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Ebrahim Raisi has been declared the winner of Iran's 13th presidential elections. Iran’s president oversees the civilian arm of the country’s government.  The president sets domestic policy. THE CONTROVERSIAL ELECTIONS The reformists, a powerful constituency, have pushed for gradual reforms by rallying behind leaders like Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, the conservatives always pushed back. There were allegations that the June 18 election was rigged in favour of Mr. Raisi even before the first ballot was cast. The Guardian Council, which vets potential candidates, had rejected almost all major reformists, leaving him the only prominent figure on the ballot.  This led to opposition activists calling for an election boycott, which seems to have had an impact on the voting — the turnout was 48.8%, an all­-time low. A significant number of people did not cast their votes this time because they believe that the elections are rigged and do not trust the election watchdog calle...

The UN General Assembly adopted the draft resolution 'The situation in Myanmar' with 119 Member States voting in favour, including Myanmar. The diplomat Kyaw Moe Tun is still recognized by the United Nations as Myanmar’s ambassador, although he was pushed out and charged with treason by his country’s military leaders. 36 nations abstained, including Myanmar's neighbours - India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Laos, Nepal and Thailand, Russia also abstained.  Belarus was the sole country voting against it. THE RESOLUTION The resolution was introduced by Liechtenstein, whose representative warned that there is a “real and present danger of a full-fledged civil war” in Myanmar.  It is non-binding resolution condemning the military regime in Myanmar. The resolution expressed "grave concern" at the February 1 coup and called upon Myanmar's military junta to immediately and unconditionally release President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other governme...

Scientists around the world and in India are concerned about ‘Delta plus’, an emerging form of the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus.  This variant allows the virus to “escape” antibodies in recently approved treatment regimes.  WHAT IS DELTA PLUS VARIANT? Formally known as AY.1 or B.1.617.2.1, it’s a variant of Delta (B.1.617.2), which was first identified in India. It has an additional mutation called K417N, which has previously been identified in the Beta variant (first found in South Africa) and the Gamma variant (first detected in Brazil). The K417N, along with another mutation called K417T, is a mutation in the spike protein of the novel coronavirus. These variants are characterized as being highly infectious and may reduce the potency of vaccines.  WHY THE CONCERN? The Delta variant is now regarded as the most prevalent one in India, comprising nearly 31% of the 21,000 community samples processed until late May.  This variant has significant differen...

The Supreme Court issued notice on Delhi Police appeals against the Delhi High Court order granting bail to student-activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha.  They were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in a Northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case. SC declined to interfere with the bail order, but the bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian said “in a bail application, a 100-page judgment discussing all laws is surprising us” and “can have pan-India ramification”. It directed that the judgment shall not be treated as a precedent and may not be relied upon by any of the parties in any of the proceedings. HC RULING The court reasoned that “the more stringent a penal provision, the more strictly it must be construed”.  By doing so, it raised the bar for the State to book an individual for terrorism under the UAPA. The three orders by Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani. The court held that the phrase ‘te...

U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their summit meeting at Geneva, Switzerland.  This is the first such bilateral meeting after Donald Trump and Putin met in Helsinki on July 16, 2018.  NEW START TREATY   Putin said he and Biden agreed to begin negotiations on nuclear talks to potentially replace the New START treaty limiting nuclear weapons after it expires in 2026.  It is a treaty between the America and the Russia for further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.  It came into force on 5th February, 2011 and successor to the START framework of 1991. Washington broke off talks with Moscow in 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and its military intervention in support of separatists in eastern Ukraine.  Talks resumed in 2017 but gained little traction and failed to produce an agreement on extending the New START treaty during the Trump administration. RETURN OF AMBASSADOR...

The first ever 'green fungus' case has been detected in the country.  A 34-year-old Covid-19 survivor was diagnosed with green fungus infection in Madhya Pradesh's Indore. Green fungus, also known as 'Aspergillosis’ (in lungs, sinuses), includes high fever and nose bleeding.  Aspergillosis is an infection caused by Aspergillus, a common mold that lives indoors and outdoors. People with low or weak immune systems or lung diseases are at a higher risk of developing health problems due to Aspergillus. Aspergillosis is not contagious, it cannot spread from one person to another or from animals to humans.

Twitter has lost legal protection in India over its failure to appoint statutory officers in line with the new IT rules.  The microblogging platform lost legal indemnity in India after it failed to comply with new social media rules which required it to appoint key officers in India.  Twitter, however, said it had complied with the Indian government’s new IT rules and appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer. THE LEGAL COVER An 'intermediary' status gives social media platforms immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them.  The implications of losing legal cover or status as a social media intermediary are serious.  Twitter would remain exposed to the provisions of law and not enjoy legal immunity as an intermediary and be liable like a publisher for objectionable content. With the legal cover provided by Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act gone, Twitter employees starting from its head in India will be held liable fo...