News in Short

• An Indian Army officer and woman peacekeeper, who has served with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and a Brazilian woman commander have been selected for the prestigious United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award (2019).
• Major Suman Gawani and Brazilian Naval Officer Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo will receive the award during an online ceremony presided over by United Nations Secretary-General Guterres on May 29, the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
• Military Observer Ms Gawani has recently completed an assignment in South Sudan apart from her stint with the UNMISS.

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and four other remaining areas.
• Japan, with about 16,600 confirmed cases and about 850 deaths, has so far avoided a large outbreak like those experienced in the U.S. and the Europe despite its softer restrictions.
• But the world’s third largest economy is fallen into a recession, and public discontent over Abe’s handling of the coronavirus has sent his support ratings tumbling.

• China has said it will evacuate its citizens, stranded due to the lockdown in India, from next week in case they are facing difficulties.
• According to reports, China has arranged flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata to Shanghai, Chongqing, Jinan, Guangzhou and Zhengzhou, starting June 2.
• The announcement comes at a time when ties have dipped with India deciding to scrutinise Chinese investments, backing moves for an inquiry into the origin of coronavirus and stepped up confrontations in east Ladakh, the move set off a fresh round of speculation.

• As the coronavirus disease outbreak rages on, “fusarium wilt TR4”, a novel fungus strain that has devastated plantations across the globe this year, is setting up new hotspots and threatening output in India.
• The strain, Tropical Race 4 (TR4), was first identified in Taiwan, and has jumped from Asia to the Middle East and Africa, reaching as far as Latin America.
• It cripples plantations by first attacking the leaves, which turn yellow from their trailing edges before wilting away. There is no effective remedy yet.

• Bharti Telecom Ltd, promoter of Bharti Airtel, will sell $1 billion worth of stake in the mobile operator through a block deal. The block deal will involve 2.75% of the stake sale.
• The sale is also aimed removing the overhang of debt from the company as many ratings agencies also look at promoters’ debt.
• After the block deal, stake held by the promoters of Bharti Airtel—Bharti Telecom Ltd, Indian Continent Investment Ltd, Viridian Ltd and Pastel Ltd—will fall to 56.23% from 58.98%.
• Over the last three years, Bharti Airtel had been aggressively raising funds through rights issue, qualified institutional placements of equity, issue of foreign currency bonds, among others, for capital expansion amid its brutal tariff war.