News in Short

• The World Health Organization endorsed a protocol for testing African herbal medicines as potential treatments for the coronavirus and other epidemics.
• Covid-19 has raised the issue of using traditional medicines to battle contemporary diseases, and the endorsement clearly encouraged testing with criteria similar to those used for molecules developed by labs in Asia, Europe or the Americas.
• It came months after a bid by the president of Madagascar to promote a drink based on artemisia, a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment, was met with widespread scorn.

• The Khadi and Village Industries Commission has ordered e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and others to stop giving platform to ‘fake khadi’ products.
• These e-commerce portals were selling products like Khadi masks, herbals soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, herbal mehandi, jackets, kurta, and many such products through different sellers using the brand name Khadi.
• Last month, KVIC had issued legal notices to two firms Khadi Essentials and Khadi Global for unauthorizedly selling cosmetics and other products in the name of Khadi.

• Former Canadian Prime Minister John Turner has passed away at the age of 91 at his residence in Toronto.
• Turner, who spent decades in federal politics as a cabinet minister and Liberal Party leader during some of the most turbulent moments, led Canada for 79 days in 1984 — the second-shortest time in office of any Prime Minister.
• Born in 1929 in England, Turner moved to Canada as a young child and grew up mostly in Ottawa. Turner entered Canadian politics in 1962, winning a Montreal seat for the Liberal Party.
• During his political career, Turner held several prominent cabinet posts, including minister of justice and minister of finance under then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from 1968 to 1975.
• As justice minister, he defended reforms to Canada’s Criminal Code that paved the way for LGBTQ rights and legal abortions.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that US has re-imposed UN sanctions against Iran, a move expected to be effectively ignored by global allies and adversaries alike.
• The latest move is the latest in the "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran, that has left the US largely isolated. It comes after the administration failed to extend the conventional weapons embargo set to expire next month under the Iran nuclear deal.
• Other countries have rejected the US' argument that it could re-impose the UN sanctions that had been lifted under the Iran nuclear deal as the Trump administration withdrew from the deal in 2018. They are not expected to recognize the snapback sanctions.