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Donald Trump acquitted of all impeachment charges by US Senate

  The United States President Donald Trump has been acquitted of all impeachment charges. The US Senate has acquitted President Trump on two articles of impeachment that are the abuse of power and obstruction to Congress. The Republican-majority Senate voted 52-48 to acquit him of abuse of power and 53-47 to acquit him of obstruction of Congress. Donald Trump is only the third US leader ever placed on trial, he readily defeated the effort to expel him from office for having illicitly sought help from Ukraine to bolster his 2020 re-election effort.
Catgeory: International

72nd Independence Day celebrated by Sri Lanka

  Sri Lanka celebrated its 72nd Independence Day on 4th February 2020. On this day, Sri Lanka became an independent nation after getting independence from Britain. Military parades and air shows were the most attractive points of the Sri Lankan Independence Day celebrations held in Colombo. The major change in the celebration ceremony was the National Anthem of Sri Lanka as it was sung only in Sinhala and not in Tamil language. The national anthem was used to be sung in both the languages since 2016.
Catgeory: International

Mohammad Tawfiq Allawi becomes new Prime Minister of Iraq

  Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi was appointed as Iraq’s new Prime Minister by President Barhim Salih. He will replace Adil Abdul-Mahdi who resigned in November 2019 due to anti-government protests. Mohammed Allawi served twice as communications minister under Former PM Nouri al-Maliki. The 2019 Iraq Protests
Catgeory: International

Maldives becomes 54th member of the Commonwealth

 Maldives has returned to Commonwealth after its exit in 2016 and hence, has become the 54th member of the global body. The inclusion of Maldives into Commonwealth become effective from one minute past midnight on 1 February just after the exit of United Kingdom from the European union. The Commonwealth secretary general Patricia Scotland announced the rejoining of Maldives in the Commonwealth after ensuring Maldives’ alignment with the values and principles of the Commonwealth and the consultations with the other Commonwealth nations for Maldives’ readmission. Maldives became a member of the Commonwealth for the first time in 1982.
  • Why it left the global organisation?
Maldives left the Commonwealth in 2016. Maldives was threatened with suspension over its human rights record and lack of advancement in its democratic reform. Maldives quit the Commonwealth citing their treatment “unjust and unfair” under the presidency of former president Abdulla Yameen.
  • Readmission of Maldives in Commonwealth:
Maldives has shown development in its democratic reforms with the evidences of functioning democratic processes. President Ibrahim “Ibu” Mohamed Solih promoted the democracy in the island nation after his surprising victory in the 2018 presidential elections. After ensuring the processes, he applied to the secretary general to rejoin the Commonwealth. After the application process, Maldives faced an assessment including two site visits and consultations to prove its alignment with the rules and regulations agreed by the Commonwealth heads of government in Kampala during their meet in 2007. According to the Commonwealth heads of government, a country can become its member only if the country has subscribed to the values and principles of the Commonwealth charter and committed to develop free and democratic societies along the promotion of peace and prosperity.
Catgeory: International

Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya participate at UNAIDS Programme

 The Union Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) Mansukh Mandaviya participated in the High-level roundtable of United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) programme at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The theme of the programme is “Access for all: Leveraging Innovations, Investments and Partnerships for Health”. The main objective of the programme is to coordinate global action on the AIDS disease and alleviate its impact. It was established in 1994.
  • What is UNAIDS?
UNAIDS provides the strategic direction, advocacy, coordination and technical support needed to catalyse and connect leadership from governments, the private sector and communities to deliver life-saving HIV services. UNAIDS is leading the global effort to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Role of India
Government of India is changing the scenario of health-sector, and the policy changes driven by Government for Affordable and Quality Health Access to All. The health needs, technologies and solutions to bridge economic inequalities in the health sector were discussed. The AIDS programme in India is implemented by NACO (National AIDS Control Organization). It formulates policy and implements prevention and control programmes of AIDS in the country. According to UNAIDS India is the third-largest country with the HIV epidemic in the world. NACO is the nodal organization to implement AIDS programmes of the Indian Government. Apart from this, it also conducts HIV estimation biennially along ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research). The first round of such estimation was conducted in 1998 and the last was done in 2017.
Catgeory: International

