Junior Digest

La Paz [Bolivia], Nov 13 : Jeanine Anez, Bolivia’s opposition lawmaker and Senate second vice-president, on Tuesday (local time), declared herself to be the country’s interim president, a day after ousted leader Evo Morales resigned from the presidency.
Anez assumption of presidency comes shortly after Bolivian lawmakers revealed they lacked a majority to formally approve ousted President Evo Morales’ resignation, Sputnik reported.
Announcing her decision, Anez stressed that her government would be of transitory nature with a goal to call new elections, according to Anadolu Agency.
“I have to comply with the country, it’s about calling for new elections, it’s just a transition stage,” she was quoted as saying.
Anez, a member of the Democratic Union Party, is known for her anti-Morales politics and has served for 10 years as an opposition lawmaker.
Meanwhile, Morales, who resigned from the presidency under pressure from police and army after a fiercely disputed election, has flown to Mexico after accepting a political asylum, leaving behind a political vacuum in Bolivia.
Presidential polls were held in Bolivia on October 20 and Morales obtained 47.8 per cent of the vote, securing victory in the first round. However, the opposition claimed that there had been election fraud, and some parties urged supporters to take to the streets.
After the opposition called for a cancelling of the polls, Morales announced there would be new elections, but opposition supporters said they would continue protests until an election without Morales was held.
The Boliviajn opposition had accused electoral authorities of manipulating the vote in favour of the incumbent Morales, who denied the allegations and declared himself the winner.
Calls for Morales’ removal grew over the weekend, culminating in police joining forces with anti-government protesters.
Morales claimed he’d been forced out in a coup — a charge echoed by many of his allies in South America.

New Delhi,Nov 13: The Supreme Court (SC) has held that the office of the Chief Justice of India is a public authority and falls within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, upheld the 2010 Delhi High Court verdict and dismissed three appeals filed by Secretary General and the Central Public Information officer of the SC.

Cautioning that RTI cannot be used as a tool of surveillance, the top court in its judgment held that judicial independence has to be kept in mind while dealing with transparency. The Bench, also comprising Justices N V Ramana, D Y Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said only the names of judges recommended by the Collegium for appointment can be disclosed, not the reasons. While the CJI and Justices Gupta and Khanna have penned one judgment, Justices Ramana and Chandrachud have written separate verdicts.

It said that the Right to Privacy is an important aspect and it has to be balanced with transparency while deciding to give out information from the office of the Chief Justice.

Justice Chandrachud, who wrote a separate judgment, said the judiciary cannot function in total insulation as Judges enjoy constitutional post and discharge public duty. Justice Khanna said independence of judiciary and transparency go hand in hand.

Justice Ramana, who concurred with Justice Khanna, said there should be balancing formula for right to privacy and right to transparency and independence of judiciary should be protected from breach.

The move to bring the office of the CJI under the transparency law was initiated by RTI activist S C Agrawal. His lawyer Prashant Bhushan had submitted in the SC that though the apex court should not have been judging its own cause, it is hearing the appeals due to “doctrine of necessity”.

The lawyer had described the reluctance of the judiciary in parting information under the RTI Act as “unfortunate” and “disturbing”, asking: “Do judges inhabit different universe?” He had submitted that the apex court has always stood for transparency in functioning of other organs of state, but it develops cold feet when its own issues require attention.

They said corruption had repeatedly delayed a barrier protection system which could have prevented the disaster.

“The city is on its knees,” Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in an interview with national broadcaster RAI.

“There’s widespread devastation,” he said in the famed St. Mark’s Square, which bore the brunt of the flooding. “In all likelihood the damage from last night runs into hundreds of millions of euros (dollars)”.

Tourists lugging heavy suitcases waded in thigh-high galoshes or barefoot through the submerged alleys, as water taxi and gondola drivers baled sewage-tainted water out of their trashed vessels.

A 78-year old was killed by electric shock as the waters poured into his home.

“We ask the government to help us, the costs will be high,” Brugnaro tweeted. “These are the effects of climate change.”

Environment Minister Sergio Costa blamed climate change and the “tropicalisation” of violent rainfall and strong winds.

The exceptionally intense “acqua alta,” or high waters, peaked at 1.87 metres (six feet). Only once since records began in 1923 has the water crept even higher, reaching 1.94 metres in 1966.

The plan involves 78 gates that can be raised to protect Venice’s lagoon during high tides — but a recent attempt to test part of the barrier caused worrying vibrations and engineers discovered parts had rusted.

