JANUARY-2021 WORLD 1. SPAIN AND FRANCE TO BUILD EUROPE’S LARGEST SOLAR POWER PLANT Iberdola of Spain and Donone of France have recently signed an agreement to build 590 MW of solar power plant at a cost of 364 million USD. This will be the largest solar power plant in Europe and is to be located in the western province of Caceres located in Spain. The solar power plant will avoid emission of 245,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide. It is to supply power to 375,000 people per year. 2. NUCLEAR DEAL VIOLATION BY IRAN Iran has resumed enriching uranium up to 20% in violation of the 2015 nuclear deal and also seized a South Korean-flagged tanker near the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the USA has decided to keep nuclear powered aircraft carrier Nimitz in the Gulf region in the wake of threats from Iran. **In 2015, Iran with the P5+1 group of world powers - the USA, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany agreed on a long-term deal on its nuclear programme known as Iran nuclear deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) . Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activity in return for the lifting of sanctions and access to global trade. In May 2018, the USA abandoned the deal criticizing it as flawed and reinstated and tightened its sanctions. 3. SOLIDARITY AND STABILITY DEAL: GULF COUNTRIES Gulf States has recently signed a ‘solidarity and stability’ deal at the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit held in Al Ula, Saudi Arabia. This is to remove all the sanctions over Qatar and re-open their land, sea and air borders to Qatar. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE are the members of GCC. 4. THE GRAND RENAISSANCE DAM The Grand Renaissance Dam is being constructed by Ethiopia on the river Nile. Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have recently agreed to resume negotiations to resolve their decade-long complex dispute over the Grand Renaissance Dam hydropower project in the Horn of Africa. This 145-meter-tall (475-foot-tall) hydropower project, started by Ethiopia is the cause of conflict. Given the dam’s location on the Blue Nile tributary, it would allow Ethiopia to gain control of the flow of the river’s waters. 5. CALLS TO INVOKE 25TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AFTER THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL PROTESTS The 25th Constitutional amendment of U.S’ Constitution lays out how a US President or a Vice President can be replaced or succeeded. It includes provisions to resolve issues revolving around unfortunate situations like death, resignation to removal of US President and actions to be followed after a President becomes disabled to such a degree that he is unable to fulfil his responsibilities. 6. UN RIGHTS BODY ELECTS FIJI IN FIRST-EVER PRESIDENTIAL VOTE The UN Human Rights Council elected Fiji’s ambassador, Nazhat Shameem Khan, who has also served as the council’s vice president in 2020, as its 2021 president in an unprecedented secret ballot after a diplomatic stand-off blocked the usual consensus decision. 7. INDONESIAN JETLINER CRASHES INTO THE SEA AFTER TAKEOFF A passenger plane of Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air carrying 62 people on board crashed into waters off Jakarta. The Boeing 737-500 was on an estimated 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo Island. 8. US DESIGNATES UAE, BAHRAIN AS ‘MAJOR STRATEGIC PARTNERS’ Kayleigh McEnany, the White House Press Secretary announced that United States has recently designated the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the “major strategic partners” of the country. Designation as strategic partners will strengthen the existing partnership between the United States, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. 9. MALALA YOUSAFZAI SCHOLARSHIP The US Congress recently passed the Malala Yousafzai scholarship act. The act will expand the number of scholarships been awarded to the Pakistani women to receive higher education top 10. US NAMES CUBA AS STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM The United States recently designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism again after being removed in 2015. The United States lists the countries that repeatedly provide support for acts of international terrorism under the State Sponsors of Terrorism. The list was first released in 1979. The United States can place Restrictions on US foreign assistance, Ban on Defence exports and sales, Controls over exports of dual use items and Miscellaneous financial and other restrictions 11. UAE’S NEW CITIZENSHIP POLICY The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has planned to offer citizenship to a select group of foreigners with the aim of attracting the talent to the UAE in order to boost the growth. The UAE has thus become the first Gulf Arab nation that formalized the process of giving expatriates a bigger stake in the economy. 