International Polity - Current Affairs for November, 2016

Former Prime Minister, Francois Fillon has won France’s conservative presidential primary, defeating opponent Alain Juppe by a landslide.

He will be up against National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the final presidential race, scheduled to be held in 2017. His vote count amounted to about 69.5% in comparison to Juppe’s 30.5%.

While Fillon’s political campaign mainly revolved around the promise of radical economic reforms, Juppe was more on the moderate side and warned of encroaching populism.

However, as far as the polls go, 62-year-old Fillon, who served as the Prime Minister of France from 2007- 2012, has an incredibly good chance of winning the presidential elections.

Campaign Promises by Fillon

• Cutting down on public spending
• Reduce immigration to a minimum
• Support for traditional family values
• Friendlier ties with Russia and its President- Vladimir Putin

State of Wisconsin has decided to hold a recount of the presidential ballots following requests from two key candidates: Green Party’s Jill Stein and Independent Rocky Roque De La Fuente.

Stein is seeking recounts in three states won by president elect Trump namely Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Wisconsin Elections Commission announced the decision after Stein filed a petition.

Trump won the State by 27,257 votes.

He won Pennsylvania by more than 68,000 votes and Michigan by 10,704 votes.

Winning these 3 states helped Trump to score a majority in the electoral college against Democrat Hillary Clinton who scored two million popular votes more than him nationally.

This marks the first time a Republican won in these three states with a combined strength of 46 electoral votes.

The British Parliament has passed a new snooping law that authorises everyone from police and spies to food regulators, fire officials, and tax inspectors power to look at internet browsing records of all in the country.

Law requires telecom companies to keep record of all users’ web activity for a year, creating databases of personal information that could be vulnerable to leaks and hackers.

Civil liberties groups say the law establishes mass surveillance of British citizens, following innocent internet users to their personal lives.

Tim Berners Lee, the computer scientist who invented the World Wide Web, tweeted news of the law’s passage with the words: dark, dark days.

Investigatory Powers Bill was dubbed snooper’s charter by critics was passed by Parliament in Nov 2016 after more than year of debate and amendments.

It will become law following royal assent next week.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a revised peace agreement with the country's largest rebel movement on 24th Nov 2016, making a second attempt within months to end a half century of hostilities.

Santos and Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, signed the 310-page accord at Bogota's historic Colon Theater.

FARC leader Londono used his address to call for a transitional government to ensure the accord is effectively implemented,

"Our only weapons as Colombians should be our words," said Londono, better known by his alias Timochenko, in a 15-minute speech. "We are putting a definitive end to war to confront in a civilized manner our contradictions.”

New accord introduces 50 changes to assuage critics.

They range from a prohibition on foreign magistrates judging crimes by the FARC or government to a commitment from the insurgents to forfeit assets amassed through drug trafficking.

But the FARC wouldn't go along with jail sentences for rebel leaders who committed atrocities and stricter limits on their future participation in politics.

FARC comprises 8000 plus fighters and this marks yet another attempt at peace.

Peace could trigger more bloodshed, as it did following a previous peace process with the FARC in the 1980s.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

She is the first woman tapped for a top-level administration post during his White House transition so far.

44-year-old Haley is a rising Republican star and daughter of Indian immigrants.

Born as Nimrata ‘Nikki’ Randhawa to Indian immigrants from Punjab, she became the first female governor in South Carolina.

Ms. Haley is the second Asian American to become the Governor of a State after Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

At 44, she’s the youngest current Governor in the U.S.

She is serving her second term.

Ms. Haley would replace Samantha Power as the next US Ambassador to the UN.

She would also be the first ever Indian-American Cabinet rank official in any administration.

About Nikki Haley

• Born in 1972 in Bamberg, South Carolina
• Birth Name: Nimrata “Nikki” Randhawa
• Parents: Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa
• Became the governor of South Carolina in 2011, at the age of 38.
• Southern state's first non-Caucasian as well as its first Asian-American governor.
• Second Indian-American governor of a US state, first being former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal
• Won the governorship for the second term in 2015
• Youngest serving governor in USA, at 44

South Korea on 22nd Nov approved a deal to share intelligence on North Korea directly with Japan. The agreement will come into effect after it was signed in the South Korean Parliament.