“They’ve done nothing, neglected it. It doesn’t work and they have stolen six billion euros. The politicians should all be put in jail,” said local Dino Perzolla, 62.

St. Mark’s Square in one of the lowest parts of the city was particularly affected, its vestibule inundated with water.

New Delhi [India], Nov 14 : The Supreme Court on Thursday referred to a larger constitution bench a batch of review petitions against its September 2018 verdict allowing entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple.
While Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice DY Chandrachud dissented, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Indu Malhotra sent the Sabarimala review to a larger Bench by a 3-2 ruling.
“The entry of women into places of worship is not limited to this temple only. It is also involved in the entry of women into mosques,” Chief Justice Gogoi said while reading out the verdict.
A Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi had passed the order on a series of petitions seeking reconsideration of its September 2018 judgment that lifted the bar on menstruating women from worshipping in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
The apex court in a landmark 4:1 ruling had set aside decades-old restrictions on the entry of women of age between 10 to 15 years inside the temple.
One of the five Judges, Justice Indu Malhotra had, however, dissented and ruled that judges should not impose their personnel views.
The verdict had sparked a series of protests across the state. This lead to the filing of 65 petitions seeking review of the top court’s order. The petitions challenged the authority of the court to intervene in a belief of the people.
It argued that the Sabarimala deity is a “Brahmachari” (celibate) and “centuries-old beliefs” should not be disturbed by the entry of menstruating women worshippers.

Colombo [Sri Lanka], Nov 17: Sri Lankans head to the polls today to elect a new President of the country amid security and economic concerns.
Polling started at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. Over 12 thousand polling stations have been set up and over 68 thousand security personnel deployed to ensure free and fair polls. This time, neither the sitting President or Prime minister are contesting the elections. The counting of votes will begin after the end of polling and results are expected by Sunday.
Around 16 million citizens are eligible to choose from 35 candidates contesting, from across the political spectrum. The candidate who obtains over 50 per cent of valid votes will win the presidency, else the second preference votes have to be counted. The ballot also allows voters to choose their three top candidates in order of preference, which will determine the winner if no candidate secures over half the first-place votes. Second and third preferences from ballots whose first preference candidate has been eliminated are used to determine the winner.
Two prominent candidates are seen as the likeliest to replace Sirisena: former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Minister of Housing Sajith Premadasa.
Both candidates have campaigned mainly on the plank of national security and good governance. But Minorities are concerned a Rajapaksa win could be a step backwards.
Rajapaksa, the former defense secretary crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), after nearly three decades of civil war.
Sajith Premadasa, 52, is the son of assassinated President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was killed in a suicide bombing in 1993 carried out by Tamil separatists, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Premadasa, representing the ruling party, has built his campaign on promising a mixture of continuity and new leadership.
The six-week campaign in a neck-and-neck race has seen tensions mount across Sri Lanka, with the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) documenting at least 743 electoral violations, including at least 45 cases of assaults or threats.
The alleged violations are split relatively equally between the two leading parties, Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka People’s Front (SLPP) and Premadasa’s UNP, Al Jazeera quoted the CMEV data as showing.
Sirisena’s term was also marred by a failed attempt to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from the office, that sparked a constitutional crisis that even when resolved by the Supreme Court — which restored Wickremesinghe to his position — left a government essentially cleaved in two, CNN reported.
Under the Sri Lankan system, the Prime Minister is appointed by the President from members of Parliament, who nominate the most suitable.
Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said at the invitation of local election monitors, 153 foreign election observers have arrived in the country to monitor the presidential election.
According to the CMEV, 45 observers representing the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), 88 observers from the European Union Election Observation Mission and 20 observers representing the Commonwealth are in the country to observe the election.

New Delhi/Bengaluru, Nov 13: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the disqualification of 17 Karnataka MLAs but allowed them to contest in elections.
In July this year, then Karnataka Assembly Speaker K Ramappa Ramesh Kumar disqualified 17 rebel MLAs for remaining absent during the floor test of the then chief minister and senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy. The defiance of the MLAs led to the fall of the Indian National Congress-JDS coalition government. Subsequently, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in the state but due to its wafer-thin majority, it was on tenterhooks.
The Speaker’s decision was challenged in the apex court. A three-judge bench of justices N V Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari on Wednesday held that if elected in the bypolls, the disqualified MLAs could become ministers or hold public office.

