Current Affairs in Short: 15 July 2020

Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa appointed as Vice President of ADB 

• Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa has been appointed as the Vice President of the Asian Development Bank. The development comes just a few months before Lavasa was scheduled to take over as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). 
• In his new position, Ashok Lavasa will be looking after the Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships. He will succeed Diwakar Gupta, who is currently Philippines-based ADB's Vice President for Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships. Gupta's 5-year term is scheduled to end on August 31st. 
• Ashok Lavasa has more than two years left in his term at the Election Commission of India. He would have retired as the CEC in October 2022.

UK bans companies from sourcing 5G equipment from Huawei

• The United Kingdom has imposed a ban on its telecom companies from sourcing 5G equipment from Chinese telecom company Huawei. The announcement was made by UK’s Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden after a meeting chaired by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
• The UK Prime Minister had a chaired a meeting of his cabinet and the National Security Council. The significant decision was taken after a discussion during the meeting.
• UK’s Digital Secretary informed the British parliament that from the end of this year, telecom providers must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei. Under the new guideline, the British telecom operators will be required to remove all 5G-related equipment, supplied by Huawei, from their infrastructure by 2027.

DRDO develops P7 Heavy Drop System

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed P7 Heavy Drop System that is capable of para dropping military stores up to 7-ton weight class from IL 76 aircraft. 
• The system is fully indigenous and is being manufactured by L&T who makes the platform system, parachutes manufactured by Ordnance Factory.

US President signs bill to impose sanctions on Chinese officials implementing oppressive Hong Kong law

• US President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 14 to impose sanctions on Chinese officials who are responsible for implementing the oppressive law against Hong Kong.
• The US President stated that the law will give his administration powerful new tools to hold all the individuals and entities responsible in extinguishing Hong Kong's freedom.
• Trump also signed an order ending preferential trade treatment for Hong Kong, following which Hong Kong will be treated the same as mainland China. 

Maldives reopens its borders for international travel

• Maldives reopened its borders for international travel on July 15, 2020 keeping in place strict health and safety protocols to protect tourists and residents from COVID. 
• Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih himself had visited the international airport in Male to check on the operations, where he was briefed on the measures put in place to screen passengers as well as about the testing capacity and social distancing and good hygiene protocols.
• The Maldives government has prepared safety measures to be enforced at ports and guest facilities including mandatory testing for airport arrivals. Reopening borders is extremely significant for Maldives, as it is heavily dependent on tourism for its economic activities.