Current Affairs in Short: 4 August 2020

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi to contest for second term

• Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on August 4, 2020 formally announced that she will be seeking a second term in the elections that are due in November 2020. Suu Kyi took over the reins in 2016 following a landslide victory in the 2015 Elections. Her party, National League for Democracy (NLD) had won 86 percent of the seats in the Myanmar assembly. 
• Suu Kyi though was forbidden to become President as her late husband and children are foreign citizens, she took over the newly created role of State Counsellor, who is similar to a Prime Minister of head of the government. Despite this, she was forced to share power with the generals.
• Aung San Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest for almost 15 years between 1989 and 2010, becoming one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners. She was detained just before the 1990 Myanmar Elections, in which her party won 81 percent of the seats in the Parliament. The military had refused to hand over the power and the results were nullified, resulting in an international outcry. 
• The Nobel Peace Prize winner, however, saw her international reputation fall after a military-crackdown Myanmar’s Rakhine state led more than 730,000 Rohingyas to flee the nation and seek shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh. 
• The UN investigators looking into the Rohingya crisis concluded that the military campaign had been executed with “genocidal intent”. Suu Kyi admitted in January 2020 that war crimes may have been committed against the Rohingyas but denied genocide.
• The November Elections, hence, will be extremely significant for Suu Kyo and they will serve as a test of the Southeast Asian nation’s tentative democratic reforms.

Spain’s former King exits country amid corruption allegations

• Spain’s former king Juan Carlos has decided to leave the country amid serious corruption allegations. The exit looks to be designed to protect the monarchy of the nation. 
• The once-popular king, who is now scandal-ridden, has left the nation with no indication on where he may have gone. The 82-year-old king’s sudden exit has stunned the Spaniards. 
• The official palace statement quoted the former King’s letter to his son, King Felipe, in which he wrote that he has decided to leave Spain at this time, guided by his desire to do what is best to serve the Spanish people, its institutions and to the King.
• Pressure had been mounting on the Spanish monarchy to take swift action after Spanish and Swiss prosecutors began looking into bribe allegations over a high-speed rail contract.

Taiwan provisionally approves dexamethasone for COVID treatment

• Taiwan has provisionally approved the use of dexamethasone to treat COVID-19 infection. The approval comes as the nation faces a shortfall of the antiviral drug remdesivir after the United States bought nearly all global supplies. Dexamethasone is a cheap and widely-used steroid.
• The medical experts in the nation have decided to provisionally allow dexamethasone to be listed as a COVID-19 treatment but that procedures still needed to be completed before it could be given to any patients.
• Taiwan has reported 476 new coronavirus cases, including seven deaths. Most of the cases were imported and have recovered. Overall, Taiwan has managed to control the infection spread with early and effective prevention work.

'Ramarchan puja' begins at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya

• Ramarchan puja has begun at Ram Janmabhoomi site ahead of the foundation laying ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The puja is a prayer to invite all major gods and goddesses ahead of Lord Ram's arrival.
• The puja is being conducted at the temporary seat of Ramlalla. It will be conducted in four phases. In the third phase, father of Lord Ram Dashrath with his wives will be worshipped and then all three brothers of Lord Ram - Laxman, Bharat and Shatrughan with their wives. Lord Hanuman will also be worshipped. In the fourth phase of the puja, Lord Ram will be worshipped.
• Security has been heightened in Ayodhya ahead of the foundation laying ceremony. Temples across the city have been decorated with lights, diyas and flowers ahead of the grand event. 

Indian Army to choose from Tata, American Stryker and Humvee for its armoured protection vehicle requirements

• The Indian Army is looking to choose from three different vehicles including the indigenous Tata Wheeled Armoured Protection along with American Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicle and Humvee to provide highly mobile armoured protection vehicles to its soldiers in high altitude terrains like Eastern Ladakh.
• The Indian Army requires armoured infantry combat vehicles for quick movement of troops in the Eastern Ladakh area where the Chinese have deployed their armoured personnel carriers in large numbers. 
• The army is still looking at the three options which include the Tata WhAP and the American Stryker and Humvee, as per defence sources. Currently, the three options are being evaluated and a decision in this regard would be taken soon.