributions for defence. As per the latest NATO report, of the 31 European countries part of NATO, eight did not meet the benchmark in 2024.
This figure has improved over the years. Belgian and Italian leaders have promised to reach or surpass the target between 2027 and 2034. Poland, a leading defence spender, even called for a raise in the 2% benchmark.
However, European countries are also facing high debt levels and budget deficits..
Meanwhile, an emergency summit of the EU members along with Ukraine on Thursday (March 13, 2025) decided on a scheme to release $702 billion through easing budget restrictions and an additional $162 billion through loans.
However, some countries disagree on how this loan would be financed, and one member country – Hungary – did not support the scheme. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long been a supporter of Mr. Trump.
(4) India wins Champions Trophy after finals against New Zealand
India lifted the Champions Trophy on Sunday (March 9, 2025) by four wickets after surpassing New Zealand’s target of 251 runs in 50 overs. A strong partnership between Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill saw India’s score reach 105 runs before the first wicket took Shubman Gill out. This partnership was the longest in this Champions Trophy edition.
The victory gave India the third Champions Trophy after it won its first in 2002.
(5) Oscars 2025 awards announced
The 97th Oscars Academy Awards were given out on Monday (March 3, 2025) for films and the people who worked on them in different roles. The movie Anora won awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Actress.
U.S. comedian Conan O’Brien hosted the show at the famed Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Nominations were postponed due to the wildfires that swept the State, but the awards ceremony was held on the planned date.
Use the chart below to explore winners from each category.
Published – March 10, 2025 03:48 pm IST