Pact was known as GSOMIA or General Security of Military Information Agreement which was inked in Seoul, South Korea.

The pact will help the two nations to pool military intel on Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Deal will take advantage of the two countries’ perceived strengths- Japanese are known for their hi-tech surveillance while South Korea excels in human intel.

Till date the countries shared their intelligence reports through the US.

The two were sharing intel on North Korea’s nuclear program through the US under a deal signed in 2014.

An earlier deal was sought to be signed in 2012 but there was domestic opposition in South Korea, as the country was targeted by the Japanese during wartimes.

South Korea-Japan relations

• Japan ruled over South Korea from 1910 to 1945
• North Korea terms the latest intel pact between the two nations as Japanese re-invasion of Korean peninsula
• South Korea termed the deal necessary due to military threat posed by N.Korea.

America would withdraw from Trans Pacific Partnership and an investigation will be launched into visa abuses undercutting American workers.

Indian IT companies using the H1B visa program could be impacted by this move.

Obama had led the TPP deal of 12 Pacific Rim countries that exclude China. He had argued that TPP is essential for America to rewrite the rules of global commerce and not China.

Trump has announced he will issue notification of intent from the Trans Pacific Partnership which is a disaster for America.

Instead, the Americans aim to negotiate a fair, bilateral trade deal to bring jobs and industries back to American shores.

Trade, energy, national security, regulation, immigration and ethics reform are six areas to be the focus of administration in initial days.

“Whether it’s producing steel, building cars, or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, in our great homeland: America – creating wealth and jobs for American workers,” said Trump.

His plan for the first 100 days involves cancelling job killing restrictions on coal and shale gas, reducing regulations, devising a plan to protect the vital infrastructure of America from cyber attacks and imposing a 5 year ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists after they leave the government.

There will be a lifetime ban on executive officials lobbying on behalf of an international government.

French voters defied expectations on 20^th Nov by eliminating ex president Nicolas Sarkozy out of the race to be a conservative nominee for the presidential election and propelling ex PM Francois Fillon to the top spot

• A social conservative with economically liberal ideas, Fillon will face Alain Juppe in a runoff on Nov 27, which will produce the next president of France in May
• Juppe a moderate 71-year-old conservative campaigning on inclusive happy identity platform has been leading the presidential polls
• With the Left very divided and a majority of voters telling pollsters they are opposed to seeing the far-right National Front in power, the chosen centre-right nominee is likely to defeat Le Pen in an expected election run-off next May.
• Polls have shown Juppe would easily beat Le Pen
• According to results based on 9,437 polling stations out of a total 10,229, Fillon was seen garnering 44.2 percent of the votes, Juppe 28.5 percent and Sarkozy 20.6 percent, with close to 4 million votes counted.
• Francois Hollande is yet to announce whether he would stand for elections

British Parliament has approved a host of new surveillance powers for police and intelligence services denounced by critics

• The Investigatory Powers Bill will keep customer’s browsing history for up to a year by websites and permit law enforcement agencies to access these to help them with investigations
• Edward Snowden has said the powers went further than many autocracies
• The bill is the first major update of UK surveillance laws for 15 years
• It has been passed by the House of Lords and only needs rubber stamping by the Queen
• British PM Theresa May said the bill was a world leading legislation intended to reflect changes in communication with the advent of internet and online technology
• The bill gives legal footing to hacking of computers and mobile phones while introducing safeguards such as need for judges to authorise interception warrants
• It has been called snooper’s charter by critics which say that in authorising the blanket retention and access by authorities of records of emails, calls, texts and web activity, it breaches fundamental rights of privacy

President elect Donald Trump has signalled a strong rightward shift in the US national security policy on 18th Nov 2016, naming the Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as the attorney general.

