CURRENT AFFAIRS
26 August 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Prashant Bhushan hearing: Is it a sin to apologize, asks SC.
In a sentencing hearing on 25 August, the Supreme Court wondered at the consistent resolve shown by civil right lawyer Prashant Bhushan not to offer an apology in the face of contempt by saying that if you have hurt someone, you must remove the hurt. On his continuous statements, Justice Arun Mishra asked that is it wrong to apologize or whether apologizing is a sin. A chance has been given earlier to Mr. Bhushan that the matter can be sorted out if he apologizes before the Court. But he clearly stated that he won’t apologize for the same. Meanwhile, the top law officer of India, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, has urged the court not to give punishment to Mr. Bhushan instead they should warn him and let him go. He said this when the Court asked him for his advice on the matter.
B) Monsoon session of Parliament likely from September 14-October 1
It was recommended by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs that the monsoon session of Parliament can be held from September 14 to October 1. There will be a total 18 sittings. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Parliament is likely to see several first-time measures, such as a staggered sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and the use of both chambers and galleries to accommodate members, besides strict physical distancing norms etc. According to the Secretariat of the Rajya Sabha, members of the Upper House will be seated in both chambers and galleries during the session.
C) Seven lakh users affected by Rail Yatri security breach, report says.
As per a security report by Safety Detectives research lab, a data breach at the online travel marketplace RailYatri has affected about 7 lakh users. The Safety Detectives said that it reported a breach to RailYatri and to Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) as well. In an official statement by RailYatri, the server was a test server. It was immediately plugged out from the network after the security issue was brought into their notice by CERT-In. They clarified that the report says that approximately 7 lakh email addresses were leaked in those 3 days. Factually seeing it was not correct because it is not possible because the capacity of the server to hold data was at most for a day.
D) Greta Thunberg speaks up for students protesting exams amid pandemic.
On 25 August, Greta Thunberg, who is a climate activist spoke up in support of the nationwide student movement to postpone JEE NEET. She said that conducting the exams during a pandemic was truly unfair to the students. Across the whole country, the parents and students have been calling for a postponement of the engineering and medical entrance exams. This is because of the ongoing pandemic in the whole country and also due to floods in many states of India. But the government has so far remained quiet and still on their decision of conducting the examinations on their scheduled time. From September 1, the entrance exams for undergraduate engineering courses (JEE) will begin and from 13 September, the entrance exam for medical courses (NEET) will begin.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) China floats BRICS 5G base as India mulls ban.
China has proposed the creation of a BRICS innovation base. This will take forward 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI) cooperation among the 5 countries. There was also a virtual meeting of the Ministers of these countries which was held on 24 August. The Minister of Industry and Information Technology of China has urged its fellow nations to boost cooperation in areas including 5G and Artificial Intelligence. He urged the same to India as well. He added that China was considering the establishment of a BRICS innovation base in China very actively. This will help to strengthen cooperation with the BRICS. The Foreign Minister of Russia said that they are ready to work on 5G with China. The Vice President of Brazil has also indicated the same. India is not likely to allow the participation of China in 5G, particularly after banning 59 Chinese apps.
B) Facebook vows to challenge the forced removal of the Thai group.
On 25 August, Facebook said that it would file a case against the Thai government because they have ordered to remove a group in which pro-democracy activists were having discussions about the monarchy, which is a taboo subject in Thailand. The group which was removed on 25 August was having more than one million members. The name of that group was Royal Marketplace. As per Facebook, the government has forced the network to remove the group. Facebook said that they will work to protect and defend the rights of all its internet users. They are preparing to legally challenge the government for pressurizing them. The details of the legal action are not yet provided by the company. Prime Minister of Thailand has also warned that they will take legal action against Facebook under their laws.
C) Kremlin slams German doctors.
On 25 August, the Kremlin accused the German doctors because they were too hasty as they said that tests on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is one of the critics of President Putin indicated that he had been poisoned. Before transferring to Germany, he was treated in a hospital in Siberia. His supporters claimed that he was given some poison in his teacup at the Siberian Airport from where he was about to take a flight to Moscow. They put this blame on Putin. The spokesman of Kremlin has said that Russian doctors had diagnosed the condition of Mr. Alexei same as the German doctors. However, they are unaware of what caused it. They told me that the medical analysis of both the doctors is the same but how can their conclusion is coming out to be different. After completion of reports and investigations, criminal cases will be filed against those who have done this.
