1. Indian
companies can now participate in construction & installation works in the
“non-critical” category for the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, as
per the Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom. The Rooppur project is the first
initiative under an IndoRussian deal to undertake atomic energy projects in
third countries. India, Bangladesh & Russia signed an agreement in this regard
in Moscow, Russia.
2. Armenian
lawmakers elected Armen Sarkisian as the new president of Armenia. He will
succeed Serzh Sarkisian. Armen Sarkisian was the ambassador to the United
Kingdom.
3. Marshall
Islands is creating its own digital currency in a bid to raise money. In doing
so it becomes the first country in the world to recognize a cryptocurrency as
legal tender. The small Pacific Island nation passed the Sovereign Currency Act
to create the ‘sovereign’, or SOV.
4. Washington
become the first state to enact its own netneutrality requirements after U.S.
regulators repealed Obama-era rules designed to keep the internet an even
playing field.
5. India
is all set to become the 69th member of the European Bank for Reconstruction
& Development (EBRD) after shareholders of the international financial
institution gave their nod to the country’s candidature. The formal membership
process will now
6.
get underway, which includes the purchase of
shares by India at an estimated cost of around 1 million euros.
7. China's
Parliament has abolished the decades-old twoterm limit for the President,
allowing Xi Jinping to remain as the country's leader for life. The
constitutional changes were passed in Beijing by the annual sitting of the
National People's Congress - the country's legislature - with the two-thirds
majority.
8. The
Maldives Parliament has approved the antidefection bill with retrospective
effect amidst the boycott by opposition MPs. According to the bill, MPs elected
on political party tickets will lose their seat if they leave their party, get
expelled, or switch parties.
9. Saudi
Arabia's Cabinet has approved the national policy of its atomic energy
programme, as the kingdom prepares to award contracts for its first nuclear
power plants.
10. Member-countries
of the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region, including India,
committed to intensifying efforts to eradicate tuberculosis by 2030.
11. Oklahoma
plans to start using nitrogen gas for executions, in what would be the first
such method of capital punishment in the United States.
12. United
Nations issued an appeal for 951 million Dollars to meet the needs of nearly
900,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Over the months since the most recent
Rohingya influx began, it has become the world's fastest-growing refugee crisis
with tens of thousands fleeing by land & sea daily from Myanmar's northern
Rakhine state at the peak of the emergency.
13. Donald
Trump administration banned all use by Americans of Venezuelan cryptocurrency
(Petro), saying that its introduction is intended to skirt U.S. sanctions. The
prohibition applies to all people & companies subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
In February 2018, cash-strapped Venezuela became the first country to launch
its own version of bitcoin, the petro.
14. The
first G20 meeting of finance ministers & central bank governors began in
Buenos Aires, Argentina with the
presence of 57 delegations from countries & institutions.
15. NASA
is all set to send the first-ever mission dedicated to exploring the deep
interior of Mars. Scheduled to launch on 5 May, InSight—a stationary
lander—will also be the first Nasa mission since the Apollo moon landings to
place a seismometer, a device that measures quakes, on the soil of another
planet.
IMPORTANT LINKS MARCH 2018