• He has also appointed Mike Pompeo to head the CIA and former military intelligence chief Michael Flynn to be his NSA
• All three have been fierce critics of President Obama’s handling of terrorism and international relations
• Mr. Trump’s selection is being closely watched in the US and overseas. Flynn called Islam a political ideology hiding behind a religion
• Sessions was the first political senator to endorse Trump, rallying behind his hardline immigration approach
• Pompeo is a conservative Republican and a strong critic of the US-Iran nuclear deal
• Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden should be sentenced to death, says Pompeo

Turkey is set to scrap the office of the PM in a historic switch under a proposal backed by the government for a new presidential system

• Forestry and water affairs minister Vessel Eroglu indicated there could be one and possibly two vice presidents under President Recept Tayyip Erdogan in the new format.
• It will submit the referendum next year
• There will not be a PM in the new system
• Erdogan who was elected to the top post in 2014 after serving the PM for more than 10 years, is seeking a strong presidency similar to France or the US
• His ruling Justice and Development Party AKP needs 330 votes in a 550 seat parliament to call referendum to legislate the changes
• Eroglu predicted that the proposed package would be put to referendum next spring along with support of MPs from nationalist movement party
• Opponents say this could drag Turkey into a one man rule
• Before Erdogan became head of state, the Turkish prime minister was seen as the number one but current Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is very much his subordinate.

Following in the footsteps of fellow Republican, Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the US, Donald Trump, America’s 45th President has also declined the salary.

• Wealth is another common factor: Hoover was also a multi millionaire
• However Hoover’s refusal to accept a salary was for every public position he had ever held
• John F. Kennedy was another president to refuse the salary
• But the constitutionally-mandated presidential salary may do more than allow middle-class Americans to serve as president or suppress the temptations of corruption.
• It also signals that the presidency is not just a symbolic post, but a job, with a salary that must be earned.
• Meanwhile, Democrats have appealed to rescind Stephen Bannon’s appointment as the White House chief strategist as they feel the person in the role must be prepared to serve the interests of all Americans, not just a select few.
• Trump will now earn USD 1 as presidential salary as determined by law for presidents that decline the salary

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Elect Donald Trump recently held their first telephonic conversation which concluded with the agreement on instructing respective staffs to begin planning for a personal meeting

• Trump and Putin on 14th Nov 2016 agreed to maintain contact by phone and arrange a meeting in person in the future
• The two leaders agreed on the need to normalise relations and pursue constructive cooperation
• Putin told Trump that Russia was ready with a partnership based on equality, mutual respect and non-interference in domestic affairs.
• Both leaders also agreed that the 210th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the US should consider a return to mutually beneficial cooperation
• The common enemy the two leaders identified was international terrorism and extremism
• Trump also announced he looked for a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia
• US broke off talks with Russia in Oct 2016 for not implementing the ceasefire agreement on Syria and accused Moscow of not living up to its commitments under the Sept 9 deal to hold the violence and deliver humanitarian aid to communities
• The war in Syria has killed thousands and displaced 11 million
• The 5.5 year old civil war had left to the suspension of bilateral channels with Russia

Donald Trump has decided to deal with his billions in business assets in a way that has critics talking.
The president elect has decided to put his money in a Blind Trust

• Trump says he is worth USD 8 billion; Fortune magazine pegs the amount at USD 3.7 billion
• Donald Trump’s business is made of 500 companies around the world, with more than 250 bearing his name
• It is being said that this creates a conflict of interest
• He has decided to set up the blind trust because then he has no decision making or involvement in the business, Rudi Giuliani said
• On the campaign trail, Trump said he would turn over his business interests to his children, if elected
• Trump’s decision to leave his children to control what he labeled a blind trust has another conflict of interest now
• Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric will also serve on Trump’s presidential transition team executive committee
• The trio will now have inputs about who Trump will pick for key administration posts
• The lines between Trump and his money are now clearly fuzzy, say critics
• Bridging the gap between businessman and politician will be easy for Trump with his children in control in both realms
• Trump’s children will also have control over people making the decisions that could affect his multi billion dollar fortune

On Trump’s first day in Office, he will be handed the nuclear biscuit. This is a small card with the codes needed to talk to the Pentagon war room for identity verification in the event of a national security crisis