The political ban has drawn mixed reactions: some argue it puts pressure on Facebook to follow suit or take other steps to curb the spread of misinformation from politicians; others say a ban will be difficult to enforce.

Social media platforms have been challenged by President Donald Trump’s campaign and its use of ads that contain claims critics say have been debunked by independent fact-checkers.

But Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale mocked the ban, saying last month, “Twitter just walked away from hundreds of millions of dollars of potential revenue, a very dumb decision for their stockholders.”

Some analysts point out that the ban will not affect “organic” content, or messages from politicians that are shared or retweeted by supporters, and that it could encourage the use of “bots” or paid users to amplify the tweets.

New Delhi, Nov 14: The Supreme Court on Thursday junked two petitions seeking review of its verdict giving a clean chit to the Modi government in the Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, said the court cannot have a fishing and roving inquiry.
“We don’t feel necessary to order FIR or roving inquiry into Rafale deal case,” the bench, comprising Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, said.
The review pleas, one by former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan, and the other by Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, were filed on May 10.
On December 14 last year, the Apex Court had observed that there was no reason to doubt the decision-making process behind the Rafale jet deal, clearing the government, which has been repeatedly charged by the Congress with corruption in the Rs 59,000-crore contract.
“There is no evidence of commercial favouritism to any private entity,” the Top Court had said.

The streets of La Paz immediately exploded in celebration, with jubilant Bolivians setting off firecrackers and waving the country’s red, yellow and green flag.

The main opposition candidate in the election, former president Carlos Mesa, said Bolivians “have taught the world a lesson. Tomorrow Bolivia will be a new country.”

In the confusion, a group of 20 lawmakers and government officials took refuge at the Mexican ambassador’s residence, and Mexico announced it was offering asylum to Morales as well.

Morales later tweeted that there was a warrant for his arrest, but police commander Vladimir Yuri Calderon told local Unitel television that was not the case.

Morales also wrote that “violent groups” had attacked his home.

Police announced on Sunday night that they had arrested Maria Eugenia Choque, the head of the country’s electoral court, an institution slammed by the opposition as biased.

Dhaka [Bangladesh], Nov 12 : At least 15 people were killed and several others sustained injuries when two passenger trains collided head-on in Bangladesh’s Brahmanbaria district on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at around 3:00 am (local time) when Udayan Express heading for Chattogram and Dhaka-bound Turna Nishita collided at Mondobhag Railway Station in Brahmanbaria, the Daily Star quoted Md Delwar Hossain, the loco shed in-charge of Akhaura Railway Junction, as saying.
The impact of the collision left 12 people dead on the spot, while three others died while undergoing treatment at Brahmanbaria General Hospital and Cumilla Sadar Hospital.
Search and rescue operations are currently underway. Many people are feared trapped under the coaches.

William Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, began his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee with a new revelation about Trump’s efforts to pressure Kiev — the main issue of just the fourth impeachment process in US history.

Democrats accuse Trump of abusing his power by using US military assistance and a possible White House meeting to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky into opening a probe into the Democrat Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma.

The key evidence is the official White House transcript of a July 25 telephone call between Trump and Zelensky in which the US president asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate the Bidens.

Taylor testified that he was told Trump cared more about the probe than he did about Ukraine.