12. WORLD’S LARGEST CURRENT ACCOUNT SURPLUS: CHINA As per a survey by the Munich-based Ifo institute, China overtook Germany to become the country with the world’s largest current account surplus in the year 2020. The current account surplus of China more than doubled to $310 billion in 2020, while the current account surplus of Germany shrank for the fifth year in a row in 2020 to $261 billion. The United States remained the country with the world’s largest current account deficit which rose roughly by a third to $635 billion in 2020 or 3.1% of economic output. Japan ranked third with a current account surplus of $158 billion. 13. UK AND JAPAN’s COLLABORATION FOR THE LONGOPS PROJECT The scientists from Japan and UK will develop new and safe technologies to dismantle old nuclear facilities such as the Fukushima that were severely damaged by tsunamis and earthquakes. The project will use long-reach robotic arms and hence is called “LongOps Project”. The project will reduce the risks to human health and will speed up decommissioning of nuclear reactors that are non-operational. 14. 14 BN USD FOR GREAT GREEN WALL INITIATIVE The Great Green Wall for Sahel and Sahara Initiative recently received 14 billion USD funds at the recent One Planet Summit for Biodiversity. The funding will be used to restore degraded land, strengthen resilience, create green jobs and protect biodiversity. It aims to transform the lives of 100 million Africans by growing 8,000 kilo metre long and fifteen kilo metre wide mosaic of trees, vegetation, grasslands, and plants. World Bank, African Development Bank and Government of France are its Investors. 15. IRAN AND 6 OTHERS LOSES VOTING RIGHTS IN UNGA Iran along with Niger, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic and Libya have lost their voting rights in the United Nations General Assembly as they had not paid their dues. On the other hand, three other countries such as Comoros, Somalia, Sao Tome and Principe will be allowed to vote despite of their missing dues. The actions of suspending the members from voting has been taken under Article 19 of the United Nations Charter. 16. RUSSIA WITHDRAWS FROM OPEN SKIES TREATY Russia recently announced that it is withdrawing from the “Open Skies Treaty” signed in 1992. The treaty was signed between NATO (Non-Atlantic Treaty Organization) members and the former Warsaw Pact countries. In 2002, more than 35 countries had signed the treaty. This included US and Russia as well but India is not a signatory of the Open Skies Treaty. The treaty allows the signatories to carry out unarmed surveillance flights over each other’s territories. NATIONAL 1. NEW TRANS-FAT LEVELS FOR INDIA The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) announced that all edible refined oils, vegetable fat spreads, Vanaspati, margarines, Bakery shortening and mixed fat spreads can contain only 3% or less Trans-fats. This is to be implemented by January 2021. By January 2022, this is to be further reduced to 2%.Consumption of Trans-fats results in heart diseases, and India has the highest burden of heart diseases due to high trans-fat in the world. This is being introduced because the World Health Organization has called for global elimination of Trans- fat by 2023. 2. GO AHEAD FOR COVISHIELD The expert panel sent COVISHIELD vaccine for approval by the Drugs Controller General of India. The committee also recommended COVAXIN for restricted use in an emergency situation subject to multiple regulatory conditions. The Subject Expert Committee operates under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization 3. RODTEP SCHEME TO BE EXTENDED TO ALL GOODS The RoDTEP Scheme (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) launched in 2020 aims to boost exports of India. Under the scheme, a mechanism will be created for reimbursement of levies, taxes or duties at central, state and local levels. Prior to the scheme, the reimbursements were not done under any mechanism. RoDTEP replaced Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). The MEIS was not WTO-compliant. 4. MORE THAN 14 CRORES OF FREE OF COST CYLINDERS BEEN PROVIDED DURING COVID-19 CRISIS: MOP&NG The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG) announced that more than 14 crores of free of cost cylinders have been provided under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to the beneficiaries of the scheme during covid-19 crisis. 5. LIGHT HOUSE PROJECTS (LHPS) PM laid the foundation stone of Light House projects (LHPs) at six sites across six States (Indore, Rajkot, Chennai, Ranchi, Agartala and Lucknow).The Project has been conceptualised by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The project is being constructed under the Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC)-India. Under the programme, over 1,000 houses would be built in each of the six cities in 12 months along with allied infrastructure facilities.