• Presidents have chosen to keep the biscuit on them, not always with positive results. For example, Jimmy Carter left them in clothes sent to dry cleaners, whereas Bill Clinton lost the wallet containing the biscuit
• Others have chosen the option of keeping the card in a briefcase called the nuclear football together with the manual containing US war plans for differing contingencies and one on the continuity of the government and where to go to ensure executive authority survives a first nuclear strike
• Biscuit and football symbolise the immense fire power that will be in Trump’s hands.Trump has been called a “loose cannon” by political opponents at the time of the elections and has also asked why nuclear weapons cannot be deployed
• The football contains a list of strike options, the location of secure bunkers where the president can be sheltered, instructions on how to use the Emergency broadcast system and a 3 by 5 inch card with authentication codes for the president to verify it is him or the biscuit
• After initiating military actions, the president convenes a conference with military and civilian advisers in Washington if travelling the President is on a secure line. If enemy missiles are headed towards the US and the president must order a counterstrike, the consultation may just last 30 second
• 5 military aides share the responsibility of carrying around a briefcase that contains a top-secret manual with instructions on how to launch nuclear weapons.
• The briefcase follows the president literally everywhere, so that he or she would have access to it at any point in time.
• The president also carries a card at all times that contains the verification codes necessary to put the instructions on the manual into motion.
• Over 15,000 nuclear weapons currently exist in the world
• The Federation of American Scientists has estimated that close to 15,350 nuclear weapons exist in the world today
• Of these, roughly 93 percent of them belong to US or Russia
• Weapons are created, tested and stored all over the US
• The US has a first strike policy regarding nuclear weapons
• The first strike policy means the US could activate nuclear weapons against another country without being attacked first
• Situations where warheads could be used include North Korea and Iran

Following his swearing in as the US President, Trump will convene a special session of the US Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, a signature healthcare initiative of the outgoing US President Barack Obama

• House and Senate under Republican control have repealed Obamacare many times, but no Republican president so far has taken the next step
• Trump’s healthcare plan is very different from the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare
• A Republican spokesperson said the Trump healthcare plan will let Americans buy healthcare insurance across state lines the way auto insurance and other goods and services are purchased
• This would block Medicaid to the states
• It would create health savings accounts to individuals which is a free market solution working well in the private sector
• The Obamacare penalty will also be eliminated through the tax reform

Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, survived yet another no confidence vote in the parliament

• The country’s ruling party ANC voted against the motion of the opposition demanding the removal of Zuma
• Zuma’s career has been riddled with controversies and allegations
• An anti-corruption probe has raised fresh allegations of misconduct as well
• This is the third no-confidence vote Zuma has survived in less than a single year and the fifth since 2012
• The Opposition leader Mmusi Maiman of the Democratic Alliance appealed to members of ANC to vote against their leader
• The motion was easily defeated with 214 of ANC voting MPs against the motion as against opposition’s 126
• Number of those who abstained from voting is 59
• Corruption charges against Zuma include his association with an Indian business family accused of political influence, irregularities in company transactions where Zuma’s son held an interest
• Apex court of S.Africa in 2016 also found Zuma guilty of constitutional violence after he used taxpayers money to rebuild his rural home. Zuma reimbursed the amount in Sept 2016
• His term in office will end in 2019. After this, he will not be eligible to run for the post again.

India on Nov 10, took a strong exception against the World Bank’s inexplicable decision to set up a Court of Arbitration and appoint a Neutral Expert to go into Pakistan’s complaint against it over Kishengaga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in J&K.

• India has opposed the violation of the Indus Waters Treaty.
• Under the Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan and also the World Bank in 1960, the World Bank has specified role in the process of resolution of differences and disputes.
• Pakistan has sought the establishment of a Court of Arbitration which is normally the next step in the process of resolution of the Treaty.
• Neutral expert can access the issues beyond mere technical difficulties.
• Pakistan has raised objections over the design of the hydel project in J&K as it is not in line with the criteria laid down under the IWT between the two countries, according to it.
• World Bank has decided to appoint a neutral expert and a court of arbitration, something which is legally untenable.

Following the election of Republican Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the US, it dawned on America that divisions are problem.

• While Clinton, Trump and Obama appealed for calm, 25 cities across the country protested "Not My President" and people lit candles.
• Social media initiatives sough support to ensure that Trump remains a one time president.
• Protests were reported in Oakland, Dallas, California, Boston, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Washington.
• College campuses in California, MA and Pennsylvania also witnessed student protests.
• Muslims, Hispanics and Blacks, the three communities at the receiving end of Trump’s campaign are most anxious.
• Trump has promised not to repeal Obamacare.
• Many Americans have held all their progress is at stake in the event of a Trump presidency.
• Trump won the presidential campaign on the electoral college, not popular vote.

