Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba Calls for Three-tier Elections within a Year
Nepal will hold three-tier elections within a year, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba announced, urging the country's electoral body to start preparing for the polls.
Addressing the nation for the first time after he assumed the top executive post six months ago, Deuba said that the tasks performed by the coalition government within a short period had created a strong foundation for political stability, good governance and prosperity for the country.
The tenure of the existing Parliament, as well as local bodies and provinces, is expiring by next year.
World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting Rescheduled to May 22-26
The World Economic Forum (WEF) announced that it will hold its 2022 annual meeting from May 22 to 26 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.
"Under the theme, 'Working Together, Restoring Trust', the Annual Meeting 2022 will be the first global in-person leadership event since the start of the pandemic," the WEF said in a statement published on its website.
The meeting will offer world leaders an opportunity to take stock of the state of the world and shape partnerships and policies for the crucial period ahead.
Topics on the agenda will include the pandemic recovery, tackling climate change, building a better future for work, accelerating stakeholder capitalism, and harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Justice Ayesha Malik Becomes First Woman Judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan
Pakistan President Arif Alvi gave his approval to the elevation of Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha Malik as the country's first-ever woman judge of the Supreme Court, a watershed moment in the judicial history of the conservative Muslim country.
The historic development came just two days after the bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Superior Judiciary approved the 55-year-old justice's nomination as the Supreme Court judge. The nomination was sent by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) earlier this month.
Justice Malik was appointed as a judge of the Lahore High Court in March 2012.
Barbados PM Mia Mottley Sworn in after 2nd Consecutive Elections
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley was sworn in for a second term after her party appeared to have swept every legislative seat in the first elections the island nation held as a republic since casting off the British monarchy.
Mottley's Barbados Labor Party seemed to have secured all 30 seats in the House of Assembly, the lower house of the island's Parliament, giving the island's first female leader a second term as prime minister. A majority of 16 seats was required for a win.
Mottley had achieved the same sweep when her party won elections in 2018.
Armenia's President Resigns
The President of Armenia announced his resignation, complaining that his office is not granted sufficient powers to allow him to be an effective head of state.
Armen Sarkissian was chosen as President by the national parliament in 2018 as Armenia was transitioning from a presidential system of government to a parliamentary one. He was recommended for the job by outgoing President Serzh Sargsyan.
Jan 22, 2022
PM Modi Tops Approval Ratings of Global Leaders
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued to top the chart of global leaders with the highest approval ratings, leaving US President Joe Biden and Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau. The latest approval ratings by data intelligence company Morning Consult suggested that PM Modi has a net approval rating of 50, with 71 per cent of respondents voting in approval while 21 per cent voting in disapproval.
The company is currently tracking the approval ratings of government leaders of Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Britain and the US.
ILO Report: Global Unemployment Level in 2022 Projected at 207 Million
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) released its World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2022 (WESO Trends) report. The report analysed comprehensive labour market projections for 2022 and 2023 and assessed how labour market recovery unfolded worldwide. In the WESO 2022, ILO downgraded its forecast for labour market recovery in 2022.
The global unemployment level in 2022 is estimated at 207 million, compared to 186 million in 2019.
Total working hours globally in 2022 is projected to be 2% below the pre-pandemic level, and that is equivalent to the loss of 52 million full-time jobs.
The global labour force participation rate in 2022 is projected to remain 1.2 percentage points below that of 2019 before the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic began.
Jan 21, 2022
Angela Merkel Rejects United Nations Job Offer
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel turned down an offer from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a job.
Guterres had offered Merkel the chair of a high-level UN advisory body on global public goods. The advisory board is one of the flagship reform projects that Guterres proposed for the UN in his second term, which started in January.
Jan 20, 2022
Afghan Acting PM Calls for Official Recognition of Taliban Administration
Afghanistan's acting Prime Minister, Mullah Hasan Akhund, called for international governments to officially recognise the country's Taliban administration, saying at a news conference in Kabul that all conditions had been met.
Foreign powers have been reluctant to recognise the Taliban administration which took over Afghanistan in August while Western nations led by the United States have frozen billions of dollars worth of Afghan banking assets and cut off development funding that once formed the backbone of Afghanistan's economy.
Akhund and other Taliban administration officials made an appeal at the conference, also attended by United Nations officials, for a loosening of restrictions on money into the country, blaming its growing economic crisis on the freezing of funds.
France's Emmanuel Macron Calls for EU Plan to Ease Russia Tensions
French President Emmanuel Macron called on the European Union to quickly draw up a new security plan containing proposals to help ease tensions with Russia, as concern mounts that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning an invasion of Ukraine.
Macron's remarks to EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, came the day after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the military organisation was in the process of finalizing its own security proposals. Stoltenberg hopes to set up a series of meetings with Russia in the near future.
Jan 19, 2022
Nepal Names Province 2 Bordering India as 'Madhes Pradesh'
Nepal's south-eastern Province 2 was named Madhes Pradesh with Janakpur retained as its capital, settling a long-standing debate on the region's official reference after it was made a province in 2015.
Madhes is Nepal's smallest province in terms of area but second largest in terms of population. It borders Bihar in the south and has eight districts — Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, and Siraha.
Electric Vehicle Sales Overtake Diesel Models for First Time in Europe
According to Financial Times preliminary estimates, the sale of electric vehicles (EV) in the European market has surpassed that of diesel cars for the first time ever.
Across 18 European markets – including the UK—more than a fifth of vehicles sold were electric, while diesel cars slumped to less than 19 per cent.
In December, around 176,000 battery EVs were sold in Western Europe—an all-time record high and a 6 per cent increase on December 2020 levels – while European car makers sold 160,000 diesel cars.
Indonesia Names New Capital that will Replace Jakarta
Indonesia has announced that its new capital will be called Nusantara, meaning "archipelago" in Javanese.
It came as parliament approved a bill to relocate the capital from Jakarta, which is rapidly sinking.
The idea of building a new capital 1,300 km (800 miles) away on the island of Borneo was first proposed in 2019.
But critics have said the new name could be confusing and that the move itself fails to take environmental factors into consideration.
Jakarta has become crowded, polluted and is sinking at an alarming rate due to the over-extraction of groundwater. Home to more than 10 million people, it sits on swampy land on the large island of Java.
Malta Legislator 3rd Woman EU Parliament President
Christian Democrat Roberta Metsola of Malta was elected president of the European Union's parliament, taking over for a two and a half years term following the death of Socialist David Sassoli last week.
Metsola is only the third woman elected to the post. She is the European Parliament's youngest president. Metsola was the candidate of the Parliament's biggest group, and she received 458 of the 616 votes cast.
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