Claims against India under Bilateral International Treaty dismissed

 The Bilateral International Treaty organization, an international arbitration tribunal recently dismissed all the claims against India.
  • Highlights
The claims against India was brought the organization by private firms in Cyprus and Russia. The claims were under Agreement between Government of Russian Federation and Cyprus for promotion and protection of investments. The claims have now been dismissed completely.
  • Bilateral Investment Treaty
BIT is an agreement that was established for FDI. It allows countries to set up rules for investments between each other. The treaty is the successor of the 19th century friendship, commerce and navigation treaty. The first BIT was signed between Pakistan and Germany. BIT ensures that foreign investors are treated equally as that of domestic investors. This is because, foreign investments are restricted by governments to promote domestic entrepreneurs. For instance, US restricts foreign investment in only 5 sectors and China restricts foreign investment in 100 sectors.
  • Significance
India entered BIT in the mid-90s. It is important for India to sign BIT to make conditions favourable for foreign investors. While most of the treaties in the world focus on ‘most favored Nation’ treatment, BIT treats foreign countries equally.
  • India and BIT
According to the data of Ministry of Finance, India has so far signed BIT with 75 states. Out of these 66 are already in force and 9 are yet to be entered into force. India has signed 40 BITs with less developed and developing nations. As every other country, India has set its own BITs clauses. BIT clauses of India is not the same for all the countries. The most important feature of India’s BITs is that it does not provide right to make investment in India to the signatories. Every investment has its own rules fixed by India.
Catgeory: International

50th Annual Meeting of WEF begins in Davos

 The 50th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum begins in Davos, Switzerland. On the Indian side, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead the delegation to the WEF. This year programme will focus on achieving the maximum impact on the Forum’s platform for public-private cooperation. This year 50th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum theme will be “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World”.
The Programme for the Annual Meeting will prioritize six key areas: ecology, economy, society, industry, technology, and geopolitics.
  • Ecology: How to mobilize business to respond to the risks of climate change and ensure that measures to protect biodiversity reach forest floors and ocean beds.
  • Economy: How to remove the long-term debt burden and keep the economy working at a pace that allows higher inclusion.
  • Technology: How to create a global consensus on deployment of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and avoid a ‘technology war’.
  • Society: How to reskill and upskill a billion people in the next decade.
  • Geopolitics: How the ‘spirit of Davos’ can create bridges to resolve conflicts in global hotspots. Informal meetings to set kickstart conciliation.
  • Industry: How to help business create the models necessary to drive enterprise in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. How to navigate an enterprise in a world exposed to political tensions and driven by exponential technological change as well as increasing expectations from all stakeholders.
These initiatives aim to plant more than one trillion trees over the next decade and to equip one billion people with the necessary skills in the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution. The welcome message was followed by the annual crystal awards and this year’s recipients included celebrity film star Deepika Padukone. She has been given the award for her leadership in raising mental health awareness. These awards are given to those cultural leaders, who are improving the state of the world through their contributions to inclusive and sustainable change.
Catgeory: International

Microsoft vows to be ‘carbon negative’ by 2030

  The US tech giant Microsoft has announced that it would become “carbon negative” by year 2030. The announcement has been made in the form of its increased efforts to combat the climate change. The company announced that it vows to eliminate all the carbon emissions created by the company since its inception in 1975. Microsoft has also announced its investment of $1 billion in a “climate innovation fund” for technology for carbon capture and removal.
Catgeory: International

Robert Abela elected as Prime minister of Malta

  Labour Party candidate Robert Abela elected as 14th prime minister of Malta with 57.9% of the vote. He defeated his closest rival Chris Fearne. He will replace Joseph Muscat, who resigned over the murder of a journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Catgeory: International

Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev submits resignation to Putin

  Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has resigned. They submit their resignation to President Vladimir Putin. Medvedev would take on a new job as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council. The changes would include giving parliament the power to choose the prime minister and senior cabinet members, instead of the president as in the current system.
Catgeory: International

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