California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris on 9th November 2016 became the first Indian American to win the US Senate from the state.

• She defeated fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez from her own party.
• She is the first black woman elected to the upper chamber in more than 2 decades.
• She is also the sixth black individual to be elected to the US Senate.
• Harris will replace Barbara Boxer who announces her retirement in 2014 after serving more than 2 decades in the senate.
• Kamala Harris is an American lawyer, politician and member of the Democratic Party.
• She is the 32nd and current Attorney General of California since 2011.
• She also worked as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, California from 1990 to 1998.
• She was elected California’s Attorney General in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
• She is also the first female, the first African American, the first Indian American and the first Asian American attorney general in CA.

Pramila Jayapal on 9th Nov 2016 became the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the US House of Representatives.

• She won the senate seat from the state of Washington leaving behind rival Brady Walkinshaw.
• Jayapal secured 57 percent of the votes from Washington State and beat her rival who secured 43 percent votes.
• Pramila Jayapal is a democratic politician from Washington State.
• She represented the 37th legislative district in Washington State Senate since 2015.
• Just before being elected to the US House of Representatives, she was a Seattle based civil rights activist serving till 2012 as ED of One America, a pro-immigration advocacy group.
• A bachelor’s degree from Georgetown, she holds an MBA from Northwestern University.
• She was the author of Pilgrimage: One Woman’s Return to a Changing India.

US Republican Donald Trump proved poll pundits and pollsters alike wrong by scripting a stunning victory in the US Presidential elections, winning by 276 seats.

• He is scheduled to take office as the 45th President of the USA on 20th January 2017.
• He will succeed Barack Obama.
• Hillary Clinton won 47% of the votes to Trump’s 48 percent.
• Donald John Trump is an American real estate mogul and a Republican Party contender for the US Presidential elections.
• Chairman and president of Trump organisation, he will vacate his post prior to assumption of presidency.
• He is an alumni of Wharton School from UPenn.
• Trump has made appearances at the Miss USA pageants which he owned from 1996-2015 and made cameo appearances in film and television series.
• Trump also hosted reality televisions series in NBC called The Apprentice from 2004 to 2015.
• As of 2016, he was listed as the 324th wealthiest person in the world by Forbes and the 156th in the US.
• Melania Trump his wife is the first foreign born First Lady of the US after Louisa Adams, the wife of sixth US President John Quincy Adams.
• Melania,a Slovenian former model owns her own jewellery and skin care line and speaks 5 languages- Slovenian, Serbia, German, English and French.
• A US Citizen since 2006, she stood by Trump when video footage emerged of his boasting about groping women.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is edging closer to victory over Hillary Clinton after shock swing state victories.

• Trump took Florida, Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina while Democrat Clinton took Nevada and Virginia.
• Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan were traditionally part of the Clinton firewall.
• But even here, Trump has taken a lead.
• The US Dollar and the Mexican peso plummeted while Dow futures fell by 800 points.
• Trump’s Ohio victory was a big boost as no Republican has taken the White House without succeeding in this state.
• Lowa last voted for Republican candidates in 2004.
• Trump won the key state of Pennsylvania in defeating Clinton.

India and the United Kingdom released a Joint Statement on Nov 7, 2015 to strengthen their strategic partnership.

• The joint statement was released following the meeting between PM Narendra Modi and UK PM Theresa May.
• May was on a three day visit to India from 6-8 Nov 2016.
• This is her first bilateral visit outside EU after taking over as the UK PM.
• This meet stressed toe need for both sides to work together to build a forward looking international partnership to promote peace, prosperity and security of the two nations.
• Both countries call for greater participation of respective investment communities to stimulate the Indian and UK economic growth.
• Both sides agreed to create the closest possible commercial and economic relations when UK leaves the EU.
• Newly established JWG reporting to JETCO will drive progress.
• Financing India’s infrastructure growth, energy climate change, science and technology, VISA laws, counter terrorism operations, UK-India research collaborations and more partnerships between India and UK were the highlight of the Joint Statement.
• India and the UK also signed agreements in the field of intellectual property rights and ease of doing business.