Brasilia [Brazil], Nov 14 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (local time) said despite a global recession, member nations of the BRICS forum, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, contribute to almost half of the world’s economic development.
“BRICS nations contribute 50 per cent of the economic development of the world. Despite the global recession, BRICS nations have contributed to economic development and brought crores of people out of poverty. New avenues have also been reached in the field of technology and innovation,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi at BRICS Business Forum in Brasilia.
While addressing the crowd, the Prime Minister also stated that an easier intra-BRICS business will contribute to a faster flow of exports and imports between the countries.
He said that the “diversity between our member nations is another important factor” that can contribute to boosting trade ties. For example, the Prime Minister added that if one country has enhanced technology then the other has an abundance of raw material to sustain that technology.
“Therefore, I request all the member nations to chalk out the details so that we can invest into joint ventures by the next BRICS summit,” Modi added.
Meanwhile, welcoming the decision of the Brazilian President to grant visa-free travel to Indian citizens, the dignitary said, “I thank the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro for the decision to give Indians visa-free entry in the country.”
BRICS nations should further deliberate on a social security agreement, the Prime Minister noted in his concluding remarks at the forum.
A large business delegation from India addressed the BRICS Business Forum along with other countries earlier today.
The Prime Minister arrived in the Brazil capital earlier today on a two-day visit to attend the 11th BRICS summit being held at the South American country from today.
Following a packed schedule the next day, on November 14, Modi, along with other world leaders, will attend a closed-door BRICS session wherein discussions will focus on challenges and opportunities for the exercise of national sovereignty in the contemporary world.
This will be followed by the BRICS Plenary Session where the leaders will discuss the intra-BRICS cooperation for the economic development of BRICS societies.
“I look forward to exchanging views with other BRICS leaders with the aim to further strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation. Our business and industry play an important role in Intra-BRICS ties. I will be addressing BRICS Business Forum and interacting with BRICS Business Council and New Development Bank,” the Prime Minister said in a statement released prior to his departure for Brazil on Tuesday.
Thereafter, all BRICS leaders will meet BRICS Business Council during which the Chairman of the Brazilian BRICS Business Council will submit his report. There will also be another report submitted by the president of the new Development Bank. A BRICS Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on trade and investment promotion agencies is also expected to be signed.
In the conclusion of the summit, leaders are expected to issue a joint declaration.
BRICS brings together five major emerging economies comprising 42 per cent of the world’s population, having 23 per cent of the global GDP and around 17 per cent of the share and world trade.
This year the joint working group on counter-terrorism has decided to constitute five sub-working groups on counterterrorism in the following areas. Terrorist financing, use of the Internet for terrorist purposes, countering radicalisation, issue of foreign terrorist fighters and capacity-building, the MEA said in a statement.
In the area of counter-terrorism, India has taken the lead over the years to galvanise BRICS. It has worked closely within BRICS to not only take a strong stand against terrorism but also to bring about focused consultations on specific aspects related to terrorism.
It is expected that India will chair the subgroup on use of the Internet for terrorist purposes, it added.
Through a network of high level and working group meetings, the BRICS agenda has expanded considerably to include issues of mutual concern. In the run-up to the summit, several ministerial meetings in different sectors have already taken place.

Mexico City , Nov 12: Evo Morales, who had announced his resignation as Bolivian president a day earlier, on Monday (local time) accepted the political asylum offered by the Mexican government.
Quoting Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Xinhua news agency reported that Morales had called him on Monday to accept the asylum offer made by Mexico.
“The Mexican foreign ministry … has decided to grant Mr. Evo Morales political asylum for humanitarian reasons, and by virtue of the urgent situation he faces in Bolivia, where his life and integrity are at risk,” he said at a press conference here.
Morales on Sunday announced his resignation amid growing opposition after an international audit found that the results of last month’s election could not be validated due to “serious irregularities.”
Demonstrators and the Bolivian opposition had accused electoral authorities of manipulating the vote count in favour of Morales, the socialist leader who has reigned the country since a long time.
Morales was one of the longest-serving heads of state in Latin America, is Bolivia’s first indigenous president. He won his first election with a campaign that promised a government focused on the needs of the country’s poor but later he was accused of using the system to concentrate power.

New Delhi , Nov 14 : As India celebrates Children’s Day to mark the birth anniversary of its first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on Thursday, Google marked the day by releasing a dedicated doodle for the occasion.
To commemorate the day, a seven-year-old girl- Divyanshi Singhal’s sketch was selected as the doodle for the day. For a few years, Google has been welcoming sketches from children to mark the day.
Elaborating on this year’s selection, Google in its notes said, “It was heartening to see so many fresh, creative depictions for a better world–from cleaning up the ocean, to flying solo using technology, to simply dreaming about a world without boundaries.”
This year they received submissions from over 1.1 lakh children from classes 1 to 10 across the country, responding to the theme ‘When I grow up, I hope …’
Divyanshi, who won this year’s contest named her sketch, ‘The Walking Tree’. Elaborating on the same, she said, “When I grow up, I hope the world’s trees can walk or fly. The land could be cleared so easily without making them die. There would be so little deforestation and humans can just ask the trees and their friends to move to another place.”
She explained that the idea struck her when she paid a visit to her grandmother and witnessed that so many trees are being cut around her house.
In India, the day is celebrated each year as Children’s day to mark the birth anniversary of the first PM of Independent India – Jawaharlal Nehru.
On this day, a number of activities are organised for students in schools throughout the country.