News in Short

• Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema secured a stunning landslide victory over incumbent Edgar Lungu in Zambia’s presidential election.
• That would make the third time that power has shifted peacefully from a ruling party to the opposition since the southern African country’s independence from Britain in 1964.
• Zambia is in dire financial straights, and it became the continent’s first pandemic-era sovereign default in November after failing to keep up with its international debt payments.

• The head of Congress’s women’s wing, Sushmita Dev, resigned from the party. The former Member of Parliament said she was resigning from the party’s primary membership but didn’t give any specific reason.
• Dev is the daughter of late veteran Congressman Santosh Mohan Dev and came to Parliament for the first time in 2014 from the family seat of Silchar in Assam.
• Dev is the fourth high-profile young face of the Congress, and one of the noted members of ‘Team Rahul’, to leave the party in the last two years.

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held its second meeting on Afghanistan in 10 days, as the country witnessed chaotic scenes over the weekend, with the Taliban taking over Kabul.
• Addressing the meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked the insurgents to protect the rights of Afghans.
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres took cognisance of “chilling reports of severe restrictions on human rights” and said he was particularly concerned about mounting violations against women and girls.

• Malaysia’s Muhyiddin Yassin stepped down as prime minister after months of political turmoil culminated in the loss of his majority.
• Muhyiddin’s resignation ends a tumultuous 17 months in office, the shortest stint of a Malaysian leader, but hampers efforts to reboot a pandemic-stricken economy and curb a resurgence of COVID-19 infections.
• The Southeast Asian nation’s king appointed Muhyiddin as the caretaker prime minister until a new one is found, but did not set a timeline. King Al-Sultan Abdullah ruled out elections because of the pandemic.

• India has announced that it will issue an emergency e-visa to Afghan nationals who want to come to the country in view of the prevailing situation in Afghanistan.
• All Afghans, irrespective of their religion, can apply for the ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’ online and the applications will be processed in New Delhi.
• The announcement came two days after the Taliban captured power in Afghanistan. Since Indian missions in Afghanistan are shut, the visa can be applied online and applications will be examined and processed in New Delhi.