The Union Home Ministry intends to replace the nomenclature Islamic State with Daish in official communications associated with the international terrorist group.

• Senior home ministry official has stated that calling the jihadi terror outfit Islamic State is like legitimising the claims of representing the borderless Islamic State covering Muslims all over the world.
• Daish is an Arab acronym for Al Dawlah Al Islamiyah fe Al Iraq wa Al Sham or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Sham.
• The acronym ISIL or ISIS was originally used for this group.
• Counter terror experts insist that IS is neither an Islamic entity nor a state but a banned terror organization.
• Government of India has also issued a notification banning Daish as a terror outfit under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

High Court of the United Kingdom on Nov 3, 2016 held that the British government cannot invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty.

• According to the ruling, PM Theresa May cannot initiate the Brexit process without Parliamentary approval.
• Britain plans to leave the EU hit a large speed bump when the HC made the ruling.
• PM May has however said that she will use the royal prerogative to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty which launches two years of exist negotiations towards the close of March 2017.
• Government has said the HC decision will be challenged in the SC.
• Brexit Secretary David Davis indicated that a 17.4 million leave vote gives the government the mandate to leave the EU.
• The historic referendum has given the British government the biggest mandate in history to leave the EU.
• If the government’s appeal is rejected by the SC, then the PM could trigger a snap election to seek a bigger parliamentary mandate.
• People of Britain in a June 24 referendum voted in favour of living the EU with 51.9 percent voting in favour as against 48.1 in the against.
• The referendum saw N. Ireland, London and Scotland voted strongly to stay back with the EU while Wales and England back Brexit.

South Korea's presidential office on 2nd Nov named a new prime minister and finance minister in the wake of a scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and a friend who allegedly meddled with state affairs.

• The Blue House said it named Yim Jong-yong, the Financial Services Commission chairman, as the new finance minister and deputy prime minister.
• It also named Kim Byong-joon as the new prime minister. Kim was a former senior presidential secretary during former President Roh Moo-hyun's administration.

Pope Francis said on 1st Nov he believes the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on women becoming priests is forever and will never be changed, in some of his most definitive remarks on the issue.

• The Pope was referring a 1994 document by Pope John Paul that closed the door on a female priesthood, calling it the "last clear word".
• The Vatican says this teaching is an infallible part of Catholic tradition.
• Pope Francis has previously said that the door to women’s ordination is closed, but proponents of a female priesthood are hoping that a future Pope might overturn the decision, particularly because of the shortage of priests around the world.
• Because Jesus has chosen men as his apostles, women can never be priests in the Christian religion.

A UN General Assembly committee has launched resolution to launch negotiations in 2017 on the new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.

• India has abstained saying it was not convinced of the move leading to a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.
• GA’s First Committee which deals with disarmament and international security, adopted the draft resolution on nuclear disarmament negotiations.
• Following the resolution, the GA would reiterate the universal objective of taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations remains the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons.
• Resolution emphasizes the importance of addressing issues pertaining to nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, interactive, constructive and inclusive way for advancing nuclear disarmament negotiations in a multilateral manner.
• The decision was also made to convene the United Nations conference in 2017 to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons leading to their complete elimination.
• Resolution was adopted by 123 votes against in favour, 38 against and 16 abstentions.
• India attached more priority to nuclear disarmament and share with the co-sponsors the widely felt frustration that the global community has not been able to take forward the multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.
• India has asserted that there is no chance of it joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber was awarded the WTA Year End World Number 1 award in Oct 2016.

• The German professional tennis player has ranked no.1 worldwide in the women’s singles tennis by the WTA.
• She debuted professionally in 2003 and rose to prominence upon reaching the semifinals of the 2011 US Open at which time she was ranked 92 in the world.
• She achieved a career high ranking of World No1 on Sept 12, 2016 becoming the 22nd and oldest player to achieve world number 1 ranking for the first time.
• She also won the Olympic silver medal while representing Germany at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
• She has won 10 singles titles so far.